SIYU QIAN

ENTP 311

Weekly Post 6

Traditional Product Development VS Customer Development

In the reflection of last week, I want to firstly discuss about the differences between traditional product development and customer development. Base on the reading that professor provided on the blackboard under documents link, there are basically 14 rules in customer development. In my opinion, these 14 rules are exactly the differences from traditional one, especially rule №5 — — No business plan survives first contact with customers so use a business model canvas. The meaning of this rule could be summarized in one sentence. Startups should dump the business plan and adopt the flexible business model, such like business model canvas. As we discussed in previous weeks, business model canvas is different from traditional business model. Traditional product development is more like going steps by steps, but not that flexible like customer development.

Moreover, rule no. 10 really catches my attention too. “It’s all about passion”. Passion is always important for a startup team. Some people may go to work 9–5, work is not all of their life. But the situations of startup teams are different, they need to work harder than others. They need to be prepared for their potential clients and consumers for 24/7. Every opportunity is valuable. This is why startup teams should have passion. Every member of the startup team should have passion and positive.

In conclusion, customer development is totally different from traditional product development in many aspects. Customer development is much more flexible. For my personal, I think customer development is much better for startup teams.