The fact that your new application was a weekend project is not a feature! I see announcements like We just coded this up last weekend take a look… I wrote this on a Saturday afternoon check it out… We built the tool (over the last few weekends)… I don’t know if it’s Startup Weekend’s original […]
The Fact That Your App Was a Weekend Project Is Not a Feature Read More »
Building the “wrong product” is not a waste of time you learn about the market and technical feasibility. Right and wrong are both gray, not black or white. Customer development and technical development typically require a sequence of prototypes that are “less wrong” over time under they become good enough.
Q: Is Building The Wrong Product A Waste Of Time? Read More »
Entrepreneurs need a community of practice to improve their skills, not a movement they can join as a fad. I don’t consider myself a disciple or part of a movement. I consider myself a practitioner. I am a huge fan of Saras Sarasvathy, Clayton Christensen, Peter Drucker, Gary Klein, and Gerald Weinberg.
Entrepreneurs Need a Community of Practice Not a Movement Read More »
Marcelo Rinesi writes on the implications of the “expertise light speed barrier” of ten years of focused practice to become an expert. He observes that if “we manage to defeat the ‘expertise light speed barrier’ and find ways to teach and learn much more effective than anything before, it would have an astounding impact on
Marcelo Rinesi: The Expertise Light Speed Barrier Read More »
Today many change initiatives (and new software sales almost always involve the key elements of a change initiative) rely on interviews and replicating the results from an existing “manual system.” Processes mining tools and techniques will play an important role here.
Enterprise Change Agents Need to Add Process Mining to Their Bag of Tricks Read More »
Entrepreneurs must learn that managing rejection is a requirement from the moment they commit to getting started. I could argue that you have not started until you have been rejected.
Getting Started and Managing Rejection Read More »
I am interested in talking with anyone who is using Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) or Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) methods and paradigms to inform their customer interviews. I have been reading “Working Minds: A Practitioner’s Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis” by Gary Klein et. al. and I had an epiphany that these techniques would be
Are You Using Cognitive Task Analysis for New Market Exploration? Read More »
Conversations with prospects unfold in real time: you must listen for what’s said and not said, manage your emotions, and understand the implications.
Conversations With Prospects: Practice, Review, Share Notes, Ask for Feedback Read More »
Jim Manzi, founder of Lotus and Applied Predictive Technologies, advises entrepreneurs to “Focus on delivering value to customers at a foreseeable profit” in “How to Succeed in Business by Really, Really Trying.” How to Succeed in Business by Really, Really Trying. It’s a great article and also on the limits of advice to entrepreneurs, in particular autobiographies
Jim Manzi: Focus on Delivering Value to Customers at a Foreseeable Profit. Read More »
Sid Faulkner, CFO of Ciranova gave a talk today on “Navigating the Treacherous Path of Mergers and Acquisitions” at an event at Abbot Stringham and Lynch. Mr. Faulkner was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Oak Technology, Inc. where he led the 1995 initial and secondary public stock offerings, established an active program of
Three Tips from Sid Faulkner For Preparing To Sell Your Startup Read More »
A link to the Valve Employee Handbook made it to front page of Hacker News recently and I can see why, it makes for very interesting reading.
Four Excerpts from the Valve Employee Handbook That Belong In Yours Read More »
Focus on delighting early customers over accumulating followers. You need proof of deep value in a niche over small value dispersed over a large market.
Focus on Delighting Early Customers Over Accumulating Followers Read More »
I remember once talking to my high-school physics teacher, who had been one of the leading teachers in our district for decades. “Don’t you get tired teaching physics?” I asked him one day. “I don’t teach physics,” he replied. “I teach students.” The same wisdom applies to securing financing for startups: investors don’t fund technologies,
The Technology is Nothing Without the Team Read More »
It’s very hard to forecast the rate of adoption of a genuinely new offering in an emerging market, one that is discontinuous with current practice. A focus on scaling is premature until you have proof of value and have found your niche.
Worry About Scaling After You Find Your Niche Read More »
“Beta customer” blurs beta tester, beta user, and early customer. If you sell to business, beta customers are early customers, not beta testers.
A Beta Customer Is Not A Tester Or A User But An Early Customer Read More »
This is Sean Murphy for SKMurphy, Inc. I want to talk to you about our startup stages model and understanding that risk reducing milestones that separate each stage. We break the startup journey into five stages. In each stage you will explore different options and converge on a key risk reducing milestone. Starting from idea
Startup Stages Overview Video Read More »
Early focus on a niche market (a small market) enables a startup to achieve “small wins” faster (and experience “small losses” instead of large ones). Over time these accumulate into larger wins.
Small Wins Enable Larger Wins Read More »
“In a small way, every talent acquisition poisons the well for future, bootstrapped startups. It erodes the confidence of users and potential customers. People put their company blog on Posterous, they add their business to GoWalla, they gave AdGrok a few hours of their time, etcetera, etcetera. I’m not saying I would turn down the
Honor Customer Commitments To Avoid Poisoning the Well Read More »
The first observation of a new insight is often published in a lab notebook or personal journal or as notes from a meeting that captured an anecdote. Self-publishing often marks the first generation of new knowledge because “new” is often hard to comprehend and not accepted by the status quo or established publication channels. If
Self-Publishing Often Marks The First Generation of New Knowledge Read More »
“Unhappy users in our industry don’t continue to file bug reports; they start writing business plans.” Michael “Mac” McNamara talking about the EDA Industry I was reminded of this remark that Mac made at an SDForum event several years ago as I was reading the “Who Are User Entrepreneurs?” study which summarizes findings on innovation,
Bug Reports vs. Business Plans Read More »
