The term strategy is misused in this context. Customer development is not a strategy, it is a process. A process can also be called a tactic. Strategy is abo

The term strategy is misused in this context. Customer development is not a strategy, it is a process. A process can also be called a tactic. Strategy is about the unique position that a company will be able to achieve by executing on their process. There are two general types of advantage: competitive advantage and comparative advantage. Delivering more value at a given cost is a comparative advantage. Equivalent value at a lower cost is not a comparative advantage. Strategy is about competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is a unique position that a competitor can never attain. In concrete terms, for startups, you will always get the "What if Google did the same thing" question or the "What if Microsoft did the same thing" question. The answers are "Google will never successfully compete in this space because it will have a negative effect on their advertising revenue" or "Microsoft will never successfully compete in this space because it will have a negative effect on their Windows or Office revenue". So the stack looks like this: Strategy (Competitive Advantage or unique position) Process/Tactic (Customer Development and Product Development) Action (TODO list)