techba customer development workshop
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
The 3 #CustDev Meta Rules
1. Question your assumptions
2. Get out of the building
3. Iterate
Objective: Mitigate Risk
• What is the #1 risk to your business?– No one cares about your product
• What are product risks?– Product doesn’t sufficiently solve problem– Product not usable
• What are other risks?– Rational decision outweighed by emotional– Cost of acquisition > Lifetime value– Market too small
Objective: Learning
• Point is NOT to prove yourself right
• Point is to learn where you are wrong
• Perspective determines Customer Development approach
Objective: Empathy
• Solution is irrelevant
• Deeply understand customer pain or passion
B2B vs B2C
What does B2B care about?• Business:– Increasing revenue– Increasing market share– Decreasing costs– Decreasing risk
• People:– Want promotion– Don’t want to be fired– Don’t want to lose budget– Don’t want to take on risk
B2B Learning• Who is the buyer?• Different than user?• Different than decision maker?• Where does budget come from?• What are decision and purchase processes?• Requires pilot? PoC?• Length of sales cycle?• Channel requirements?• Who can kill deal, IT? HR? Finance?• Who is your champion?
What does B2C care about?• People (rational):– Cost– Elimination of pain– Fulfillment of passion– Risk avoidance
• People (irrational)– Emotions– Social status– Sunken cost– Self-perception
B2C Learning• Who has pain or holds passion?• Who are decision influencers?• Who do they influence?• What are hidden drivers?• What are similar passions / pains?• What do they dream / worry about?• What characteristics are shared w/ like buyers?• Where do they live? Hang out?• What do they require to buy? Demo? Trial?• How do they determine who to trust?
Finding Customers• Feet on the street• Directories• LinkedIn• Surveys• Landing Pages• Social Media• Friends and family
Customer Engagement Type• Informational interview; leverage expertise• Buy lunch, cup of coffee• Time-limited phone call• If you have product, selling• Surveys, calibrated w/ interviews• Gift cards• Usability testing
Customer Engagement Tools• Customer – Problem – Solution presentation• Top 3 learning objectives• Pitch problem, not solution• Identify early adopters• Always walk away with more names• Follow – up• Build relationships
Bottom Line• You Don’t do #CustDev merely to do #CustDev
• Mitigating risk that eliminates waste is the core objective of Customer Development
Minimum Viable Product