Customer validation
Once the Customer Discovery phase is complete (if it can ever be truly complete), we need to validate whether the insights we have can scale. Scale in the sense that the same product and the same pitch can be used again and again to different customers.
- Is there a set of customers that will buy?
- Is the product acceptable to customers?
- Is there serious, measurable purchase intent?
Here we really move from minimum viable prototype to minimum viable product, and validate our business model in its integrity. Do we have the distribution channels we need, do we have the partners necessary to support the product, etc.
Be aware that sales professionals who are not used to startups, they execute on a known business model. They assume there's a repetitive process to get new customers. However, Startups are not scaled down versions of companies, and they are still searching for a model. And this search is what makes it a critical distinction.
If you try to execute before having a sales roadmap it'll be suicidal.
It is important that founders must lead customer validation, in a similar way that Founders have a fundamental role in customer discovery.
Sales must be targeted to earlyvangelist, if they are not buying the product, there's no point in moving forward, because it'll just get harder from there onward.
Learning what to ignore from customer feedback is as important to knowing what to focus on. Most likely, the key aspects are going to be: value proposition, customer relationships, channel, and revenue model.
Which brings us to the next phase of Customer Creation
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