Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. Their product development team is hard at work on a next-generation product platform, which is designed to offer a new suite of products – but this effort is months behind schedule.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

So What is Customer Development? Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, developed a methodology for creating businesses that runs in parallel with the traditional product development process. The core idea behind customer development is that the assumptions you make about a target market are only guesses.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Almost all of the companies we invested in in 2017 had customers even if they didn’t have much of a product. Those who didn’t have a product or much of a product used a concierge model of sorts ala Lean Startup philosophy to start running their business. For most companies, this is usually sales.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Almost all of the companies we invested in in 2017 had customers even if they didn’t have much of a product. Those who didn’t have a product or much of a product used a concierge model of sorts ala Lean Startup philosophy to start running their business. For most companies, this is usually sales.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

K9 Ventures

AUGUST 13, 2010

So the departments either didn’t have the capacity to pay or it would be an endless sales-cycle, where we would spend lots of time on the sales, but it still wouldn’t close. I tell these stories to lay the groundwork for what I am going to call Revenue Development.

Revenue 72

Revenue Developer Java Customer Development 72

ConversionXL

JUNE 14, 2021

For example, two days after they cancelled their subscription to your SaaS product. Let them know it’s not a thinly-veiled sales call. We’re open to feedback no matter how negative it is, and I can promise you this is not a sales call in disguise. Sign up for a demo and go through the sales process.

Software Review 158

Software Review Audience Differentiation Framework 158