People, process and revenue are leading indicators
Introduction
Early-stage investors and startup founders, often use qualitative and subjective heuristics to evaluate the product maturity of a startup. These heuristics fall into three categories: people, product & market.
Given the many inherent unknowns, that evaluation could very quickly become outdated.
An evaluation that evaluates a startup’s learning progress helps overcome that, as it is widely accepted that a startup’s top priority should be maximizing the speed of learning.
My previous post provided a framework for VCs and founders to measure a product’s maturity through milestones in the company’s journey towards product-market fit (PMF).
This post will outline three additional…
Growth alone means nothing
Introduction
ֿIn most new products today, the technological risk is minuscule in comparison with the risk of not achieving product market fit.
Entrepreneurs (and therefore their investors) have X amount of time and Y amount of money to create a successful product. Any investment that doesn’t align with reducing the most critical risks (the first of them being attaining product market fit) leads to waste.
Many methods were created to help VCs evaluate an investment in a startup. Most of them are based on numeric indicators (such as Depth of engagement & quality of revenue) but early stage startups, often, do…
Practical Lean
6 practical ways to acquire early adopters
Why Read?
Many product teams and startup founders buy into the theory of the Lean Startup, and want to “do lean” but don’t know where to start.
In this blog series, I will provide a practical guide on how to apply these principles.
In my previous post, I covered the reasons you need early adopters. Now that you understand the reasons, the next challenge is how to acquire those Early Adopters.
TOC
- Why is it so hard to acquire early adopters?
- What happens if you give up?
- How can you acquire early adopters?
- Practical tips- top 6 ways to acquire early adopters
Why is it so Hard to Acquire Early Adopters?
One…
By far, the top reason startups fail is lack of market need (42% of the cases).
Many startups are founded based on unique technologies, or on problems that are interesting to solve, but don’t necessarily answer a real market need. Understanding what market you are serving, and the problem you are addressing is key.
The basis for that is early, continuous feedback from the right people who fit the early adopter profile.
Collecting customer feedback when you already have customers is a struggle on its own; however getting the first critical and actionable feedback needed to shape an MVP is…
Liron Pergament-Gal
Product Executive. Lean Evangelist. Twitter: @Liron_pg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lironpergament
