The Four Steps to the Epiphany

deep understanding of customers and their problems, their pains, and the jobs they need done to discover a repeatable roadmap of how they buy

“lighthouse” customers

Startups don’t fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers and a proven financial model.

The sad reality is if you don’t get the first part of early Customer Development right, you won’t be in the mainstream. You’ll be out of business.

In startups the emphasis is on “get it done, and get it done fast.” So it’s natural that heads of Sales and Marketing believe they are hired for what they know, not what they can learn.

These goals would have been achieved when FastOffice could answer four questions: Have we identified a problem a customer wants solved? Does our product solve these customer needs? If so, do we have a viable and profitable business model? Have we learned enough to go out and sell?

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 discovering a repeatable roadmap of how they buy, and building a financial model that results in profitability.

Instead, he was out in the field listening, discovering how his customers worked and what their key problems were.

Startups don’t fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers and a proven financial model.