nvc lean startup
TRANSCRIPT
Tonight’s Points
• Introduction 1min
• Personal Story 4 min
• Motivation to Start a Company 5 min
• Idea Generation 10 min
• Customer Development 30 min
• Lean Canvas 30 min
• Go do it!
$800 million in funding
IPO
Goo
d Ex
ecuti
on T
eam
Great Idea
VC Contacts
Break Even
5 Qrts
18 Months Market Research
Product Development
• Reading• Watching TV• Family Time• Going to Movies• Fishing• Computer• Gardening• Renting Movies• Walking• Exercise• Listening to Music• Entertaining• Hunting
• Team Sports• Shopping• Traveling• Sleeping• Socializing• Sewing• Golf• Church Activities• Relaxing• Playing Music
How big is the market
Number of Potential Customers X
Value of each customer=
Total Available Market
Top Down Bottom Up
Number of customers I can get today
Growth
Projected Customers with expected growth
Total Available Market
Attainable Market Share
Projected Customers with target share
Problem Solution Fit
State your assumptions: • The Product Hypothesis• Customer Hypothesis– ROI
• Channel and Pricing Hypothesis• Demand Creation Hypothesis • Market Type Hypothesis• Competitive Type Hypothesis
Product
• Problem you are solving• Product Features• Product Benefits• Intellectual Property• Product Delivery Schedule– MVP
• Total cost of ownership/adoption
Customer• Types of customers
– Decision Maker– Economic Buyer– Recommender– Influencer– User
• Customer Problems• A day in the life of your customer• Customer Influence Map• ROI Justification
– Cost of Problem vs Cost of your solution• Minimum Feature Set
Distribution
• System Integrators• Direct Sales Force• Value added resellers• Dealers• Distributors• Retail • Online / Direct
Demand Creation• How would you create demand for your product to your chosen
channels– Advertising– Social Media– PR– Promotions– Spam– Web Site– Word of Mouth– Seminars– Telemarketing– Partners – INFLUENCERS
Problem
Top 3 Problems
SolutionsTop 3 features
MetricsKey activities you measure
Unique Value Proposition
Single, clear compelling, message that states why you are different and worth buying
Unfair Advantage
Can NOT be easily copied or bought
ChannelsPath to customers
Customer Segments
Target customer
Cost Structure
-Customer acquisitionDistribution costHostingPeople
Revenue Streams
-Revenue model Lifetime valueRevenueGross Margin
New Co. New Co. Great IdeaClear message of what you do, tag line
Customer Engagement
1. Start showing the site to potential customers, testing customer segment and value proposition
2. Use Ads, textlinks or Google AdWords, Facebook ads and natural search to drive people to your Minimally Viable web site
3. Use your network to find target customers – ask your contacts, “Do you know someone with problem X? If so, can you forward this message on to them?” and provide a 2-3 sentence description
4. For B2B products, Twitter, Quora, and industry mailing lists are a good place to find target customers. Don’t spam these areas, but if you’re already an active participant you can sprinkle in some references to your site or you can ask a contact who is already an active participant to do outreach for you.
5. Use Mailchimp, Postmark or Google Groups to send out emails and create groups
6. Create online surveys with Wufoo or Zoomerang7. Get feedback on your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) features and
User Interface
Next Steps
• Test hypothesis by talking to customers– Start Building a landing page– Make progress toward your MVP– Talk to customers– Collect Data– Ask for Money
• Iterate
Tools
Must Read Blogs• Fred Wilson – A VC• SK Murphy• Marc Andreessen• Paul Graham• Hacker News• Brad Feld• Chris Dixon• OnStartups-Dharmesh Shah• Both Sides of the Table – Mark Suster• 37signals• Eric Ries – Startup Lessons Learned• Venture Hacks and http://twitter.com/venturehacks• Andrew Chen• Dave McClure• Venture Made Transparent
Co-founders
• TechCoFounder - directory of developers• Foundrs - recruit co-founders• StartupLinkup - recruit co-founders• FoundersHookUp - Invite-only find a co-founder• CoFounder Network• PartnerUp-
• Meetup – go to a Meetup!