But if you are developing a new food product, it’s hardly possible to put something out of the market and hope for the best.
Okay, it might be something like ice lollies. I heard of someone who put out five or six ice lolly flavours into the market, tested them and settled on the winning lines.
Yet, if you have a food product with health considerations or claims, you had better have your ducks in a row. For example, I came across the story behind the original formulation and testing of a breakfast cereal. It took years to develop before the company launched it on the South African market.
This notion of getting something, anything, onto the market has been popularised by the so-called lean startup philosophies. It has merit in that would-be entrepreneurs are prevented from pondering for ages on whether to go to market or not.
Another thing, it’s also sometimes a good idea to test your business concept on the market to see if it will explode. Then you can go back into your kitchen table or garage and tweak your product and put out another iteration.
If you want to find out more, look at “Breakthrough Ideas”. It shows how to go about coming up with new business ideas, concepts and prototypes. It covers testing in the market and commercialisation. This is a resource for students of entrepreneurship, consultants, business professionals and people who need to create a new income.
