Page 109 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

88 6 SECRETS TO STARTUP SUCCESS

This is why, for a new venture, the first and most vital aspect of
marketing is the inbound part, the process of listening to the market-
place, learning about customers, and hearing their individual and col-
lective voices. This will be an ongoing, iterative process. What you
“know” may be proven wrong, and even well understood markets will
change over time. But you can dramatically improve your odds of a
solid start—and avoid some major headaches—by understanding the
market you are going after.

To keep it simple, there are three basic paths to getting market
knowledge before you launch. You can bring it with you. You can learn
it. Or you can hire it.

BRING IT – When it comes to really knowing a customer base, there’s
no substitute for direct market experience. I’ll always bet on founders
who have worked for years in their targeted industry, especially if
that includes field roles in marketing or sales, versus those who are
new to a market or who have spent no time in the field.

I’ve already noted the value of J.C. Faulkner’s experience prior to
founding D1, and every bit of that experience was centered in the
marketplace. Over the first ten years of his business career, he took
on branch sales jobs throughout the United States, developing broad
industry relationships and learning about the market’s cyclical nature
and fluctuating rates. In his last corporate assignment before his
startup leap, he immersed himself even more deeply in the market,
leading a two-year internal venture to evaluate and buy loans from
other mortgage lenders across the country. “In order to work with
these lenders,” J.C. says, “I had to go in and get their financials and
understand their operations. I studied fifty of these shops over a two-
year period, and spent a lot of time with all of them. After a while, I
knew them better than they knew themselves.”

J.C. then designed his new venture to out-compete the businesses
he had studied. Because of his relationships and credibility across the
industry, he attracted top talent to run his first sales branches. Right
away, he and his new team exceeded their sales projections, breaking
even within nine months.

D1 was born in the market. The very idea of the company came

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