Ash Maurya · Blog

Here’s an updated version of the Customer Forces Canvas that I first introduced here:

That said, observations typically only focus on the usage of an existing alternative (the ascent of the hill in the diagram) which is great…

Have you tried?

Before you can build the “right” solution for your customers, you have to understand the “right” problem.

Your list of starting problems may not be the highest ranking problems.

Yes — also check out “When Coffee and Kale Compete” by Alan Klement.

So while rate of transactions is more closely linked to revenue and the right traction metric, you still have to search for causal…

What is the one thing that investors and entrepreneurs want?

A Minimum Viable Product is the smallest thing you can build that delivers customer value (and as a bonus captures some of that value back…

Also, the value proposition of a lean approach is strong as it doesn’t call for more, but fewer resources, to get started.

I find a good goal needs to stretch beyond survival while not losing footing on reality either.

Why — destination (vision) How — possible routes (go to market strategy) What — on the ground tactics (product)

Cheers.

For that reason, I am now using “validation plan” instead — at least whenever I remember… :)

You can certainly think of it that way.

I’m sure you’ve run into Simon Sinek’s TED talk on the Golden Circle where he made the case for how great leaders communicate differently —…

It was almost 8:45am as we pulled into the Birrfeld airstrip just outside Zurich, Switzerland.

There is a distinction between user acquisition and customer acquisition — and there’s a place for both.

fixed :)

GOLEAN?

I have internalized a lot of my systems thinking both from:

Ask 10 people for advice on your idea and you’ll get 10 different prescriptions.

That said, even specific answers will always have lies baked into them — a function of the other party’s virtual reality worldview (or…

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to…

The worst possible answer you can get to a question is: “It depends.”

Thanks Rob.

Yes, in complex sales, the switch doesn’t happen solely on the merits of your products features but it’s still a switching problem — one we…

We need more stories so please do share yours :)

When I started this blog, I often spent upwards of 8 hours on a single blog post.

We all hustle, struggle, and fight to acquire more resources for our projects.

I recently got asked about the most common pitfall that trips up entrepreneurs.

I spend a lot of time at the intersection of “business modeling” and “lean startup” and have been looking for the right category label to describe this type of work.

After the introduction of the scientific method, there was a marked increase in the pace of breakthrough discoveries.

Startups Are Conversations The true job of an entrepreneur is to systematically de-risk their big idea (or business model) through a series of conversations.

Have you ever written a Business Plan?

It’s funny how after years of reading a book, there are certain scenes that never leave you.

I wasn’t energized after most customer conversations.

An archetypical pattern to the entrepreneur’s journey…or not?

I had no master plan for becoming an author.

That said given a set of possible paths, the problem still is: Which of these should we choose?

If you like TOC, you’ll like my customer factory metaphor which adapts TOC for business models.

Money isn’t the telling validation.

Lesson 1: Right Action, Right Time

Three years of rigorous testing, thousands of iterations, and hundreds of product case-studies later… My new book, Scaling Lean, is finally here.

I’m writing a follow-on post soon on this.

Please do and drop me a link and I’ll reference below the post.

In his groundbreaking book, “All Marketers are Liars Tell Stories”, Seth Godin defines a “worldview” as the set of rules, values, beliefs…

Which number?

Thanks for commenting.

There are numerous observation and interviewing techniques to uncover this.