I will often hear folks say “I think I can get a lot of users, I know that there is a market for this.” I worry because a market requires customers not just users: you can tell who your customer is because they pay for your product or service. When you say to yourself that […]
Users, Businesses, and Hobbies Read More »
Tips for using a wiki to organize customer interviews for customer discovery and to assess perspectives on their offering after purchase.
We Use a Wiki to Organize Customer Interviews Read More »
Tom Van Vleck has a great collection of software engineering stories on his site. One particularly good article is “Three Questions For Each Bug That You Find” which offers the following key observation: The key idea behind these questions is that every bug is a symptom of an underlying process. You have to treat the
Tom Van Vleck’s “3 Questions” Complement Root Cause Analysis Read More »
From time to time I run into a business card that makes me think. Here’s one that I will model as I update my own cards. Also check out some cool business cards from last year. Back:
Time To Update Your Business Card Read More »
To many of the current incubators seem focused on “on hit wonder” startups designed to be acquired quickly. Apps are the new pop songs and the incubators are the music labels, stoking the star maker machinery.
Stoking the Star Maker Machinery Behind The Popular App Read More »
[Note this post was written in 2011]. The recent troubles at Cisco have prompted a lot of commentary on the Cisco alumni e-mail list. One of the more thoughtful analyses was posted by Larry Lang (@llang629), who spent more than a decade at Cisco in a variety of positions. His last was as VP and
Larry Lang on Managing Incentives Read More »
Failure To Thrive: “We need another two weeks to add this one last feature.” This mindset of hesitation kills more products than any competitor.
This webinar is for SaaS firms faced with an “enterprise sales” challenge by virtue of their minimum price point or number of job boundaries, business processes, or contractual relationships that have to change to create value. The focus is on early revenue. Here is the video from my February 24 webinar with DreamSimplicity on “Early Sales
Video: Early Revenue For Enterprise Web Apps Read More »
A guest post by Edith Harbaugh that offers a number of practical tips and suggestions for managing email conversations with customers.
Managing Email Conversations With Customers 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 »
Intelligently reacting to new competitors requires you to give them the benefit of the doubt but if your prospects or customers are not asking about them then focus on what they are asking you.
Evaluating and Reacting to New Competitors Read More »
The essence of entrepreneurship is a free exchange of value–what the Romans called “quid pro quo”–that leaves all parties better off: no one loses.
Zero Sum vs. Quid Pro Quo Read More »
Federated entrepreneurship groups in different cities should following their own paths that leverage unique local strengths and advantages.
Federated Entrepreneurship 3: Play Your Own Game Read More »
To ensure that conversations and requests for help were productive, Anthony Scampavia kept a question at the top of his whiteboard in his various offices at Cisco for more than a dozen years: What is the problem you are trying to solve? Here are three problems we have identified and capabilities we plan to develop
New Capabilities We Plan To Develop in 2011 Read More »
For my first post of 2011 I commit to traveling hopefully. I was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s observation “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labor.”
Traveling Hopefully Read More »
I have been thinking about different kinds of teams and team work. For example a choir has sheet music (“Let Men Their Songs Employ”) that predefines the content and timing of each person’s contribution. In a different way the script for a play outlines the content and sequence of each actor’s part.
Let Men Their Songs Employ Read More »
Here is another excerpt from my September interview with Gabriel Weinberg. This one focuses on why payment and testimonials are so important to differentiate users from actual customers.
If Money Doesn’t Change Hands, You Can’t Call a User a Customer Read More »
“Some buildings need air conditioning because they have air conditioning. Because they were designed to be air conditioned, they have no natural ventilation and would be miserable to inhabit without air conditioning.” John Cook in “Maybe You Only Need It Because You Have It“ I wonder if the same thing happens to some fraction of
The Venture Lifestyle Business 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 »
