Q: I’m just about to get out of the building to validate hypotheses and start learning, but I have a problem with the business model canvas. I have been advised to develop detailed hypotheses before starting customer discovery. This is my startup and I have no idea how to fill in the business model canvas […]
Serious Problems With Business Model Canvas For Startups Read More »
In this guest blog, Javid Jamae advises that an MVP is finished only after you have found early adopters for your product.
An MVP is Finished Only After You Have Early Adopters Read More »
One of the hallmarks of the entrepreneurial journey is diving in over your head. At some point you have to commit fully to a new venture and at a later point you realize that, despite all of your careful preparation, you are testing the depth of water with both feet–or perhaps even head first. This
Diving In Over Your Head Read More »
I am rescuing a dialog on customer development and channel development I had with Ash Maurya from the comments to his “Lessons Learned in 2010” blog post. I am still at work on the “system of simultaneous equations” model and I think his new thinking on the “Customer Factory” is moving closer to iterating against
Customer Development and Channel Development Read More »
A minimum viable product (MVP) for business must inspire trust. If prospects understand your promise they don’t believe you, they won’t buy.
Q: Is It Waste To Build A B2B MVP That Inspires Trust? Read More »
Critical tasks in a startup include conversations with prospects and customers, planning, retrospectives, recruiting, and focused execution.
Q: What Are Critical Tasks In A Startup? Read More »
Cold calling, despite it’s popularity, is almost always the worst possible customer acquisition approach as a pure method. Find a way to warm up the call.
If “Cold Calling” is Your Answer Please Reconsider Read More »
Here are some suggestion guidelines that help set newcomers expectations for what constitute valuable content and comments in an online community.
Guidelines For An Online Community of Entrepreneurs Read More »
The practical and spiritual aspects of entrepreneurship as a calling are well documented in “The Call of the Entrepreneur.”
Entrepreneurship As A Calling Read More »
Q: What are logos good for? An image is processed by a different part of the brain than a word or phrase, making it both memorable and evocative in ways that are distinct from the name of your company. Having a logo for your company or product makes it more memorable and allows you to
Why You Need A Logo Read More »
These are excerpts from Episode 9 of Outlier on Air: Tristan Kromer, A Lean Approach to Business. They are in the same sequence the took place in the interview but a number of stories and asides have been omitted to focus on what I felt were some extremely valuable insights from Tristan Kromer on clarifying and testing
Tristan Kromer on Testing Customer and Value Hypotheses Read More »
Some excerpts from “Civilization and Its Enemies” by Lee Harris, with commentary on the implications of 9-11 for Silicon Valley. We Have An Enemy “It is the enemy who defines us as his enemy, and in making this definition he changes us, and changes us whether we like it or not. We cannot be the same
Lee Harris’ Insights on What 9-11 Means Read More »
Q: I have 3D printed a couple prototypes of my product. I am going to get user feedback by letting security guards–my target market–test if for free for a few days. How many prospect should I have test it before I can determine if there is a market for the product. Since you are 3D
No Such Thing as a Random Sample of Five People Read More »
Here are ten tips for managing new product demos to prospects. While it’s always a good idea to preview inside the team and perhaps call in some favors for “friendly fire” review, at some point you have to bite the bullet and start giving new product demos to prospects. Here are my top ten tips (or
Ten Tips For New Product Demos Read More »
The next few weeks and perhaps the next few years are going to be awful. Keep counting your blessings anyway, remain kind, and continue to make a difference. Peggy Noonan wrote My Brothers and Sisters on March 8, 2002 in the Wall Street Journal. She subtitled it “A report from New York, six months on”
Counting Your Blessings Read More »
Michael S. Malone wrote “Second Sight” for the Dec-3-2001 issue of Forbes ASAP (a great quarterly magazine put out by Forbes and edited by Malone that no longer seems to be available on-line). It’s also collected in his book “The Valley of Heart’s Delight: A Silicon Valley Notebook 1963-2001” as Chapter 3. It’s a meditation
Second Sight: A Meditation on Silicon Valley and 9-11 Read More »
We Help You With Customer Discovery Q: Why don’t you ever blog about User Experience Research (UX)? The short answer is that we do customer discovery not user experience research. Our Clients Want Leads and Deals My clients come to me for help generating leads and closing deals, so that narrows my focus. We don’t
User Experience Research vs. Customer Discovery Read More »
Q: I have looked at your website and based on some of your blog posts you seem to provide a full range of tactical services–content, outbound messaging, SEO, videos, newsletters, demos, etc.. Why do you talk about “leads and deals” instead of focusing on the full range of services that you offer? Founders Want Leads
Founders Want Leads and Deals Read More »
Conor Neill has a great post up today on “a 9 Step Cheatsheet for Becoming a Public Speaking Expert” courtesy of the London Speakers Bureau. I am not usually a fan of infographics but this is exceptionally well done. Expert public speaking requires deliberate practice the same as any other skill. Here are some key
Nine Tips For Expert Public Speaking Read More »
The best demo–a Great Demo!–is a conversations driven by mutual curiosity. Your goal is to learn more about a prospect’s current situation and needs while they want to learn more about your product and services and how you can help them. Mutual Demos “Before I demo to you, why don’t you demo to me what
A Great Demo Is A Conversation Driven By Mutual Curiosity Read More »
