What causes success?

Team?

Product?

Market?

Suitability

Optimum Execution

Effectiveness / Experience

Ease of Use & Speed

Rich with Features

Extensible & Polished

Number of customers and

growth rate of users for

the product

Benefits?

Execution of product design in simpler, cleaner way.

Bigger the market, easier to narrow down on user-

centric attributes on which to compete.

Don’t just find a market.

Find a great market.

Do your customers recommend you to their friends?

Do your customers care if your company dies tomorrow?

How to measure?

In a great market, a market with lots

of real potential customers,

the market pulls product out of the startup.

The only thing that matters is getting to

product/market fit.

Product-Market Fit

What is Product-Market fit?Being in a good market with a product that can satisfy the market.

When people sell for you.

Value HypothesisIdentifying that compelling hypothesis is finding a product-market fit.

Factors include Product, Pricing and Business models.

It is everyone’s job.

ProcessKeep evolving. Keep listening. Delegate the process to all ends of the

supply/production/delivery chain.

External Validation

Is it solving a real problem?Is there a bigger game involved?

Will your solution be used continually by the audience?Usage frequency?

How and when will you make money?Is it enough?

Customer acquisition strategy?Cost of acquisition? Lifetime Value?

How will you trump the competition?No price war, right? Right?

Internal Validation

What is the key motivating factor behind starting up?

Is your family convinced?

Financial obligations that you’re risking?

Are competencies being identified?

What is the hardest part of starting up, for you? Why?

Is optimism hard wired into you? It better be.

What do you see yourself doing in the next 20 years?

Is the vision aligned?

Tell a Good Story

Branding translates into everyday behavior, emails, texts, conversations.

Branding gets you the best (or rather, relevant) talent out there.

Logo and Colors matter.

Online Presence matters.

Value of effective communication is highly underestimated.

Perceptions is Everything

Branding keeps you human.

Use it to your advantage.

People

Givers Gain

Build honest relationships

Offer playgrounds to some, racetracks to others.

Build a customer centric business

Build an employee centric business

Two sets of customers: paying and non paying

A person who cares is a way better cleaner

than a professional who doesn’t.

Minimum

Viable

Product

Ears to the ground

Go rabid with feedback

Perceptions matter. Build

and position based on

those.

Why?Startup throws mini

storms. Nipping them in

the bud helps avoid bigger

storms.

How?

Pivot

Why?

Taking the neon light EXIT

when the highway seems

to be going on without a

clear indication.

How?

Analyze feedback from stakeholders

Do what you feel is best.

The middle path. Have faith.

Focus on Product/Market fit.

When you find a product-market fit,

you better not lose it.

People.

Cash.

Optimism.

Compliance.

Growth.

Courtesy:

@EricJorgenson

@BeninJLM

Marc Andreesen

Jack Dorsey

Fred Wilson

@sushrutmunje