1. Meta-Principles
   1. Document Plan A
      1. Capture Business Model Hypotheses
      2. Create Lean Canvas
   2. Identify Riskiest Parts of Plan
      1. The Three Stages of a Startup
         1. Stage 1, Problem/Solution Fit
         2. Stage 2, Product/Market Fit
         3. Stage 3, Scale
      2. Before & After Product/Market Fit
   3. Systematically Test Plan
      1. What is an Experiment?
         1. Ideas
         2. Build
         3. Product
         4. Measure
         5. Data
         6. Learn
      2. The Iteration Meta-Pattern
         1. Understand Problem
         2. Define Solution
         3. Validate Qualitatively
         4. Verify Quantitatively
2. Document Plan A
   1. Create Lean Canvas
      1. Brainstorm Possible Customers
         1. Distinguish between customers and users
         2. Split broad customer segments into smaller ones
         3. Put everyone on the same canvas at first
         4. Sketch a Lean Canvas for each customer segment
      2. Sketching a Lean Canvas
         1. Sketch a canvas in one sitting
         2. It’s OK to leave sections blank
         3. Be concise
         4. Think in the present
         5. Use a customer-centric approach
      3. Problem & Customer Segments
         1. List the top one to three problems
         2. List existing alternatives
         3. Identify other user roles
         4. Home in on possible early adopters
      4. Unique Value Proposition
         1. Be different, but make sure your difference matters
         2. Target early adopters
         3. Focus on finished story benefits
         4. Pick your words carefully and own them
         5. Answer: what, who, and why
         6. Study other good UVPs
         7. Create a high-concept pitch
      5. Solution
      6. Channels
         1. Freer vs Paid
         2. Inbound vs Outbound
            1. Inbound
            2. Outbound
         3. Direct vs Automated
         4. Direct vs Inderect
         5. Retention before referral
      7. Revenue Streams and Cost Structure
         1. Revenue Streams
            1. Price is part of the product
            2. Price defines your customers
            3. Getting paid is the first form of validation
         2. Cost Structure
            1. What will it cost you to interview 30 to 50 customers?
            2. What will it cost you to build and launch your MVP?
            3. What will your ongoing burn rate look like in terms of both fixed and variable costs?
      8. Key Metrics
         1. Acquisition
         2. Activation
         3. Retention
         4. Revenue
         5. Referral
      9. Unfair Advantage
         1. Insider information
         2. The right "expert" endorsements
         3. A dream team
         4. Personal authority
         5. Large network effects
         6. Community
         7. Existing customers
         8. SEO ranking
3. Identify the Riskiest Pars of the Plan
   1. Prioritize Where to Start
      1. What is Riks?
         1. Product Risk
         2. Customer Risk
         3. Market Risk
      2. Rank Your Business Models
         1. 1. Customer pain level (Problem)
         2. 2. Ease of reach (Channels)
         3. 3. Price/gross margin (Revenue Streams/Cost Structure)
         4. 4. Market size (Customer Segments)
         5. 5. Technical feasibility (Solution)
