Startup Ingredients (Team, Solving a Problem, Customers)

@johnjpeebles
Scotland Can Do SCALE
August, 2015
http://www.cando.scot/scale/

@johnjpeebles
MOTORCYCLE RACING
AND STARTUPS

@johnjpeebles@johnjpeebles
Ingredients

@johnjpeeblesCourtesy
of
@sukibakes

Great Team.
Solve a Problem.
Get Customers.

This is really hard.

@johnjpeebles
2 Kinds of Hard
Exercise is Hard
Playing the Violin is Hard

@johnjpeebles
“Aren’t you guys,
like, that militaristic
startup?”

“It should be hard. But maybe
it could be just a little bit
easier, too.”

@johnjpeebles
Who Am I?
John Peebles
CEO of Administrate
Edinburgh, Scotland

@johnjpeebles
CHOOSE ONE
Great Team, Crappy Business Model
OR
Great Business Model, Crappy Team

@johnjpeebles
IN A SOFTWARE COMPANY,
TEAM IS ALL THAT MATTERS

@johnjpeebles
“The average programmer reads less than one
technical book a year.”
– Steve McConnell
“The average programmer or technical lead
never reads about team building or team
preservation.”
– John Peebles

@johnjpeeblesTHINK BACK TO UNIVERSITY

@johnjpeebles
A GREAT TEAM CAN
CHANGE THE WORLD
Fantastic products
Unbelievable outcomes
Size is almost irrelevant

@johnjpeebles
TEAM:
YOUR BEST
CHANCE
FOR SUCCESS

@johnjpeebles
- JOHN CARMACK, ID SOFTWARE
"I actually have been learning quite a bit
about software development, both on the
personal craftsman level but also paying
more attention by what it means on the
team dynamics side of things….It’s about
social interactions between the programmers
or even between yourself spread over time…”

@johnjpeebles
- FRED WILSON, USV
We made the classic mistake that all investors
make. We focused too much on what they were
doing at the time and not enough on what they
could do, would do, and did do. I am proud that our
portfolio is full of companies where we saw the
vision before other investors did and backed a great
team. But we don't always get it right. We missed
Airbnb even though we loved the team. Big mistake.

@johnjpeebles
AGILE AND LEAN: BUILT ON THE
ASSUMPTION OF GREAT TEAMS
Ever seen Agile in a Large Corporate Environment?

TEAM. TEAM. TEAM. TEAM.

How do I build that perfect
product that people love?

EVERYONE IS FULL OF CRAP.

(EXCEPT YOUR CUSTOMER)

CUSTOMER
=
SOMEONE PAYING YOU MONEY

@johnjpeebles
Building a
Product is
Solving a
Problem

@johnjpeebles
Problem Solvers
• Earn more money
• Are key to their team’s success
• Are the best developers /designers /
managers / etc.
• Can be the difference between
success and failure

@johnjpeebles
This is Your Moment
of Demotivation
Problem solvers are
very, very, rare.

@johnjpeebles
This is Your Moment
of Motivation
You can do this!

@johnjpeebles
Building a product
should not be user
(or customer) driven

@johnjpeebles
“It's really hard to design products by focus
groups. A lot of times, people don't know what
they want until you show it to them."
— Steve Jobs
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they
would have said faster horses."
–Henry Ford

@johnjpeebles
Building a product should be:
Workflow Driven
Job Driven
Results Driven

@johnjpeebles
The Core
Mechanic
Know, Define, Solve

@johnjpeebles
Know
• Develop your Personas
• Observe the Job
• Work the Job
• Visualise the Job
• Learn the entire process
• Understand motivations and incentives

@johnjpeebles
Define
Don’t “Solve a Solution”
Discover the Problem!

@johnjpeebles
Which do You
Go to First?
Pharmacist or the Doctor?

@johnjpeebles
Techniques of
Problem Discovery
• Reject the Premise of the Question
• Use the 5 Whys?
• Take nothing as “given”
• Don’t listen to users, watch users!
Work their job!

@johnjpeebles
Examples
• “Can you add a button?”
• “I need another report!”
• “Can you add X to Y?”

Do You Remember When?

Why is this important?

@johnjpeebles
A Quick Review
• Products are really problem solvers
(sometimes cloaked with software).
• The best products are workflow driven and
are built by people who have a deep
understanding of the problem
environment.

@johnjpeebles
Narrative
Cheap and effective glue between people,
products, design, and understanding.
Narrative is communication.

The Benefits of Narrative

Better retention (memory)

Better attention

Exposes skill or conceptual gaps

People love stories

Narrative quickly adds and
conveys meaning

Narrative transcends culture

@johnjpeebles
When to Use Narrative
Product design
Product onboarding
Product troubleshooting
Your brand (mascot)

Isn’t This
Marketing / Sales / Not My Job?

Design
is Everyone’s Job

Communication
is Everyone’s Job

But my (product, life, self,
company) is boring.

@johnjpeebles
WARNING
Narrative requires responsibility!
You will shape the debate / discussion
/memory / perception with your story.

@johnjpeebles
The Challenge
Incorporating narrative is (relatively) easy.
Crafting relevant narrative is hard.

How to Craft a Story

Juxtapose the Unrelated!

Personalise

Incorporate the Great

@johnjpeebles
The Short Story Arc
1. Have a character. Make them flawed.
2. Explain their problem. Include some false
starts.
3. Provide the solution.
#ProTip – Inject absurdity for humour!

@johnjpeebles
Pixar Tells Great Stories
Once upon a time ______. Every day, ______.
One day, ______. Because of that ______.
Because of that, ______. Until finally, ______.
The End.

Cool Story, Bro.

@johnjpeebles
Make Sure You Practice
1. My wife and family
2. Shopkeepers, Taxi Drivers, etc.
3. Coworkers
4. Meetings
#ProTip: Keep it short!

@johnjpeebles
Introverts vs. Extroverts
Most of us are ambiverts.
Introverts are usually better observers.
Remember - the medium can be adjusted.

Make Sure
you Reiterate the Point

Just a little bit of story telling
goes a long way.

Q&A

WORKSHOP
One actionable improvement:
1.
You
can
make
to
your
team.
2.
Make
to
your
customer
persona.
3.
To
inject
narrative
into
your
product
or
pitch.

THANKS!
@johnjpeebles
jjp@getadministrate.com

Startup Ingredients (Team, Solving a Problem, Customers)

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