All In Startup: Launching a New Idea When Everything Is on the Line

Chapter 31Nothing Else Matters until You Can Prove That Customers Want Your Product

Three A.M. That’s what? 5 A.M. central. And 6 A.M. in Columbus. People would be getting up soon to go to work. Keep working, Owen.

Owen looked down at the notepad of hotel stationery that contained his assumption scribbles. True, the writing wasn’t the best, but that’s what happens when you try and use a pencil with a feather-top pillow as a backstop. He could still make out the chicken scratch that was his initial set of assumptions:

1. Customer: Bike share programs.
2. Problem: Their ability to get quality fleet bicycles at affordable prices.

That was pretty specific. Owen couldn’t believe how far he had come in such a short amount of time. The old Owen in his position would have worried whether the name ReBicycle would need to be changed for the new customer segment. He would have done a sketch drawing of how the web site would need to change to provide the maximum value. He would have gone online to look for potential sales reps that could market to bike share programs all over the country.

But the new Owen knew that none of that work would mean a lick if his original assumptions about the customer and problem weren’t right. The new Owen understood that nothing else matters until you can prove that customers want your product. He’d been down the other road before, and this time, he would save himself a lot of time, money, and emotional energy by focusing on the main thing that mattered: Was he ...