START-UP MARKETING A QUICK GUIDE FOR STARTUP FOUNDERS

b GET YOUR FIRST 100 CUSTOMERS

Shiv Shankar M S Co-founder of Waybeo (bounzd.com)

Twitter: @shiv_waybeo

All Rights Reserved

WHAT MOST START-UPS WANT TO BUILD

WHAT THEY SHOULD BUILD FIRST?

EVENTUALLY BUILD THIS

IDEAL START UP LIFE CYCLE

IDEA CUSTOMER VALIDATION CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT

FIRST 100 CUSTOMERS (INNOVATORS & EARLY ADOPTERS)

CROSSING THE CHASM (SELLING TO EARLY MAJORITY)

SCALE, GROW AND SUCCESS

PRODUCT-MARKET FIT

PRIOR TO MARKETING - 2 MUST READs

#1 UNDERSTAND THE TERRAIN

PRIOR TO MARKETING - 2 MUST READs

#2 Positioning your Product

STARTUP MARKETING IN 3 LINES

#1 BUILD A REMARKABLE PRODUCT

#2 MARKET THE PRODUCT TO PASSIONATE INFLUENCERS

#3 BUILD A COMMUNITY WHO WILL PROMOTE TO THE MAJORITY

HOW TO GET YOUR FIRST 10 CUSTOMERS WHEN YOU LAUNCH(MVP)?

THE PRODUCT IS THE MARKETING

BUILD YOUR PRODUCT THE LEAN WAY.

ONCE YOU BUILD THE MVP YOU WILL HAVE MINIMUM 10 CUSTOMERS IN HAND

IF NOT YOU MIGHT HAVE DROPPED THE IDEA.

FOLLOW CUSTOMER DISCOVERY MODEL

MAKE A REMARKABLE PRODUCT – RUNNING LEAN

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

Must Read (A sea of free tools and tips for founders): http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

What do you do in a day? What other products do you use? What kind of a person are you? What do you love? Hate? What sites/pubs/newsletters do you read? What events do you attend? When do you do your email? Who do you look up to?

Who/What do we compete with? If we didn’t exist, what would you use? Describe what we do. How do you measure the value we provide? How do you describe the benefit of what we do? What market are we in?

How did you know you needed something like our solution? What triggered your search for a solution? Was there anything that would have stopped you from making the purchase? Did you make a short list? Who else was on it? What were your short list and purchase criteria? Did you do research before you bought? Where? Did you talk to anyone before your decision to buy? Who else was involved in the purchase? How?

Who Are They?

How do They View the Market?

How do They Buy?

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY – questions you ask

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY – The Canvas

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

TAKE A MINIMUM OF 100 INTERVIEWS BEFORE LAUNCH

They all did like this in the Lean Way

AirBNB, FlipKart, Mint, Redbus

ON LAUNCHING MVP YOU WILL

• Know the pain/problem customer is facing • Know WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER – Buyer Persona? • Know The worth of your solution • Know Their Willingness to pay • Find Product-market fit • Find the Key Value proposition • Have 10 early Stage Customers • Find Customer Group that is large enough to build a

scalable and repeatable business model.

So Ready to start marketing &

Get the first 100 Customers on board?

But, STARTUP MARKETING

BUT IT DOESN’T WORK THAT

WAY! A few tips to follow to reach 100 customers

100 Customers

300 Free Trials

700 Sales proposal

1000 Sales Accepted Leads

1500 Marketing Qualified Leads

10000 Prospects

Understand Success Metrics #1

Your marketing must contribute to this funnel

#2 Do it Yourself. Don’t Hire a Marketing VP

Atleast till you reach $100K in revenue

Find the Early Adopters. #3

Try to List atleast 1000 of them Yourself

#4 Go to your Customer Capital

TIP: Sell it for FREE to the leaders in your target segment in every new segment/location

#5 Don’t Waste Resources

Don’t spend time, energy and money on anything that is not directly impacting your sales and revenue

#6 Ask for Help! People Do Love to Help, if asked

References from other people are the best source of leads always!

#7 Build a Community!

Of Enablers, End Users and Purchasers

#8 Any PR is good, if its FREE.

Analyse the sales impactness of a Paid PR Campaign before jumping into it.

#9 In Today’s Marketing Courage is more important than Experience

Try any new marketing strategy, if it excites you, but to a limited test audience.

If it works, it will be one of your best blog posts in the future.

#10 Don’t Exhibit at Events, unless you are speaking

But do attend events where your Customers come.

If No Money to register… Feel Free to Try Gate Crashing!

All you need is a one time investment for a blazer…

#11 Content Marketing (Inbound)– The Free Stuff

Create Contents that your Community Loves. Identify it from the Sales process

Each Content you create should add something to the sales funnel.

#12 Pay for Good Design & Content

It will pay you back for sure.

#13 Social Selling Works Wonders

60% of our Sales happened this way

Linkedin and Twitter can give more than what you think.

Must Read: 42 Linkedin Sales Tips by Insidesales.com http://linkedinsite.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/42-linkedin-tips.pdf

#14 The Ideal Flow (B2B)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

No:

of C

usto

mer

s

Founder Selling on the Ground

Field Sales on Customer Capital

Inside Sales & CRM Automation

Set the basics for marketing automation

#15 Learn Lead Scoring & Lead Nurturing

You won’t get your early adopters, if you don’t know How to do this.

Don’t be a Jack Ass Marketer #16

This is What Google Search Can’t Answer You!

There are only 2 things You need to Know

That’s All Friends! Thank You

Twitter: @shiv_waybeo Email: shiv@bounzd.com

(www.bounzd.com)

All Rights Reserved