Customer Development

John Cook routinely offers great insights on his blog, “The Endeavor.” He was interviewed by Vincent Tan in the March 2011 issue[PDF] of Singularity Magazine Actually applying math is hard work. It requires knowing the limits of your abstractions. It may require writing software or writing English prose. It requires skills outside of mathematics in order to connect the mathematics to the problem.

From “Five Things to Remember When Selling a New Product” What is the next step? A serious prospect will be able to outline at a high level what’s involved in the evaluation and purchase of your product. At the same time you need to be prepared to outline the process you would like to follow.

Here is the handout from this morning’s Bootstrapper Breakfast® in Walnut Creek. Mapping the Path to Your First Dollar of Revenue Sean Murphy, SKMurphy, Inc. Bootstrapper Breakfast Walnut Creek Jan 25, 2011 Entrepreneurs tend to focus on having a good idea, or on the challenges of developing a new product, or on finding co-founders to form a company. While all of these are important the most significant early milestone for a bootstrapper is making the first dollar of revenue from a customer willing to act as a reference.

“The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.” Charles Louis de Montesquieu (1689-1755) in “Pensees Diverses” It’s rare for a new initiative to work the first time, at least when I try something new. I normally include several iterations and small scale trials to work out problems in the recipe.