Not sure I agree with the point on page 69 about not spending time on developing strategic relationships. Those things take forever to build and it's really a good idea to start working on them early just to start the clock.
Part of our distribution strategy is AppExchange on Salesforce platform. We have both a small business product and product more geared for enterprise sales teams.
I have a fairly large customer who is using my product, which gives me the social proof I need when talking to these people, but it should be possible to do it even earlier.
The idea is to engage with enterprise sales reps and stay in touch with them, not to simply say "Our product would be a wonderful fit with your customers" and make it the end of the conversation. It's important to ask "Who is the most appropriate person within your organization that I should be in touch with regarding this matter".
I wouldn't spend a lot of time on early strategic relationships, but it is possible to identify strong fit quickly. The challenge is to start the conversation how your product can help their existing customers. "When was the last time your customer complained about..."
Why is the introduction 48 pages long? Let's be honest and realize that your readers already know a lot about the lean startup concept. You may want to mention using mindmapping as an effective means of filling out the canvas. That's how I do it anyway with freemind and tortoisesvn.
Next, you start talking about content marketing and right away jump into "Revenue streams and cost structure". Since there is no clear (enough) delineation where the chapters start and end, that's a disconnect.
What I liked about the book is your specific early interview strategies. That is probably the most useful part.
In summary, notwithstanding its "bloggy" style that needs serious copy editing and restructuring, I learned enough from the book to pay you something. :)
I am also very impressed with crocodoc. That you for introducing it to me, zach. I would put that link into your initial post.
Part of our distribution strategy is AppExchange on Salesforce platform. We have both a small business product and product more geared for enterprise sales teams.
I have a fairly large customer who is using my product, which gives me the social proof I need when talking to these people, but it should be possible to do it even earlier.
The idea is to engage with enterprise sales reps and stay in touch with them, not to simply say "Our product would be a wonderful fit with your customers" and make it the end of the conversation. It's important to ask "Who is the most appropriate person within your organization that I should be in touch with regarding this matter".
I wouldn't spend a lot of time on early strategic relationships, but it is possible to identify strong fit quickly. The challenge is to start the conversation how your product can help their existing customers. "When was the last time your customer complained about..."
Why is the introduction 48 pages long? Let's be honest and realize that your readers already know a lot about the lean startup concept. You may want to mention using mindmapping as an effective means of filling out the canvas. That's how I do it anyway with freemind and tortoisesvn.
Next, you start talking about content marketing and right away jump into "Revenue streams and cost structure". Since there is no clear (enough) delineation where the chapters start and end, that's a disconnect.
What I liked about the book is your specific early interview strategies. That is probably the most useful part.
In summary, notwithstanding its "bloggy" style that needs serious copy editing and restructuring, I learned enough from the book to pay you something. :)
I am also very impressed with crocodoc. That you for introducing it to me, zach. I would put that link into your initial post.