This post on customer development interviews is one of my most popular. If you would like help preparing for customer development interviews or reviewing results from recent interviews please sign up for a no cost no obligation office hours session and I will be happy to help you rehearse or de-brief. Here are my lessons learned from taking […]
Tips for B2B Customer Development Interviews Read More »
Malcolm Gladwell Suggests Appreciative Inquiry Into Inner-City Schools From a Time Magazine December 2009 interview with Malcolm Gladwell I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that in inner-city schools, the thing they do best is sports. They do really, really well in sports. It’s not correct to say these schools are dysfunctional; they’re highly functional
Malcolm Gladwell Suggests Appreciative Inquiry Into Inner-City Schools Read More »
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a mindset that is essential in customer discovery. It encourages you to look for what’s working in an potential customer’s organization and “work with the grain of the wood.” It enables you to build on demonstrated strengths and accomplishments in framing your solution to a critical business problem.
Appreciative Inquiry Mindset Essential to Customer Discovery Read More »
Question from an entrepreneur in the midst of customer discovery for a new product. Q: We are preparing to launch our first product in a few months. Next week there is a conference sponsored by a professional society that represents one of our potential target markets. We have already done about a dozen customer discovery
Customer Development Conversations With Busy Prospects Read More »
It’s the Picture on the Box that Sells the LEGO Set: provide specific examples of how your product can be used to solve problems.
It’s the Picture on the Box that Sells the LEGO Set Read More »
I am always interested in having a conversation with a prospect. If you are hoping to infer needs from seeing them press a menu button with an icon or one or two words on it I think that’s a poor substitute for a conversation. I know that people cannot always predict what they need or
Selling to a Business Requires Conversations that Build Trust Read More »
Steve Blank: “Sean Murphy adds tremendous value for startups in setting them up “getting out of the building” and how to make sense of the data they’ve gathered. He’s one consultant I personally know (I’m sure there are others) who doesn’t confuse his role with the founders. I think of his consulting firm as a
SKMurphy, Inc. 8 Years In: What We Are Working On Now Read More »
Learning to explore is a key skill for entrepreneurs. Ask questions you don’t know the answer to–where the answer would have an impact on your ability to assess the risk in your venture or would help you to define a key aspect of your business.
Buying a Map vs. Learning to Explore Read More »
Taking a scientific approach to startups by formulating and testing critical hypotheses is a great idea, but it won’t create a “Science of Startups.”
A Scientific Approach to Startups Won’t Create “A Science of Startups” Read More »
A talk on “Crucial Customer Development Concepts” that covers the basis for conventional wisdom on customer development in Silicon Valley.
Crucial Customer Development Concepts At GITPRO Sat-Jun-18 Read More »
Technology changes fast: you need continually renew your technical skills and those of your team. Soft skills–people skills–have a much longer lifetime.
Technology Changes Fast, People, Not So Much Read More »
Want a simple way to determine your competition during customer discovery: consider what your prospects would have to give up to buy and use your product or service. The time and money you want prospects to spend on your offering have to come from somewhere: prospects will normally choose to take it from what they
How To Determine Your Competition During Customer Discovery Read More »
It’s always a good idea to treat prospects well: you don’t want to foreclose the possibility of another conversation or a referral.
Treat Prospects Well–Allow For Another Conversation Read More »
I took part in a number of great conversations at today’s Startup Lessons Learned Conference, probably the most common–and most vexing–issue that was discussed was whether to give up in the face of modest success. I had perhaps half a dozen conversations around “We’ve come this far and have paying customers but are not sure
Giving Up Too Soon, Persisting Too Long Read More »
Customer understand when they have unmet needs, persistent problems, and goals and risk. They are normally very good at describing their problems and constraints on a solution but less accurate in fully specifying a solution.
Interview Prospects To Find Unmet Needs, Persistent Problems, and Goals at Risk 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 »
Hope to see you on Monday, May 23, 2011 in San Francisco, CA for the Second Startup Lessons Learned conference. The day-long event will feature a mix of panels and talks focused on the key challenges and issues that technical and market-facing people at startups need to understand in order to succeed in building successful
Signed up for Startup Lessons Learned Conference Read More »
John Cook routinely offers great insights on his blog, “The Endeavor.” He was interviewed by Vincent Tan in the March 2011 issue[PDF] of Singularity Magazine Actually applying math is hard work. It requires knowing the limits of your abstractions. It may require writing software or writing English prose. It requires skills outside of mathematics in
Connecting Technical Know-How With Customer Needs Read More »
This is a guest post by Edith Harbaugh. She moderates the Lean Startup Circle mailing list but doesn’t have a blog of her own, so I have offered her mine because I was impressed by her insights and writing. It’s Your Execution Not Your Idea An initially dispiriting thing to hear from a customer is
Edith Harbaugh: It’s Your Execution Not Your Idea 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 »
