Memorial Day 2014
On Memorial Day we commemorate those who have died in the service of our country. It’s a day of remembrance more than one of celebration. I offer some quotes on death, heroism, and the stories we tell for you to meditate on.
Steve Hodas’ Lean Startup 2013 Talk Offers Recipe for Re-Invigorating Intrapreneurs
Steve Hodas packs a lot of insight packed into this 15 minute talk from the Lean Startup 2013 conference. A recent conversation reminded me how much I enjoyed this talk and the savvy approach Hodas outlines for enterprise or large organizations who want to encourage innovation by partnering with startups and re-invigorating intrapreneurs and internal
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Don’t Ask Your Next Question Before You Learn From The Last Answer
When you are interviewing a prospect don’t ask your next question before you learn from the last answer. If they are not asking you questions it’s deteriorated into an interrogation.
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Circle the Chairs
Brian Fuller had an interesting blog post on why you should circle the chairs in a meeting to increase audience participation at “Industry events need to get more social.” Panels and speeches at events are the live equivalent of newspaper publishing: We talk, you listen. Newspapers and magazines have been pounded for the better part
Q: How Much Attention Should I Pay To Potential Competition?
Instead of looking left and right for potential competition, I would walk around the table and look at the situation from your prospect’s perspective.
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Q: Can We Launch First and Ask Customer Discovery Questions Later?
Don’t do a big launch before you have completed customer discovery or you are running a very expensive test of your key customer and market hypotheses.
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Kent Beck and Don Reinertsen on Value of Storytelling
What follows is an exchange on twitter between Kent Beck and Don Reinertsen on Dec 12-2013 about their experiences as speakers at the Lean Startup Conference 2013 that I thought was worth preserving. Kent Beck and Don Reinertsen on Value of Storytelling Kent Beck (@KentBeck) Dec 12: The beauty of teaching through storytelling is that
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Quotes For Entrepreneurs–April 2014
A collection of quotes of interest and use to entrepreneurs: these quotes for entrepreneurs were identified in April 2014.
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Tools vs. Methods vs. Policies
Distinguish tools vs. methods vs. policies. Tools that support a range of methods and policies are much more useful a and much more likely to get used.
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Recap of “How To Give a Great Demo” at CoFounders Club Wed-Apr-16-2014
I had a nice time at last night’s Cofounder Club. Dea Wilson, founder of Lifograph, invited me to talk about “Giving a Killer Demo.” We had a lively discussion upstairs at Procopio: starting with some introductions and then short demos by the attendees, then I gave a formal recap of the Great Demo methodology and how to apply
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Quotes For Entrepreneurs–March 2014
You can follow @skmurphy to get these hot off the mojo wire or wait until these quotes for entrepreneurs are collected in a blog post at the end of each month. Enter your E-mail address if you would like have new blog posts sent to you.
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Building a Business Requires Building Trust
One of the hallmarks for success in a business-to-business market is the ability to form personal relationships as well as professional business relationships. Both require building trust. I am always dismayed when I read advice that advocates bait and switch or other forms of con games that erode trust and make it difficult for any
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Great Demo Workshop Attendee: “Holy Crap! My Demos Have Too Much Detail”
Great Demo Workshop Attendee: “Holy Crap! My Demos Have Too Much Detail” After every Great Demo! workshop we contact the attendees with a short E-Mail that reads in part: I want to check-in to see how you have been doing using the ideas and skills we covered in our Great Demo! Workshop three months ago.
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Learn How to Market Your Expertise March 25 in Sunnyvale
Whether you are a software startup or a consultant you have to convince prospects that you have the expertise to solve their problems by what you say, what you write, and what others say about you. This three hour workshop will outline a mix of proven marketing techniques for generating leads for your business. Attendees will
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Office Hours: Schedule Time To Walk Around Your MVP
Looking for advice on lead generation or closing deals? Consider scheduling “office hours” to walk around your current sales process or a particular opportunity you are trying to close. SKMurphy functions as a startup advisor to help you understand the process of building a business. We understand the challenges of selecting an advisor–and advising entrepreneurs–and have blogged
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Without A Revenue Hypothesis Your Business Model Is a List of User Activities
Without a revenue hypothesis your business model is just a list of activities users are engaging in. You need to map customer actions to revenue and costs.
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Discovery Kanban Helps You Manage Risks and Options In Your Product Roadmap
I came across this presentation from LLKD13 (#LLKD13 / storify) by Patrick Steyaert (@PatrickSteyaert) of Okaloa on Discovery Kanban after following some links off a Kanban discussion group last year.
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Q: Should I Persevere With My Product Or Get A Job?
One question entrepreneurs ask themselves is whether to persevere or get a job. What follows is an email exchange that has been edited into a Q&A.
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Feeling Lucky Is Not a Strategy
Some startups just “go for it” and pursue their vision without any real strategy. In the same way that the losers are never interviewed after the lottery numbers are announced, press and pundits draw startup lessons by restricting their focus to the winners. It’s bullshit.
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Video from Lean Innovation 101 Talk at SF Bay ACM Nov-20-2013
The video from my “What is Lean–Lean Innovation 101” talk is up: Here is the description for the talk “Lean” provides a scientific approach for creating a product and developing new businesses. Teams can iteratively building products or services to meet the needs of early customers by adopting a combination of customer development, business-hypothesis-driven experimentation
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