Startup Uncertainty At The Very Beginning
Startup uncertainty at the very beginning is high in many dimensions. Good questions help to clarify your uncertainties.
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Startup Stages
“The Ship that Never Was” from “Skunk Works” by Ben R. Rich
“Skunk Works” by Ben R. Rich is a worthy sequel to Kelly Johnson’s “Kelly: More Than My Share of It All.” It brings the story of the Lockheed Skunkworks, founded by Johnson, up to 1995. There are a number of lessons for technology entrepreneurs.
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Lean Culture: Seed Funding Without Loans – An Introduction to SBIR Grants
Paul Scott shares lesson learned writing SBIR grants. His presentation covers the Grant Writing Application Process.
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Etienne Garbugli on Opportunities: Finding New Products
Etienne Garbugli looks at finding product opportunities, and how entrepreneurs deliver value and gain a foothold inside businesses.
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Just Sell the Results to Reduce Perception of Risk
Sean Murphy explains to a client why startups should just sell the results to reduce a prospect’s perception of risk in a new tool.
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Sean Murphy Interview with Etienne Garbugli for the LeanB2B Podcast
Sean Murphy was interviewed by Etienne Garbugli on “Working Capital: It Takes More Than Money” for the March 9, 2021 LeanB2B Podcast.
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What to Do When You Are Asking Yourself, “Is My Product Meh?”
Entrepreneurs often ask themselves “Is my product meh?” out of a fear of making a fool of themselves. Here are some objectives questions to ask yourself to get a more balanced perspective on your situation.
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Landing Your First Ten Customers: Videos, Slides, and Other Resources
Here is video and slides from Feb-11-2021 talk “Landing Your First Ten Customers” at the Lean Culture Meetup. I have included some supplemental resources for further reading.
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Why is it so hard to get your first ten customers?
The key challenges to getting your first ten customers relate to understanding the customer buying process and managing the startup learning process for need, impact, customer definition and message.
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Entrepreneurs Cannot Rely on a Cookbook or a Manual
Entrepreneurs starting their first business often hunt for a cookbook of recipes to make sense of a journey that is alternating between bewilderment and frustration. But startups fight for existence in a competitive and evolving environment, where changes in the technical or social substrates can invalidate their strategy or enable competitors without warning.
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Rob Fitzpatrick: Five Mistakes Bootstrappers Should Avoid in 2021
Rob Fitzpatrick, author of the Mom Test, offers some evergreen advice on mistakes bootstrappers should avoid in 2021 (especially if they have not made already and won’t see them coming.)
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Be Open Kimono With Partners
Work with trusted partners open kimono: disclose relevant financials, plans, and internal processes to increase synergy. Play a long game.
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Best Way to Get Leads is Referrals
The best way to get leads is through referrals from satisfied customers or others who are in position to vouch for your product or service.
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A Holistic Approach to Launching a Bootstrapped Startup
We outline the process of launching a bootstrapped startup, from creating an idea, to forming a team, to proving viability.
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A Practical Introduction to Social Capital for Entrepreneurs
This is a practical overview of social capital, an essential concept for ent despite being hard to measure. I offer suggestions for growing your business network, and enhancing your reputation, explaining why increasing social capital creates value for your startup.
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Basics of Intellectual Property for Bootstrappers
This post explains the basics of intellectual property in practical terms for bootstrappers: trademarks, patents, copyright and trade secrets. An hour or two with an attorney can save you much trouble later on.
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A Practical Introduction to Intellectual Capital For Bootstrappers
An exploration of the practical meaning of intellectual capital for entrepreneurs, including how to curate your experience and know-how.
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Interview with Patricia Watkins on Managing Sales In a Downturn
This is a ten minute interview (audio and edited transcript) I did with with Patricia Watkins on July 24-2020. Patrica is an experienced salesperson and sales executive who’s been helping companies drive sales for more than two decades. We discuss some of the challenges you need to manage during a major economic disruption. We look
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Your Pricing Model is a Key Lever for Profitability
There is a natural tendency for technical founders to base their pricing model on an engineering oriented value proposition. Looking at the full impact on business can enable higher prices, which in turn means more profit and faster growth. Wojciech Bulaty of Traffic Parrot describes the mental shift Sean Murphy helped him make to transition
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A Practical Introduction to Financial Capital for Bootstrappers
This post explores meaning of financial capital for bootstrappers. It addresses the real costs of market exploration and product validation and verification.
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