Entrepreneurs are, by definition, people with new ideas they want to bring forward in the marketplace. Knowing what you want to create and sell, however, doesn't necessarily mean you know
how to go about selling it.
Enter a new partnership between MaRS Discovery District’s information technology, communications and entertainment practice (ICE) and e-commerce agency Demac Media. Last month, they launched a new advisory service to help startups handle e-commerce effectively.
The goal, says ICE's go-to-market lead Nathan Monk, is "to close the gap between what we're seeing developed and what is coming to market." That is, right now e-commerce's capacities often outstrip the uses to which new companies put it. "A lot of the time," he explains, no matter how great their products or ideas are, startups "haven't actually done the customer development. They need the methodology to reduce the risk of failure."
"Canadians will almost double their mobile spent…by the end of this year," Monk says, but many startups aren't well positioned to offer their customers an optimal e-commerce experience.
The new advisory services (many of which are exclusive to MaRS clients) include office hours for clients to discuss potential strategies with Demac Media experts, workshops for tackling topics such as e-commerce interfaces, and public discussions on broader subjects like email and seasonal marketing. A meet-up group
is now online for those interested in the latter.
Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Nathan Monk, Go-to-Market Lead, ICE practice, MaRS Discovery District