Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Startup
Real
Book
Preface
Copyright
To everyone
that has ever failed
and had the audacity
to admit it.
iii
Foreword
When all you have is a hammer,
everything looks like a nail.
Unknown
iv
More importantly, please write on it. Scribble, scratch, and change it.
If you think its wrong, submit a change to
hello@trikro.com.
you have.
Previous Experience
You should be familiar with concepts such
Innovation at Scale
This book is particularly useful for those
managing or assisting large numbers of innovation products. This includes:
as:
Lean Startup
User Experience
Human Centered Design / Design Thinking
Business Model Canvas
Business Model
This book is best used to answer questions about certain business model elements such as the Customer, the Value
Proposition, Channel, Relationship, &
Revenue. In other words, the critical elements in Product / Market Fit.
Continual Improvement
model.
regularly.
lowing headers:
In brief
Helps Answer
A list of common questions that this
Tags
Method
A more detailed description of the steps
normally taken to run this research or experiment method.
Potential Biases
A list of common errors that may distort
the results of the method and lead to bad
conclusions based on incorrect data.
Field Tips
Tips for startup practitioners who have
used this method.
Case Studies
Links to various case studies that might
serve as examples.
References
A list of additional material or resources for
those who want additional reading.
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Contributors
xi
1
The Index
13
teacher.
sults.
As an entrepreneur (or intrapreneur) we
Sadly, those rote memorization skills and
front of us.
14
tions like:
simpler to execute.
Should we give up? Thats what the land[insert pic of questions with lines drawn
to specific methods.]
fasciitis?
15
channel?
16
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the customer.
sion set.
If the customer segment changes, then the
Product (or service) is simplified to mean
Partners, or Costs.
impossible.
The Value Proposition really sits at the intersection of the Market needs and the Product itself. The Product has no value out-
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ample:
interpret it correctly.
19
Defining good hypotheses can be a challenge, so here are some things to look for
and a short checklist.
ity students?
Given this goal, we are better o doing customer discovery interviews (a.k.a. speaking
spect, then at least 50 teachers would refer to their students using an honorific.
jargon.
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Measurable
each other.
day.
lepathy.
This new hypothesis has some other issues, but it is at least something observable.
Describes a Relationship
50% of students at Dalton High School
year.
This again may be true and it is observable, but it doesnt tell us anything about
the cause of the low grades. A good hy-
using an IF _______, THEN _______ sentence structure can help make sure cause
and eect are apparent.
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Achievable
sis incorrect?
If there is no amount of evidence that
pulled in entirely.
very stubborn.
Other Frameworks
There are a number of frameworks and
avoid confusion:
signal>
Falsifiable
come>
That is the hypothesis.
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We believe
That section just confirms we think the hypothesis is correct. It is not part of the hypothesis and there are many situations
where we may test a hypothesis that we
believe is incorrect.
23
Index of Questions
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Generative Market
Generative Product
Evaluative Market
Are they really willing to pay?
How much will they pay?
How do we convince them to buy?
How much will it cost to sell?
Can we scale marketing?
Evaluative Product
Is this solution working?
Are people using it?
Which solution is better?
How should we optimize this?
What do people like / dislike?
Why do they do that?
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Index of Methods
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Generative Market
Generative Product
Solution Interview
Data Mining
Demo Pitch
Focus Groups*
Competitor Usability
Picnic in the Graveyard
Evaluative Market
Evaluative Product
Paper prototypes
5 Second Tests
Clickable Prototypes
Comprehension
Usability
Conjoint Analysis
Hallway
Live
Surveys* (closed)
Remote
Smoke Tests
Wizard of Oz
Video
Takeaway
Landing Page
Functioning Products
Sales Pitch
Analytics / Dashboards
Pre-Sales
Surveys*
Flyers
Pocket Test
Event
Fake Door
High Bar
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28
cluding:
Customer Discovery Interviews
Ethnography
Data Mining
Surveys (close ended)
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Focus Groups
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2
Generative Market Research
Customer Discovery!
In Brief
Customer Discovery is the early stage of Customer Development - an overarching methodology to discover and validate the right market for your product or service by applying a
scientific method to better understand your
customers. Discovery should be used at the
very beginning of developing new ideas in order to gain a deeper understanding of how
customers behave when confronted with a
problem you may be looking to solve. It is
Helps Answer
Who exactly is our customer?
How might we profile and segment our customers?
What are the characteristics or personas of
the customer?
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Tags
B2C
B2B
Qualitative
Some Tips from IDEO
Customer
Problem
Value Proposition
1. Dont judge. Just observe and engage users without the influence of value judgments
upon their actions, circumstances, decisions,
or issues.
Customer Observation
Description
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4. Be truly curious. Strive to assume a posture of wonder and curiosity, especially in circumstances that seem either familiar or uncomfortable.
5. Find patterns. Look for interesting threads
and themes that emerge across interactions
with users.
6. Listen. Really. Lose your agenda and let
the scene soak into your psyche. Absorb
what users say to you, and how they say it,
without thinking about the next thing youre
going to say.
Options
Make an informed decision on whom to observe, when and in what type of situation to
observe them. It does not have to be spying
but could take the form of shadowing, getting
users to conduct a video diary over time,
tracking peoples movement and location via
GPS etc.
A mixture or combination of 3 approaches
can typically be used for observational research (Wikipedia):
Covert observational research- The researchers do not identify themselves. Either
they mix in with the subjects undetected, or
they observe from a distance. The advantages of this approach are: (1) It is not necessary to get the subjects cooperation, and
(2) The subjects behaviour will not be contaminated by the presence of the re-
Time Commitment
From 2-3 hours for an initial study to several
days or weeks for a longer study.
How To
When you are in the field observing your customers, record what you see and apply
what, how and why to the behavior.
Start with concrete observations (What):
What is the person youre observing doing in a particular situation (when confronted with the problem)? Notice and
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write down the details. Try to be objective and refrain from making assumptions.
Move to understanding (How):
How is the person youre observing doing what they are doing? Does it require effort? Do they appear stressed
or rushed or annoyed? Does the activity or situation appear to be impacting
the users state of being either positive
or negative? Use descriptive phrases
packed with adjectives.
Interpreting Results
Step out on a limb of interpretation (Why):
Why is the person youre observing doing what theyre doing, and in the particular way that they are doing it? This
step usually requires that you make informed guesses regarding motivation
and emotions. Step out on a limb in order to project meaning into the situation
that you have been observing. This
step will reveal assumptions that you
should test with users, and often uncovers unexpected realizations about a particular situation. Your next step may be
to pursue a problem interview.
Potential Biases
Field Tips
Got a tip? Add a tweetable quote by emailing
us: realbook@trikro.com
Case Studies
Steve Blanks Lean Startup Works Brilliantly, Even If Youre Building Robots
Got a case study? Add a link by emailing
us: realbook@trikro.com
35
In brief
Not finished! Were writing this book as
fast as we can.
Tweet us and well write more chapters:
Hey @trikro please write more chapters for
The Startup Real Book
36
Note
For You
This book wont make you successful. You
have to work for that.
Entrepreneurship is not an academic theory, its a practice.
So to get better at it, just do it!
Figure out what question you have about
your product or market, pick a method,
and start practicing.
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