      3. Seek External Advice
         1. Avoid the 10-slide deck
         2. Devote 20% of your time to setup, 80% to conversation.
         3. Ask specific questions
            1. What do they consider to be the riskiest aspect of this plan?
            2. Have they overcome similar risks? How?
            3. How would they go about testing these risks?
            4. Are there other people I should speak with?
         4. Be wary of the "advisor paradox".
         5. Recruit visionary advisors
   2. Get Ready to Experiment
      1. Assemble a Problem/Solution Team
         1. Development
         2. Design
         3. Marketing
   3. Running Effective Experiments
      1. Maximize for Speed, Learning, and Focus
      2. Identify a Single Key Metric or Goal
      3. Do the Smallest Thing Possible to Learn
      4. Formulate a Falsifiable Hypothesis
      5. Validate Qualitatively, Verify Quantitatively
      6. Make Sure You Can Correlate Results Back to Specific Actions
      7. Create Accessible Dashboards
      8. Communicate Learning Early and Often
   4. Applying the Iteration Meta-Pattern to Risks
      1. Stage 1: Understand the problem
      2. Stage 2: Define the solution
      3. Stage 3: Validate qualitative
      4. Stage 4: Verify quantitatively
4. Systematically Test the Plan
   1. Get Ready to Interview Customers
      1. No Surveys or Focus Groups
         1. Surveys assume you know the right questions to ask.
         2. Worse, surveys assume you know the right answers, too.
         3. You can’t see the customer during a survey.
         4. Focus groups are just plain wrong.
      2. Are Surveys Good for Anything?
      3. But Talking to People Is Hard
         1. Build a frame around learning, not pitching.
         2. Don’t ask customers what they want. Measure what they do.
         3. Stick to a script.
         4. Cast a wider net initially.
         5. Prefer face-to-face interviews.
         6. Start with people you know.
         7. Take someone along with you.
         8. Pick a neutral location.
         9. Ask for sufficient time.
         10. Don’t pay prospects or provide other incentives.
         11. Avoid recording the interviewees.
         12. Document results immediately after the interview.
         13. Prepare yourself to interview 30 to 60 people.
         14. Consider outsourcing interview scheduling.
      4. Finding Prospects
         1. Start with your first-degree contacts
         2. Ask for introductions
         3. Play the local card
         4. Create an email list from a landing page
         5. Give something back
         6. Use techniques such as cold calling, emailing, and LinkedIn
   2. The Problem Interview
      1. What You Need to Learn
         1. Product risk: What are you solving? (Problem)
         2. Market risk: Who is the competition? (Existing Alternatives)
         3. Customer risk: Who has the pain? (Customer Segments)
      2. Testing the Problem
         1. The Four Steps to Epiphany
         2. Rapid Contextual Design
         3. Human-Centered Design Toolkit
      3. Formulate Falsifiable Hypotheses
      4. Conduct Problem Interviews
         1. Welcome (2 mins)
         2. Collect Demographics (2 mins)
         3. Tell a Story (2 mins)
         4. Problem Ranking (4 mins)
         5. Explore Customer’s Worldview (15 mins)
         6. Wrapping Up (2 mins)
         7. Document Results (5 mins)
         8. Tools
            1. Wufoo
            2. Google Forms
      5. Do You Understand the Problem?
         1. Review your results weekly
         2. Start to home in on early adopters
         3. Refine the problems
         4. Really understand their existing alternative
         5. Pay attention to words customers use
         6. Identify the potential paths to reaching early adopters
   3. The Solution Interview
      1. What You Need to Learn
         1. Customer risk: Who has the pain? (Early Adopters)
         2. Product risk: How will you solve these problems? (Solution)
         3. Market risk: What is the pricing model? (Revenue Streams)
      2. Testing Your Solution
         1. The demo needs to be realizable
         2. The demo needs to look real
         3. The demo needs to be quick to iterate
         4. The demo needs to minimize waste
         5. The demo needs to use real-looking data
      3. Testing Your Pricing
         1. Don’t Ask Customers What They’ll Pay, Tell Them
         2. Don’t Lower Signup Friction, Raise It
            1. Prizing
            2. Scarcity
            3. Anchoring
            4. Confidence
         3. The Solution Interview as AIDA
            1. Attention
            2. Interest
            3. Desire
            4. Action
      4. Formulate Testable Hypothesis
      5. Conduct Solution Interviews
         1. Welcome (2 mins)
         2. Collect Demographics (2 mins)
         3. Tell a Story (2 mins)
         4. Demo (15 mins)
         5. Test Pricing (3 mins)
         6. Wrapping Up (2 mins)
         7. Document Results (5 mins)
      6. Do You Have a Problem Worth Solving?
         1. Review your results weekly
         2. Add/kill features
         3. Confirm your earlier hypotheses
         4. Refine pricing
   4. Get to Release 1.0
      1. Product Development Gets in the Way of Learning
      2. Reduce your mVP
         1. Clear your slate
