Nail the Customer Development Manifesto to the Wall

Posted on March 29, 2012 by steve blank

When Bob Dorf and I wrote the Startup Owners Manual we listed a series of Customer Development principles. I thought they might be worth enumerating here:

A Startup Is a Temporary Organization Designed to Search
for A Repeatable and Scalable Business Model

  1. There Are No Facts Inside Your Building, So Get Outside
  2. Pair Customer Development with Agile Development
  3. Failure is an Integral Part of the Search for the Business Model
  4. If You’re Afraid to Fail You’re Destined to Do So
  5. Iterations and Pivots are Driven by Insight
  6. Validate Your Hypotheses with Experiments
  7. Success Begins with Buy-In from Investors and Co-Founders
  8. No Business Plan Survives First Contact with Customers
  9. Not All Startups Are Alike
  10. Startup Metrics are Different from Existing Companies
  11. Agree on Market Type – It Changes Everything
  12. Fast, Fearless Decision-Making, Cycle Time, Speed and Tempo
  13. If it’s not About Passion, You’re Dead the Day You Opened your Doors
  14. Startup Titles and Functions Are Very Different from a Company’s
  15. Preserve Cash While Searching. After It’s Found, Spend
  16. Communicate and Share Learning
  17. Startups Demand Comfort with Chaos and Uncertainty
Quite a few people have asked for a way to remember these without having to dig through the book.  So by popular demand, here’s a poster of the Customer Development Manifesto.  You can order a copy here.
Nail it to your wall.

Nail the Manifesto to your Wall

Listen to the post here: Download the Podcast here

Filed under: Customer Development, Customer Development Manifesto |

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56 Responses

  1. Irsh, on March 29, 2012 at 6:20 am said:

    Cool stuff. Infused it. To the brain. My impregnable wall.

    Reply
  2. Paul Davey, on March 29, 2012 at 6:26 am said:

    I not ‘feelin’ the graphic-design-love here, (sorry) – even though I know the message trapped inside the info-graphic is great to rest my eyes on, I still want it to ‘pop’ & ‘sizzle’ – how about you run a crowd source competition on this … IMHO

    Reply
    • Shany Biran, on January 26, 2023 at 7:30 am said:

      Or better yet, how about he do some customer development on the customer development poster? 🙂

      Reply
  3. Sam, on March 29, 2012 at 6:35 am said:

    Thanks for this insightful manifesto Steve.

    Reply
  4. levelearning, on March 29, 2012 at 7:47 am said:

    Done and done. Thanks for sharing this. I am embracing this whole-heartedly and unlearning everything else I was taught about product development and starting up! Using your methods in conjunction with those of the Lean Startup has already yielded powerful results for me in as little as one month’s time. I spent several months prior to this with my head down in an office, not talking to customers, bleeding cash, with nothing to show for it. Now, I have clients, results, feedback, and tremendous opportunities in front of me to grow & improve. THANK YOU.

    Reply
  5. Josh LeQuire, on March 29, 2012 at 7:49 am said:

    Done & done – thank you Steve! Your teachings and those of the Lean Startup have yielded great results for me & my startup. I cannot thank you enough!

    Reply
  6. venturegrit, on March 29, 2012 at 8:02 am said:

    Steve,

    Congrats on publishing the book. Over the years, you have contributed an enormous amount to the way startups are approached and from what I have seen in your presentation at SXSW you do not disappoint in your new book.

    However…I have to ask…why is the book available only in hardcover?? I would happily pay the same price to get the kindle edition. The reality is, there are increasingly *no* books that I want to get in hardcover. The reading experience of being able to easily highlight, share, and comment across the kindle ecosystem is invaluable to me…not to mention the fact that I always have my entire kindle library with me to be able to refer to without weighing myself down with paper books. I’d even go so far as to say that e-books have substantially increased my consumption of books as a whole.

    It is not easy for paper books to spread…and the ideas in this book are ideas that should be spread. Seth Godin summarizes it nicely in this post on the publishing industry: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/12/the-domino-project.html.

    Please make it easier to consume and spread the great work you have done. Make an e-book version available now. Charge the same price as for your hardcover if you like, but let your potential customers choose instead of making the choice for them. Don’t perpetuate the legacy publishing release windows. They no longer make any sense.

    Thanks for all your effort and I hope to be able to buy your book in kindle format soon.

    Reply
  7. micida, on March 29, 2012 at 9:08 am said:

    What a great manifesto! Thank you Steve!

    Reply
  8. Fred Ooms, on March 29, 2012 at 9:40 am said:

    Tomorrow morning it will be on my office wall!

    Reply
  9. jlohavichan, on March 29, 2012 at 10:15 am said:

    This is the Declaration of Independence for Startups.
    Great as is, no fancy graphics needed.

