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Mimmo's Hummus is a new hummus brand. It's basically an alternative to
all the supermarket brands on the shelf. We want people to be able to
say, 'I'm gonna get Mimmo's Hummus' and not just pop down to the local Asda or
Sainsbury's to get generic hummus.
We created six unique flavours. They're geographically referenced around the
world.
So, we've got a London flavour, a Parisian one, a Casablanca, Tokyo, Shanghai
and New York.
And what those do is just bring the best flavours out of those cities
and mix them with the traditional Asian variety of hummus.
Market research is so important for startups because you need to have
a picture of what's going on.
You need to paint that picture for yourself. There's some bits of research
you might take notice of, because you can take advantage of it and you know that,
and there's some things you might not want in that picture, so it's important to
gather as much
information and make your own design and see where you fit in that picture.
Market research is something that
investors definitely want for potential funding,
if only
to demonstrate the fact that you know, you are aware that that's important for your business.
It can give a lot of security for someone
who wants to give you some money. I went about researching the market for my product by,
firstly, going around, looking at articles about hummus,
both sides of the pond, even Asia where it actually originates from, just reading
loads of different stuff about hummus.
When you're looking at sample size for a product, it's really, you've got to use your
hunch as well.
We went out to Brixton market, we served to 1,100 people
in about three days and for us, that was enough, we'd just seen enough.
The results we were getting were consistent.
So, it's really about the testing you're doing, side by side, that number of people.
If you know it's a good test,
and you're getting consistent results, you don't really need to roll it out
forever and ever and ever. The founder's hunch can definitely override market research figures.
Market research is one of many influences there can be on your business
and you should use it if and when, if and when you need it.
There's no real way to innovate without going against the grain anyway.
So, I'd just
definitely urge new businesses to be bold, really, and not always
use market research
as a way to progress.