How to Test Market Demand Before Launching a Startup

Crowdsourcing and other forms of customer feedback can help entrepreneurs gauge demand, uniqueness and appeal before committing fully to a new venture.

As online crowdsourcing has shown, people will support a proposed business or cause that moves them. For entrepreneurs, the ability to test a proposed product or service's uniqueness and appeal has never been better.  EIX panelists Heidi Neck of Babson College, Kim Eddleston of Northeastern University and Dan Holland of Utah State University discuss how entrepreneurs can test the waters before they roll out their business ideas.