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 »
Here is the handout from this morning’s Bootstrapper Breakfast® in Walnut Creek. Mapping the Path to Your First Dollar of Revenue Sean Murphy, SKMurphy, Inc. Bootstrapper Breakfast Walnut Creek Jan 25, 2011 Entrepreneurs tend to focus on having a good idea, or on the challenges of developing a new product, or on finding co-founders to
Mapping the Path to Your First Dollar of Revenue – Handout Read More »
“We didn’t know what “the new” was. It’s kind of a hard concept because when most people talk about “the new,” they’re actually talking about it after the fact. They look back and say how brilliant you were at seeing all this, and so forth. Well, it’s all nonsense. When it is new, you don’t
Early Adopters Have Already Let Go of the Past Read More »
It’s rare for a new initiative to work the first time, at least when I try. I have to “walk around the problem” to look at it from different perspectives.
Take Time to Walk Around The Problem Read More »
Customer Development Requires a Willingness to Be Surprised And by “surprised” I mean: able to admit that your assumptions are wrong open to new insights from prospects willing to change your plans for your product or your startup willing begin again with a better frame of reference Inspired by Bob Lewis’ “Holiday Card to the
Customer Development Requires a Willingness to Be Surprised 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 »
My Interview With Peggy Aycinena I was interviewed by Peggy Aycinena about six months ago and she subsequently published it in July on the GabeOnEDA site as “Business 101: Art & Magic of EDA Marketing.” Peggy has always appreciated that the technology is nothing without the team and it’s the people you need to focus
My Interview With Peggy Aycinena Read More »
There is a strong temptation for founders to prioritize their efforts on the basis of “What is the simplest thing we could do here to prove this hypothesis about our product or our business?” It’s often more fruitful to consider what evidence would disprove your hypotheses and what is the simplest thing you could do to
Spend Some Time On How To Disprove Your Hypotheses Read More »
Ash Maurya (@AshMaurya) has released the first two chapters of his new book “Running Lean” and here are my first impressions.
Ash Maurya on “Running Lean” Read More »
I meet teams trying to cold call for their first business customer and I just haven’t seen it work; the trust issues cripple them. Here is a relevant excerpt from Gabriel Weinberg’s interview with me for his traction book.
Cold Calling Won’t Find Your First Business Customer Read More »
A hunger for certainty will not help an entrepreneur make timely decisions or manage the level of ambiguity and uncertainty they need to navigate through.
We Cannot Sate Your Hunger For Certainty But We Can Increase Your Odds of Success Read More »
I mentioned in “3 Equations 3 Unknowns: Customers, Features, and Message” that we spend a lot of time on the early customer stage. It requires very different sales style than you’ll see later on. It’s a conversational sales style. It’s much more about understanding the problem. You’re trying to solve three equations, three unknowns: Are
3 Equations & 3 Unknowns: Target Customer is Key Initial Value Read More »
Gabriel Weinberg is a serial entrepreneur (latest startup: DuckDuckGo), a Hacker Angel, insightful blogger, and frequent contributor to Hacker News. He is writing a book on how startups get traction and interviewing folks like Patrick McKenzie to collect lessons learned from a variety of perspectives. I was delighted when he approached me to take part
Gabriel Weinberg Interviews Me For His Traction Book Read More »
A Chalk Talk on “Managing Risk In Technology Adoption” that covers some of key challenges technology providers have with getting companies to use their products.
Chalk Talk on Technology Adoption Read More »
We posted the interview I did with Floyd Tucker of DreamSimplicity about a month ago but in the last two days I have had two people comment to me directly and one tweet about my “three equations and three unknowns” answer: customers, features, message.
3 Equations & 3 Unknowns: Customers, Features, Message Read More »
Product-Market fit is a measure of the relative fitness of a product solving a problem for a particular customer set at a point in time.
Product-Market Fit is a Fraction Not a Bit Read More »
Don’t ask prospects, “If we killed our product would you miss it?” It’s product management malpractice.
If We Killed Our Product Would You Miss It? Read More »
Here is the transcript–edited for clarity and hyperlinked for context–for my recent interview with Floyd Tucker of DreamSimplicity Marketplace. The focus was on our startup stages model: formation, open for business, early customers, finding a niche, and scaling up.
DreamSimplicity Interview Transcript Read More »
Distinguish between experiments and commitments with customers. Share prototypes and ask for feedback but keep your promises. The easiest way to keep a promise is not to make one, so take great care in what you sign up for.
Experiments Vs. Commitments Read More »
Key takeaways from customer discovery interviews: prospect’s description of their situation, needs, vision for a solution, plan to measure solution impact.
Six Elements to Extract From Customer Discovery Interviews Read More »
