Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup

by Bill Aulet
Released August 2013
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118692288

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Book description

24 Steps to Success!

Disciplined Entrepreneurship will change the way you think about starting a company. Many believe that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, but great entrepreneurs aren't born with something special - they simply make great products. This book will show you how to create a successful startup through developing an innovative product. It breaks down the necessary processes into an integrated, comprehensive, and proven 24-step framework that any industrious person can learn and apply.

You will learn:

  • Why the "F" word - focus - is crucial to a startup's success

  • Common obstacles that entrepreneurs face - and how to overcome them

  • How to use innovation to stand out in the crowd - it's not just about technology

Whether you're a first-time or repeat entrepreneur, Disciplined Entrepreneurship gives you the tools you need to improve your odds of making a product people want.

Author Bill Aulet is the managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship as well as a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

For more please visit http://disciplinedentrepreneurship.com/

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. PREFACE
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. INTRODUCTION
    1. NEWS FLASH—ENTREPRENEURSHIP CAN BE TAUGHT!
  9. Six Themes of the 24 Steps
  10. STEP 0: Getting Started
    1. THREE WAYS TO START A NEW VENTURE
    2. HOW TO GO FROM “I HAVE A PASSION” TO “I HAVE AN IDEA OR TECHNOLOGY”
    3. FINDING A FOUNDING TEAM: ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS NOT A SOLO SPORT
    4. WHERE YOU GO FROM HERE
  11. STEP 1: Market Segmentation
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. THE SINGLE NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITION FOR A BUSINESS
    3. CREATE A NEW MARKET THAT YOU WILL DOMINATE
    4. WHEN “PAYING CUSTOMERS” LEAD YOU ASTRAY
    5. COMPLEX PAYING CUSTOMERS: PRIMARY VERSUS SECONDARY CUSTOMERS AND TWO-SIDED MARKETS
    6. HOW TO DO A MARKET SEGMENTATION
    7. HOW LONG SHOULD I SPEND ON MARKET SEGMENTATION?
    8. EXAMPLE
    9. SUMMARY
  12. STEP 2: Select a Beachhead Market
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR BEACHHEAD MARKET
    3. YOUR BEACHHEAD MARKET STILL NEEDS TO BE SEGMENTED FURTHER
    4. EXAMPLE
    5. SUMMARY
  13. STEP 3: Build an End User Profile
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. WHY TARGET A SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHIC?
    3. DOES YOUR FOUNDING TEAM INCLUDE SOMEONE IN THE END USER PROFILE?
    4. EXAMPLES
    5. SUMMARY
  14. STEP 4: Calculate the Total Addressable Market (TAM) Size for the Beachhead Market
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. BOTTOM-UP ANALYSIS
    3. TOP-DOWN ANALYSIS
    4. FROM “HOW MANY END USERS?” TO “SHOW ME THE MONEY”
    5. WHAT SHOULD MY TAM BE?
    6. EXAMPLES
    7. SUMMARY
  15. STEP 5: Profile the Persona for the Beachhead Market
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. HOW TO CHOOSE AND PROFILE YOUR PERSONA
    3. THE PERSONA IS MORE THAN JUST AN EXERCISE
    4. SHOULD I CREATE MULTIPLE PERSONAS? IF SO, WHEN?
    5. THE PERSONA HELPS YOU FOCUS ON WHAT TO DO—AND WHAT NOT TO DO
    6. EXAMPLES
    7. SUMMARY
  16. STEP 6: Full Life Cycle Use Case
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. WHAT TO INCLUDE IN A FULL LIFE CYCLE USE CASE
    3. EXAMPLES
    4. SUMMARY
  17. STEP 7: High-Level Product Specification
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. CREATING A HIGH-LEVEL PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
    3. THEN, MAKE A PRODUCT BROCHURE
    4. EXAMPLES
    5. SUMMARY
  18. STEP 8: Quantify the Value Proposition
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. ALIGNING YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION WITH THE PERSONA'S PRIORITIES
    3. KEEP IT SIMPLE: THE “AS-IS” STATE VERSUS THE “POSSIBLE” STATE WITH YOUR PRODUCT
    4. EXAMPLES
    5. SUMMARY
  19. STEP 9: Identify Your Next 10 Customers
