RECAP: Customers and Value Propositions

Recap/Recording of March 7 workshop with Edmund Pendleton

Click here for the full recording of the workshop.
  1. Innovation
    1. Not everyone needs to be an entrepreneur to make change and innovate 
    2. Steve Jobs credited his success to keeping a wide range of people around him to create ideas
    3. Anybody with any background can successfully innovate without being an Entrepreneur (intrapreneurship)
  2. Background
    1. 3rd generation civil engineer 
    2. "There's been more innovation in hats in the last 400 years than there had been in survey technology" 
    3. New survey technology funded by NSA and received interest from Hollywood for the Titanic, researchers in Switzerland, and NASA. 
    4. 10 years and 20 million dollars to find a good opportunity for their product with Boeing and their new airplane design
      1. Value: Speed
  3. ICorp program
    1. Academic researchers
    2. Developed by entrepreneurs and taught by entrepreneurs 
    3. The Lean Start-up 
      1. Don't waste a lot of time and money on something no one wants 
      2. Biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is assuming they know what other people want 
      3. Go out and talk to people before you build and product or put together an idea 
    4. "You promised me Mars colonies and instead you gave me Facebook"  
  4. Do not fool yourself because you are the easiest person to fool
    1. Most of us hear what we want to hear
  5. Don't spend your time on your business plan
    1. Investors invest based on how good your idea sounds, not how good your business plan is 
    2. Projections are virtually useless for start-ups 
      1. For a start-up knowing anything past the first 3 months is usually a stretch  
      2. END GOAL is to create a repeatable and scalable business model (Only thing you should be worried about)
  6. Don't build something no one wants 
    1. Refer back to the lean start up
    2. Most start ups fail because no one wants what they've built
    3. Differentiate between a "feature" and a full-fledged business 
      1. If you have just a product idea but want to create a start-up, you need to expand the product to be a long lasting business (most businesses don't sell ONE thing)
  7. Focus
    1. "Don't go to Hollywood"/"don't chase the shiny object"
    2. zero in on your best-fit customer 
  8. Customer
    1. Evidence come from customer interviews
    2. Customer segments 
      1. Different costumers have different needs
      2. Specify to the -t who your customers all are 
        1. end user
        2. decision maker
        3. payer
  9. Value
    1. Value and features are not the same thing, although features lead to value 
    2. Understand the value that you're bringing, and if it truly gives you a competitive advantage 
      1. Faster is not always better
      2. Cheaper is not always important 
      3. Easier to use isn't value to your product, it's just a feature
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Posted: March 15, 2016, 10:19 PM

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