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As someone who is very close to both of the topics he's discussing (bootstrapping and customer development), I'd like to point out something obvious that the au
by ryanwaggoner 17y ago
As someone who is very close to both of the topics he's discussing (bootstrapping and customer development), I'd like to point out something obvious that the author has apparently missed: they're not the same thing. You can raise money and do customer development, and you can bootstrap with your head in the sand and never talk to your potential customers.
The value of customer development is that it's a model for being more efficient with whatever resources you have as you search for a fit between your product and the market.
- robmay 17y agoHi Ryan, I actually did point that out towards the end of the post. My problem is not with the ideas per se, but with the way people treat them in general. Most people equate lean startups with bootstrapping in the startup blogging world.
- ryanwaggoner 17y agoAs far as I can tell, you do that yourself. You seamlessly switch from talking about Customer Development to lean startups to bootstrapping, as if you don't see the difference between them. For example: Since no one ever talks about the down side of the customer development approach... ...Capital is required to grow. I’m not aware of any $100 million companies built with a lean startup mindset... ...So if you can’t attract a lot of capital to your idea, one possible reason is that your idea sucks. Sorry, but I really don't see the point you're trying to make.
- robmay 17y agoHi Ryan, If we are going to just play the game of pulling random sentences and saying they are all tied together and show some kind of logical connection to what we each are trying to argue, here are my two: ...The broader idea behind customer development is that you should get close to customers early... ...The broader idea behind a lean startup is that you should be capital efficient... Your turn.