At 6-18 months before a new product or platform enters the market, there are a host of activities that need to be in motion in order for a leadership team to hit key progress milestones. At Ladder 17, we've defined this crucial group of activities as the Hidden Launch Framework.
There are seven dimensions to our Framework:
Too often, vital activities are not considered early enough in the path to market.
For example, one Biotech ingredient startup that Ladder 17 helped to enter the market had not addressed four of the seven dimensions -- Market Awareness, Stakeholder & Partnership Support, Marketing & Communications Channel Preparation, and Product Positioning -- at 90 days out from launch.
In failing to strategically approach these activities, the post-Series A startup had not built a sufficient foundation for building awareness at launch, and it did not have an aligned approach between Marketing and Sales. These two factors alone meant that the team wasted valuable time and money chasing disconnected targets and tactics. If the gaps had been addressed one year prior to launch, when the scientific, clinical, production, and quality activities were established in preparation for scale-up, market entry would have gone faster, yielding predictable month-over-month revenue growth far sooner.
Another common situation we encounter is a firm that has done a thorough job positioning itself for investors, but has not considered potential partners, customers, and other stakeholders. It is essential to understand the key needs, wants, and pain points of potential partners or customers as early as possible, so that a product or platform can be effectively positioned and messaged to address them. A potential customer will care far less about how a company is solving a major societal problem than how it will solve a costly processing or portfolio gap problem for them.
In my time as VP of Marketing & Comms at AgTech startup Pairwise, we had defined seven target audiences and the key themes and messages years before the first product entered the market. In this way, as technical and commercial milestones were hit, the team was able to incorporate the diverse POVs into external messaging in industry talks, media coverage, and social media, ultimately driving awareness and brand value.
As we've seen these readiness gaps again and again in our work, we've developed the Hidden Launch Diagnostic that helps pre-commercial brands identify gaps and the potential impact on success.
Register for our free "Are You Ready for Market Entry?" Webinar on October 15 at 12:00 PM EDT here to find out where you land on the launch readiness scale and how to improve your preparation for successful market entry.