I am a big fan of the Lean Startup model. In the economic climate we live in today, the old way of developing a full fledged product and hoping that a market accepts it for what it is, is a recipe for disaster. The first component of the lean startup model is “Customer Discovery”. This component replaces what was called “Product Development” in the older model. Instead of just creating something and hoping that customers will buy your product, we have to invert the process. We need to leave our offices and garages and go directly to our target customers.

It all comes down to listening to customer needs and requirements at this stage. No matter how much research we do, or hypotheses we create, they will be invalid unless validated by a customer who is willing to pay for what you are developing. At this stage what you need is a rough prototype, one you can get customers to test, then get feedback regarding how it could be improved or scaled. The key to this step, is to get to a stage where you find a sales model that has the ability to be replicated easily, and quickly.

If you are planning a new startup, or, are part of a new startup, my advice is, get yourself out of the office, and be where your customers are. Your aim must be to find a niche, one where you can find a large enough market to cater to, using a scalable and repeatable sales model.