    Reply
  10. Justin Sharpe, on March 29, 2012 at 10:40 am said:

    Thanks for this Steve, this will go up as a constant reminder (needed some decorations anyway) of what we are doing and where we came from.

    Also, just wanted to let you know that you’ve been a great inspiration, and above all time-saver (have all your books, subscribe to your blog, have poured through the links on your site, and have watch some of your educational videos)… However, I still have a couple questions. It would be cool if you answered them Steve, but I am completely open to receiving advice from any of your followers as well.

    1) In regards to one’s sales staff… what are some of the keys you’ve learned along the way to training and motivating the team? Is there a particular organizational design you’ve found works better than others for virtual sales teams? As for communication strategies between your sales engineers and customers, is there a workflow that you employ to increase sales (e.g., drip marketing, automated email system (what emails, when), etc)? What commission/pay structure do you find works best?

    2) So I’ve not even started marketing my company (just finishing the completion of the alpha & MVP), but I’m now being approached by some international companies, and I’m in the position where we need to hire.. but are about a month out before we can afford some of the equipment (computers, software licenses, etc) for the people, and about 2-3 months out before we can afford the base pay for the sales people as they get trained and ready. Any suggestions? What’s the best way to approach this scenario?

    I look forward to your wisdom.

    Thanks so much,

    Justin

    Reply
  11. Drake Pruitt, on March 29, 2012 at 10:50 am said:

    Steve,

    Thanks for the summary. It’s now my screensaver. Lean Startup and the business model canvas has really taken hold in LA. We’re doing our part to help.

    Best,

    Drake

    Reply
  12. Michael Pierantozzi (@AndiamoMike), on March 29, 2012 at 12:46 pm said:

    Done! Thanks again, Steve. For several years now, you have been a driving force in changing the way people think and practice to create and deliver real value. Customers, entrepreneurs, and investors everywhere – take note!

    Reply
  13. 少了「热情」，你在开张那天就死了 - 黑色 | 黑色, on March 30, 2012 at 2:54 am said:

    […] 　　创业过 8 次，并且从他的经验中萃取出了「顾客开发 (CustomerDevelopment)」的创业方法，然后从那里引发了整个 Lean Startup 运动的 Stanford 大学教授 Steve Blank，最近推出了一本新书「The Startup Owner’s Manual」。这本书我还没有看到 (没有出 Kindle 版)，但 Steve 最近在他的网志上，把整本书的重点精神整理了出来。 […]

    Reply
  14. pgx, on March 30, 2012 at 10:03 pm said:

    thanks for this summary

    Reply
  15. Abschlussinterview vom Start-Up March | Markus Gärtner, on April 3, 2012 at 12:23 am said:

    […] Markus Gärtner: Was würdet Ihr potentiellen Nachahmer mit auf den Weg geben? Manuel Küblböck: Die Antwort ist mir zu lang für dieses Interview geworden und ich habe daraus einen eigenen Blogpost gemacht. Stefan Roock: Das meiste steht in Steve Blanks Customer Development Manifesto. […]

    Reply
  16. Michael R. Bernstein, on April 12, 2012 at 4:59 pm said:

    Steve, I’d like to design a new version of the poster. May I re-use your text?

    Reply
  17. Your idea is not ‘that’ important « Startup Steven, on April 28, 2012 at 6:30 am said:

    […] with wanting to work with me. I always make an attempt to help other entrepreneurs in the areas of customer and product development whenever I […]

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  18. The Adventure Continues « Startup Steven, on April 28, 2012 at 9:34 am said:

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  19. Modell zur Beschreibung eines Business Models | Digitalhandeln E-Commerce Consultants, on April 30, 2012 at 12:42 pm said:

    […] wird diese Beschreibungssprache von Business Models durch die Arbeiten von Steve Blank und seinem Customer Development-Ansatz und seinen Schülern wie Eric Ries mit dem “Lean Startup”-Movement. Gerade die […]

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  20. Customer Development Manifesto | Fabric Interactive Blog, on May 1, 2012 at 11:44 am said:

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  21. Why You Should Talk To Investors (Even If You’re Not Raising Money) | Starting Your Own Business with Successful Entrepreneur Erica Douglass, on May 8, 2012 at 10:42 am said:

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  22. Taj Anderson, on May 9, 2012 at 9:47 pm said:

    Hey Steve your new book rocks! I refer to it daily in my position as a product manager.

