The starting point for a venture should be to get to the customers as soon as possible. It isn’t business until you create a customer. And for that, a deep understanding of the prospective customers is needed.
Many founders find themselves lost in MS excel models, business plans, VC pitches, long product development cycles, concepts and advice. The first thing to nail is who is your customer and what problem you are solving for him. You should know him so deep that you should be able to answer some of these questions instantly:
1. What is the customer’s name? Where does he live? What does he look like? What are his hopes, dreams and aspirations? What does he love and what really drives his crazy?
2. What exactly will the venture be offering to him?
3. How will he get to hear about your product/service?
4, What story will entice him enough to pay for the product?
5. When and how will he pay for it?
6. When and how will he receive the product?
7. How will he provide the feedback and how the venture plans to address it?
This customer centric thinking needs to reflect in the business plan, vision, mission, financials and everything else the venture does post inception.
This is how you start understanding and then catering to the needs of today’s empowered customers.