In the mind of the entrepreneur the future is obvious and imminent. This “reality distortion field” can be useful for making a better future possible, but it inclines the entrepreneur to minimize adoption risk–people will see the benefits of my product immediately and adopt it–and to be impatient. Customer development techniques allow you to identify expensive false positives for potential markets and to refine your approach.
I have been reviewing the presentations from Startup Lessons Learned 2010 and 2011 again and realized that I had never blogged about 2011 presentation “Lessons Learned Pivoting Votizen” by David Binetti (@dbinetti). His key take-away on the value of a customer development is that is helps the entrepreneur avoid expensive false positives, in particular the kind that can happen when you fall victim to your own reality distortion field and are overoptimistic about market risk.
Clip For The Mind Of the Entrepreneur
This clip starts at the 5 minute 40 second mark in David Binetti’s presentation at Startup Lessons Learned 2011 and gives a little context before “Phrenology of the Entrepreneur” slide shown below.
Slide For Phrenology Of the Entrepreneur
Here is the deck starting at the “Phrenology of the Entrepreneur” slide (19).
Related Posts
- Startup Lesson Learned Conference 2010 Coverage Roundup
- Startup Lesson Learned Conference 2011 Coverage Roundup
- Slides: Votizen Case Study & “When and How to Pivot“
- The full video for Binetti’s 2011 talk is available at http://youtu.be/AFztj9XSw-4
Update Aug-21: Source of the Phrenology Image this blog post from July 29 2008 on BzzAgent blog: Phrenology of the Entrepreneur
Having worked with several entrepreneurs throughout my career, I’ve noticed precisely nine common traits that unite them together and distinguish them from the rest of us. But what’s particularly interesting is this: just as these characteristics unify entrepreneurs into a discrete group, so too do they corral those who work for them into a community of their own. You see, entrepreneurs inadvertently create a culture in which the staff that survive bond over the realization that it is not each of them that is crazy.
Enter Exhibit A: This post. I wrote this post because our entrepreneur/leader constantly complains that too few blog posts are being submitted. I decided to write minimal text, and instead let the image speak for itself. After reviewing the post, our entrepreneur/leader informed me that “we” (another baffling entrepreneurial habit is to use plural pronouns when assigning tasks to an individual) need to add more text to make this post more about “the business” (code for “the entrepreneur,” himself?). So that’s what I am doing. And, in doing so, I have found myself reconsidering the image, itself. Perhaps the size of the rearmost lobe (labeled “self-esteem,” which was polite for “ego”), should be, err, adjusted.
Direct link to image http://www.bzzagent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/phrenology-of-the-entrepreneur.jpg
