Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup

STEP 23

Show That “The Dogs Will Eat the Dog Food”

IN THIS STEP, YOU WILL:

• Demonstrate quantitatively that customers will pay for your Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP).
• Develop metrics that indicate the level of word of mouth your MVBP is creating among customers.

Now that we have launched our product, show measurable proof that the customers are adopting the product; no rose-colored glasses–data is required.

In this step, you will take your Minimum Viable Business Product, put it in front of your target customer, and test whether this integrated system of assumptions will be accepted and paid for by your target customer, thus showing that your individual assumptions when assembled together actually work in the real world.

The following story is fictional, but has many parallels to very real companies:

Once upon a time in a land called Ivory Tower, not so far away from here, there was a chemist who wanted to make better dog food. He studied to see what kind of food would improve ...