When Bob Dorf and I wrote The Startup Owner's 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 model
There Are No Facts Inside Your Building, So Get OutsidePair Customer Development with Agile DevelopmentFailure is an Integral Part of the Search for the Business ModelIf You’re Afraid to Fail You’re Destined to Do SoIterations and Pivots are Driven by InsightValidate Your Hypotheses with ExperimentsSuccess Begins with Buy-In from Investors and Co-FoundersNo Business Plan Survives First Contact with CustomersNot All Startups Are AlikeStartup Metrics are Different from Existing CompaniesAgree on Market Type – It Changes EverythingFast, Fearless Decision-Making, Cycle Time, Speed and TempoIf it’s not About Passion, You’re Dead the Day You Opened your DoorsStartup Titles and Functions Are Very Different from a Company’sPreserve Cash While Searching. After It’s Found, SpendCommunicate and Share LearningStartups Demand Comfort with Chaos and UncertaintyQuite 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. Get your own poster here:http://sblank.com/HpwmuN