476: How to Pivot Quickly, with Steve Blank - a podcast by Dave Stachowiak

Steve Blank: The Startup Owner's Manual
Steve Blank is a Silicon Valley serial-entrepreneur and academician. He is recognized for developing the Customer Development methodology, which launched the Lean Startup movement. Steve is also the co-founder of E.piphany.His Google Tech talk, The Secret History of Silicon Valley, offers a widely regarded insider's perspective on the emerging Silicon Valley's start-up innovation. He’s also published three books: The Four Steps to the Epiphany*, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, and The Startup Owner's Manual*.

In this conversation, Steve and I discuss the steps that leaders should take when making pivots. We explored the importance of creating a Minimal Viable Product or Minimum Viable Service, followed quickly with customer discovery, rapid testing, and refinement.Key Points
What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. -Friedrich NietzscheTo pivot quickly:

Create a MVP (Minimal Viable Product) or MVS (Minimum Viable Service).Conduct customer discovery: validate your idea by speaking with existing/potential customers about the new product/service.
Do rapid testing: get your work into the hands of existing/potential customers quickly. Don’t try to get it perfect right out of the gate.Refine your offering: use fast feedback to make the product/service better.

Resources MentionedSeven Steps to Small Business Recovery
The Virus Survival Strategy For Your StartupHow To Keep Your Company Alive – Observe, Orient, Decide and Act
Customer Discovery In the Time Of the Covid-19 VirusRelated Episodes

Ideas Worth Stealing From Top Entrepreneurs, with Dorie Clark (episode 318)Serve Others Through Marketing, with Seth Godin (episode 381)
How to Build an Invincible Company, with Alex Osterwalder (episode 470)If You Build It, They Will Come (Dave’s Journal)

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