Five questions worth asking before launch.
Who experiences the problem often enough to care? Describe the situation in concrete terms. A broad audience such as “small businesses” rarely tells you enough to design a useful first offer.
Read articleThe founder’s fieldnotes.
Entrepreneurship. Ideas into action.
A new market is a new set of assumptions.
A successful offer in one place is a useful starting point for expansion, but it does not explain a new market by itself. Customers may use different language, buy through different channels or evaluate trust in different ways.
Read articleCustomer interviews should teach you something.
A conversation with a potential customer is most useful when it uncovers behaviour you did not already understand. If every question invites agreement with your idea, you may leave encouraged without learning much about the market.
Read articleDesign a commercial test you can learn from.
A pilot becomes useful when you know which question it is intended to answer. “See whether it works” is too broad to guide a decision. Specify the customer group, the offer and the behaviour that would provide meaningful evidence.
Read articleStart a partnership with clear expectations.
A promising introduction can make a partnership feel straightforward. Both sides see an opportunity and want to move quickly. The practical work begins by checking whether they mean the same thing by success.
Read articleKeep a decision log as the business grows.
Founders make decisions with incomplete information. As a business grows, it becomes harder for everyone to remember the reasoning behind those decisions. A short decision log helps preserve the context without creating a new reporting burden.
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