recipe to success - job, not demographics

Companies make a mistake by segmenting markets by demographics or product characteristics. Instead, write Christensen et al. in "Finding the Right Job for Your Product," "Customers' purchase decisions don't necessarily conform to those of the 'average' customer in their demographic; nor do they confine the search for solutions within a product category. Rather, customers just find themselves needing to get things done." The advice is 3-fold: segment markets by job, identify the job-based structure of a market, and let innovators understand how to accomplish the work.

The above is the gist from a Harvard Business School Note written by Professor Clayton M. Christensen.

That has been my approach for solving problems for a long time. When I start a startup, my product would be centered around solving a problem or doing a job and not around demographic. It makes me feel good that I might have been thinking along the correct lines for a long time.

Links:

• HBS announcement about this note
• Harvard Business School Note 607-028