4 ms·

Great post, Jacques. Thanks for your kind words. People might even consider doing business with you, but nobody wants to be 'first' for fear of being burned.

by edw519 15y ago

Great post, Jacques. Thanks for your kind words. People might even consider doing business with you, but nobody wants to be 'first' for fear of being burned. This can also work in your favor... It's rare, but sometimes you can find someone who does want to be your first customer. When this happens, it's solid gold and one of your fastest shortcuts. Others call them "champions"; I prefer "sugar daddies". I have had this happen several times with great success. This is how it usually worked... Sometimes they knew me, but sometimes I was introduced. In every case, they were desperately looking for something they couldn't find, sometimes for years. They would say, "If you could build this, you'd be my hero." (or something like that). They have offered me office space, access to their people and systems, and often an advance because it was in everyone's best interest that I'd succeed. Sometimes, but not always, they wanted equity. And all of them had peers with similar problems, so Prospects 2 thru x were already lined up. We should all be building stuff people want. When you find one of them with their checkbook open, take a good hard look. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it can save you a lot of runway.

laaph 15y ago
Do you have any advice for finding such people and the problems they face? Do you have examples of the things they wanted built? I think that if you wrote an article detailing your experiences and what you learned/inferred from the experiences, that it could be quite a popular article. It is basic economics, "build stuff people want", and every time I think about things that I should do for money, I think I should be an auto mechanic, because lots of people have cars that need being fixed (or plumber, or other slightly-skilled-but-not-everyone-does-that-but-everyone-needs-that type profession). While logic may take me there, I am not sure if that is the best way for me to go and while it isn't a glamorous "build the next facebook"-type starting business, it is not even a "build something no one else has" type business. Thanks,
- edw519 15y ago
  I don't have lots of advice, but I have written about my experiences. Check out #232 here: http://edweissman.com/53640595 http://edweissman.com/53640595 The pawn shop guy, the employer of the friend I met for lunch, and the stranger I met at an industry dinner all turned out to be sugar daddies.
- asmithmd1 15y ago
  I found a niche providing mobile solutions in a very low-tech business to business service - like janitors. Any time you see people using paper these days there is waste and error. Ask business owners what problems and worries they have - not their ideas for solutions that they want built
asmithmd1 15y ago
Your original sugar daddy did not mind that you sold the solution that he helped develop to other companies? That is the situation I am in. I have developed solutions to problems for the US's 4th largest company in a space with hundreds of other competitors. I own the technology but they would certainly take a dim view of me selling it to their competitors - and stop using me thus cutting off my only source of income. Any ideas how to capitalize on what I have developed?
- edw519 15y ago
  You bring up something I failed to mention: this can be a touchy situation. In your case, it sounds like you have a great customer, but not a sugar daddy. I would never do something to upset a current customer. You could make them a partner so that they can make a little extra money selling the clever solution they conceived, but that's really hard to do at the enterprise level. That works much better with a small business alpha male owner. Some of the things to consider when taking your sugar daddy's solution to market: Are they enterprise? If so, this probably isn't worth the trouble. Too much red tape and illogical thinking. Does the solution provide them with a distinctive advantage over their competitors? If so, it only makes sense that they'd want to keep it for themselves. If not, they may gain favors among their peers by sharing it. Is is a horizontal solution? Then there's really not much of a competitive threat by sharing it. How opportunistic are they? Some people want to be sugar daddies because they're jealous of our IT margins. They can make as much sharing their technology as they do in their primary business. Does wider use of the technology help their primary business? Some solutions become geometrically more effective if your trading partners are using them too.
  - onemoreact 15y ago
    That's some good advice. But, don't forget with enterprise customers you can offer to sell the company to them. 2-20 million for a long term strategic advantage plus your proven track record can be seen as net win for everyone. And if negotiations break down they are less likely to think they already own you. I would be cautious of any sort of long term profit sharing, but offering to share a few years revenue from any 'connections' made in the industry can offset the feeling you are burning them by sharing the secret sauce.
6ren 15y ago
Moore (Chasm guy) says that "visionary" customers actually do like to be first: they want to leap-frog their competitors, and to do that, they need something that their competitors don't yet have; which is necessarily not known or trusted. They therefore expect (very) rough edges etc (of course, they also need some amazing order-of-magnitude breakthrough benefit). BTW: the 3-year rule-of-thumb rings true for me too: a year to get the first customer (putting it out there and improving it for a year); a year to refine it/build the customer list; a year to make money hand-over-fist. (Unfortunately, by then I also got competitors, and worse, I also got bored.)
todojunkie 15y ago
I'll follow this up by saying I've had my early adopters very happy to be "getting in on the ground floor" (as they put it). I believe some will find this as the leverage they need to become successful, or at the very least have one up on their competition.

