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.
Five Serious Financial Mistakes Bootstrappers Can Avoid Read More »
Q: We have started selling and are looking for resources for a lean approach to sales, in particular for new product introduction. Lean Approach To Sales at Lean Startup Conference 2012 Scott Sambucci and I presented a workshop at Lean Startup 2012 on “Engineering Your Sales Process.” The deck is posted at http://www.slideshare.net/SalesQualia/engineering-your-sales-process About 70%
Q: Resources For A Lean Approach to Sales, In Particular New Product Introduction Read More »
My best business advice for managing a negotiation: start with a plain English agreement that covers the key deal points.
Legal Advice: Start With a Plain English Agreement That Covers Key Deal Points Read More »
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 »
Progress is discovering real prospects, understanding the simplest functionality they will pay for, and finding team members who can help.
A friend I had not seen in a while felt “stuck” in a startup. It’s a feeling I am familiar with: I made 3 suggestions for getting unstuck.
Getting Unstuck Revisited Read More »
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.
Difference Between a Hypothesis and an Assumption Read More »
It can be difficult to put a price on a new product service, much less to develop a pricing model you can use to offer pricing to many different prospects. Here are some tips.
Q: How To Pull The Trigger On A Pricing Model Read More »
This MVP clinic explores some of the challenges Semifore must navigate selling a solution to a team of diverse experts.
Recap Semifore MVP Clinic: Selling To A Team of Diverse Experts Read More »
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.
The Likely Consequences of Entrepreneurship Require Perseverance Read More »
Semifore execs, Rob Callaghan and Herb Winsted, Share Bootstrapping Lessons and 2014 Scaling Up Plans at an Jan-17-2014 MVP Clinic.
Q: I am considering product market fit metrics for an add-on new product launching in a well established company that makes equipment to test electrical cables (for the last 29 years). We are introducing a new product that is an add-on to existing products (it is only useful if used with the existing product). This is
Product Market Fit Metrics Read More »
I re-read Tom DeMarco‘s “Slack” over the Thanksgiving break and came away with a couple of good ideas worth sharing. Slack: Speed Difference Between Prudent and Breakneck Tom DeMarco offers the following definition of slack in the second to last chapter “Working at Breakneck Speed” Back in the time of sailing ships, going anywhere by ship
Tom DeMarco on Leadership, Trust, and Training Read More »
This MVP clinic helps a researcher looking for action research topics in the KM4Dev community and an entrepreneur making athletic contests more engaging.
Recap From Nov-20-2103 MVP Clinic Read More »
The illusion of omnicompetence is the failure to recognize limits. Smart and competent are not a generic quality: they’re incredibly domain-specific.
The Illusion of Omnicompetence: Smart and Competent Are Domain Specific Adjectives Read More »
John Smith and I explore what’s involved i an MVP for Social Software in this MVP Clinic for Social and Community Apps on Oct-23-2013. 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
Audio and Notes from On-Line MVP Clinic Oct 23-2013 on Social Software Read More »
It’s a mistake to give your investor pitch to customers: they have different questions from investors, and that requires a separate deck.
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
Balancing Engineering Vision vs. Customer Expectation Read More »
MVP Clinic for Social/Community Apps Wed-Oct-23 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
MVP Clinic for Social/Community Apps Wed-Oct-23 Read More »
