One other area we assist with may also be particularly helpful early in the decision making process. Frequently, we have been called in at the "investment" stage. This might be when a company is making a decision to fund R&D efforts or even making a decision to buy, sell, license or co-market a product, service or technology. The work we have done at that stage focuses on three key measures:
What is the size of the current and/or anticipated market?
What is the range of market share the product (or service, etc.) can reasonably be expected to garner?
What is the price range the product (or service, etc.) can reasonably be expected to achieve?
At early stages, these questions can be answered with "quick and dirty" techniques without spending wads of cash. The combination of the measures produces a very, very rough forecast of potential sales. Such a forecast can be an extremely valuable risk reduction tool.