Founders ask what to do first. Product, customers, marketing, distribution. That is the wrong question. The right question is whether the commercial conditions for success exist at all. The FCP Market Readiness Diagnostic™ tells you what is in place, what is missing, and what to resolve before sequencing makes any difference.
Most failed launches were not failed by poor execution. They were failed by unanswered questions. Who exactly is the buyer. Whether they know you exist. Whether they see enough value to pay. Whether you can reach enough of them affordably. The FCP Market Readiness Diagnostic™ makes those questions explicit and scores where you currently stand on each one.
Built for founders preparing to launch, businesses entering new markets or segments, and commercial leaders who want to validate whether the conditions for growth exist before committing resources to execution.
Scores your market readiness across six commercial dimensions. Customer clarity: how precisely you have defined who your buyer is and what drives their urgency. Market legibility: whether buyers can find you, understand you, and see why you are relevant to them. Competitive landscape: what buyers are currently doing instead of using your product, and whether your differentiation is meaningful in their terms. Willingness to pay: whether you have evidence that buyers will exchange money at a price that makes the business commercially sustainable. Route to market: whether you can reach sufficient volume of ideal buyers at an acquisition cost your unit economics support. Commercial readiness: whether the proof points, trust signals, and sales motion exist to convert interest into a first sale.
Do you know precisely who your buyer is and what drives their urgency to act.
Can buyers find you, understand you, and see your relevance immediately.
Do you understand what buyers are doing instead, and why your approach is meaningfully different.
Do you have evidence that buyers will pay at a price that sustains the business.
Can you reach sufficient buyers through channels your unit economics support.
Do you have the proof points and sales motion to convert interest into a first sale.
A total score out of 100 across six dimensions. A readiness band: Market Ready, Approaching Readiness, Structural Gaps, or Pre-Market. A dimension-level breakdown showing which conditions are in place and which are not. A prioritised direction identifying the highest-leverage gap to address first.
Most advisory firms sell recommendations. FCP builds diagnostic tools because the right questions are more valuable than premature answers. Before strategy, before execution, before investment, clarity. Every diagnostic FCP publishes is free because structured self-assessment produces better commercial conversations than cold outreach.
Results available immediately. No credit card. No sales call unless you want one.
Run the Market Readiness DiagnosticEverything you need to know before you begin.
The FCP Market Readiness Diagnostic™ is for founders preparing to launch a new product or service, businesses entering a new market or segment, and commercial leaders who want to validate whether the conditions for successful growth exist before committing significant resources to execution. It is particularly valuable for first-mover businesses, AI-native products, and any company entering a market where buyer behaviour is not yet established.
Most founders focus on sequencing: should I build the product first, find customers first, or start marketing first. Sequencing matters, but it is secondary to the more fundamental question of whether the commercial conditions for success exist at all. If your buyer is unclear, your positioning is incomprehensible, or your route to market is uneconomic, the sequence in which you execute those activities makes no difference to the outcome. The diagnostic identifies which conditions are present and which need to be established before sequencing decisions are meaningful.
Product readiness refers to whether your product or service functions as intended and delivers the experience you designed. Market readiness refers to whether the commercial conditions exist for that product to find buyers, be understood, and generate sustainable revenue. A product can be technically excellent and commercially unready. The FCP Market Readiness Diagnostic™ assesses the commercial conditions, not the product itself.
Yes, and this is precisely the situation the diagnostic was designed for. First-mover products face a specific set of commercial challenges that businesses entering established markets do not. The competitive landscape dimension specifically assesses what buyers are currently doing instead of using your product, because that existing behaviour is your real competition regardless of whether named alternatives exist.
Yes. Many businesses that have launched successfully in a limited way use the diagnostic to assess readiness for the next stage of growth, whether that is entering a new market, scaling a channel, or raising funding. The diagnostic surfaces the commercial gaps most likely to limit the next phase, regardless of what has already been achieved.
Investors assess market readiness as part of their due diligence, often using frameworks similar to the six dimensions in this diagnostic. A business that scores well across customer clarity, willingness to pay, and route to market is making the same commercial case that a strong investor pitch requires. Completing the diagnostic before a fundraising process helps identify and address the structural gaps that investors are most likely to surface.
Approximately 12 minutes. Results are available immediately after submission.
You receive a scored result across six dimensions with a band classification and prioritised direction. The FCP team reviews completions and reaches out to businesses where a diagnostic conversation would add commercial value.