The document discusses key principles of startup success, emphasizing the importance of customer feedback, iteration, and execution over mere product development. It illustrates that while customer focus is crucial, establishing a distinctive value proposition and effective marketing strategies are equally vital. The narrative compares startups to the tale of Rumpelstiltskin, where turning assumptions into validated insights is essential for achieving product-market fit.

1. HOW TO SPIN
STRAW STARTUP AND THE ART
INTO GOLD
LEAN
OF MAKING A DIFFERENCE
BERLIN // AUGUST 2012

2. In the last couple of years, there‘s been a
lot of talk about...
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3. Design Thinking
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4. Business Modelling
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5. Customer
Development
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6. Lean Startup
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7. While they might seem to be saying
completely different things, their core
messages are pretty similar.
In fact, they all teach the following...
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8. Your business is not what you say it is.
it’s what they say it is.
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9. In other words: don’t get trapped by
your own assumptions!
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10. HTTP://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/F-UNCIA/3446672923
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11. Common lessons:
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12. Put people first.
It’s the customer who buys.
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13. Learn & discover.
Get out of the building.
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14. Test your assumptions.
Only customers give proof.
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15. Fail early and fast.
Detect what really works.
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16. Repeat before you proceed.
Play with your ideas, don’t stick to them.
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17. Iteration (understanding/learning) is a
fundamental part of each process.
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18. 18

19. 19

20. 20

21. HTTP://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/OSTERWALDER/4859693386/
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22. The message of each method:
Iterate until your product perfectly
fits the needs of your target customers.
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23. The message of each method:
Iterate until yourONG.
R product perfectly
W
fits the needs of your target customers.
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24. The message of each method:
Iterate until yourLSE.
V product perfectly
PIA OT!
F
fits the needs of your target customers.
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25. Customer focus is definitely
important for your business.
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26. But it’s not the only thing
that‘s important.
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27. (At least not in a mass market.)
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28. Target Customer
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29. Target Customer
Your Company
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30. Company A
Company B
Target Customer
Company C
Your Company
Company D
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31. Company A
Company B
Everybody builds the same stuff
Target Customer
thanks to customer orientation.
Company C
Your Company
Company D
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32. Customer orientation is 20%,
establishing a difference is 80%.
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33. 33

34. 34

35. 35

36. Okay. The usual suspects.
But what about this...
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37. 37

38. 38

39. 39

40. It’s not customer focus
which makes these offers a success.
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41. It’s also not their business model,
not their features, not their usability.
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42. It’s simply: their execution.
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43. Marketing.
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44. Branding.
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45. Story.
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46. Design.
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47. 47

48. Thus: make a difference,
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49. FACTOR 1
6
5
FACTOR 8
FACTOR 2
4
3
2
1
FACTOR 7
FACTOR 3
FACTOR 6
FACTOR 4
FACTOR 5
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50. Not a test winner.
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51. The most popular posts on the Warc Blog over the last 12
months covered subjects including pre-testing, the
evolution of a new communications paradigm and the future
of planning.
Taking pole position was a piece by Peter Field, a
marketing consultant, discussing the weaknesses of
qualitative pre-testing in determining which creative
ideas will provide a real payback for brands.
Based on an analysis of 880 case studies from the IPA
Effectiveness Awards, Field found just 4% of campaigns
subjected to qualitative pre-testing delivered "very
large profit growth", rising to 24% for those that were
not.
These figures stood at 45% and 58% respectively regarding
the "effectiveness success rate", seemingly showing that
pre-testing tends to underperform as a predictive tool.
HTTP://WWW.WARC.COM/NEWS/PRINTNEWSITEM.ASPX?ID=27690
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52. It’s as the long tail theory says:
there are customers for each offering.
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53. Getting them to use our stuff
is the challenge.
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54. Not building this stuff.
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55. 55

56. 56

57. Final lesson:
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58. Test what you’ve got to test.
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59. And for the rest: create some magic!
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60. assumptions = straw
testing = silver
difference = gold
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61. Your Contact
Daniel Simon
Managing Partner
Torsten Henning Hensel
Head of Brand Management
Chausseestraße 5, 10115 Berlin
TEL + 49-30-283921-215
daniel.simon@greenkern.com
www.greenkern.com
Chausseestraße 5, 10115 Berlin
TEL + 49-30-283921-213
torsten.hensel@greenkern.com
www.greenkern.com
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62. Copyright © GREENKERN GROUP GmbH Berlin, Germany.
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foregoing concept will remain the agency‘s intellectual property. Utilisation of the
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All realisation and utilsation is only allowed on the basis of a contract and its
fulfilling with the originators / rights owners. Rights of use will only be granted on
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violation of copyright with all its legal consequences.
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63. END NOTE: WHY THIS TITLE & COVER PIC?
READING ABOUT THE LEAN STARTUP, THE APPROACH SOMEHOW REMINDS
ME AT RUMPELSTILTSKIN. RUMPELSTILTSKIN REVOLVES AROUND A
BEAUTIFUL MILLER’S DAUGHTER WHO IS IMPRISONED UNDER THREAT OF
EXECUTION UNLESS SHE CAN SPIN STRAW INTO GOLD. RUMPELSTILTSKIN
HELPS HER WITH THIS TASK, FIRST AT THE COST OF HER NECKLACE, THEN AT
THE COST OF HER RING AND ULTIMATELY AT THE COST OF HER FIRST-BORN
CHILD; HOWEVER, SHE MAKES A NEW BARGAIN WITH HIM AND IS ABLE TO
KEEP HER CHILD AFTER SUCCESSFULLY GUESSING HIS NAME. IN THE END,
SHE MARRIES THE KING AND LIVES HAPPILY AS A QUEEN.
STARTUPS (AKA THE BEAUTIFUL MILLER’S DAUGHTER) ARE FORCED TO ACT IN
A SIMILAR NIGHTMARE: THEY ARE IMPRISONED UNDER THE THREAT OF
ANNIHILATION UNLESS THEY CAN TURN THEIR ASSUMPTIONS (THE STRAW)
INTO VALIDATED LEARNINGS – PROVEN INSIGHTS OF WHAT TO BUILD AND
HOW TO BUILD IT (THE GOLD). DIVERSE TESTING METHODS (AKA
RUMPELSTILTSKIN) HELP OUR STARTUPS WITH THIS TASK, OFTEN AT THE
COST OF THEIR INITIAL BUSINESS IDEA; HOWEVER, IN THE END SOME OF
THEM GAIN PERFECT PRODUCT-MARKET FIT AND MAKE THEIR INVESTORS
(THE KING) HAPPY.
;-)