Ben and Derrick welcome Rob Fitzpatrick, author of The Mom Test: How to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. It’s not your typical non-fiction business book, but short and straight to the point. It should be a mandatory prerequisite for anyone embarking on the startup journey.
Derrick’s Level Retrospective describes how Rob’s book had a major impact on his most recent startup experience. People want to be supportive, so it’s difficult to get unbiased feedback during customer validation. Derrick already knew this to be correct, but underestimated the degree to which everyone lies. So, he felt betrayed by early validation efforts proved to be radically different from reality.
Today’s Topics Include:
Don’t ask anyone if your business is a good idea because everyone is biased
Burden of truth should be put on yourself, not your customers
Entrepreneur’s Superpower: Getting support before it’s deserved because passion pollutes feedback
Founder Fit: Does your business idea merge with your product and lifestyle goals?
Founder Centric: Cashflow-positive education and training agency for startups
Product-Market Fit: People share their problems via a proposed solution; when customers send feature requests, get to root of the problem
Statistical significance of sample size is a trap; reach point of diminishing returns to move forward with product, and focus on number of/hours spent on conversations
Entrepreneurs and customers think every problem matters, but they don’t
What to do next to pivot in the right direction and niche down
Links and resources:
The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick (https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742)
Rob Fitzpatrick (https://robfitz.com/)
The Workshop Survival by Rob Fitzpatrick (https://www.workshopsurvival.com/)
Founder Centric (http://www.foundercentric.com/)
Steve Blank (https://steveblank.com/)
Paul Graham (http://www.paulgraham.com/)
Skype (https://www.skype.com/en/)
Slack (https://slack.com/)
Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com/)
Superhuman Product-Market Fit Survey (https://www.slideshare.net/marklittlewood/rahul-vohra-founderceo-superhuman-the-productmarket-fit-engine-122102118)
Songkick (https://www.songkick.com/)
Spin Selling by Neil Rackham (https://www.amazon.com/Neil-Rackham/e/B000APLFJK/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1)
Drip (https://www.drip.com/)
Art of Product on Twitter (https://twitter.com/artofproductpod)
Derrick Reimer (http://www.derrickreimer.com) Website
Derrick Reimer on Twitter (https://twitter.com/derrickreimer)
Ben Orenstein (http://www.benorenstein.com/) Website
Ben Orenstein on Twitter (https://twitter.com/r00k?lang=en)
Level (https://level.app/)
Level Retrospective (https://www.derrickreimer.com/essays/2019/05/17/im-walking-away-from-the-product-i-spent-a-year-building.html)
Level Manifesto (https://level.app/manifesto)
Tuple (https://tuple.app/)