THIS WEEK

Monday Afternoon Customer Development

Tuesday Morning Business Model Design

Tuesday Afternoon Investment

Thursday Morning Pitching

Thursday Afternoon Negotiation

NAMES

Learning Goals

There is no

One True Way

WHAT IS

CUSTOMER

DEVELOPMENT?

ONE DAY

A man wakes up, turns on the radio, goes upstairs,

turns on the light, and kills himself.

Why?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebehnken/5343485804

LEARNCONFIR

M

OBSERVE EXPERIMENT

DETECT ANALYSE

Do we

understand

them?

Do we have

the right

product?

Question

How much of what you

believe about your

customers is wrong?

Lying bastards.Everybody will tell you what you want to hear,

especially if you want to hear it.

Pricing, tricks,

advisors, politics,

introductions.Only available in pre-product conversations!

Getting actionable facts.

The burden of truth is on

the observer.

Dear son,

You are the best and your idea is

awesome. You should do it -

I will buy one.

Your Mom

Dear son,

I never understood why you

didn’t take that corporate job.

Your idea will fail. Go back to

school.

Your Mom

The Mom TestQuestions so good, even

your mom can’t lie to you.

PastBecause nobody can

predict the future.

FactBecause opinions change.

SpecificBecause generalities hide the truth.

The Mom TestPast - Fact - Specific

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shoutsfromtheabyss/5340846422/

Good question

or bad question?

Is this something

you would buy?

Let’s apply

The Mom Test.

What are the

three rules?

Is this something

you would buy?

How do you currently

deal with this

problem?

How do you currently

deal with this

problem?

How can we improve this?

How have you dealt

with this problem?

When does this

problem pop up?

When does this

problem pop up?

We could still get an invented

answer.

Let’s fix this.

When has this

problem popped up?

What makes this go

off-track?

What makes this go

off-track?

This is great for finding opportunities

to help in outlying cases.

But it’s still too general.

Has this ever gone

off-track?

How much would you

pay for this?

How much would you

pay for this?

How much does this

problem cost you?

How much does this

problem cost you?

How much has this

problem cost you?

What’s your budget?

Customer Development

isn’t sales!

What’s your budget?

Talk about their

life, not your idea.

Rule Of Thumb

Please tell me how

you handle this.

Please tell me how

you handle this.

LEARNCONFIR

M

OBSERVE EXPERIMENT

Please show me how

you do this.

Can I ask why?

Do we

understand

them?

Do we have

the right

product?

If you’re in the mindset of a learner,

trying to understand the customer,

you’re doing great!

Can I ask why?

Conversation is a skill,

not a process.

You’re already good at it -

you just don’t know it yet.

Just like you already speak French!

Softball

Questions

To get them talking. To start the momentum.

Softball Question

How’s it going

with… ?

What’s your softball question?

What words are natural for you? Write it down.

Let’s say you have a

travel booking app idea.

We want to learn about travel in

people’s lives.

Now try it!

One-minute conversations -

get the momentum going!

SignalsWhat to listen for.

Obstacles

Problems and friction

indicate areas where

we can help.

Goals tell us where we fit in

the bigger picture of their life.

Listen for -ly words, like

quickly, or cheaply.Goals

Actions give us a sense of if

they care enough to do

something, and if so, what

their options are.Actions

Signals

Obstacles Goals Actions

Demo!

I’ll talk to one of you and

point out the signals I hear.

Did you catch them too?

Now try it!

Listen for signals.

Put your hands up

when you hear one.

Anchor

Questions

To explore a signal.

Anchor Question

Interesting. Tell

me more about

that.

Anchor Question

Can you help me

understand …?

Anchor Question

You can just raise your

eyebrows like you’re

surprised!

What’s your anchor question?

What words are natural for you? Write it down.

Now try it!

Direct the conversation towards a

signal you heard.

Recording The

Right Stuff.

Their words - not yours!

Pair up.

Now try it!

Write down what you hear.

Making decisions.The trick to making decisions as a team is

to share insight, then decide together.

Now try it!

Put your sheets down on the table.

Point to phrases you don’t understand

and ask the interviewer to explain

what was going on.

Rule of Thumb

Direct conversations to

specific, past, events,

not general current or

future.

Compliments Are

Not Signals.

Sounds great.

I love it!

Sounds great. I

love it!

Brilliant -- let me

know when it

launches!

Brilliant -- let me

know when it

launches!

Compliments?

Stalling tactic?

They don’t care.

:(

There are a couple

people I can intro you

to, when you’re ready.

Partial commitment?

Validate by going for

full commitment.

I would definitely

buy that!

Your Mom

Is this something

you would buy?

Rule of Thumb

Advancement to the

next step is a signal you

are ready to Confirm.

Advancements

Time

Money

Reputation

FactsCommitmen

t

Learn Confirm

2 stages of learning

@saintsal

@lvelev

Thank you!