Business Development Tips 1. Identify the appropriate market and target the appropriate segments within the market -- Deep pockets; ability to leverage core product from one segment to another without major design/development changes. 2. Make sure there exists a market problem/pain that currently demands a solution. Is the problem large enough to justify the price of your solution? Is someone with P/L responsibility willing to pay for the solution? Test: Are you able to clearly delineate a value proposition that gets a customer’s attention? 3. Solve the customers problem, don’t just build cool technology. Value is always in the application of the technology, not technology per se 4. Have a clear understanding of your value chain. Know who are your partners, competitors, and customers – it isn't always obvious 5. Understand where you are in the market cycle, from a timing perspective: new technology, competitors entering, segmentation, consolidation, solutions offering, commoditized, etc. 6. Don’t fight the market and where it is in its life cycle – you will lose 7. Price based on value of solution, not to undercut competitors. Compete first on functionality, not price. If you truly are the only one solving the customer’s problem, you should be able to price your offering based on value of your product/solution to the customer You compete on price only after the product/solution has become a commodity – end of the life cycle 8. Techies should never hire sales people; they don’t know what skill-sets and personality traits to look for. Test: If it's someone who is too aggressive and a person techies don't want to hang out with, it's probably a good sales guy 9. Identify the end user of your product or service before you start thinking about Business Development. Even if you do not sell directly to the end users, you should know as