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> You need to find the fastest and cheapest way to de-risk your startup idea. Agreed - but, if I were to break out startup risks into the following, which one

> You need to find the fastest and cheapest way to de-risk your startup idea. Agreed - but, if I were to break out startup risks into the following, which one is the highest? - Market - Product - Channel - Business model/unit economics > "The Lean Startup" book by Eric Ries is already 10-11 y/o, so it's not up-to-date and with lots of gaps. Can you mention just a few of the gaps? > Instead you need to build a theory about your potential user's needs, and focus on shipping something first What's the most effective way to discover: - who these potential users are? - what their needs are?

nivertech 5y ago
1. Market, then Business model/unit economics. The latter is less problem for VC-funded startups - they assume it can be optimized/fixed later. 2. In many places it's just hand-wavy. Many case studies, but no formal methodology how to do Build->Measure->Learn feedback loop. 3. The needs and desires at a particular time/situations. Personas don't work. For example the same person may want a luxury meal in one situation and a hotdog in another. See JTBD.
- MaknMoreGtnLess 5y ago
  > Market, then Business model/unit economics Agreed and I recently mentioned it elsewhere: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30318531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30318531 > For example the same person may want a luxury meal in one situation and a hotdog in another Sure - but would it be wrong to say the same person may have different Personas depending on the context? > In many places it's just hand-wavy Do you feel there can/should be a better way to discover customers?
  - nivertech 5y ago
    > Sure - but would it be wrong to say the same person may have different Personas depending on the context? Persona is Persona, Job is a Job (as in JTBD). Products are answering Jobs, and the same Persona/Consumer may have multiple Jobs, depending on the context. Consumer->Job->Product Naive solution is: Consumer->Product but the JTBD method makes implicit—explicit and makes invisible—visible.
    - MaknMoreGtnLess 5y ago
      Fair. I just define Persona as "a specific way/why the consumer wants to use the Product" So that strongly aligns with your Consumer->Job->Product Here, you mention: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30319105 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30319105 > "The Lean Startup" book by Eric Ries is already 10-11 y/o, so it's not up-to-date and with lots of gaps. Can you mention just a few of the gaps? Interested to hear your thoughts.

nivertech 5y ago

1. Market, then Business model/unit economics. The latter is less problem for VC-funded startups - they assume it can be optimized/fixed later. 2. In many places it's just hand-wavy. Many case studies, but no formal methodology how to do Build->Measure->Learn feedback loop. 3. The needs and desires at a particular time/situations. Personas don't work. For example the same person may want a luxury meal in one situation and a hotdog in another. See JTBD.

MaknMoreGtnLess 5y ago
> Market, then Business model/unit economics Agreed and I recently mentioned it elsewhere: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30318531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30318531 > For example the same person may want a luxury meal in one situation and a hotdog in another Sure - but would it be wrong to say the same person may have different Personas depending on the context? > In many places it's just hand-wavy Do you feel there can/should be a better way to discover customers?
- nivertech 5y ago
  > Sure - but would it be wrong to say the same person may have different Personas depending on the context? Persona is Persona, Job is a Job (as in JTBD). Products are answering Jobs, and the same Persona/Consumer may have multiple Jobs, depending on the context. Consumer->Job->Product Naive solution is: Consumer->Product but the JTBD method makes implicit—explicit and makes invisible—visible.
  - MaknMoreGtnLess 5y ago
    Fair. I just define Persona as "a specific way/why the consumer wants to use the Product" So that strongly aligns with your Consumer->Job->Product Here, you mention: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30319105 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30319105 > "The Lean Startup" book by Eric Ries is already 10-11 y/o, so it's not up-to-date and with lots of gaps. Can you mention just a few of the gaps? Interested to hear your thoughts.