Marketing people like to think they “know” their market. They do analyses of the market, then develop detailed marketing plans as though the outcome is decided deterministically. But in fast-changing industries, companies are often breaking new ground. No one can really “know” the market. The market doesn`t even exist yet. In these industries, almost all new products are experiments. Few leading-edge products are perfectly in tune with the market when they first come out. Instead, they are modified and altered once they meet the market. There`s a lot of give and take.

In some ways, the process is the mirror businesses, companies survey people to find out what they want, then create a product to fill the need. In technology-based industries, the product usually come first. Companies invent things and develop things. Then, they work with the market to see how the product should be used.