3. #1 You must know (or be part of) the
target market
“We invented a car without ever
driving one before”
!
• At least one person in the team must be
involved in the target market.
!
• “I will get involved” does not work.
4. #2 When you think of dream team, think of boat
race teams
We had different rhythms, different styles,
different paths.
!
• founders should have already worked together
!
• ideally a startup should be the prosecution of a path
begun much before
!
• roles should be clear, no overlapping
5. #3 Define quality
“Ok, the report is finished”. “Don’t you see
that it’s mess?”
!
• Founders must share the same definition of
quality: otherwise it’s very hard to define it
later and it is an infinite source of discussions.
6. #4 Lack of experience
!
Experience is a turbo: it really helps
when the road is steep.
8. #1 Segment your market and find your early adopters
!
We were convinced people (yes, I said
people) would just need our product.
Period.
• Marketing to everybody is like marketing to nobody.
You need to convince a specific group of people first.
!
• Satisfying your early adopters is the engine of
growth and it will create your unfair advantage.
9. #2 Define a value proposition and be ready to change it
Value proposition does not reflect your
vision. Only investors care about your
vision.
• The value proposition must convince users that
your product is useful now, not as soon as more
people will subscribe.
!
• Product/solution fit and market fit define your
value proposition.
10. #3 Your lean business model canvas is the product
All pieces in the canvas must fit together
like a puzzle.
• If you keep this in mind, you’ll better control your
startup and be ready for changes.
11. #4 Users drive the product
Do you want to accomplish your vision
(with a big risk of failure) or is it ok to end
up with a totally different successful
product?
• Less dreams and more flexibility (this was hard
to accept..)
13. #1 Acquiring users/customers is
super hard, and it is your aim
Learn for traditional activities: they do
everything to get customers, they never
stop. Their product alone is not enough.
!
• Internet is no different: if you want to get users/
customers, you must work on it day by day.
14. #2 Go Agile
“We are only 3 people, we can avoid using a
kanban”. No!
!
• A team needs total transparency. “I’m in charge
of this and I will let you know” leads to argues.
!
• Measuring your team productivity is the only
way to get it better.
15. #3 Do only what gives you an immediate
value to your startup
!
“I migrated to a new database in order to be
ready for the day we’ll have 1.000.000 users”
•
Everything not strictly necessary to the definition of
your business model and the creation of the MVP should
be left outside.
!
• It’s hard to decide when something has a value, but it’s
worth thinking about it.
16. #4 Don’t hire interns when you’re so small:
your business need expertise and you don’t
have time to waste
“This programmer looks promising, we’ll
definitely need him when we’ll be big”
!
• hire or contract somebody who can bring
value to your startup immediately.
!
17. Finally ..
!
A startup is a business which needs to grow
fast. It’s that simple, but it’s worth repeating it.