    Reply
  23. Software Creation Mystery » Know What Software Features to Build Next: User Stories, Business Canvas and Market, on May 16, 2012 at 7:47 pm said:

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  24. Business Model Innovation « Five Whys, on May 21, 2012 at 8:30 pm said:

    […] This useful definition tells us two things. First, the primary function of a start-up is to discover what customers want and not to start producing what it thinks they want. Second, it tells us that once the business model has been validated, the business is formed and can get on with executing its strategy. These two activities are very different, as shown below: […]

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  25. Elegant Design Turns Mundane Into Must-have | www.moderndcbusiness.com, on May 22, 2012 at 6:32 am said:

    […] you struggle with how to begin designing with the customer in mind, you can start by reading the Customer Development Manifesto by Steve Blank. For more detailed guidance, you can follow the customer development model described […]

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  26. 50/60/70/80 « modernelixir, on May 24, 2012 at 11:35 am said:

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  27. Why You Need To Think About Market Type « E@UBC Customer Development WorkShop, on June 8, 2012 at 12:34 pm said:

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  28. The Customer Development Manifesto Bullet List « E@UBC Customer Development WorkShop, on June 8, 2012 at 12:40 pm said:

    […] Nail the Customer Development Manifesto to the Wall « Steve Blank Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]

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  29. Why We’re Business Model Scientists - Kopo Kopo Inc., on June 11, 2012 at 1:01 am said:

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  30. Don’t Build Perfection | Surf Roots, Software Thoughts, on June 12, 2012 at 1:50 pm said:

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  31. Lean Startup? Use Kanban! Maybe Scrum, on June 13, 2012 at 2:23 pm said:

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  32. Accelerate Lean Startup Learning with Innovation Games®, on June 15, 2012 at 6:38 am said:

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  33. Martin Cleaver (@mrjcleaver), on July 2, 2012 at 2:14 pm said:

    There are 14 rules in my copy of your book for the Customer Development Manifesto, but 17 listed here. Does that mean this list comprises your refined thinking? Is there an electronic copy of the full text of the 17?

    Thanks, its a great book Steve.

    Best, Martin.

    Reply
  34. Why You Should Talk To Investors (Even If You’re Not Raising Money) | OnlineBizWeekly.com, on July 4, 2012 at 10:01 am said:

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  35. Understand markets, develop customers | For the love of spreadsheets, on July 12, 2012 at 10:02 am said:

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  36. Michael R. Bernstein, on July 25, 2012 at 7:58 pm said:

    Folks, I am working on a redesigned version of the poster that is going to be awesome. Ping me if you would like early access to the design in progress.

    Reply
  37. MAPping Company Success, on July 27, 2012 at 1:19 am said:

    […] always done a decent job at getting out of the building for customer development; now I’m getting an appreciation of doing it for company […]

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  38. Sucky Prototypes Rock – JFDI.Asia, on July 29, 2012 at 6:20 pm said:

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  39. e27 – Why sucky prototypes rock, on July 30, 2012 at 6:00 pm said:

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  40. Brad Wiederholt » What Steve Blank can teach us about User Experience, on August 7, 2012 at 5:13 am said:

    […] a conversation with my father last night about my new business, I was reminded of Blank’s Customer Development Manifesto.  This morning as I sit here, sip coffee, and read it for the umpteenth time, I can’t stop […]

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  41. The ultimate class on how to start a company: Lean LaunchPad now online | VentureBeat, on September 6, 2012 at 9:24 am said:

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  42. Startup CEO’s Motivational Moments For Any Occasion | If You Build It, on September 28, 2012 at 9:57 pm said:

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  43. On the Silly-ness of Business Plans | startupsalad, on May 14, 2013 at 11:59 am said:

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  44. A Manifesto For Start Ups and Business Who Keep Behaving Like Start Ups | Build Your Soul Purpose, on July 3, 2014 at 6:39 pm said:

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  45. tsu unas, on February 6, 2015 at 10:58 am said:

    Great manifesto indeed. Thank you Steve

    Reply
  46. Robert Rigsby, on March 29, 2015 at 10:10 pm said:

    Thanks Steve, I have always loved a manifesto

    Reply
  47. Customer Development is Hard. Do it Anyways! | Thoughts from inside #StartupCincy., on May 7, 2015 at 6:52 am said:

    […] popularized by the “Lean Startup” movement and the work of people like Steve Blank (http://steveblank.com/2012/03/29/nail-the-customer-development-manifesto/)… so why aren’t more founders doing it? I would be willing to bet that a lack of proper […]

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  48. msbukkuri, on October 24, 2019 at 11:37 am said:

    Would love to purchase this, but the link seems to be broken.

    Reply
  49. What is Customer Development? — Definition by Techslang, on November 9, 2021 at 12:00 am said:

    […] Blank suggests nailing the manifesto to the wall in this blog post. Below is a screenshot of the said […]

    Reply

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