Northwind Energy: Launching Into a Market With an Incumbent
Marketing
medium45 min0 submissionsStripe
Scenario
Northwind Energy is a growth-stage renewables business in Europe, preparing to launch a new product into an established category.
The category is dominated by an incumbent holding roughly 60% share. The addressable market is about €2220 M.
Candidate segments:
| Segment | Addressable accounts | Share expressing willingness to switch |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 839 | 63% |
| Mid-market | 2,392 | 39% |
| SMB | 30,858 | 22% |
Constraints:
- Planned list price: €15376 per account per year
- Fully loaded cost of a field sales rep: €47 M per year
- First-year launch budget: €33 M
- 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
- 2220
- incumbent share pct
- 60
segments
| segment | accounts | switch willingness pct |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 839 | 63 |
| Mid-market | 2392 | 39 |
| SMB | 30858 | 22 |
economics
- launch budget
- 33
- loaded sales rep cost
- 47
- list price per account
- 15376
derived hints
- accounts per rep to break even
- 3057
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: Kirana Connect: Where Should the Acquisition Budget Go?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