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. HOW TO COMPLETE THIS STEP
    3. IS THE CURRENT PERSONA VALID?
    4. DEALING WITH NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
    5. EXAMPLES
    6. SUMMARY
  20. STEP 10: Define Your Core
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. A FEW EXAMPLES OF CORE
    3. HOW TO DEFINE YOUR CORE
    4. WHAT ABOUT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? OR CULTURE?
    5. CORE IS DIFFERENT THAN COMPETITIVE POSITION
    6. FIRST-MOVER ADVANTAGE IS NOT A CORE
    7. LOCKING UP SUPPLIERS IS TYPICALLY NOT A CORE
    8. EXAMPLE
    9. SUMMARY
  21. STEP 11: Chart Your Competitive Position
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. THE TOUGHEST COMPETITOR OF ALL: THE CUSTOMER'S STATUS QUO
    3. HOW TO CHART YOUR COMPETITIVE POSITION
    4. EXAMPLES
    5. SUMMARY
  22. STEP 12: Determine the Customer's Decision-Making Unit (DMU)
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. PRIMARY ROLES IN THE DECISION-MAKING UNIT
    3. ADDITIONAL ROLES IN THE DECISION-MAKING UNIT (DMU)
    4. HOW TO DETERMINE THE DECISION-MAKING UNIT
    5. EXAMPLES
    6. SUMMARY
  23. STEP 13: Map the Process to Acquire a Paying Customer
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. HOW TO MAP THE PROCESS
    3. BUDGETING/PURCHASING AUTHORITY
    4. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
    5. CONSUMER VERSUS B2B
    6. EXAMPLES
    7. SUMMARY
  24. STEP 14: Calculate the Total Addressable Market Size for Follow-on Markets
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. HOW TO CALCULATE BROADER TAM
    3. EXAMPLE
    4. SUMMARY
  25. STEP 15: Design a Business Model
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. A BUSINESS MODEL IS NOT PRICING
    3. KEY FACTORS WHEN DESIGNING A BUSINESS MODEL
    4. FREE IS NOT A BUSINESS MODEL
    5. GENERALIZED CATEGORIES OF BUSINESS MODELS
    6. THINK OUTSIDE THE EXISTING CATEGORIES
    7. SUMMARY
  26. STEP 16: Set Your Pricing Framework
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. BASIC PRICING CONCEPTS
    3. EXAMPLE
    4. SUMMARY
  27. STEP 17: Calculate the Lifetime Value (LTV) of an Acquired Customer
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. KEY INPUTS TO CALCULATE THE LTV
    3. HOW TO CALCULATE LIFETIME VALUE
    4. HOW TO CALCULATE THE LTV: “WIDGET” PLUS YEARLY MAINTENANCE FEE
    5. IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS
    6. SUMMARY
  28. STEP 18: Map the Sales Process to Acquire a Customer
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. FOUR FACTORS ENTREPRENEURS OFTEN OVERLOOK ABOUT CUSTOMER ACQUISITION COSTS
    3. YOUR SALES PROCESS CHANGES OVER TIME
    4. HOW TO MAP YOUR SALES PROCESS
    5. SALES PROCESS COMPARISONS: ZYNGA, GROUPON, LINKEDIN, FACEBOOK
    6. EXAMPLE
    7. SUMMARY
  29. STEP 19: Calculate the Cost of Customer Acquisition (COCA)
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. WHY COCA MATTERS
    3. HOW NOT TO CALCULATE COCA: A BOTTOM-UP PERSPECTIVE
    4. THE RIGHT WAY TO CALCULATE COCA: A TOP-DOWN PERSPECTIVE
    5. HOW TO REDUCE COCA
    6. EXAMPLES
    7. SUMMARY
  30. STEP 20: Identify Key Assumptions
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR KEY ASSUMPTIONS
    3. EXAMPLE
    4. SUMMARY
  31. STEP 21: Test Key Assumptions
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. NOW THAT WE HAVE IDENTIFIED THE ASSUMPTIONS, LET'S TEST THEM
    3. EXAMPLES OF EASILY TESTABLE ASSUMPTIONS: STUDENT TEAMS
    4. SUMMARY
  32. STEP 22: Define the Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP)
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. THREE CONDITIONS OF A MINIMUM VIABLE BUSINESS PRODUCT
    3. EXAMPLES
    4. SUMMARY
  33. STEP 23: Show That “The Dogs Will Eat the Dog Food”
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. EXAMPLES
    3. SUMMARY
  34. STEP 24: Develop a Product Plan
    1. IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:
    2. EXAMPLE
    3. SUMMARY
  35. POSTLUDE: A BUSINESS IS MORE THAN 24 STEPS
  36. GLOSSARY
  37. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  38. INDEX

Product information

  • Title: Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup
  • Author(s): Bill Aulet
  • Release date: August 2013
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118692288