Here is video and slides from Feb-11-2021 talk “Landing Your First Ten Customers” at the Lean Culture Meetup. I have included some supplemental resources for further reading.
Landing Your First Ten Customers: Videos, Slides, and Other Resources Read More »
The key challenges to getting your first ten customers relate to understanding the customer buying process and managing the startup learning process for need, impact, customer definition and message.
Why is it so hard to get your first ten customers? Read More »
Rob Fitzpatrick, author of the Mom Test, offers some evergreen advice on mistakes bootstrappers should avoid in 2021 (especially if they have not made already and won’t see them coming.)
Rob Fitzpatrick: Five Mistakes Bootstrappers Should Avoid in 2021 Read More »
The best way to get leads is through referrals from satisfied customers or others who are in position to vouch for your product or service.
Best Way to Get Leads is Referrals Read More »
We outline the process of launching a bootstrapped startup, from creating an idea, to forming a team, to proving viability.
A Holistic Approach to Launching a Bootstrapped Startup Read More »
This is a practical overview of social capital, an essential concept for ent despite being hard to measure. I offer suggestions for growing your business network, and enhancing your reputation, explaining why increasing social capital creates value for your startup.
A Practical Introduction to Social Capital for Entrepreneurs Read More »
There are several insights for bootstrappers in William Eleazar Barton’s “The Icebergs and the Fog.” It’s a “Safed the Sage” parable published in 1925
William Eleazar Barton: The Parable of the Icebergs and the Fog Read More »
This post on B2B customer development interviews builds on one of my most popular. If you would like help preparing for customer development interviews or reviewing results from recent interviews, contact us. Here are my lessons learned from taking part in interviews where the startup planned to offer a product or service to a business.
40 Tips for B2B Customer Development Interviews Read More »
It’s easy for the product team to to fixate on the core technology that enables a product and lose sight of what’s needed for the “whole product.” This article is the result of an ongoing collaboration with Mary Sorber that started with her metaphor that raw pasta is not enough to create a successful Italian
Mary Sorber: Raw Pasta is Not Enough Read More »
A summary of my personal experience and our firm’s perspective on what practical steps early stage startups should take for competitive intelligence.
Competitive Intelligence for Bootstrapping Startups Read More »
An SKMurphy Mastermind Group is an ongoing series of facilitated conversations among serious entrepreneurs. It enables collaboration on problems and opportunities and fosters joint accountability around effective ongoing action.
Benefits of SKMurphy Mastermind for Entrepreneurs Read More »
Octavia Butler rejects inspiration, talent, and imagination as essential to creative pursuits and suggests that habits that enable persistence and learning are the essential element.
Octavia Butler: Cultivate Habits That Enable Persistence and Learning Read More »
The following is an edited version of a recent online conversation I had with a team of bootstrappers about how to make their product attract early adopters.
Q: What Makes a Product Attract Early Adopters? Read More »
Entrepreneurs are often quick to characterize prospects who don’t see the benefits of their new shiny technology as laggards. Sometimes that’s the case, but often the product presentation does not present benefits that are either relevant or compelling. Laggards get a lot of bad press in the startup community, but their reasons not to change
Q: Help! I Can Only Find Laggards in My Target Customer Segment Read More »
Finding the right customers is not just a matter of kissing frogs until one turns into a prince, but a methodical search guided by an experimentation perspective where your selection criteria are continually refined and re-evaluated.
A Q&A with Lee Carter where we explore the value of direct observation of customer environments to complement customer interviews. Lee shares details of a project he worked on where direct observation provided a valuable complement to a basic product specification.
Lee Carter on the Value of Direct Observation Read More »
If you have “failed fast” it’s still possible to recover as long as your team has shared trust and a sense of common purpose. Failed Fast, Now What? Q: We started out with a mission that we found compelling and executed pretty well against it but now we are out of money and cannot figure
Failed Fast, Now What? Read More »
A personal note on why I enjoy working with teams of bootstrapping entrepreneurs and the kinds of problems we help them solve.
Why I Enjoy Working With Teams of Bootstrapping Entrepreneurs Read More »
My longer answer to “Do you ever get the feeling that everything you know is wrong?” The short answer is “yes, every few years.”
Do You Ever Get the Feeling That Everything You Know is Wrong? Read More »
A concierge MVP or service -first approach delivers the benefits that your product offers as a service or consulting first, charging for the result not your time.
Concierge MVP or Service-First Forces You To Be Your Own Test Pilot Read More »
