Customer development : Bob Dorf's slides for his conference in Paris. October 2013.

Sortez de votre bureau !

www.diateino.com

BOB DORFallegedly retired serial entrepreneur

Twitter: @bobdorf www.bobdorf.cowww.steveblank.com

Many slides © Steve Blank

7=2+2-3

27=7-6

why math matters:

650,000!

12?(or 2%?)

make yourstartup MATTER

The New Way, 2003:Steve Blank Launches

CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT

In Ten fast years:

Stanford, BerkeleyColumbia U, Skolkovo,100+ moreTech de MonterreyUS National Science FoundationTHOUSANDS of StartupsAPPS.CO/Colombian GovernmentIncubators, Accelerators…more than we can count!

More startups fail from

a lack of customersthan from a failure to

build product

Why Most Startups Fail

Assume Customer Problem:

known

Assume Product Features: known

Concept/Seed

Round

Product Dev.

Alpha/Beta Test

Launch/1st Ship

We used to think:

All You Need to Do: Execute the Plan

No Business Plan survives first contact

with customers!

…ask Webvan!…or RIM

…or Zynga…or many more

Don’t Spend 2 Monthswriting Fairy Tales…

Spend that time SEARCHING

for a Repeatable, Scalable,Profitable BUSINESS MODEL

FULL STOP!

HAVE YOU PROVEN

PRODUCT/MARKET FIT

The most important slide Steve Blank ever drew, circa 2003:

Customer Discovery Step 1:“Get Out of the Building!”

1. Does anybody care?2. Do they grab it from you?3. Become your own Customer!

Key Warnings:DON’T talk to friends or family!FOUNDERS must do this themselvesDO NOT SELL!!!

Customer Discovery Tool #1:Your Minimum Viable Product• Google without ads• Zappos without any shoes• Diapers.com without diapers• Non-Working Websites or Apps!

…Fewest possible features to show what it does!…Something a customer can touch, feel, try…Delivers far more, richer customer feedback

Tool #2: The Pivot

• The heart of Customer Development

• Iteration without crisis

• Fast, agile and opportunistic

Customer

Discovery

Customer

Validation

Pivot

Search

Just a few(of many) Historic Pivots

• Groupon: the $12billion pivot• Steve Blank: “Page 6”• Perimeter: “there are 9000 of us”• Ning• Zynga• …and thousands more!

Pivot Cycle Time Matters

• MVP speeds up cycle time

• Speed of cycle minimizes cash needs

•Customer feedback drives the product!

CustomerDiscovery

CustomerValidation

CompanyBuilding

CustomerCreation

ExecutionSearch

Pivot

How do you know when Discovery is “done?”

Key PartnersWho are our key partners/ suppliers

Key ActivitiesWhich key activities does the biz model require

Value PropositionWhat value do we deliver to the customer

Customer RelationshipsWhat type of relationship does each segment require of us

Customer SegmentsFor whom are we creating value

ChannelsThrough which channel does each segment want to be reached

Revenue StreamsHow much is each segment willing to pay and how would they like to pay us this amount

Cost StructureWhat are our cost drivers

Key ResourcesWhich key resources does the biz model require

identify key market segments (geography/application) and customer segments (e.g. operator versus owner)

how many customers in each segment and estimated potential volume for each customer

how do customers make money … key customer pain/gain points in each segment

how are buying decisions made in each segment - id process, hurdles, decision makers

what does an Earlyvangelist look like in each segment

who influences purchases in each segment (trade groups, key resellers, trend watchers)

key distinctive product features & benefits for the target customer segment

total cost of ownership for segment versus alternatives

why will segment buy Durathon versus alternatives (i.e. value proposition)

minimum feature set (i.e. our launch configuration) and ultimate feature set

opportunities to claim IP or trademark / is there freedom to practice

what regulatory/ certification/ transportation/ customs requirements should be met or could be differentiator

which segments can only or best be reached through a channel partner

which channel partners are important to optimize sales in each segment

what are channel partners' requirements and cost to become a proactive sales channel

initial channel partner response to value proposition & customer segments

What are price /performance characteristics of competing technology What is the 2013 price target for 1 MM cells What is the 2015 price target for 10 MM cells what is optimum sales method for each segment (asset sale, lease, pay for performance, etc.)

product positioning/elevator pitch for each segment

Prospect roadmap: how to get face-to-face with right person at prospects in each segment

key competitors in each segment and their market share

key competitors' characteristics & dynamics

What outbound marketing/ advertising/ promotion activities are needed

support tools required by segment (white papers, TCO calc., tradeshow)

pipeline of leads

04/11/2023

30

x

x

x

X = number of in depth customer data points / data sources used to validate hypothesis

red = low hypothesis confidence yellow = medium hypothesis confidence green = high hypothesis confidence

25

25

4 50

3

Complete regional overview

12

Populate life cycle data for performance guarantees

Educate market on metric: $/kWh-day delivered over life of asset

Establish strong partnerships with channel partners

Integrated power system engineering – compatibility for retrofit and optimized system solutions

Financing options for Power services operators

Launch reliability

0

Customer Validation

Customer

Discovery

CustomerValidatio

n

Customer Creation

CompanyBuilding

• Repeatable, scalable profitable?

• Passionate first paying customers?

• Pivot back to Discovery if not!

Pivot Execution

Search

When It Doesn’t Work

(most of the time…)

Merci !

www.diateino.com

BOB DORFallegedly retired serial entrepreneur

Twitter: @bobdorf www.bobdorf.cowww.steveblank.com