by edw519 15y ago

laaph 15y ago

Do you have any advice for finding such people and the problems they face? Do you have examples of the things they wanted built? I think that if you wrote an article detailing your experiences and what you learned/inferred from the experiences, that it could be quite a popular article. It is basic economics, "build stuff people want", and every time I think about things that I should do for money, I think I should be an auto mechanic, because lots of people have cars that need being fixed (or plumber, or other slightly-skilled-but-not-everyone-does-that-but-everyone-needs-that type profession). While logic may take me there, I am not sure if that is the best way for me to go and while it isn't a glamorous "build the next facebook"-type starting business, it is not even a "build something no one else has" type business. Thanks,

edw519 15y ago
I don't have lots of advice, but I have written about my experiences. Check out #232 here: http://edweissman.com/53640595 http://edweissman.com/53640595 The pawn shop guy, the employer of the friend I met for lunch, and the stranger I met at an industry dinner all turned out to be sugar daddies.
asmithmd1 15y ago
I found a niche providing mobile solutions in a very low-tech business to business service - like janitors. Any time you see people using paper these days there is waste and error. Ask business owners what problems and worries they have - not their ideas for solutions that they want built

asmithmd1 15y ago

Your original sugar daddy did not mind that you sold the solution that he helped develop to other companies? That is the situation I am in. I have developed solutions to problems for the US's 4th largest company in a space with hundreds of other competitors. I own the technology but they would certainly take a dim view of me selling it to their competitors - and stop using me thus cutting off my only source of income. Any ideas how to capitalize on what I have developed?

edw519 15y ago
You bring up something I failed to mention: this can be a touchy situation. In your case, it sounds like you have a great customer, but not a sugar daddy. I would never do something to upset a current customer. You could make them a partner so that they can make a little extra money selling the clever solution they conceived, but that's really hard to do at the enterprise level. That works much better with a small business alpha male owner. Some of the things to consider when taking your sugar daddy's solution to market: Are they enterprise? If so, this probably isn't worth the trouble. Too much red tape and illogical thinking. Does the solution provide them with a distinctive advantage over their competitors? If so, it only makes sense that they'd want to keep it for themselves. If not, they may gain favors among their peers by sharing it. Is is a horizontal solution? Then there's really not much of a competitive threat by sharing it. How opportunistic are they? Some people want to be sugar daddies because they're jealous of our IT margins. They can make as much sharing their technology as they do in their primary business. Does wider use of the technology help their primary business? Some solutions become geometrically more effective if your trading partners are using them too.
- onemoreact 15y ago
  That's some good advice. But, don't forget with enterprise customers you can offer to sell the company to them. 2-20 million for a long term strategic advantage plus your proven track record can be seen as net win for everyone. And if negotiations break down they are less likely to think they already own you. I would be cautious of any sort of long term profit sharing, but offering to share a few years revenue from any 'connections' made in the industry can offset the feeling you are burning them by sharing the secret sauce.

6ren 15y ago

Moore (Chasm guy) says that "visionary" customers actually do like to be first: they want to leap-frog their competitors, and to do that, they need something that their competitors don't yet have; which is necessarily not known or trusted. They therefore expect (very) rough edges etc (of course, they also need some amazing order-of-magnitude breakthrough benefit). BTW: the 3-year rule-of-thumb rings true for me too: a year to get the first customer (putting it out there and improving it for a year); a year to refine it/build the customer list; a year to make money hand-over-fist. (Unfortunately, by then I also got competitors, and worse, I also got bored.)

todojunkie 15y ago

I'll follow this up by saying I've had my early adopters very happy to be "getting in on the ground floor" (as they put it). I believe some will find this as the leverage they need to become successful, or at the very least have one up on their competition.