Q: Should I Persevere With My Product Or Get A Job?
One question entrepreneurs ask themselves is whether to persevere or get a job. What follows is an email exchange that has been edited into a Q&A.
One question entrepreneurs ask themselves is whether to persevere or get a job. What follows is an email exchange that has been edited into a Q&A.
Some startups just “go for it” and pursue their vision without any real strategy. In the same way that the losers are never interviewed after after the lottery numbers are announced, press and pundits draw startup lessons by restricting their focus to the winners. It’s bullshit.
The video from my “What is Lean–Lean Innovation 101” talk is up: Here is the description for the talk “Lean” provides a scientific approach for creating a product and developing new businesses. Teams can iteratively building products or services to meet the needs of early customers by adopting a combination of customer development, business-hypothesis-driven experimentation …
Video from Lean Innovation 101 Talk at SF Bay ACM Nov-20-2013 Read More »
IEEE-CNSV Panel Explores Engineering in Japan vs Silicon Valley Mon-Mar-3 I am helping to moderate a panel 7pm Mon-Mar-3 at IEEE-CNSV on “Innovation: Work and Life of the Engineer in Japan and Silicon Valley” The event takes place at Agilent Technologies, Inc. in the Aristotle Room, Bldg. 5 located at 5301 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa …
IEEE-CNSV Panel Explores Engineering in Japan vs Silicon Valley Mon-Mar-3 Read More »
Five financial mistakes bootstrappers can avoid include financing with credit cards or high interest loans and taking on long term financial commitments like a lease or an employee too early.
Let’s face it, finding customers can be quite a challenge. In this interactive workshop, we will cover a variety of proven marketing techniques for growing your business: attendees will select one or two that fit their style and develop a plan to implement them in their business in the next 90 days. Speaking – small …
Getting More Customers Workshop on March 25, 2014 Read More »
Q: I have worked as a manager in corporate IT for many years, saved my money, and now have an idea for a new product. I need a plan to go from essentially nothing but the idea to building an organization that can support a service-first or concierge MVP and the metrics in place to …
The difference between a hypothesis and an assumption is that the first is typically explicit and the second implicit. A hypothesis is what you are testing explicitly in an experiment. An assumption is tested implicitly. By making your assumptions and hypotheses explicit, you increase the clarity of your approach and the chance for learning.
Justin Kan (@JustinKan) wrote “Startups Don’t Die, They Commit Suicide” in 2011″ (mirrored on his blog here) reflecting on what he had observed and learned as a serial entrepreneur. It was reposted on the Philly Startup Leaders list earlier this week which led me to write the following comments mixed with excerpts from Kan’s post.
Overview: This MVP clinic helps two very different people facing analogous situations: one is a researcher looking for action research topics in the KM4Dev community, the other is an entrepreneur who wants to make athletic contests more engaging for contestants and the audience by providing more information that is mobile device friendly. (You can also …
The illusion of omnicompetence is the failure to recognize limits. Smart and competent are not a generic quality: they’re incredibly domain-specific.
John Smith and I did an MVP Clinic for Social and Community Apps on Oct 23. We took notes live in a PrimaryPad (an EtherPad derivative application). What follows is a cleaned up version of notes that we took and the audience contributed to. You can see MVP Clinic for Social/Community Apps Wed Oct 23 …
Audio and Notes from On-Line MVP Clinic Oct 23-2013 on Social Software Read More »
Q: Can you please take a look at this pitch. I have created it as a promo for investors and potential users. Selling your offering to customers and selling your business to investors requires two different presentations They have fundamentally different questions they need answered before they “buy.” Customers want to understand how your product …
Don’t Give Your Investor Pitch To Customers, They Have Different Questions Read More »
A deconstruction of the “How to Change Cars Forever” commercial for redesigned Dodge Dart as a distillation of engineering vision and an analysis of results
If you are planning a new service offering, involving technologies and social interactions between customers, this clinic on minimum viable service can help you learn your way out of conflicting assumptions, lack of relevant data, difficulty understanding service value, and resource constraints. This is especially the case if you need to get adoption by a …
Interviewing experts requires you to respect their time, doing basic research in advance to prepare a clear agenda and avoid unnecessary questions.
Whether you call it the status quo, the current order, the way things are, or vested interests, the present arrangement is what entrepreneurs strive to obsolete by offering something better, faster, cheaper, or just different.
Here are some back of the envelope models to estimate prospect counts and market sizes.
There are a number of forms packages now available for entrepreneurs that provide templates for incorporation, investment term sheets, hiring employees and contractors, etc.. And there are several business model canvas tools that are designed to facilitate useful discussions among founders and advisors (and potential investors) about a new startup. But Nathan Beckord‘s Foundersuite is …
FounderSuite Worth a Look for Saving Time On Your New Startup Read More »
Some thoughts on college vs. startups, the panels are sliced up from “Students” by Randall Monroe. This is which is a dream that I still have. I find it a marker for being under pressure.