The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win

Unlike mission statements, core values are not about markets or products. They are a set of fundamental beliefs about what the company stands for that can endure the test of time: the ethical, moral, and emotional rocks on which the company is built.

I call them earlyvangelists. 1

What are the problems our product solves? Do customers perceive these problems as important or “must-have”? If we're selling to businesses, who in a company has a problem our product could solve? If we are selling to consumers how do we reach them? How big is this problem? Who do we make the first sales call on? Who else has to approve the purchase

In reality none of these is the true objective. Simply put, a startup should focus on reaching a deep understanding of customers and their problems, their pains, and the jobs they need done to discover a repeatable roadmap of how they buy, and building a financial model that results in profitability.

Experience with scores of startups shows that only in business school case studies does progress with customers happen in a nice linear fashion.

the product doesn't solve a high-value problem,

Bringing a new product into an existing market Bringing a new product into a new market Bringing a new product into an existing market and trying to resegment that market as a low-cost entrant Bringing a new product into an existing market and trying to resegment that market as a niche entrant

You won't simply be validating your hypotheses—you'll be modifying them as a result of what you learn from customers. Since

The appropriate milestones measuring a startup's progress answer these questions: How well do we understand what problems customers have? How much will they pay to solve those problems? Do our product features solve these problems? Do we understand our customers’ business? Do we understand the hierarchy of customer needs? Have we found visionary cu