Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

I owe it originally to lean manufacturing books like Lean Thinking and Toyota Production System. The batch size is the unit at which work-products move between stages in a development process. Similar results apply in product management, design, testing, and even operations. For software, the easiest batch to see is code.

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment Development Team Review 161

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

In my experience, the majority of changes we made to products have no effect at all on customer behavior. Thats when this approach can pay huge dividends. The report is set up to show you what happened to customers who registered in that period (a so-called cohort analysis ). First of all, why split-test?

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

ConversionXL

AUGUST 12, 2020

Then, you turn up to people’s desks like an unwelcome door-to-door salesperson, trying to convince them of the virtues of customer-centricity. So how do you convince people with little motivation—throughout the entire business—to focus more on your customers? So how can data help you? Challenge opinions. Show the financial impact.

Customer 74

Customer Conversion Dividend Engineer 74

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 19, 2009 Inc Magazine on Minimum Viable Product (and a response) Inc Magazine has a great new piece up about the increasing use of the Minimum Viable Product by businesses (and not just startups). Like many companies, TPGTEX rolls out new products several times a year.

San Francisco 137

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 137

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 25, 2020

As a veteran of many disasters in which improvising in the moment to meet an immediate need led to innovative solutions, Carl has been impressed by how many businesses, small and large, have reinvented the way they serve their customers during the pandemic. Then they've gotten to work. It's member-owned.

Technical Review 148

Technical Review Balance Sheet Texas Austin 148

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Before product-market fit… just care about speed of iteration according to your customer feedback. So in terms of hiring, get people that can help you build the product faster… anything that minimizes the time between observing a need or a problem, and the execution or the fix for it.” Team, product, market.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 11, 2019

Similarly, the loss of just one other employer could be enough to put your customers out of jobs and you out of business. Or the fact that you are locally owned and know your customers by name. Population growth attracts new competitors to the market and just one new competitor could put you out of business. Or experience.

New Zealand 75

New Zealand Small Business Global Dividend 75

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 31, 2018

Giff is a repeat entrepreneur whose companies include Neo, a product innovation consulting firm where he worked with organizations like the Mayo Clinic and Time, Inc. We recently spoke about customer discovery, experiments, and his writing habits and process. This small investment pays dividends with speed and better decisions.

Lean 335

Lean Las Vegas Startup Dividend 335

Mike Michalowicz

FEBRUARY 18, 2015

There’s a new virtual trade show program, for example, that lets users interact in a variety of public spaces which fosters the exchange of ideas and sharing of new products, and also offers more private spaces for confidential negotiations. Again, the entrepreneur can be up and running in no time. Consumers love the underdog.

Small Business 60

Small Business Technical Review Agile Dividend 60

Small Business Force

MAY 17, 2016

But we are, also, products of our environment. Here are 5 key ways to ensure you are leading instead of just “bossing”: Agile Transformation Lessons Through Simon Sinek's "Start With Why" by Zach Bonaker Leaders give the company a sense of purpose. They have to lead. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Leadership 35

Leadership Dividend Agile New York 35

Small Business Force

NOVEMBER 20, 2011

And then one day, their largest customer moves their business overseas and suddenly 25% of their business evaporates.overnight. Hey, Jack's been a customer since we started in business. A few dollars difference in price isn't as important as the loyalty and customer service we've provided." Self-analysis is tough. Look external.

Small Business 34

Small Business Dividend Agile Operations 34

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 2, 2009

Five Why’s rarely works for general abstract problems like “our product is buggy&# or “our team moves too slow.&# When customers are affected, try to have someone who experienced the customer problem first-hand, like the customer service rep who took the calls from angry customers.

San Francisco 164

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 164

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 23, 2017

They just know that the times are changing, we’re leaving in a world where customers are on quicksand and the marketplace is on quicksand. Before every meeting, all the executives have to write a five to six page document explaining what they want to cover [00:10:00] perspective of that customer.

Tampa 34

Tampa Florida Customer Audio 34

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 28, 2009

They have a product that has a moderate number of customers. Its well done, looks professional, and the customers that use it like it a lot. Still, theyre not really hitting it out of the park, because their product isnt growing new users as fast as theyd like, and they arent making any money from the current users.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

You attend five customer meetings together over a two-week period and after each meeting you replay the results in the office about what it meant. The CEO weighs in with his perspectives, the head of product management disputes his conclusions and the marketing VP has a different take. He downs cold ones with the head of biz dev.

Distribution 335

Distribution Offshore CTO Hire Bulgaria 335