Will your idea really fly?
Strive Masiyiwa
Mike Tyson with one of his beloved racing pigeons. // Strive Masiyiwa Social Media (Facebook)
__"The purpose of a business is to create a [happy, repeat] customer" Peter Drucker*
I once read somewhere that “a battle plan is only as good as your first contact with the enemy”. I immediately paraphrased it to say, “A business plan is only as good as your first contact with a customer who is willing to pay".
Mike Tyson had a more brutal assessment: “Everyone has a plan on how they are going to fight me, until I punch them in the face...”
Whenever we are developing a new product or business, something we are doing all the time, the most exciting thing for me is not the “idea” but when I see someone actually #Paying their hard-earned money to #Buy it!
Yoh! @LionCub, that's what this is about... Watching your #Solution come to life, then #Fly off the shelves.
I have learnt over the years that good ideas are really a dime a dozen. [There are actually more good ideas out there than bad ones].
__The real issue is turning an idea into a #Product that someone else is not just willing but eager to #Buy, and even better, #BuyAgain!
This calls for a healthy dose of humility at times. The fact is, sometimes entrepreneurs like you and me have these amazing ideas, yet customers are simply not willing to buy!
I remember one customer said to me, “I love your product, but I don’t think I should pay for it. Can you find a way to make it free?”
I felt like I had entered the ring with Mike Tyson at that moment!
Now of course Mark Zuckerberg figured that one out, and it’s harder than it looks. But he is very smart, a generational type entrepreneur.
For me, when I heard that, it was about humbly "going back to the drawing board"... not disappointed but encouraged that the glass was half-full and not half-empty.
But there have been other times when such an experience has led me to find truly remarkable #Solutions for customers who are happy to pay repeatedly.
I don’t know a single product or business that looks anything like what I originally conceived before listening to customers. You might say I’m not that smart, but I make up for it by being persistent and willing to change and be flexible without losing the main objective.
What is the real lesson here?
If you think you have a great idea, think again... You probably haven’t even started the hard part yet!
Let’s talk after you have taken some punches to your face... which is what is guaranteed to happen if you don't do your market research and get to know all about your intended customer!
“The one who puts on armour to go into battle should not boast to one who is taking off armour after battle”...
#KnowYourCustomer
As Sam Walton said, "If you don't listen to your customer, someone else will".
3 Key Business Lessons
Understanding your customer is crucial to transforming a good idea into a successful product. Entrepreneurs must prioritize thorough market research to gain insights into customer needs and preferences. This can prevent costly missteps and help tailor offerings to ensure they resonate with the target audience, ultimately leading to higher sales and customer satisfaction.
Flexibility in evolving your product based on customer feedback is key to business success. Entrepreneurs should be open to making changes, even if it means deviating from their original vision. Listening attentively to customer reactions and suggestions can reveal new opportunities and surprising insights that not only improve the current offering but also foster loyalty, encouraging repeat purchases.
Persistence in the face of setbacks is a vital trait for entrepreneurs. The journey of bringing a product to market often involves facing challenges and receiving critical feedback. Embracing these experiences as learning opportunities rather than obstacles can lead to remarkable solutions that better meet customer needs, transforming initial failures into pathways for innovation and long-term success.
Afterthoughts
"Quality in a product or service is NOT what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for". - Peter Drucker
Did you know Mike Tyson [in this photo] started raising pigeons at age 9. His "first fight” was actually after a bully killed one of his pigeons. [He eventually became the youngest world heavyweight champion at age 20].
Know your customer! Know what they care about, even beyond your own specific business area. Customers are not simply data points!
When SMS was first created, it was simply meant to be a way for network operators to alert subscribers, mostly that they had “VoiceMail”.
Then something strange happened...
Customers seemed not to be interested in being informed by the network that they had #VoiceMail, and they did not want to pay the network operator for alerts! What the customers wanted was to send such alerts themselves.
In other words, they wanted person-to-person messaging!
A smart operator spotted this [not me, but I was a #FastFollower!] and repackaged it as a new product. Fast forward:
This is what can happens when you first make contact with customers with a product!
The first commercial person-to-person text was sent in 1993… and a new multibillion-dollar product emerged!
#ListenAndLearn
#PayAttention
So much free high-quality online information is available for you to do research as an entrepreneur, it's pretty amazing.
Here my team found a list of articles about different financial models, compiled by the young founder of "The VC Corner" on LinkedIn. I don't know him or his business, but what a #Learning resource he's put together for start-ups! A link to a article on each:
# VC Valuation Framework
# Cash Runway Model
# Financial Modeling Examples
# SaaS Cohort Analysis
# SAFE Note Dilution
# SaaS Financial Model
# Pricing Strategy
# Headcount Planning
# CLTV vs CAC
# DCF Valuation
# Startup MIS
# Stock Options Calculator
Bottom line: “Making money” as an entrepreneur and successful business manager is both an art and a science.
If you have boldly launched a business that you intend to grow and #Scale, but don't yet really understand the learn the "language of business," sooner or later you will find yourself "punched in the face" by your own ignorance in a conversation with a potential investor, partner, even customer.
#BePrepared
#SkillUp
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rubendominguezibar_im-sharing-12-financial-models-most-founders-activity-7422345230504554496-975a/
"Entrepreneurs often make the mistake of focusing extensively on product features to convince customers to buy their products... When entrepreneurs focus too much on the product's features, customers can easily become overwhelmed by them and find it hard to relate to and translate what the product can do for them..."
#KnowYourCustomer
https://eiexchange.com/content/12-strategies-to-get-customers-to-buy-your-product
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