Starting a new business venture in new markets and industries
coopr: I've started businesses in a diverse range of industries: automobile parking, gourmet packaged foods, real estate, online retailing, physical retail.One key difference I've noticed between industries is the speed with which they adopt technology. I believe many tech entrepreneurs mistakenly assume that non-tech industries are as welcoming of new technology as tech-heavy industries. Understanding the pace of technological uptake in your target industry is highly important - and don't think you can change it!One of the best ways I've found to understand a new industry is to attend a trade show and talk with lots of people. Tell them you are new, and ask them to explain the basics. Buy people drinks at the bar and quiz them. Get the same few questions answered by a number of different people. Ask who the industry experts are, then find them and get them talking - experts tend to love to share their expertise!I've found particular success by applying technological advances that give me a competitive advantage in an industry that is otherwise slow to adopt technology. Don't try to sell the technology, or otherwise compete on the basis of the tech itself - instead, use the technology in a way that your competitors would be slow or unwilling to do, and thus gain an advantage.For instance, in my gourmet packaged food company I used a (then) new digital label printing technology to allow me to experiment with new labels rapidly and at very low cost. The labels weren't "perfect" looking, and my competitors would not tolerate anything other than "perfect" labels, but customers didn't care. I was able to quickly and inexpensively refine my labels, which resulted in higher sales, without spending lots of money on new printing plates (which my competitors assumed you needed to change labels). In this case, I used a technological advantage (new digital label printing) to compete on an industry-standard characteristic (label content) - I'm emphatically did NOT try to sell digital label printers to the gourmet packaged food industry.