Hope to see you on Monday, May 23, 2011 in San Francisco, CA for the Second Startup Lessons Learned conference. The day-long event will feature a mix of panels and talks focused on the key challenges and issues that technical and market-facing people at startups need to understand in order to succeed in building successful […]
Signed up for Startup Lessons Learned Conference Read More »
John Cook observes that connecting technical know-how with customer needs requires skills outside of mathematics.
Connecting Technical Know-How With Customer Needs Read More »
This is a guest post by Edith Harbaugh. She moderates the Lean Startup Circle mailing list but doesn’t have a blog of her own, so I have offered her mine because I was impressed by her insights and writing. It’s Your Execution Not Your Idea An initially dispiriting thing to hear from a customer is
Edith Harbaugh: It’s Your Execution Not Your Idea Read More »
Always prepare an answer for when a prospect asks you “How do we get started?” Do this before you hear it the first time so you are ready.
Prepare and Rehearse Your Answer to “How Do We Get Started?” Read More »
Mark Duncan and I collaborated on a four page article “An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sales” that has been added to the Chicago MBA Coursepack
Our “Entrepreneur’s Guide To Sales” Added To Chicago MBA Coursepack Read More »
Here is the handout from this morning’s Bootstrapper Breakfast® in Walnut Creek where I gave a briefing on “Mapping the Path to Your First Dollar of Revenue.”
Mapping the Path to Your First Dollar of Revenue – Handout Read More »
Early adopters have already let go of the past and are looking for near term results that can provide building blocks to better outcomes.
Early Adopters Have Already Let Go of the Past Read More »
It’s rare for a new initiative to work the first time, at least when I try. I have to “walk around the problem” to look at it from different perspectives.
Take Time to Walk Around The Problem Read More »
Customer Development requires an openness to new ideas from prospects and a willingness to revisit assumptions and to be surprised.
Customer Development Requires a Willingness to Be Surprised Read More »
Keeping the ball rolling with prospects requires a mix of empathy for their situation and a project management mindset.
Keeping the Ball Rolling With Prospects Read More »
My Interview With Peggy Aycinena I was interviewed by Peggy Aycinena about six months ago and she subsequently published it in July on the GabeOnEDA site as “Business 101: Art & Magic of EDA Marketing.” Peggy has always appreciated that the technology is nothing without the team and it’s the people you need to focus
My Interview With Peggy Aycinena Read More »
It’s often more fruitful to consider what evidence would disprove your hypotheses and what are the simplest things you could do to collect it?
Spend Some Time On How To Disprove Your Hypotheses Read More »
Ash Maurya (@AshMaurya) has released the first two chapters of his new book “Running Lean” and here are my first impressions.
Ash Maurya on “Running Lean” Read More »
I meet teams trying to cold call for their first business customer and I just haven’t seen it work; the trust issues cripple them. Here is a relevant excerpt from Gabriel Weinberg’s interview with me for his traction book.
Cold Calling Won’t Find Your First Business Customer Read More »
A hunger for certainty will not help an entrepreneur make timely decisions or manage the level of ambiguity and uncertainty they need to navigate through.
We Cannot Sate Your Hunger For Certainty But We Can Increase Your Odds of Success Read More »
The first 3 unknowns for a startup are Customers, Features, and Message. Of these the target customer is the key variable to lock down first.
3 Equations & 3 Unknowns: Target Customer is Key Initial Value Read More »
Gabriel Weinberg is a serial entrepreneur (latest startup: DuckDuckGo), a Hacker Angel, insightful blogger, and frequent contributor to Hacker News. He is writing a book on how startups get traction and interviewing folks like Patrick McKenzie to collect lessons learned from a variety of perspectives. I was delighted when he approached me to take part
Gabriel Weinberg Interviews Me For His Traction Book Read More »
A Chalk Talk on “Managing Risk In Technology Adoption” that covers some of key challenges technology providers have with getting companies to use their products.
Chalk Talk on Technology Adoption Read More »
We posted the interview I did with Floyd Tucker of DreamSimplicity about a month ago but in the last two days I have had two people comment to me directly and one tweet about my “three equations and three unknowns” answer: customers, features, message.
3 Equations & 3 Unknowns: Customers, Features, Message Read More »
Product-Market fit is a measure of the relative fitness of a product solving a problem for a particular customer set at a point in time.
Product-Market Fit is a Fraction Not a Bit Read More »
