Midterm Exam Flashcards
Is a startup a small version of a large company?
No.
What are the two most confusing things?
When to focus on customer development?
When to focus on business planning?
If your business model is unknown/untested (just a set of untested hypothesis), what kind of startup are you?
A startup searching for a repeatable and scalable business model.
What is search?
Customer discovery/customer validation
This is where you pivot
What is execution?
Customer creation/Company building
Search vs. Execution
Differentiates a new venture (faith based) from an existing business unit (fact based).
What is the primary objective of a startup?
To validate its business model hypothesis. Then it moves to execution mode. In execution mode, the startup needs an operating plan, financial forecasts, and other well-understood management tools.
Startups rely on what to search for a repeatable and scalable business model?
Customer development
Agile Development
Components of “Search”
Process Designed to be dynamic
Work with a rough business model description knowing it will change (the model changes because startups use customer development to run experiments and test the hypothesis)
Searching for a business model requires…
A different organization from the one used to execute a plan. Searching requires the company to be organized around a customer development team led by the founders.
Execution requires…
The company to be organized by functions (product management, sales, marketing, business development, etc.)
The search for a business model…
…is the front end of a startup process.
The goal is…
…to find a repeatable and scalable model, and then to execute the model.
