Last week I began mentoring a team who have entered the London School of Economics (LSE) Innovation Lean Accelerator Programme.
Team’s need to focus on improving their Lean Canvas which initially requires an in-depth understanding of the problem they are looking to solve.
This process of ‘customer development’ or ‘discovery’ is probably the most vital phase of a start-up’s life. However, in my experience advising would-be founders, it is often the least understood area of start-up development.
There are many reasons for this, but far too often I find that budding entrepreneurs are not willing to ‘get out of the building’ and talk to potential users/customers in the right way. And do this in an iterative and ‘lean’ way over time.
To help my team to better understand the process, I shared with them these resources. Whilst not comprehensive, provide a good introduction to better understanding and defining the problem (and most critically, how important it is for that user in the context of their life/work).
Conducting Customer Discovery Interviews
Neil Patel 26 Customer Discovery Resources
Steve Blank Lean Launchpad Videos
Steve Blank Start-Up Tools – (focus on the Customer Discovery section)
If you come across any other interesting resources, please share in the comments or on twitter @andrewessa
Andrew Essa 