For this part of the project, you will be answering the questions below to craft the first draft of the hypotheses. These hypotheses will later on appear on business model canvas. In order to complete this part of the project, please answer the questions in each section question by question. Be sure that you answer each question. If the question does not apply to your product please indicate.
Make sure you answer ALL of the question in RED. Each question could be answer in ONE SENTENSE.
I. Briefly describe your product.
II. Customer Discovery Hypothesis - The Product
• What problem are you solving?
• What is the general goal of the product?
• Provide a feature list. Will these features be well understood or do they require an explanation?
• What do the features let a customer do? (something new? Better? More? Faster? Cheaper?) underneath each of the features above, (in "c") give a three line summary of its benefits) will these benefits be accepted as such or do they need explanation?
• What IP of yours will be unique?
- what can you patent?
- What is a trade secret and you need to protect?
- What will you have to license?
- Have you checked to see if you fringe on others IP?
• what is the total cost of ownership of your product? (training? Deployment? Additional technical infrastructure such as servers? Additional personnel infrastructure?
• Dependence analysis: are you dependent on ....: to happen before your product can sell in volume?
- life style changes on the part of the customer?
- Other products required?
- Economic conditions?
- Behavior changes?
- Supply change modifications?
- Laws to change?
III. Customer Discovery Hypothesis - The Customer
• Define the different types of customer
- Who will be the actual day to day user of the product?
- Who are the influencers and recommenders?
- Who is the economic buyer?
- Do you think economic buyer has an existing budget for this product or do they need to get one approved?
- Who are the decision makers?
- Who else needs to approve the purchase?
• Customer Visionaries understand they have a pain and can visualize that there is a solution. Where do you think you will find them? [ a visionary is a paying customer]
• What problem does the customer have?
• What do you think the biggest pain is in how they work? Since your product does not exist, what do people do today to solve their problem? [don't do it? Do it badly? Don't recognize the need]
• Where on the "problem recognition scale" is each type of customers?
- Latent need? (you recognize that the buyer needs your product but they don't... yet)
- Active need? (the buyer is in pain- t hey recognize a need but does not know how to solve it?)
- Has a vision of a solution? (the buyer has a vision of how to solve their problem)
• Define the magnitude of customer need- is this a mission critical product?
- Is this a have to have product?
- Is this a nice to have product?
- Is this product so important that the customers have built it themselves?
- How well do the product features and benefits it?
• How does the potential user of the product spend their day now?
- What products do they use? How much time do they spend using them?
- How would the world change for these users after they had your product?
- How would it change their day? Their lives?
- Would there be new users?
• How would the customers justify the Return on Investment for this product?
• What is the smallest/least complicated problem that can be solved for which customer will pay for [what is the smallest feature set they will pay for in the first release]
IV. Customer Discovery Hypothesis - Channel/Pricing
• How will your users initially buy from you? [pick a distribution channel]
- From a salesman directly from the company?
- From a rep or distributor ?
- Through a partner?
- In a retail store? Mail order? On the web?
• If there are products somewhat like yours, how much do customer spend for them?
• If users need a product like yours, how much do they pay to do the same thing today?
• What is the economic basis for your pricing?
- Comparable products that already exist (in an existing market) ?
- The sum of the piece parts required to assemble the equivalent functionality?
- A return on investment analysis of saved time, money, expense? (in a new market)
- Do you want to change the existing rules of pricing? Offer new pricing models?
• How many copies/number of products can you sell at once?
- Per household or per company?
- If the product was free, how many per household or per company?
• How many can you sell?
- If you charged $1?
- If you charged $ 1 M?
- What is the price at which half of the customers say "yes"?
• Would it be easier to sell your product if it were?
- Sold in modules that individually cost less?
- Configured as a complete solution?
- Sold with other products?
V. Customer Discovery Hypothesis - Demand Creation
• How will your users hear about you?
- Advertising?
- Word of mouth?
- Seminars?
- Partners?
• Begin to build a list of customers in adjacent markets/infrastructure (not competitors)
- Companies you would partner with?
- Professional service organizations?
- Understand their positioning/distribution/products?
• Begin to build a list of key industry influencers/recommenders
- Technically credible individuals
- Key industry analysts
- Key Wall Street Analysts who follow adjacent markets
- Read their stuff- be able to draw their view of the world today and tomorrow
- Modify their view of the future with your company/products
• Begin to build a list of key conferences/tradeshows
- Technical credibility
- Key industry analysts (Gartner, Yankee, Jupiter etc)
• Begin to build a list of key press contacts
- Trade press
- Technical press
- Industry press
- Business press
- Keep track of the names of the authors of key articles
• What are the key trends customers/influencers/press think are occurring?
- Infrastructure
- Technical
- Users
- Distribution
- Marketing
• Who would you include to your advisory board?
- Technical advisory board (who will help you with technical talent hiring, product design)
- Understand the needs for customer, business, marketing advisory board members
VI. Customer Discovery Hypothesis - Market Type
• Do you have a new product in an existing market?
• Do you need to redefine/reframe a market?
• Or, do you want to create an entirely new market?
- Is your product/service a substitution for something customers already have?
- Is it a replacement?
- Is it a variant on something already out there, but can be "respun" into something new?
- Is it something totally new?
Positioning in an existing market?
• If it is a new product in an existing market, define the basis of competition
- Position the product based on the axes (feature, price, channel)
- What are the revenue and burn rate curves look like for this Market Type?
• Who is driving the existing market?
- Are there existing standards? If so, whose agenda is driving the standards?
- Do you want to embrace the standards, extend them, or replace them?
- Are there different global issues than just national ones?
• What markets do you have appeal or advantage?
Positioning in an existing market you want to resegment?
• If it is a new product in a market you want to resegment, define the basis of the how you want to change the market. [ this is driven by some new feature of the product or service that redefines the market. describe the redefined market by showing which new feature you offer that drive this is critical. New customers? New distribution channels? New technology axis? New performance/price axis?
• Why would thousands of new customers believe in and move to this segment of the market?
• What are the revenue and burn rate curves look like for this market type?
• Who is driving the existing market you want to resegment?
- Are there existing standards? If so, whose agenda is driving the standards?
- Do you want to embrace the standards, extend them, or replace them?
- Are there different global issues than just national ones?
Positioning in a new market?
• If it is a new market, create the market
- List the closest markets to yours (a market is a set of companies with common attributes)
- Give your market a name
• Why would thousands of new customers believe in and move to this market?
• What are the revenue and burn rate curves look like for this market type?