dominic bortolussi's lean startup lessons
DESCRIPTION
What are important things to consider when trying to run a lean startup? Dominic Bortolussi, founder of The Working Group, shares his strategy in a slide show presented during the 2014 Funding Roadshow.TRANSCRIPT
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LEAN STARTUP LESSONS(AND A LEAN CANVAS
EXPERIMENT)
Dominic BortolussiThe Working Group
twg.ca
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DOMINIC BORTOLUSSI
FOUNDER THE WORKING GROUP - 2002.
WEB AND MOBILE SOFTWARE CREATION
STARTUP ENTHUSIAST, MENTOR, ACTIVATOR
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“This industry is a dying giant”
(the news industry)
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“We aren’t a news source, we aren’t professional
journalists, and we don’t care.”
- Their ‘About’ page, Dec, 2013.
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REVENUE HAS DECREASED BY 13% ACROSS CANADA’S
NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS
(SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA)
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AND IT’S PREDICTED TO DROP 20% BY 2017
(SOURCE: PWC GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA OUTLOOK)
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LAYOFFS AT THE NATIONAL POST, GLOBE & MAIL, TORONTO SUN, CBC…. THE LIST GOES ON
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Wait..“This industry is a dying
giant”
What TV is doing to the movie industry. - U.S. News & World Report (1958)
Yes …1958
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EVERYTHING GETS DISRUPTED
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NOBODY’S RUNNING OUT OF IDEASBut we’ll want to identify the good ones.
@twg @twg #techraking
@twg @twg #techraking
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HOW DO WE MAKE SURE OUR IDEAS ARE GOOD?
AVOID
Front Porch ForumYou???TSN
@twg #smwsmash
ABOUT US
“LIFE’S TOO SHORT TO BUILD SOMETHING NOBODY WANTS.”
- @ASHMAURYA
“LIFE’S TOO SHORT TO BUILD SOMETHING NOBODY WANTS.”
- @ASHMAURYA
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The OLD WAY and The NEW WAY
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Lean Canvas: Your Startup Blueprint
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Lean Canvas: Your Startup Blueprint
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1. CUSTOMER SEGMENTS & PROBLEM
•List the 3 biggest problems your customer has
•List existing alternatives
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2. UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
•Single compelling message stating your difference and value.
•Target early adopters
•Focus on finished story benefits
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3. SOLUTION
•Sketch out the top features or capabilities for each problem
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4. CHANNELS
•Channels are how your business will reach its customers
•They let people know about your product
•PR, SEO, Word of Mouth
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5. REVENUE STREAMS AND COST STRUCTURE
•How will you make money?
•How much money do you need to make?
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6. KEY METRICS
•One or two key activities that will drive people to use your product
•One or two key activities that prove your product is useful
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7. UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
•Channels are how your business will reach its customers
•They let people know about your product
•PR, blogging, email
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“IN A STARTUP NO FACTS EXIST INSIDE THE BUILDING. ONLY
OPINIONS” - @SGBLANK
“IN A STARTUP NO FACTS EXIST INSIDE THE BUILDING. ONLY
OPINIONS” - @SGBLANK
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Test the hypotheses of your Lean
Canvas
Learn as much as you can about
your customers and their pain
Keep going until you stop learning
CUSTOMER DISCOVERY
GET OUT OF THE
BUILDING
GET OUT OF THE
BUILDING
DO INTERVIEWS (YOU MIGHT
HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE)
DO INTERVIEWS (YOU MIGHT
HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE)
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Ask about their problems. “What is
the hardest part about _____.”
Learn about their pain, and what
they currently do to resolve it.
Listen, romance, repeat, record
CUSTOMER DISCOVERY“PROBLEM” INTERVIEWS
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Tell your customers your value prop
and solution details. Present
something.
How are they solving it today? Is this
better?
Will they commit to trying it and a
price?
CUSTOMER DISCOVERY“SOLUTION” INTERVIEWS
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THEN WHAT?
Repeat, interview, and fine tune your Solution.
Do this until you feel ready to create your
‘Minimum Viable Product’ to launch.
Track the metrics.. looking for traction.
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Steve Blank - The friendly ‘Godfather’ of Lean
TWG STARTUP ACADEMY - LEAN CANVAS
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CUSTOMER - STARTUPS
Early Stage Software Startups - developing and
testing their MVP.
Have 25K+ now to allocate to design,
development, testing of their MVP.
Planning to raise more significant investment
once Market fit has been established.
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PROBLEM - STARTUPS
Software production - need to iterate their MVP
on the web, or in mobile.
Hiring - need to find talent to design, build, test
Investment - need to build relationships with
investors
Experience - don’t know everything about
growing and running a business.
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UVP - STARTUPS
Augment your Startup with an investment from
Canada’s top designers and developers.
Work with an investor who can roll up their sleeves
and work alongside you, building and testing your
product.
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SOLUTION - STARTUPS
A partner who invests by delivering on the design, coding,
and testing for your MVP
A partner who invests by finding and growing your design
and tech team
A partner who can show you the best practices in Lean and
Agile approaches to software development. Validate MVP.
A partner who has a deep and active investor network
A partner who helps fill the gaps in knowledge and
experience
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CHANNELS - STARTUPS
Funding Roadshows
Accelerators - MaRS, Extreme Startups,
IdeaLab, General Assembly
Startup Weekend Toronto
Angel Networks
Meetups - Rails pub night, LeanCoffeeTO,
#nerdlearn
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REVENUE - STARTUPS
Average early stage VC’s have .300 ‘winners’
batting average
Average early VC’s stage aim for over 8X on
their winners
Our batting average so far is .600 (so far..)
And we need only a 2 - 3 X on our winners
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CUSTOMER - INVESTORS
Angels,
Looking at technology startups,
100K+ to invest
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PROBLEM - INVESTORS
Inexperienced teams (technology, business,
marketing).
Product needs to still be validated
Unknown cost to build and iterate product
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UVP - INVESTORS
De-risk your investment in Startups with a Partner
investment from one of Canada’s top software design
and development firms.
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SOLUTION - INVESTORS
A partner who can help the Startup validate their MVP.
A partner who can teach best practices in Lean and Agile software
dev.
A partner who can deliver design, code, and testing for their MVP
A partner who can help grow their design and tech team
A partner who has a deep and active startup network
A partner who helps fill their gaps in knowledge and experience
A partner who does some or all of the above as an investment.
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CHANNELS - INVESTORS
Funding Roadshows
Accelerators - MaRS, Extreme Startups,
IdeaLab, General Assembly
Startup Weekend Toronto
Angel Networks
Meetups - Rails pub night, LeanCoffeeTO,
#nerdlearn
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TWG ACADEMY ALUMNI
Shoplocket - Acquired 2014Greengage ((now Nudge) - Active, Funded, ScalingThe OMX - Active, FundedPilot App - Acquired 2013Front Porch Forum - Active, Funded, ScalingPostageApp - Active, Funded, ScalingUnhaggle - Active, Funded, ScalingRayku - Active, MVP validationOrganicsLive – Active, ScalingStrokelink - Active, waiting..
