1. Customer Development WorkshopTechBA, San JoseApr 20, 2010 Brant Cooper @brantcooper marketbynumbers.com

2. The 3 #CustDev Meta Rules1. Question your assumptions2. Get out of the building3. Iterate

3. Objective: Mitigate Risk What is the #1 risk to your business? No one cares about your product What are product risks? Product doesn’t sufficiently solve problem Product not usable What are other risks? Rational decision outweighed by emotional Cost of acquisition > Lifetime value Market too small

4. Objective: Learning Point is NOT to prove yourself right Point is to learn where you are wrong Perspective determines Customer Development approach

5. Objective: Empathy Solution is irrelevant Deeply understand customer pain or passion

6. B2B vs B2C

7. What does B2B care about? Business: Increasing revenue Increasing market share Decreasing costs Decreasing risk People: Want promotion Don’t want to be fired Don’t want to lose budget Don’t want to take on risk

8. B2B Learning Who is the buyer? Different than user? Different than decision maker? Where does budget come from? What are decision and purchase processes? Requires pilot? PoC? Length of sales cycle? Channel requirements? Who can kill deal, IT? HR? Finance? Who is your champion?

9. What does B2C care about? People (rational): Cost Elimination of pain Fulfillment of passion Risk avoidance People (irrational) Emotions Social status Sunken cost Self-perception

10. B2C Learning Who has pain or holds passion? Who are decision influencers? Who do they influence? What are hidden drivers? What are similar passions / pains? What do they dream / worry about? What characteristics are shared w/ like buyers? Where do they live? Hang out? What do they require to buy? Demo? Trial? How do they determine who to trust?

11. Finding Customers Feet on the street Directories LinkedIn Surveys Landing Pages Social Media Friends and family

12. Customer Engagement Type Informational interview; leverage expertise Buy lunch, cup of coffee Time-limited phone call If you have product, selling Surveys, calibrated w/ interviews Gift cards Usability testing

13. Customer Engagement Tools Customer – Problem – Solution presentation Top 3 learning objectives Pitch problem, not solution Identify early adopters Always walk away with more names Follow – up Build relationships

14. Bottom Line You Don’t do #CustDev merely to do #CustDev Mitigating risk that eliminates waste is the core objective of Customer Development

15. Minimum Viable Product