Étienne Garbugli's Blog, page 22

How to Discount your Product for Early Customers

Discounts (or added services) are a marketing investment. Your initial offer should take into consideration the value businesses provide and the reduction in marketing costs that your first few case studies will bring. Perhaps discounts can help sweeten the deal, but discounted products are very hard to increase. If it’s $500 today, prospects will expect […]

The 3 Approaches to Selling Your First Product

There are three ways you can sell your first product to prospects: Giving it for free; Signing a letter of intent; Asking for money up-front. Giving it for free Some entrepreneurs let prospects use their solution for free, delaying conversion until they feel confident it provides real value. However, these entrepreneurs don’t realize that, in […]

15 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

As a startup founder, your ability to out-learn and out-pace the competition is one of your main competitive advantages. The right mentor, the right article or the right book at the right time can make the difference between capitalizing on a great opportunity or not. Here are 15 books I wish I’d read before my […]

Defining the Elusive Product-Market Fit

You can’t define Product-Market fit, but you know when you see it. There are no specific KPIs, but you feel it. – Richard Aberman, WePay Co-Founder There is no clear definition for what Product-Market fit really is. The reason for that is not because it is mystical, esoteric or elusive, but because it varies based […]

How to Make Sure your Deals Don’t Die just Outside of the End Zone in the Enterprise

Enterprise sales cycles will be long no matter what you sell. Going through IT security reviews, legal reviews, budget allocation and end-user training in the face of competing internal processes takes time. And time kills deals. Deals that seemed like sure things upon sale can die for lack of momentum or changing business priorities. It’s […]

How to Avoid Your Prospect’s Pet Projects (and Build Products Businesses Want)

Pet problems are, by definition, problems that only matter to one or a few stakeholders. Having to deal with pet problems is a common challenge in product-validation stemming from interacting first with technologists and early adopters. It’s not uncommon to meet with early adopters that have strong futurist or hobbyist profiles. Once you recognize the […]

The 4 Steps of the Lean B2B Customer Interview Process

The customer development process in Lean B2B alternates between divergent and convergent phases to explore, refine and validate solutions. The UK Design Council created the Double Diamond design process in 2005 to capture this innovation process. It has since been widely adopted in user experience design and is the foundation of the interview process I […]

An Exclusive Interview with Brant Cooper, Author of The Lean Entrepreneur – Part 2

This is the second part of my interview with the New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur, Brant Cooper. Brant was a key contributor to Lean B2B: Build Products Businesses Want. You can read the first part of the interview here. … EG: How do you motivate early adopters to work with you […]

Why it’s Important to « Close » Prospects in B2B Customer Development

I want you on my advisory board so I can learn how to build a product you will buy. We both fail if I can’t. – Steve Blank, The Four Steps to the Epiphany Author In B2B customer development, the goal of every customer interaction is to move the relationship forward. With problem interviews, you […]

An Exclusive Interview with Brant Cooper, Author of The Lean Entrepreneur – Part 1

Brant Cooper is the New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Moves the Needle. His most recent book project is The Lean Brand, bringing the rigor of lean startup principles to the marketing black box of branding. Much like Ben Yoskovitz, Brant was a key contributor to Lean B2B: Build […]