Cobalt Robotics: Launching Into a Market With an Incumbent
Marketing
hard45 min0 submissionsGoldman Sachs
Scenario
Cobalt Robotics is a growth-stage industrial robotics business in Japan, preparing to launch a new product into an established category.
The category is dominated by an incumbent holding roughly 52% share. The addressable market is about ¥5768 B.
Candidate segments:
| Segment | Addressable accounts | Share expressing willingness to switch |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 729 | 82% |
| Mid-market | 3,035 | 56% |
| SMB | 39,062 | 23% |
Constraints:
- Planned list price: ¥16499 per account per year
- Fully loaded cost of a field sales rep: ¥79 B per year
- First-year launch budget: ¥43 B
- The product is genuinely better on one dimension and worse on two
The founder wants to launch to all three segments simultaneously "to see what sticks".
Supporting data
market
- tam
- 5768
- incumbent share pct
- 52
segments
| segment | accounts | switch willingness pct |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 729 | 82 |
| Mid-market | 3035 | 56 |
| SMB | 39062 | 23 |
economics
- launch budget
- 43
- loaded sales rep cost
- 79
- list price per account
- 16499
derived hints
- accounts per rep to break even
- 4788169
Your task
Design the go-to-market. Your answer should provide:
- Analysis — which segment to enter first and why, sized with the numbers given.
- Risks — what your plan depends on, and what would make you change segment.
- Recommendation — a specific first segment, channel, price and success threshold.
State any assumptions you make.
Ready to move forward? Up next: Basil & Co: Build the Line or Keep Buying?Next question
How you'll be graded
100 points, 60% to pass.
- positioning25
- segmentation25
- recommendation25
- quantitative analysis25
Hint
Reveal suggested structure
Beachhead selection; switching motivation; GTM motion affordable at price point; staged expansion