1 of 39

Session 1 �Fall 2023

https://explorer.um6pventures.

CONTACT: explorer@um6pventures.com

1

2 of 39

Session #1 Agenda (90 Minutes)

  • Personal Intros
  • Why do we start with customers
  • Project intros
  • Lean Business Model Canvas (LBMC)
  • What is most important first step for your business
  • Discover! Listen! Don’t Sell!
  • Next meeting…

​

​

​

2

3 of 39

TEAM DISCUSSION: Personal Introductions

  • Name
  • School/Background/Area of Interest
  • You are a resource to each other – take notes!!

​

3

4 of 39

Why Did Google Glass Fail?

  • Inadequate definition of users and validation of the problems that Google Glass would solve. Value? Solution?
  • Given hype, builders assumed it would appeal to everyone.

4

5 of 39

Why do Start-Ups Fail?

  • They don’t listen to the customer.

5

  • They don’t listen to the customer.
  • They don’t listen to the customer.
  • They don’t listen to the customer.
  • They don’t listen to the customer.
  • They don’t listen to the customer.
  • They don’t listen to the customer.
  • They don’t listen to the customer.

6 of 39

TALK TO CUSTOMERS!

7 of 39

TALK TO THE RIGHT CUSTOMERS!

8 of 39

TEAM DISCUSSION: Project Pitches

  • Tell everybody what is your:
    • Problem, Solution, Technology, Customers
  • What do you want from Explorer?
  • Review LBMC

8

9 of 39

The Lean Business Model Canvas (LBMC)

9

Explorer gSheet LBMC Template

10 of 39

Lean LaunchPad�Hopefully already watched!

REQUIRED VIEWING BY ALL EXPLOER TEAMS

The Lean LaunchPad by Roman Lubynsky, presented at MIT Sandbox

Explorer Fall 2023 Kickoff Session

10

11 of 39

11

1

12 of 39

12

2A

2B

13 of 39

13

3

Problem Solving

​

A list of needs being addressed for your customer segments

​

(Company X, provides Solution(s) Y, for Market Z)

​

Your Value Proposition is the reason why customers turn to your company over another. It solves your customer’s problem or satisfies your customer’s need. 

RESOURCE: https://www.helpscout.com/blog/value-proposition-examples/

https://optinmonster.com/32-value-propositions-that-are-impossible-to-resist/#2

14 of 39

14

4

  • How are you going to make money?
  • What is your business model (B2B, B2C, Subscription, SaaS, etc?
  • Directly tied to you Customer Segments.

15 of 39

About Customer Discovery

A Data-Centric Approach Applying Scientific Method

  • Hypothesis:
    • - Here is what we thought
  • Experiments:
    • Here is what we did
  • Results & Insights:
    • Here is what we learned
  • Action:
    • Here is what we are going to do next

16 of 39

The Customer Discovery Process

16

1.) Narrow Down Your Target Market

2.) Build your “Leads” Database

3.) Formulate Questions

4.) Collect Data & Analyze

5.) Test Hypothesis and Reform VP

Focus Your Approach (TAM)

Contact Spreadsheet + Funnel (CRM)

Asking the right Questions

​

(address assumptions and eliminate bias)

Assumptions Framework +

Experiments

What is Actionable?

​

(Important vs. Immediate)

17 of 39

Asking the Right Questions

(What are you trying to discover?) �DISCOVER! LISTEN! DON’T SELL!!!

  1. Problem “What are your biggest challenges? What are the outcomes of not addressing those challenges?”
  2. Solution “How do you measure success?” “How are you solving the problem currently?”
  3. Customer (sub)Segments “Who is your clientele?” (B2B)
  4. Unfair Advantage “Why do you do what you do? What is something you wish you had?”
  5. Cost/Revenue “What are your yearly/quarterly earnings/expenses?” “How much are you willing to pay?”

17

https://mfishbein.com/the-ultimate-list-of-customer-development-questions/

18 of 39

Asking the Right Questions

  • Unbiased – During discovery, seek to understand, don’t sell, open ended questions are good to start
  • Quantitative - Seek Measurable Results (time, money)
    • Be careful of Clichés: “we can increase your sale”, “we can reduce your costs”, “we have better accuracy”, “we can do it faster” – Customers have heard it before!!
  • Revealing (Tell me more?)
  • Specific - Specifics do matter, profile of customer and solution
  • Testable - Can you validate the answers!

WHY? …… HOW?

