Preparing for / Reporting Contacts• Agenda:– Updates on events– I need your presentations for feedback– Preparing for contacts

• For next class:• 3/4: Discuss L2, making an MVP

• Coming Up:• 3/6: Group work outside of class – watch L3• 3/11 : Report on L2; Discuss L3• 3/13: Quiz 1 (may have speaker)

BMC Feedback

• Hypotheses were mostly complete– Some not sufficiently detailed. Use categories as

prompts, but provide detail. • Human resources vs. programmers

• Experiments and GOTB Plan– Different experiments for different components– Focus on pains/gains first, not your solution

• Market Size– Make some estimates on reducing TAM to SAM to

target market

Business Model Canvas Weakness

• False sense of security– Does not show:• Environment• Competitors/competing products

– Easy to gloss over:• Inability to acquire “key resources” (drawing on BMC

does not equal execution)

Learn from others

• Identify competitors (past/present)– What are they doing right?– Why are they competing well/failing?

• http://www.noveda.com/media/resources/iQuatic_Water_Monitoring_Platform.pdf• http://www.4moms.com/origami#top• http://www.bikesbelong.org/resources/stats-and-research/research/bike-sharing-in-the-united-sta

tes/• http://wheresthepartyatapp.com/• http://betabeat.com/2011/07/brom-ly-is-building-the-ultimate-event-engine/• http://nowaitapp.com/why-nowait/pagers/restaurant-pager-alternative• http://mashable.com/2011/01/12/diner-connection/

• Easiest place to find this information?– Online reviews by experts– Reviews by users – what do they complain/rave/comment about?

Preparing for Contacts

• The purpose of contacts – not about whether they love your product

(solution)– About understanding the problem and how urgent

it is• First goal – shoot for 50– People with time, loosely fit profile of customers– No big names (you don’t know enough yet)– Ask for references

Next Steps

• Develop a Reference Story– Hi, this is _________– Referred by ________– “We’re trying to start a company to solve the

__________ problem, and we’re building ______.”– “I don’t want to sell you anything. I just want

twenty minutes of your time to understand the ______ problem and learn how you deal with it.”

– “I’ll be happy to share what I’ve been learning and other product trends in the industry.”

Referred Contact E-mail

– Hi, this is _________– “________ said you are the smartest person in the

industry.”– “___We’re trying to start a company to solve the

__________ problem, and we’re building ______.”– “I don’t want to sell you anything. I just want

twenty minutes of your time to understand the ______ problem and learn how you deal with it.”

– “I’ll be happy to share what I’ve been learning and other product trends in the industry.”

Additional pointers

• Motion does not equal action– Keep trying

• Prepare ahead of time• Bring something to take notes• With permission, you can record the interview

We Made Students Blog Their Progress

It Changed Everything

How?1. Narrative – describe what you did, and who did it

1. Your major goal for the week – what were you trying to do?2. Describe Interviews, Surveys3. Illustrate with Videos, photos 4. Describe making and testing Prototypes5. Any other detail that is helpful

2. Describe major insights3. Show updated Business Model Canvas (Scorekeeping) and

reasons for changes

Interview

Photos Videos

Surveys

Interview& Photos

Competitive Analysis

Key Findings

A/B Test Results

Key Question

Strategy

Business Model Canvas as the Scorecard

How to

• Visit wordpress.com• Follow the sign-up steps• Get an e-mail, and log back in• Change Settings– Go to Settings, Discussion– Unclick “Comment author must have a previously

approved comment”

Ongoing

• For all presentations• Post updated canvas and presentation• a summary of activities related to each

– Check in before every class• Sign in• Click on comments• Approve or reply to comments

– There may be spam comments (send them to spam)

Value Proposition Presentation

• Show 1-page BMC• What were your value proposition hypotheses? • Customer development:– What did potential customers think about your value

proposition hypotheses?– Report # of customers (>5 customers/team member)

interviewed– Follow-up with Survey Monkey (or similar service) to get

more data• Report key insights (what needs to change on BMC?)

Wrap-up

• Key Take-aways:– Plan customer development – talk to people– Report customer development –

• Share with others• Helps learning

• For next class:• 3/4: Discuss L2, making an MVP

• Coming Up:• 3/6: Group work outside of class – watch L3• 3/11 : Report on L2; Discuss L3• 3/13: Quiz 1 (may have speaker)