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I'm trying to stop the needless and constant bad advice of "lets churn through every possible feature without understanding the entire business model." Doing so

by sblank 14y ago

I'm trying to stop the needless and constant bad advice of "lets churn through every possible feature without understanding the entire business model." Doing so is a crutch. Tell me you understand your entire business model and that you thought through the rest of the canvas. Then start iterating the product. A startup think through all the business model will run rings around those who simply think it's about features.

mindcrime 14y ago
Wow, I had no idea that @sgblank himself posted here at HN. How awesome is that? Tell me you understand your entire business model and that you thought through the rest of the canvas. We (Fogbeam Labs) are certainly trying to get to this level. I've read (most of) TFSTTE four or five times now, and feel like I understand the process a little bit more each time through. Additionally, the more we talk to customers, the more we understand. Probably my biggest "epiphany" lately though, involves "traditional" market research. Our first round of "friendly first contacts" interviews were very scattershot and unfocused... it was almost literally "interview anybody who will talk to you." Now, I've learned a lot more about how to research various industry segments, and learn about the statistical and demographic stuff (using Census data, Hoovers, etc.) and now we're starting to actually formulate real elements of our market hypothesis (eg, "manufacturing firms in NC with > 500 employees have problem X and our product solves problem X for them" or whatever) that we can go out and specifically try to disprove. Developing the product in parallel with doing CustDev, with a very small team, has meant that we probably made our fair share of "typical engineer mistakes" (like building features that we don't actually know there is demand for), but altogether, I think we're on a good path. If we ever make it big, we'll definitely owe @sgblank a tremendous debt of gratitude. Reading TFSTTE was such an eye opener for me, I don't even know how to describe it. :-)
SoftwareMaven 14y ago
People will change the pieces they understand. That means marketers will change the marketing, engineers will change the features, etc. If I don't understand channels, it makes pivoting to a different channel strategy really difficult. I like the idea of there being an "order of operations" in what to consider changing, and I like it being based on "what brings money in" and "what keeps us from spending unnecessarily". Definitely something I'll put in my notebook!
- revorad 14y ago
  I think you hit the nail on the head. And that raises the question - is Steve more keen on experimenting with the business model because he is more of a business/management guy than an engineer?
  - saraid216 14y ago
    Doesn't that presuppose Steve is "more of a business/management guy than an engineer"?
    - revorad 14y ago
      I'm assuming that based on his roles in his own startups.
revorad 14y ago
That advice mostly comes from the fact that most startups don't have any semblance of a business model. So, the only thing to tweak is the product in search of blowing up user "engagement" numbers. But even with a business model, the product needs to evolve based on customer engagement and feedback, which sometimes takes us to a place we would have never imagined in our vision. I don't think I understand your stance on when to put your visionary foot down and when to listen to customers.
rhizome 14y ago
Well that's so much harder than picking a group of consumers and then browbeating your staff to come up with every combination of features possible in hopes of snaring them. Even worse, it puts blame at the bizdev level rather than sales/eng. The externalizing machines (aka management) typically don't have the humility to tolerate that. /op-ed

by sblank 14y ago

mindcrime 14y ago

Wow, I had no idea that @sgblank himself posted here at HN. How awesome is that? Tell me you understand your entire business model and that you thought through the rest of the canvas. We (Fogbeam Labs) are certainly trying to get to this level. I've read (most of) TFSTTE four or five times now, and feel like I understand the process a little bit more each time through. Additionally, the more we talk to customers, the more we understand. Probably my biggest "epiphany" lately though, involves "traditional" market research. Our first round of "friendly first contacts" interviews were very scattershot and unfocused... it was almost literally "interview anybody who will talk to you." Now, I've learned a lot more about how to research various industry segments, and learn about the statistical and demographic stuff (using Census data, Hoovers, etc.) and now we're starting to actually formulate real elements of our market hypothesis (eg, "manufacturing firms in NC with > 500 employees have problem X and our product solves problem X for them" or whatever) that we can go out and specifically try to disprove. Developing the product in parallel with doing CustDev, with a very small team, has meant that we probably made our fair share of "typical engineer mistakes" (like building features that we don't actually know there is demand for), but altogether, I think we're on a good path. If we ever make it big, we'll definitely owe @sgblank a tremendous debt of gratitude. Reading TFSTTE was such an eye opener for me, I don't even know how to describe it. :-)

SoftwareMaven 14y ago

People will change the pieces they understand. That means marketers will change the marketing, engineers will change the features, etc. If I don't understand channels, it makes pivoting to a different channel strategy really difficult. I like the idea of there being an "order of operations" in what to consider changing, and I like it being based on "what brings money in" and "what keeps us from spending unnecessarily". Definitely something I'll put in my notebook!

revorad 14y ago
I think you hit the nail on the head. And that raises the question - is Steve more keen on experimenting with the business model because he is more of a business/management guy than an engineer?
- saraid216 14y ago
  Doesn't that presuppose Steve is "more of a business/management guy than an engineer"?
  - revorad 14y ago
    I'm assuming that based on his roles in his own startups.

revorad 14y ago

That advice mostly comes from the fact that most startups don't have any semblance of a business model. So, the only thing to tweak is the product in search of blowing up user "engagement" numbers. But even with a business model, the product needs to evolve based on customer engagement and feedback, which sometimes takes us to a place we would have never imagined in our vision. I don't think I understand your stance on when to put your visionary foot down and when to listen to customers.

rhizome 14y ago

Well that's so much harder than picking a group of consumers and then browbeating your staff to come up with every combination of features possible in hopes of snaring them. Even worse, it puts blame at the bizdev level rather than sales/eng. The externalizing machines (aka management) typically don't have the humility to tolerate that. /op-ed