Name: The Four Steps to the Epiphany
Rating: 4.1 (116 reviews)
Author: Steve Blank

What’s in it for me? Learn how to avoid the costly mistakes many startups make.

If you’ve ever been involved with a startup, you know the operation can be chaotic. Typically, there will be anywhere between a dozen and a hundred projects, tasks and focus areas that are all “absolutely vital” and all in some degree of incompletion.

In this storm, it would be useful to have a compass that clearly indicates priorities. These blinks are that compass. With them, you’ll know how to prioritize in the beginning, and what approaches simply can’t work. This will help you avoid the mistakes other startups have made, that have bankrupted them.

In these blinks, you’ll learn:

who your ideal first customers are,
to identify what kind of market you’re operating in, and
why it’s crucial to launch your product as early as possible instead of tinkering with your product till its perfect.

Unlike large companies, startups need to find their customers and prove that their vision is viable.

Many business people labor under a fundamental flaw in thinking: they believe that startups are just tiny versions of big companies, and therefore to succeed they just need to use the same methods as the larger businesses. Not so.

First, unlike large businesses, startups can’t usually introduce a new product to the mainstream market.

Established companies have a pre-existing customer base and know their competitors well, so to come up with new products they use a product development process: first design a product and then find suitable customers.

Startups on the other hand don’t understand their market environment, and need to first get to know their potential customers before developing a new product. They use a customer development process: first build a customer base and then create a suitable product.

For example, Webvan, an innovative start-up that founded the first online grocery business in 1996, shows this customer development approach is crucial. Instead of researching its customers and their needs, the company focused on the product development process, and failed miserably.

Second, unlike big companies that know their market and know how to sell to it profitably, the founders of startups have no idea whether or not their business idea will actually fly. It’s up to them to prove that their vision is viable.

In this sense, entrepreneurs are like classical heroes, who are called upon to undertake a quest, and must journey into the unknown along uncertain paths, facing obstacles and difficulties. But thanks to their powerful initial calling, they persist and become heroes when they reach their goal.

Similarly, entrepreneurs must also find a path to making their vision into a reality. They learn as they go, discovering who their best potential customers are and how they should conduct business.

To keep themselves following the right path, every startup needs a written mission statement and a set of core values.

As stated in the previous blink, when a startup sets out to fulfill its visions, it may not yet know what path it will follow. This is why it needs to make some decisions right from the get go to help keep it on the right path.

The first thing a startup must define is a set of fundamental and long-lasting core values to guide it on its journey.

Startups must choose their strategy based on the market type they find themselves in.

Each startup is different, and so it follows that the right strategy for each startup is, too. Mostly, the right strategy depends on the environment, or market type.

The crucial question is whether the startup faces an existing or new market.

Mistakes happen and market conditions change: startups need to learn from errors and respond rapidly.

Sooner or later, every startup will make a mistake.

While it’s impossible to avoid any and all mistakes, it is better to catch them early. Startups can reduce mistakes and their impact by collecting lots of feedback from their users as soon as possible – even before there’s an actual product to sell!

The customer development process can lead startups to success; relying on product development can lead to disaster.

In the first blink, you learned that startups cannot follow the product development process used by big companies. Doing so can lead to a disaster.

Startups who try this approach believe they can just build and launch a great product, after which customers simply appear. It rarely works.

Startups should first develop a product for eager early adopters, not the mainstream market.

Have you ever had a problem so pressing that you’d be willing to pay anything for a solution, even if it wasn’t perfect?

The ideal first customers of startups are in this position.

As startups grow, they need to define a strategy for reaching mainstream customers.

No startup can remain a startup forever. To grow, it has to continuously build a customer base.

This goal is achieved by targeting different customers over time:

Startups need to define what messages they want to send to their target customers and choose the right media to do so.

These days, companies bombard consumers with advertisements and messages every waking hour.

For a startup, it is crucial to send the right messages, because they can strongly influence the consumers’ perception of the company. A company’s messages range from how it names its products to the advertisements it uses.

Zusammenfassung von The Four Steps to the Epiphany

The Four Steps to the Epiphany
in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen

What’s in it for me? Learn how to avoid the costly mistakes many startups make.

Unlike large companies, startups need to find their customers and prove that their vision is viable.

To keep themselves following the right path, every startup needs a written mission statement and a set of core values.

Startups must choose their strategy based on the market type they find themselves in.

Mistakes happen and market conditions change: startups need to learn from errors and respond rapidly.

The customer development process can lead startups to success; relying on product development can lead to disaster.

Startups should first develop a product for eager early adopters, not the mainstream market.

As startups grow, they need to define a strategy for reaching mainstream customers.

Startups need to define what messages they want to send to their target customers and choose the right media to do so.

Kernaussagen in The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Einleitung

Unlike large companies, startups need to find their customers and prove that their vision is viable.

To keep themselves following the right path, every startup needs a written mission statement and a set of core values.

Startups must choose their strategy based on the market type they find themselves in.

Mistakes happen and market conditions change: startups need to learn from errors and respond rapidly.

The customer development process can lead startups to success; relying on product development can lead to disaster.

Startups should first develop a product for eager early adopters, not the mainstream market.

As startups grow, they need to define a strategy for reaching mainstream customers.

Startups need to define what messages they want to send to their target customers and choose the right media to do so.

Worum geht es in The Four Steps to the Epiphany?

Bestes Zitat aus The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Wer The Four Steps to the Epiphany lesen sollte

Über den Autor

Kategorien mit The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Ähnlich wie The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Leute mochten auch

Entdecke den Blinkist Katalog

Beliebte Titel

Meistgeklickte Kategorien

Beliebte Themen

Angesagte Themen

Ausgewählte Titel

Zusammenfassung von The Four Steps to the Epiphany

The Four Steps to the Epiphany in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen

What’s in it for me? Learn how to avoid the costly mistakes many startups make.

Unlike large companies, startups need to find their customers and prove that their vision is viable.

To keep themselves following the right path, every startup needs a written mission statement and a set of core values.

Startups must choose their strategy based on the market type they find themselves in.

Mistakes happen and market conditions change: startups need to learn from errors and respond rapidly.

The customer development process can lead startups to success; relying on product development can lead to disaster.

Startups should first develop a product for eager early adopters, not the mainstream market.

As startups grow, they need to define a strategy for reaching mainstream customers.

Startups need to define what messages they want to send to their target customers and choose the right media to do so.

Kernaussagen in The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Einleitung

Unlike large companies, startups need to find their customers and prove that their vision is viable.

To keep themselves following the right path, every startup needs a written mission statement and a set of core values.

Startups must choose their strategy based on the market type they find themselves in.

Mistakes happen and market conditions change: startups need to learn from errors and respond rapidly.

The customer development process can lead startups to success; relying on product development can lead to disaster.

Startups should first develop a product for eager early adopters, not the mainstream market.

As startups grow, they need to define a strategy for reaching mainstream customers.

Startups need to define what messages they want to send to their target customers and choose the right media to do so.

Worum geht es in The Four Steps to the Epiphany?

Bestes Zitat aus The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Wer The Four Steps to the Epiphany lesen sollte

Über den Autor

Kategorien mit The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Ähnlich wie The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Leute mochten auch

Entdecke den Blinkist Katalog

Beliebte Titel

Meistgeklickte Kategorien

Beliebte Themen

Angesagte Themen

Ausgewählte Titel

The Four Steps to the Epiphany
in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen