Expanding markets and creating new businesses can be a difficult task. How do we spot a good idea and rapidly validate the market? Using your exising business model as a template can provide new opportunities for growth. By looking at your existing business and reformtting it to a market whose income level is an order of magnitude above or below your current market can be a source for expansion opportunities. In other words, take a big business idea and make it smaller, or take a small business idea and make it bigger.

To better imagine what it would take to enter into this market, ask one of these questions:

What new markets can we open if we reduce the price to deliver our product to 1/10 the current cost?
- or -
What new markets can we open if we spend 10 times the amount we currently spend to deliver our product?

India has a traditional corner stop known as the tea cart. Tea carts can be seen all around the cities and are a popular stop for a low cost local beverage. You will often find tea carts selling other products like candy, cigarettes and, in some cases, pay phone access.

As the middle class explodes in India, the concept of the tea cart is exploding as well. But in this case, it has taken the approach of spending more money on delivering the same product. Cafe Coffe Day has created an Indian version of the Starbucks experience and delivers the tea cart products to a more affluant client base. The same product, delivered with an upgraded experience. The approach can work either way. In this case, the low cost version was adapted to meet a higher revenue market.

Advantages of moving to the smaller scale can include mobility, reduced cost and potentially higher profits.

Advantages of moving to the larger scale can include the creation of an exclusive client base. In a growing economy, products and services priced for experience and status may be more attractive. In emergent experience economies, value is placed on the atmosphere and recognition of shopping in the higher end establishment. It's no longer about the product itself, it's about the side benefits found in the experience.

To locate these opportunities, it is important to stretch to the radical edge of pricing, the 10X increase or decrease. Moving to this edge will force creativity and innovation into products.