On first description, hearing the “get out of the building and talk to customers” precept of Customer Development leads people to say, “Oh, I get it. Customer Development is all about gathering a list of what features customers want by talking to them, surveying them, or running “focus groups.” It’s not. One of the times [...]
Filed under: Customer Development, MIPS Computers | 26 Comments »
Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Families gather from across the country to spend time with each other and feast on a traditional turkey dinner. Since our kids were little our Thanksgiving tradition was to head to Hawaii with friends and eat Thanksgiving dinner under the palm trees to the sound of the waves [...]
Filed under: Family/Career/Culture | 8 Comments »
The Lean Startup Circle is a Google discussion group (anyone can join) centered on Customer Development/Lean Startup strategy, tactics and implementation. They were kind enough to sponsor a meet-up in San Francisco. The Times Square Strategy discussion I had with Eric Ries, was still top of mind, so instead of my standard Customer Development lecture, [...]
Filed under: Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto | 8 Comments »
For those that know me, I’m kind of a “life is too short” kind of guy. I liked to fail fast, move on, and not look back. However, in catching up with the VP of Sales of Ardent last night, I was reminded one of the few times I did return for closure. National Supercomputer [...]
Filed under: Ardent, Family/Career/Culture, Technology | 17 Comments »
One of the benefits of teaching is that it forces me to get smarter. I was in New York last week with my class at Columbia University and several events made me realize that the Customer Development model needs to better describe its fit with web-based businesses. Dancing Around the Question Union Square Ventures was [...]
Filed under: Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto, Market Types | 21 Comments »
I joined the board of Cafepress.com when it was a startup. It was amazing to see the two founders, Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain, build a $100 million company from coffee cups and T-shirts. But Cafepress’s most memorable moment was when the founders used a “Lessons Learned” VC pitch to raise their second round of [...]
Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan, Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto, Venture Capital | 15 Comments »
Never mistake motion for action. -Ernest Hemingway One of an entrepreneur’s greatest strengths is their relentless pursuit of a goal. But few realize how this differs from most of the population. Watching others try to solve problems reminded me why entrepreneurs are different. Progress Report Last week I happened to be sitting in my wife’s [...]
Filed under: Ardent, Customer Development, Family/Career/Culture | 39 Comments »
Getting “funded” is the holy grail for most entrepreneurs. Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. This post describes how companies using the Customer [...]
Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan, Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto, Venture Capital | 26 Comments »
At an entrepreneurs panel last week questions from the audience made me realize that the phrase “Lean Startup” was being confused with “Cheap Startup.” For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries’s description of the intersection of Customer Development, Agile Development and if available, open platforms and [...]
Filed under: Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto | 11 Comments »
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