Customer Discovery talk by Sean Tierney for SEED SPOT 9/18/13

Customer DevelopmentThe framework I wish I could go back in time and teach my former entrepreneurial self.

by Sean Tierney

1.21 Gigawatts... Customer Development

is the answer!!

My creds

Google: “Simon Sinek Ted Talk”

Why?

Startups = Greatest Promise

Startups = Hardest Things

20k’ volcano(hard)

(way harder)

Pre Post

Product-Market Fit

Searching for b-model Focused on growth

Stages of Customer Development

Your greatest threat = apathy

CustDev Lean Canvas

What is Customer Development?

Brainchild of Steve Blank

“Four Steps to the Epiphany” = seminal work. The revised sequel 10yrs later is “Startup Owner’s Manual”

Answers don’t exist within the building... therefore, get out of the building and talk to your potential customers!

Need to intimately understand the problem & customer before pushing your solution

CustDev = framework for doing entrepreneurship. Focus on P-M fit first then worry about growth. Stages are like “orbits” - must achieve escape velocity to move to next.

Google: “Steve Blank Udacity”

Pre Post

Product-Market Fit

Stages of Customer Development

Searching Scaling

Hypotheses Formation(an art)

mainly qualitative

Hypotheses Testing(a science)

mainly quantitative

What is Customer Discovery?

Who do I talk to and how do I find them?Favor qualitative over quantitative early on

What do I do once I’m with a prospective customer? Where does my greatest risk/uncertainty lie?

Learn, Build, MeasureWhere does the greatest uncertainty lie and what is the risk to the success of the venture?

What testable hypotheses can we form to de-risk this?

What data would we need to collect to confirm or refute these hypotheses?

What experiments would we need to conduct in order to collect that data?

Now go run these experiments.

Rinse and repeat...

Fidelity of the prototype = f(objective / constraints)

Three apps that will dramatically accelerate your customer validation:

Fictitious Example

Why use this? To decouple emotionally from your idea and focus on the CustDev discipline itself.

Sean’s crazy idea for a fall prevention mechanism in the form of a rubberized shower curtain.

Need a volunteer!

Follow these three people:

Join LeanPhx.com

Sean Tierneysean@grid7.com@scrollinondubs

@grid7480.221.5500

grid7.com

Office Hrs here every Tues 3-5pm

Appendix