The Smart Fast Startup

The Smart Fast Startup

How to Quickly Nail

the Product that Sells

Hypothetical Startup

Theoretical Successful Startup

• Unproven emerging market

• Fuzzy target customer profile

• No repeatable business model

• Unclear solution requirement

Typical Technology Startup

Now Entering:

The Land of Extreme Uncertainty

Theoretical Successful Startup

Real Startup

1. Idea

2. Product

3. Business plan

4. Product Spec

5. Development

6. Launch

Traditional Path

Problem – “buyers are liars” – we suck at predicting what we will use or buy

1. Target customers

2. Like it?

3. Pay for it?

4. Build it

5. Still like it?

6. Credit card ?

Real Startup

Failure Avoidance Syndrome

Amount of Perceived Failure

Time Spent Building Something

Time and Money Spent

Time and Money Spent

Less Risk First Time

Stronger Company

Better terms

More money

More fun

Less Trauma

Venture Investors Co-Founders

Famous Startup Epitaphs

Hammer looking for a Nail

Feature looking for a Product

Before our Time

Nice to Have

Very cool, but no one would Pay

The Problem

Merely Interesting

Monetizable

“Monetizable Pain”

Measure monetizable pain

B2B

50%Monetizable Pain Threshold

B2C

Two Bridges

Monetizable PainMarket Sweetspot

MessagingCAC

Famous Startup Epitaphs II

More Money

More Partners

More Engineers

More Marketing

More ………..

Minimum Feature Set

Product Roadmap

Minimum Feature Set

•Buying panel•Breakthrough Q’s

•Mockups•Product tests

Two Bridges

Monetizable PainMarket Sweetspot

MessagingCAC

Min Feature SetCustomer Validated

Product SpecBeta Sites

Early AdoptersRevenue

• VC’s invest in the new, new thing

• Truth: VC’s invest in a good business

What does this mean for you?

What is Google’s best innovation?

What is Google’s best innovation?

Monetizable Pain

PassFail

MinFeature

Set

Pass

Fail

mark@sandhillpartners.com

408-771-8585

Recommended Reading:

Nail It Then Scale ItBy Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom

The Lean StartupBy Eric Ries

Key questions

• If I do this will I get funded?

• What about competition

– Makes prospective investors nervous

– I say its not as important as you think

• Already doing what you are doing

• Could do it, or have the idea– Nearly every startup has someone in this category

– Execution is what matters

Two Bridges

Monetizable Pain Min Feature Set