The Lean Entrepreneur: How Visionaries Create Products, Innovate with New Ventures, and Disrupt Markets

Chapter 9

Real Visionaries Have Funnel Vision

All you need to know about business today is that the Internet changed everything, right? When it comes to distribution, sales, marketing, the Internet changed everything!

Didn’t it?

If you say yes, you’re likely viewing the world from a seller’s perspective. The activities and tactics you employ to make people aware of the value you hope to provide them, convince them you’re capable of providing it, and make them trust you with the ability to get it done change over time. But that you have to go through those specific steps doesn’t.

What motivates individuals to proceed along the path from awareness to trusting to passionate varies by many factors, including market segment, product, and emotional pull. This is true whether you’re selling multifunctional printers to businesses or social apps to consumers. In a similar vein to “if you’re committed to solving a specific problem, you should be solution agnostic,” once you have targeted a specific market segment, you should be agnostic toward the sales, marketing, and distribution tactics required to serve that segment.

Beware the business “canvass” you’re filling out. The more disruptive your startup endeavor, the less you know about your marketing and sales funnels, despite what you think. Just as with product development, a lean startup must learn how to market and sell.

Entrepreneurs ...