This month the importance of alpha users and beta customers was reinforced to our start-ups. For example, this month we are entering china with three prestigious alpha users to generate publications on our Arterial Stiffness testing device which will then let us sell to beta customers.

The amount of information you can learn from getting alpha users is tremendous. A start-up can understand how the technology fits into the workflow process and how users interact with it in surprising ways. We validate market pull forces to help shape the features, attributes and benefits of the tech dev plan. But most important it helps the company speak to other customers and tell other customers “you are not first, someone else is using this and here are the metrics of how it helps them”.

This naturally enables our start-ups to migrate into beta customers, early customers who will pay reduced rates for early devices and provide a pathway to early adopter clients. We are currently moving three new platforms out to alphas and betas following this market introduction roadmap. It is a simple yet effective model.