Feasibility Analysis

Sarah Austin, who has worked with disabled children all of her professional career, is in the final stretch of developing an iPhone app that will help parents with disabled children better cope with their disabilities. She has put a considerable amount of time and effort into the project, and believes the app can make a meaningful difference in the lives of those people who use it. Sarah has a dilemma. She had planned to spend the next three weeks completing a feasibility analysis and incorporate the results of the feasibility analysis into her business plan, which she thinks will take an additional two weeks. An alternative is to move forward with the business plan and complete the feasibility analysis later. Sarah has heard that several competing apps are in various stages of development, and fears that if she doesn’t get her business plan completed quickly and out for review she may get beat to the punch. 

What would you tell Sarah if she asked you for your advice?

This scenario reminds me of the hyperbole: “Cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face.” I believe skipping the feasibility analysis to get the app to market quicker is an overreaction that could lead to destructive results. 

If we place the external factors aside (the emerging competition entering the market), what we have is a proven business best practice that we will potentially ignore. 

The reason why you conduct a feasibility analysis is not only because it is nice to have for potential investors and lenders, but it is also an exercise that has the entrepreneur examine a 360 view of their potential future business. Within the feasibility analysis, Sarah may discover a significant issue with her strategy that needs to be adjusted before entering the market. If she rushes the business plan and app to market, she will increase her likelihood of failure. Additionally, investors and bankers would like to see a feasibility analysis. Sarah may find she cannot secure the capital she needs to launch the business. To forego the feasibility analysis would be to decide based on the hunch that first to market will inevitably be the market leader. This is a flawed hunch. 

First to market often does have an advantage, but not always. Let’s think of Apple, which rarely enters the market “first” with technological advancements. They typically view the advancement, take their time gathering market feedback, and then improve upon the shortcomings of the competitor(s) in the market. This strategy marries operations and marketing together to achieve market share without being first in the space. 

A final thought- the first day the app is available isn’t as important as the first day people discover your app. Perhaps if Sarah is really concerned about being perceived as the first to market, she should invest a bit more in marketing and advertisement so that her app is discovered by more people, quicker. Then, even though it’s inaccurate, you may be perceived as first to market.  

Posted 9/20/23