Welcome to Module 1 of the Online Market Validation Training program. Brief intros, plus module and video links can be found below.

Multimedia links:

1.1 Your Innovation Source

You’ll need to go through this topic and hone in on your idea. You’ll also do some reflection on whether or not you are prepared and ready for the challenge of turning your idea into a viable, scalable business. Then, you’ll complete your “idea” worksheet.

Access multimedia module: Your Innovation Source

 

 

 

 

1.2 Customer Development Model

The Customer Development Model by Steve Blank is a foundational part of this training and also represents a distinct way to think about your business. Steve reminds us that start-ups are different, they are not just smaller versions of big companies.

A Startup Is a Temporary Organization Designed to Search for A Repeatable and Scalable Business Model. Customer Development offers an alternative to the traditional “build it and they will come (we hope)” approach.

Following the Customer Development Model is a mindset more than a prescriptive procedure. Many others have riffed off of this original thinking from Steve Blank, including Eric Ries (The Lean Start-up), Alexander Osterwalder (Business Model Generation), Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits (The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development), Ash Maurya (Running Lean) and many more.

Adopting the customer development model will greatly enhance your ability to gain insights about your customers and be more targeted with your solution.

Access multimedia module: Customer Development

Video links:

Module 1.2: Customer Development

1. Customer Development

2. Customer Discovery

4. Customer Validation 

1.3 Discover your Customer

Customer Discovery is the first, and most crucial step of the Customer Development Model. This step involves testing all the assumptions you have, specifically about the customer, the problem and your proposed solution.

This topic will introduce you to several techniques for Customer Discovery work. As with all parts of the Customer Development Model, this is an iterative step in the process. Which means you’ll be testing and refining as you search for your business model.

The keys for customer discovery is to be able to answer the questions:

  1. Who is my customer?
  2. What are their pains or potential gains?
  3. What problem am I solving for them? OR What job do they need to do?
  4. How can my solution fix their pains or create gains for them?

Access multimedia module: Buyer Types and Personas

Video links:

1.4 Buyer Types & Personas

The buyer type topic will help you identify and describe your customer, so you begin to have an archetype of your customer. In this topic, you’ll learn about how to describe the different buyer types you need to consider as part of your ongoing customer discovery work. You’ll then learn how to describe them to provide a picture of your customer that you’ll use throughout the program, and in various aspects of building your business.
Access multimedia module: Discover Your Customer

Video links:

Module 1.4: Buyer Types and Personas