How can begin-up companies—some of which may have only a prototype product or an idea for a service—appropriately gauge market response? One govt of a smaller firm had put collectively a prototype of a tool that allows personal computer systems to handle telephone messages.

He wanted to reveal that clients would buy the product, but the firm had exhausted its cash sources and was thus unable to construct and sell the item in amount. In monthly night sessions the discussion board evaluates the business plans of corporations accepted for presentation during 60- to ninety-minute segments by which no holds are barred. The format permits each presenter 20 minutes to summarize a business plan orally.