270 Planning and Forecasting
should lead the section and be followed by text describing the analysis and its
implications.
Finding information about your competition can be easy if the competing
company is public, harder if it is private, and very difficult if it is operating in
“stealth” mode (i.e., it hasn’t yet announced itself to the world). Most libraries
have access to databases that contain a mother lode of information about pub-
licly traded companies (see Exhibit 9.6 for some sample sources), but privately
held companies or stealth ventures represent a greater challenge. The best way
for savv y entrepreneurs to gather this information is through their network and
via trade shows. Who should be in the entrepreneur ’s network? First and fore-
most are the customers the entrepreneur hopes to sell to in the near future.
Just as you are (or should be) talking to your potential customers, your existing
competition is interacting with the customers every day, and your customers
are likely aware of the stealth competition on the horizon. Although many en-
trepreneurs are fearful (verging sometimes on the brink of paranoia) that valu-
able information will fall in the wrong hands and lead to new competition that
invalidates the current venture, the reality is that entrepreneurs who operate in
a vacuum (don’t talk to customers, attend tradeshows, etc.) fail far more often
than those who are talking to everyone they can. Talking allows entrepreneurs
to get invaluable feedback that enables them to reshape their product offering
prior to launching a product that may or may not be accepted by the market-
place. So you should network not only to find out about your competition but
also to improve your own venture concept.
EXHIBIT 9.5 Competitive profile matrix.
VMC Napster Mp3.com MYRadio SonicNet XM RadioHave to be online to listen to music No No No No Yes No
Customized ads to individual users Yes N/A No N/A No No
Can purchase physical media on
Web s ite No No Yes No Yes No
Can access personal music collection
from remote location Yes No No No No No
Automatic play list generation Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Offers a service without ads Yes N/A No No No Yes
Can choose to play specific songs on
demand Yes Yes No No No No
Easy feedback for enhanced listening
exper ience Yes No No No Yes No
Streams media Yes No Yes N/A Yes Yes
Download media Yes Yes Yes N/A No No
Can distribute user collections to
other people No Yes No No Yes No
Offers portable device player option Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Offers a free service Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Offers service in telematics industry Yes No No No No Yes