         2. Start with your number-one problem
         3. Eliminate nice-to-haves and don’t-needs
         4. Consider other customer feature requests
         5. Charge from day one, but collect on day 30
         6. Focus on learning, not optimization
      3. Get Started Deploying Continuously
      4. Define your activation flow
         1. The Anatomy of an Activation Flow
            1. Reduce signup friction, but not at the expense of learning
            2. Reduce the number of steps, but not at the expense of learning
            3. Deliver on your UVP
            4. Be prepared for when things go wrong
      5. Build a Marketing Website
         1. The Anatomy of a Marketing Website
            1. About page
            2. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy pages
            3. Tour page (video/screenshots)
         2. The Landing Page Deconstructed
            1. Unique value proposition
            2. Supporting visual
            3. A clear call to action
            4. Invitation to learn more
            5. Social proof
   5. Get Ready to Measure
      1. The Need for Actionable Metrics
      2. Metrics Are People First
         1. Metrics can’t explain themselves
         2. Don’t expect your users to come to you
         3. Not all metrics are equal
      3. Simple Funnel Reports Aren’t Enough
         1. Inaccurate conversion rates
         2. Dealing with traffic fluctuations
         3. Measuring progress (or not)
         4. Segmenting funnels
      4. Say Hello to the Cohort
         1. Dealing with traffic fluctuations
         2. Measuring progress (or not)
         3. Segmenting funnels
   6. The MVP Interview
      1. What You Need to Learn
         1. Product risk
         2. Customer risk
         3. Market risk
      2. Conduct MVP Interviews
         1. Welcome (2 mins)
         2. Show Landing Page (2 mins)
         3. Show Pricing Page (3 mins)
         4. Signup & Activation (15 mins)
         5. Wrapping Up (2 mins)
         6. Document Results (5 mins)
   7. Validate Customer Lifecycle
      1. Make Feedback Easy
         1. It shows you care
         2. You don’t have a scaling problem yet
         3. Tech support is a continual learning feedback loop.
         4. Tech support is customer development
         5. Tech support is marketing
         6. It avoids voter-based feedback tools
      2. Troubleshoot Customer Trials
         1. Acquisition & Activation
            1. Drill into your subfunnels
            2. Reach out to your users
            3. Catch and report unexpected errors
         2. Retention
            1. Send gentle email reminders
            2. Follow up with your interviewees
         3. Revenue
            1. Implement a payment system
            2. Get paying customers to talk to you
            3. Get “lost sales” prospects to talk to you
         4. Referral
            1. Ask for customer testimonials
      3. Are You Ready to Launch?
         1. What Are the Launch Criteria?
            1. Be able to clearly articulate your unique value proposition
            2. Be primed to sign up for your service
            3. Accept your pricing model
            4. Make it through your activation flow
            5. Provide positive testimonials
         2. 3, 2, 1, .. Launch!
   8. Don't Be a Feature Pusher
      1. Features Must Be Pulled, Not Pushed
         1. More features dilute your unique value proposition
         2. Don’t give up on your MVP too early
         3. Features always have hidden costs
         4. You still don’t know what customers really want
      2. Implement 80/20 Rule
      3. Constrain Your Features Pipeline
      4. The Feature Lifecycle
         1. How to Track Features on a Kanban Board
            1. Goals
            2. Work-in-progress limits
            3. Buffer lanes
            4. Features that can be killed at any stage
            5. Continuous Deployment
            6. Two-phase validation
         2. The Process Steps Explained
            1. Understand problem
            2. Backlog
            3. Customer-pulled requests
            4. Internal requests
            5. Define solution
            6. Mock-up
            7. Demo
            8. Code
            9. Validate qualitatively
            10. Partial rollout
            11. Validate qualitatively
            12. Verify quantitatively
            13. Full rollout
            14. Verify quantitatively
   9. Measure Product/Market Fit
      1. What Is Product/Market Fit?
      2. The Sean Ellis Test
      3. Focus on the Right Macro
      4. What About Revenue?
      5. Have You Built Something People Want?
         1. What Are the Early Traction Exit Criteria?
      6. What About the Market in Product/Market Fit?
         1. Start by Identifying Your Key Engine of Growth
            1. Sticky
            2. Viral
            3. Paid
      7. Summary
         1. Design Pattern for a Network Effects Product
            1. Attention is a convertible asset
            2. Retention is still king
            3. The engine of growth is viral.
         2. Design Pattern for a Multisided (Marketplace) Product
            1. Create canvases for both sides
            2. Validate value in a prototypical early adopter submarketplace
            3. Don’t automate match making
            4. Identify the right engine of growth for each side