The document outlines key skills and processes for successfully accelerating a venture, focusing on customer empathy, ideation, and validation of assumptions through experimentation. It emphasizes the importance of understanding market needs, creating user personas, and leveraging design thinking to improve service quality and product efficiency. The author highlights the iterative approach to development, balancing planning with adaptability to ensure sustainable growth and innovation.

1. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Accelerating
Your
Venture
An Applied View
of 4 Key Skills

2. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing

3. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing

4. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
CUSTOMERS

5. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
2007 went out on my own
2008
profitable,
productized
consulting business
2010 software business
2011 scaling!
2013 keep learning,
keep innovating

6. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
A LEAN PROGRESSION
CONSULTING PRODUCTS
Validated problem
scenarios with
substantial detail
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
Customer empathy-
more scope, detail on
problem scenarios

7. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
UNDERSTANDING THE MARKET
50-70% of
Enterprise
Software
Implementations
Fail

8. How do we do this
more efficiently? Are
we implementing best
practices?
How do we improve
service quality? How
do we verify that?
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION
Help me integrate and
standardize the
infrastructure. And show
my people how to use it.
Creating accounts is
taking a lot of time/
money. And there are a
lot of mistakes.

9. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION
SERVICE
STANDARDIZATION
& WORKFLOW
SERVICE
DESIGN
PROCESS
AUDIT,
DESIGN
NETWORK
PRINCIPALS
OF OPERATION

10. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Design Thinking
Lean Startup
Customer Dev.
Agile
} BIG VOID
{ Actual Practice

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DESIGN THINKING- WHAT IS
GOOGLE TRENDS:
DESIGN THINKING

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IDEATION
Self-Love
And Then
Design
Thinking
And Now
Survival
Back Then

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Empathy
DESIGN THINKING- WHAT IS
Creativity

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IDEATION

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Entry
1
Urinate as they go
2
Edges preferred
3
Speedy
4
PB > cheese
5
Empathy
IDEATION

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Check & Repair
UV Validation
Relevant Placement
A Better Mouse Trap
Powered by Better Bait
Creativity
1
2
3
4
5

17. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION
Personas
Problem
Scenarios
?

18. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
•Women
•Age 28-45
•Have kids
•Socialize with other mom’s
•Online with Facebook
•86% said they’d like to be
more organized
•70% said they’d use an
application that organizes them
IDEATION

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IDEATION

20. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful
career in accounting, but welcomed the opportunity to
be a stay at home mom. She loves it. But it’s not like
having kids purged her creative, social instincts. She
wants to connect, she wants to learn, she wants to
interact. Being a mom is a job and she wants to do it
well. That means corresponding with other mom’s on
relevant topics and keeping the family calendar in
ship shape. She posts to Facebook at least twice a
week and responds to other moms’ items more often
than that.
For household stuff, Costco is the go-to place, but
she’ll pick up fresh items at the farmer’s market when
it’s up and splurge at Whole Foods when they’re
having company.
Mary the Mom
IDEATION

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IDEATION

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IDEATION
Personas
User
Stories
Problem
Scenarios
?

23. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Drafting
Stories
PERSONAS
STORIES
Epic Stories
Stories
Test Cases
“As a [persona],
I want to [do something]
so that I can [derive a benefit]”
IDEATION

24. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Borrowed
with
utmost
regard
from
Banksy
(banksy.co.uk)
IDEATION

25. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING
!5,000,000%
0%
5,000,000%
10,000,000%
15,000,000%
20,000,000%
25,000,000%
30,000,000%
35,000,000%
40,000,000%
45,000,000%
2012% 2013% 2014% 2015% 2016% 2017% 2018% 2019% 2020%
Revenue%
Expense%
EBITDA%
Five Year
Plan
Then
Iterative
Management
Now
6.a PIVOT
experiments
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 PIVOT OR PERSEVERE?
6.b PERSEVERE
experiments prove
hypothesis

26. !5,000,000%
0%
5,000,000%
10,000,000%
15,000,000%
20,000,000%
25,000,000%
30,000,000%
35,000,000%
40,000,000%
45,000,000%
2012% 2013% 2014% 2015% 2016% 2017% 2018% 2019% 2020%
Revenue%
Expense%
EBITDA%
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING

27. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING
PLANNING
Do I have real evidence from my buyer that
this is compelling?
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
What are the key assumptions
required to make this business work?
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
How do I definitely prove or disprove
the assumptions with a minimum of
time and effort?
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
Am I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’

28. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
[A key assumption about
the business]
[Whether it needs
proving
[Experiment to
prove or disprove]
1
Parents want to better
organize the distribution
of allowances
Yes
* Post the proposition in ads
online
* Measure sign-up’s on a landing
page
2
Parents have smart
phones
No n/a
PLANNING

29. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PERSONA PROBLEM SCENARIO
‘This thing should increase
satisfaction & involvement;
and reduce support calls.’
Bruce
the
Business Owner
Percival
the
Product Mgr.
&
ONLINE SELF-CARE
IMPLEMENTATION

30. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
End users want to log in
and do self-care
Yes!
Instrument adequate reporting,
create awareness,
see if they nibble
1
Reducing the portals
clicks to destination
from 4-6 to 2-3 is good
enough
Yes
- Log and analyze navigation
- Do support calls go down?
ASSUMPTIONS ON SELF-CARE

31. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
End users want to log in
and do self-care
Yes!
Instrument adequate reporting,
create awareness,
see if they nibble
1
Reducing the portals
clicks to destination
from 4-6 to 2-3 is good
enough
Yes
- Log and analyze navigation
- Do support calls go down?
ASSUMPTIONS ON SELF-CARE

32. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PERSONA PROBLEM SCENARIO
‘This thing should increase
satisfaction & involvement;
and reduce support calls.’
Bruce
the
Business Owner
Percival
the
Product Mgr.
&
ONLINE SELF-CARE
Focus on
customer admin
experience
IMPLEMENTATION

33. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Take II- DASHBOARDS

34. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PERSONA PROBLEM SCENARIO
Orson the
Office Manager
‘I still don’t get it.’
‘This thing should increase
satisfaction & involvement;
and reduce support calls.’
Bruce
the
Business Owner
Percival
the
Product Mgr.
&
ONLINE SELF-CARE
One click access
via ‘Dashboard’
Focus on
customer admin
experience
IMPLEMENTATION

35. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
Customer admin’s will
do self-care with training
and awareness
Yes!
Focus on training customer
admin’s,
see if they nibble
1
Presenting all the users
of interest on the 1st
page will engage these
admin’s
Yes
- Log and analyze navigation
- Do support calls go down?
ASSUMPTIONS ON SELF-CARE

36. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DASHBOARD

37. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING

38. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
$
PLANNING

39. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
ORGANIZATION
==
Aping
Then
Customer
Development
Now

40. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
≠
ORGANIZATION

41. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
ORGANIZATION

42. Big Company
Recipes Applied
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
5 Year Plan ==
10x Returns!
X: < Odds at Lotto
VC-Encouraged
Menagerie
X: Too much
too soon
X: Lack of Experience
in Hands-on Discovery
X: Better Luck with
the Lottery
X: Fun and Profit-
Unlikely
ORGANIZATION
+
+
New Idea!
Expanded Team
Revisions to Plan
== Edgy Board
X: Want Lots of
Capital at Work
It Works! Working 5 Year Plan
New Hires
Founders Investors Board

43. Investors?
Advisors?
Focus on Validated
Learning
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Key Assumptions
ID’ed, Validated
Lower Risk &
Capital Requirement
Resources
As Needed
Clear Focus in
Hiring & Contracting
Roles and Success
Criteria Clear
Progress is Quick
and Measurable
Fun & Profit
ORGANIZATION
+
+
New Idea!
Full Tilt at a ‘Pivot or
Persevere’ Moment
Is approach
working or not?
Option for
Non-Traditional
Funding Strategies
Expanded Team
New Hires
Founders Investors Board

44. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DEVELOPMENT
Waterfall
Then
Agile
Now

45. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Individuals
Interactions
>
Processes
Tools
Working
software
Comprehensive
Documentation
>
Customer
collaboration
Contract
negotiation
>
Responding
to change
Following
a plan
>
DEVELOPMENT

46. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DEVELOPMENT
validate feature
relevance with
customers
Past
collaborate with
development
team
Present
observe and
envision what’s
next
Future

47. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DESIGN
THINKING
LEAN
STARTUP
CUSTOMER
DEV.
AGILE
personas
problem scenarios
user stories
hypothesis
(assumptions)
experimental design
roles & team
objectives
working product

48. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Problem Scenarios for the Undergrad
PERSONA PROBLEM SCENARIO IMPLEMENTATION
Uma the
Undergrad
How do I participate in a lean
environment? Do I need to
learn how to code?
Uma the
Undergrad
How to manage in an
environment of scarcity and
uncertainty?
How to create & describe deep
customer understanding?
Uma
the
Undergrad

49. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Problem Scenarios for the Undergrad
What would
Jefferson do?

50. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Problem Scenarios for the Undergrad
PERSONA PROBLEM SCENARIO
Lean Startup
(Applied)
Design Thinking
(Applied)
IMPLEMENTATION
Uma the
Undergrad
How do I participate in a lean
environment? Do I need to
learn how to code?
Foundation
Concept
(Stack)
Uma the
Undergrad
How to manage in an
environment of scarcity and
uncertainty?
How to create & describe deep
customer understanding?
Uma
the
Undergrad

51. Specialties
(VARIOUS)
DESIGN
UNIX
SYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
SEO
ANALYTICS
.
.
.
(VARIOUS)
MGMT.
.
.
.
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Basic
Technical
Literacy
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS
Model-View-Controller
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS
App. & Platform Integration
ROLES & SYSTEMS
In a Technical Team
Stories
Personas
Development Discussion
Foundation
Concepts
ITERATIVE
MANAGEMENT
DESIGN
THINKING
CUSTOMER
DEVELOPMENT
AGILE
Collaboration AGILE
As Product Owner
ORGANIZATION

52. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
If not a traditional business plan, then what?
Who is the
buyer? User?
What problem(s)
Personas
Problem Scenarios
What’s the
business?
Positioning Statement,
Business Model
Canvas
What has to
happen?
Lean Startup-Style
Assumptions
What economics and
requirement for
cash?
Lean Financial
Model
What’s the operating
environment like? Five Forces Analysis
Pitch Deck
I need a compact
overview
I’m going to a
bank, traditional
investor Business Plan
I need to articulate
the business
internally
Assumptions
Business Model
Canvas
I need to create
empathy (internally)
for our users.
Personas & Problem
Scenarios

53. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Making Progress
IDEA!
Positioning
Statement?
Field Work & Analytics
Ideation & Design
Product Development
General Management
Pivotal
Assumptions?
Customer
Definition
Personas?
Problem Scenarios?
Field
Discovery
Still Learning?
Field
Validation
Draft
Prototype
Quicky
Prototype?
Yes?
Confident?
No?
Create
User
Stories
Done?
New Learning?
Define
MVP
CUSTOMER
VALIDATION

54. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
BUY THE BOOK
A practical primer for anyone
wanting to actually implement
today’s best practices in product
development (available online or
at any major retailer)
VISIT THE SITE
Free talks, tutorials, and
resources for product
development and new ventures.
MORE?
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

55. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
@cowanSF
alexandercowan.com/blog
acowan@alexandercowan.com
alexandercowan.com/speaking
alexandercowan.com/resources
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

56. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
MARY THE MOM
About: Mary the mom. . . [Describe like your friend or the beginning
of a short story. What kind of shoes does she wear?]. . .
Thinks: . . .
Sees: . . .
Feels: . . .
Does: . . .
1. List at least 3 personas
2. Describe as much as you can

57. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
“Parents want to better organize the distribution of allowances”
Priority: [1 for existential; 2+ for others]
Needs Proving?: [yes or no]
Experimentation: [how will most quickly, cheaply prove or disprove]
* Bonus Question: How do these relate to your personas?
1. List at least 3 assumptions
2. Note as much as you can on experiments