I’ve tried willing my startups into success. Turns out, it doesn’t work. You can’t will things into reality (as far as I know at least.) And that sounds obvious, but I guarantee you when you’re right in the middle of your startup, somewhere between the post-launch euphoria and the wiggles of false hope (as described […]
Lean Startup and Big Vision Are Not Diametrically Opposed
Recently, I presented Lean Canvas and an extended Problem-Solution Canvas (that we created at Year One Labs) to FounderFuel’s second startup cohort. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully useful for the teams. (If you’re curious, FounderFuel is a Montreal-based accelerator program that runs twice per year.) I’m always concerned when presenting anything related […]
You Suck! And How to Handle Other Negative Feedback
Negative feedback hurts. It’s easy to take personally and get offended. It’s easy to dismiss too. But negative feedback is a lot better than no feedback at all. The worst thing for a startup -at any stage- is crickets. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Ugh. Silence […]
One Customer Doesn’t Make a Market
These days, most entrepreneurs I talk to understand the importance of speaking with customers before building a full-blown product. They’re getting out of the building. And that’s great. A few years ago it wasn’t like that at all. But unfortunately, I often speak with entrepreneurs that have only talked to one or two customers. That’s […]
Always Be Pitching
Build, measure, learn. That’s the Lean Startup mantra. It sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly tough to do well. And while it’s designed to eliminate waste and provide a speedier path through product development and validation, it can still lead to silos in how we think about startup progress. It’s so easy to spend an inordinate […]
Being Responsive is Critical for Successful Customer Development
Most customers tolerate bugs. Most customers tolerate products with missing features that they need (or think they need!) Most customers tolerate the quirks and hiccups that come with new technology and software. This is true of early adopters, but it’s even true to some degree, of late adopters. Customers can be quite forgiving. But what […]
Defining Success
The Lean Startup model is all about running experiments, learning and making informed decisions on what to do next. I’m clearly a believer in the model, but there are some parts of it that are quite nuanced and challenging to figure out. One of those is with respect to experimental design. A good experiment needs […]
Startups Need to Make Leaps of Faith, But Not Blindly
In startup land, we all make leaps of faith. I think it’s part of being an entrepreneur – you need to have just enough confidence, startup swagger and insanity to jump … and figure it out before you crash. And I don’t think leaps of faith ever completely go away, even if you follow a […]
Customer Validation Really Starts with In-Person Interviews
When you have a startup idea, the first instinct is to pitch it to friends and colleagues. This can be somewhat helpful, because they may provide insight that you hadn’t thought of yet, or quickly validate some of your concerns based on their questions. They may be familiar with a competitor worth looking at, or […]
How To Run a Business Model Hackathon
A tech hackathon is typically a half-day to two-day event where teams get together and build a product in a very short period of time. They’re always fun and interesting, often organized around specific platforms (like Foursquare), and a great way to meet new people, get into a community and test your chops. At Year […]
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