Is it a sound strategy to base an innovative product's growth strategy on gaining host-beneficiary or partnership arrangements with others who have their target market? Or is it too risky - should the main growth strategy be direct to the end customer?

I’m a huge fan of leveraging someone else’s customer base myself. It’s risky for sure but not as risky as going it yourself in an expensive and marketing saturated consumer market.

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Hey Saul, How can I get more followers of my target market on Twitter? I'm giving away an iPad if we hit 1,000 followers by the end of the month, and will be traveling to p...

Answered by Saul Colt – WOM Expert

There are a few ways to get the word out for your contest. Find the people you want to talk to and ask them to help you. The reason i suggest to start with the people you w... (more)

Hi. I'm in the process of setting up a business in adult novelties and I have recognized that my competition does not do large media ads. Now this could be because of the c...

Answered by Jen Evans – Founder, Sequentia Environics

This is the most entertaining question I have answered yet on Sprouter. And to be honest I am not sure where to start .... as you've offered two pretty extreme options here... (more)

Hi, Jack: What is the best possible way to get bloggers/reporters to write about your startup? We are launching on Monday and our beta has been up for a couple of months. ...

Answered by Jack Abraham – Founder of Milo, sold to eBay. Posted in Marketing

Target specific writers who have displayed in interest in your space by seeing if they've written related blog posts in the past. If you're unable to find anyone who has an... (more)

We're a b2b startup, just starting to develop our product. we want to start early conversation with customers and get commitment prior to launch of alpha, so that customer...

Answered by Mark Suster – Partner, GRP Partners

Create HTML mock-ups. Do a PowerPoint that shows the ROI benefit. Ask them to be "pilot users" which basically entails a small consulting project. Promise them huge bene... (more)

I would like to start an innovation factory which spins out products/companies and finds entrepreneurs and a team to run with them. How could I get funding for this?

Answered by Benjamin Yoskovitz – Partner, Year One Labs

This sounds like an incubator/accelerator. I've blogged about this kind of model before as well -- http://www.instigatorblog.com/an-alternative-model-for-startup-incubation... (more)

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