18

19 of 39

20 of 39

20

Customer Interview

Reworked LBMC #1

Reworked LBMC #2

(Original LBMC)

Customer Interview

  • Words of wisdom…

On Customer Discovery

  • Your start-up is an experiment
  • Your value proposition (VP) is a hypothesis (an educated guess)
  • You test your VP by interviewing your customers
  • You re-formulate your understanding based on new data
  • FIND THE PAIN POINTS
  • “If Company X provides Solution Y then Customer Z will (?)”

21 of 39

Discover Don’t Own

  • This is a company not a child
    • Don’t love your product
    • Test it
    • Evolve it
    • Leave it if you have to - you are smart there are other ideas

21

22 of 39

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M6fG-_Lybc

Customer Discovery Fundamentals (skip the middle)

0:11 – 1:55 and then 2:41 – 3:58

23 of 39

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl9vMBFHIf0

Good/Bad Customer Interview Questions (start at 2:33)

24 of 39

Monthly Reports

24

Answer

These 3 Questions

Every Month!

25 of 39

Next Session

  • Fill out your monthly report in your gSheet Template
  • Update your LBMC specifically:
    • CUSTOMER SEGMENTS, EARLY ADOPTERS and REVENUE STREAMS (Business model)
    • Come up with a list of customer discovery interview questions to share with everybody
  • Update your Budget if you will be requesting funding
  • Next time:
    • Assumptions Framework: Bring 3-4 Assumptions your business absolutely depends on

25

Explorer gSheet Template

26 of 39

Appendix

26

27 of 39

Asking the Right Questions (The Big 3)

  1. How do you measure success?
  2. What are your biggest challenges?
  3. What are the outcomes of not addressing those challenges?

27

28 of 39

The Value Proposition

(Good)

28

(X:) CLIF Bar is an Organic Health Food company that

​

(Y:) Manufactures and distributes energy bars

​

(Z:) For the 3 million hikers and bikers in San Francisco who spend $100M/yr on energy bars.

Go back to LBMC slide

29 of 39

Value Proposition Examples

  • Bloom & Wild enables customers to order flowers and gifts from the palm of their hand with better product, designs and payments.
  • Slack saves time by tearing down communication and systems silos. Their product aspires to take the pain out of working together online — and maybe even make it fun. That’s something no other product has tried or claimed to do.
  • Airbnb: Airbnb exists to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere, providing healthy travel that is local, authentic, diverse, inclusive and sustainable.
  • Cliff Bar is an organic health food company that manufactures and distributes energy bard for the 3 million hikers and bikers in San Francisco who spend $100M/yr on energy bars.
  • Spotify provides streaming music on the go, in a single app, for entire families and single people alike.

29

30 of 39

Elevator Pitches

  • 1. Problem
  • 2. Solution
  • 3. Market
  • 4. Customer

​

30

See here for a resource for an elevator pitch

Value proposition (e.g. unique selling proposition)

Example:

"My company develops mobile applications that businesses use to train their staff remotely. This means that senior managers can spend time on other important tasks.

​

"Unlike other similar companies, we visit each organization to find out exactly what people need. This means that, on average, 95 percent of our clients are happy with the first version of their app.”

Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/elevator-pitch.htm

31 of 39

Elevator Pitches (Prompts)

  • 1. Problem (Who else in your space is working on this?)
  • 2. Solution (What is their solution? What is different about yours?)
  • 3. Market (Where are they selling/implementing their solution?)
  • 4. Customer (Who are their biggest consumers?)

​

31

Some questions that might help you develop your own pitch

32 of 39

TEAM DISCUSSION: Project Pitches

  • Each Team: Give 1-minute elevator pitch

32

33 of 39

Budget Overview�Each Team Review Their Budget

33

34 of 39

Case Study

  • Somebody has invented new material that is:
    • Light weight
    • Holds a charge
    • Can make a battery that won’t leak acid

​

    • You decide to us to build an electric bike

34

35 of 39

Case Study: New Battery for Electric Bike

  • Who will buy my electric bike?

​

    • It can go 30 kms on a charge
    • No traffic problems
    • Clean
    • You can peddle for exercise

​

    • You think: Everyone!!!

35

36 of 39

Everyone????

  • Wait!! What about:
    • People who live more than 15 kms away (no chargers available at work)
    • People who need to carry things that won’t fit on the bike
    • People who are concerned about safety
    • Groups that travel together
    • Heavy people
    • People who can take the bus for much less money

36

37 of 39

Case Study again: Let’s re-examine Everybody!!!

So Maybe…..

  • Students that live within 10 kms of school
  • Students that can afford the bike
  • Students that don’t carry laptops
  • Young professors

Now I have to PROVE IT –> Customer Discovery

37

38 of 39

The Next Session

38

Explorer gSheet Template

39 of 39

The Next Several Months

39

Explorer gSheet Template