Startup Guide: How to quickly test your idea with customers

Find out how to build the right it, before you build it right.

This course will teach you how to quickly and inexpensively increase the potential value and probability of success of your idea. This is a highly practical program intended to get you started, progressing and succeeding. You will build on your own customer exploration processes, and acquire creative experimentation techniques (pretotyping, and simple financial analysis) to quickly test your value proposition for Desirability, Feasibility and Viability with real customers.

The customer exploration and experiments cover both Hardware (technology/products) and Digital (apps/website) solutions.

Most entrepreneurial programs present frameworks and case studies that are helpful to structure your thinking, but they don't tell you HOW to proceed and get it done. This program will move you two steps ahead.

The course covers advanced methods on exploration and testing of value propositions as compared to foundational entrepreneurship and startup courses. The content is continuously under development and updated - thus gaining access now will give you access to future content!

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You have it in you to start and run your own business with a great product/service that satisfies the needs of your customer.

You can push up your confidence in the probability of success through quick and inexpensive experiments with customers.

You must continuously validate all your assumptions about your business and customer - with your customer.

Requirements

The course has no requirements for prior prerequisites. Anyone can enroll.

Teaching Style

I live by the Dutch saying, “Act normal, that’s crazy enough.” Therefore don't expect flashy videos and sales-talk - expect to the point tips, tricks, methodologies and tools that help build your next adventure.

Process

Experiential learning lectures will teach you the concepts, and how to implement the activities necessary for your practical experiments with real customers.

All the content – frameworks, process, experiments – are tried and tested by your trainer with a wide variety of global teams (Europe, US, Asia), ranging from undergraduate/graduate students to corporate professionals. They are designed to get you to start, progress and succeed.

You will first learn about the different ways to arrive at a new value proposition from both the Technology Commercialization and Market Innovation angles. We will deepdive into the practical steps to source and interview real customers from a “problem finding” perspective and mindset - thereby insuring that the ideas is based on customer feedback and not bias, hearsay or secondary reports. Based on the customer interviews, participants will be able to identify customer needs and learn and implement a creative method for brainstorming solutions.

In the second half of the course you will learn and apply a simple framework to Recognize, Design, Test, and Evaluate the critical assumptions about your idea through quick and inexpensive experiments. Based on the real customer feedback generated through the experiments you can start to build your Minimum Viable Product and ensure your financial resources are spent purposefully.

What do I require of you?

Be at W.A.R - Willing, Able and Ready!

Get out of your comfort zone, actively engage with the content and activities – experiment!

What will you take away from this course?

Acquire skills, tools, techniques and mindsets that you can use for your idea, or in your future career and also teach others.

Real, experiential learning in customer discovery and experimentation.

Quick and inexpensive customer validation techniques that you can implement with your potential customers.

Get you started on your discovery of a value proposition!

Who should take this course?

Aspiring and first-time entrepreneurs of all ages – It’s never too late to start!

Experienced entrepreneurs engaging with a new product/service than their previous businesses regardless of success or failure.

Staff of corporate innovation labs, accelerators, incubators and venture building organizations.

Learning & Development teams within Corporations and Government institutions who want to teach a new way of thinking and doing.

Who should not?

I like to compare entrepreneurship to a very physical teamsport – it requires you to interact in the flesh with real customers and work with a wide variety of individuals. If you are not willing to go beyond market reports and internet searches then this course is not for you. I invite you to actively step out of your comfort zone, and out of the building to apply the materials. Be at W.A.R. - Willing, Able, Ready!

Come join the FUNtastic world of entrepreneurship!

I am confident that this course, based on the theory and highly practical experience, will improve your potential value and probability of success.