This is the first major update to my slides on Slideshare in almost a year. My thinking has evolved significantly after helping take an additional 8 startups to market.

1. Startup Customer DevelopmentSean Ellis Seedcamp 2009 (London)Sept 22, 2009

2. #1 Startup Risk = CustomersHuge challenge to acquire & convertLittle useful guidance availableHard to know where to start (hundreds of things you “could do”)2startup-marketing.com

3. What Really Mattered on Road to IPOs?Understand users and use casesFocus on right metrics & optimizeApply engineering to marketingEarly execution is most critical3startup-marketing.com

4. Primary Focus Now Critical ZoneCriticalZoneIPOsGrowth StageThen light advising in growth stage4startup-marketing.com

5. Customer Development Framework5startup-marketing.com

6. Growth Starts with the Product6startup-marketing.com

7. What is Product/Market Fit?People want/need your productAnd they represent large enough marketDifferentiated from alternativesUsers will pay for your productOr you are advertising supported7startup-marketing.com

8. “Life of any startup can be divided into two parts -before P/M fit and after P/M fit”Marc AndreessenFounder Netscape, Opsware, Ning8startup-marketing.com

9. PayPal’s Quest for P/M Fit$200K seed funding - cryptography“No one really needed it” Max Levchin$4.5M VC funding - PDA paymentsPeople preferred web demo (100X users)$1.5B sale to eBay – web payments9startup-marketing.com

10. Survey Your Product/Market FitFree template at Survey.io10startup-marketing.com

11. Key Product/Market Fit Question“How would you feel if you could no longer use Product?”11startup-marketing.com

12. Transition to Growth12startup-marketing.com

13. Transition to GrowthTrack/report right metricsPositioning (based on perceived value)Viable economics (business model)13startup-marketing.com

14. Optimize Before GrowingLanding pagesFunnel (acquisition through transaction)12%13%8%…14startup-marketing.com

15. Scalable Growth Now Possible15startup-marketing.com

16. Test from Free to Paid Channels16startup-marketing.com

17. Driving/Managing GrowthBudget to maximize positive ROI spend17startup-marketing.com

18. Improve Lifetime ValueCustomer retention is criticalCross/up sell additional productsThis expands profitable channels18startup-marketing.com

19. Complete Startup PyramidGrowthOptimizeEconomicsPositioningProduct/Market FitTwitter: @seanellisBlog: startup-marketing.com