A new startup is often driven by a desire for autonomy, self-expression, and lifelong learning. Or it’s a creative solution to a lack of alternatives. Albert Hirschman observed that “creativity always comes as a surprise to us” which led him to suggest “the only we can bring our creative resources fully into play is by misjudging […]
If You Knew How Hard a Startup Would Be Read More »
Stripping the least useful third of the features requested allows you to deliver a 70 percent solution much more rapidly that’s often good enough.
Even For Demanding Markets, An MVP That’s a 70% Solution is Often Good Enough Read More »
Empires build a Death Star, Rebels build X-Wing fighters If your startup’s minimum viable product is a Death Star you are doing it wrong.
MVP: Are You Building a Death Star? Read More »
Pete Tormey and I did a short podcast on a delegation checklist. We wanted to help bootstrapping entrepreneurs decide what tasks it made the most sense to delegate in an early stage startup.
Podcast with Pete Tormey: Bootstrapper’s Delegation Checklist Read More »
We get a number of questions about logos, here are three tips for designing or choosing a logo when you are bootstrapping or just getting started: Text Treatments: text logos are simple, the company name is always right there. Most high tech logos are text treatments, they are clear and simple. With text logos you
Tips for Choosing a Logo Read More »
An excerpt from an interview with Dean Kamen in “Imagine Design Create” by Tom Wujec. Kamen suggests entrepreneurs look for outmoded perspectives preventing the use of technologies that are “available, affordable, reliable, functional.”
Dean Kamen on Good Design and Where to Begin Read More »
Sean Murphy, CEO of SKMurphy Inc will be moderating two upcoming MVP Clinics. These are interactive roundtable discussions were entrepreneurs can present where they are with their MVP and hypotheses about customer, problem, solution, and value. The roundtable will explore issues that founders are having in defining and evaluating their MVP. Bootstrappers Breakfast on July
Upcoming MVP Clinics in July and August for Startup Entrepreneurs Read More »
We have been invited back the SF Lean Startup Circle to present our “Validating Your MVP and Value Proposition for B2B Startups” workshop on June 4, starting 5:30pm. This interactive workshop will address: How a B2B startup should think about message, MVP, and launch. Understand who buys your product and how they calculate its value and
Validating Your MVP For B2B Startups at SF Lean Startup Circle Tue-Jun-4 Read More »
Theresa Shafer met Ari Halberstadt at a Bootstrapper Breakfast in SF earlier this year and was very impressed with his approach to his new startup, Catalee. Ari volunteered to talk with me about Noam Wasserman‘s “The Founder’s Dilemmas” as well as Catalee.
Founder Story: Ari Halberstadt of Catalee on Founder’s Dilemmas Read More »
If your prospect keep raising the same stupid objections and asking the same dumb questions it’s likely that your presentation is lacking or you are frequently talking to the wrong people. For new products, prospect objections are valuable data. Explore the implications and adjust your presentation and demo accordingly.
For New Products Prospect Objections Are Valuable Data Read More »
John Finneran’s postmortem: “Fat startup: Learn the lessons of my failed Lean Startup” shows he did not learn the right lessons from failure.
Learning the Right Lessons From Failure Read More »
A conversation with Pete Tormey on forming a team, dividing equity, and gaining early traction in a startup.
Podcast with Pete Tormey on Forming a Team, Dividing Equity, and Gaining Early Traction Read More »
How To Thrive After An Acquisition Q: I was CTO and co-founder of a small technology startup that was recently acquired by a much larger firm. We have a two year earn out that I would like to collect. I see myself as a serial entrepreneur (this is my first successful acquisition but I
How To Thrive After An Acquisition Read More »
The Field of Dreams model–build it and they will come–is a variation on “build a better mousetrap,” a self-limiting belief that dooms many startups.
Vision Is Critical But Avoid The “Field of Dreams” Read More »
Q: Appreciate your thoughts on qualitative vs. quantitative approaches to market exploration. Customer development is like qualitative research; it is good for exploring hypotheses (and associated issues) but cannot validate them (by its very nature it is small sample size). To validate startup hypotheses one needs to do quantitative research, e.g. surveys, measurements (A/B tests), and have
Market Discovery and Exploration Requires Models from Physics, Biology, and Psychology Read More »
Update Mar-27-2013: Slides and audio for this event are now available at “Slides and Audio from How To Bootstrap at ASLCPA Mar 27” I have been asked by the Emerging Business Group at Abbott, Stringham and Lynch to give a talk on “How to Bootstrap Your Start-Up.” If you are a technology entrepreneurs who doesn’t fit
How To Bootstrap Your Start-Up at ASL Mar-27-2013 Read More »
Resist the temptation to hype your new product, treat it as an hypothesis not just in your own mind but also in how you describe it to prospects. If strangers tell you what they like about your product or particular ways that they found it useful then you can use that in your messaging for
Hypothesis Not Hype For A New Product Read More »
Before you introduce a new product into an existing market you need to analyze the market structure and competitive landscape. This is a laundry list–not a prioritized list—of the set of challenges we currently wrestle with in helping clients monitor their external environment and craft strategies for new market creation and new product introduction into
Challenges in Analyzing Market Structure and Competitive Landscape Read More »
An exploration of some of the implications of Arie P. de Geus insight that “The ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
Startups Where “We Are All In This Together” Learn Faster Read More »
It’s especially important to price based on your value to a particular customer’s situation when you bring unique expertise and insight to a problem. This post is based on a real engagement that started with the conversation in “Living In Anticipation With Schrodinger’s Leads.”
Price Based On Your Value To The Customer’s Situation Read More »
