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I would suggest that you start with "customer development" in the Steve Blank sense of the word. See http://steveblank.com/category/customer-development/ http:/

by malanj 12y ago

I would suggest that you start with "customer development" in the Steve Blank sense of the word. See http://steveblank.com/category/customer-development/ http://steveblank.com/category/customer-development/ In my experience you can get very far with not building anything. Just talking to people, in your chosen domain, about the pains they experience daily is a great start. In a way you could use your situation to your advantage. If you can't easily build things that you "own", it prevents you from putting building ahead of learning. At the start of a new venture, talking to people about problems they face has almost always been more valuable to me than building things for them. However inevitably I focused on building rather than talking, and most of the real learning was an accidental sideshow to my building effort. If you're a coder it takes great discipline to put learning ahead of building. So you've got a distinct advantage in your current situation. No-one's going to fire you for talking to people about their pain points.

jiggy2011 12y ago
This probably applies more to business focused startups than consumer ones. I know so many people who ridiculed twitter and ipads when they came out and now use both on a daily basis.
- 27182818284 12y ago
  That's less relevant, because that's Apple now as a major, global force in business. Going back to the old days, Apple certainly understood their customers. The best example I can think of is when Woz was asked how many they could sell and he immediately said, "A million!" When pressed how he could be so sure, he replied "Because there are at least a million ham radio operators" Obviously it isn't a radio, but he understood that nerds into ham radio would be the same ones wanting a personal Apple computer in their basement. In that sense, really what getting out of the building means is a deep, deep connection and understanding with your customers.
  - jiggy2011 12y ago
    It's true that market understanding and research are important for all businesses, what I mean is asking for specific requirements from your customers and designing around those is less useful. That's probably less true however if you're selling something to a market of serious hobbyists who treat the hobby like a second job because they have probably spent a lot of time thinking about the problems with current products. On the other hand, if you asked me which features are important for a dishwasher I'd be unlikely to give you useful answers because I don't spend much time thinking about dishwashers. Another factor is that fashion is a bigger deal in the consumer space, if your product is associated with "cool" people will buy it regardless of whether it solves a real problem.
    - w1ntermute 12y ago
      Doing something in the B2C space tends to involve a lot of luck, particularly when it comes to generating that "cool" image. That's the main reason I've always been drawn to B2B, where the customers tend to understand their needs a lot better.

by malanj 12y ago

jiggy2011 12y ago

This probably applies more to business focused startups than consumer ones. I know so many people who ridiculed twitter and ipads when they came out and now use both on a daily basis.

27182818284 12y ago
That's less relevant, because that's Apple now as a major, global force in business. Going back to the old days, Apple certainly understood their customers. The best example I can think of is when Woz was asked how many they could sell and he immediately said, "A million!" When pressed how he could be so sure, he replied "Because there are at least a million ham radio operators" Obviously it isn't a radio, but he understood that nerds into ham radio would be the same ones wanting a personal Apple computer in their basement. In that sense, really what getting out of the building means is a deep, deep connection and understanding with your customers.
- jiggy2011 12y ago
  It's true that market understanding and research are important for all businesses, what I mean is asking for specific requirements from your customers and designing around those is less useful. That's probably less true however if you're selling something to a market of serious hobbyists who treat the hobby like a second job because they have probably spent a lot of time thinking about the problems with current products. On the other hand, if you asked me which features are important for a dishwasher I'd be unlikely to give you useful answers because I don't spend much time thinking about dishwashers. Another factor is that fashion is a bigger deal in the consumer space, if your product is associated with "cool" people will buy it regardless of whether it solves a real problem.
  - w1ntermute 12y ago
    Doing something in the B2C space tends to involve a lot of luck, particularly when it comes to generating that "cool" image. That's the main reason I've always been drawn to B2B, where the customers tend to understand their needs a lot better.