Customer Development Process Distilled

This slide describes the internal activities within each step of the Customer Development Process.

1. Search Phase: This phase is the iterative research and learning of the customer, product and market. It is a pivoting loop of the following steps.
   1. Customer Discovery: This cycle identifies problems and solutions and ideates products to satisfy this needs.
      • Problem Solution Fit: This process identifies problemas or pains from a certain base of customers and ideates solutions for those problems. Those solution can be materialized in the form of product or services that will be acquired by customers to solve their problem.
      • Proposed MVP: Once the Problem/Solution Process achieves a Fit, a Proposed MVP is developed. MVP stands for “Minimum Viable Product”. It is a minimum workable expression of the solution, that allows the customer to test and provide feedback.
      • Proposed Funnels: With a Problem/Solution fit and an MVP, the entrepreneurs defines the funnels on how this MVP will reach the customers and documents the way it will meassure each funnel step.
   2. Customer Validation: This cycle focuses on validation. It is based on the “Get out of the building” principle. This step focuses on exposing the MVP to the market and gather feedback about the reaction of the customers to it. Also it will help to update the Business Model Canvas and develope the commercialization strategies. This cycle will pivot several times into the previous cycle until it reaches a solid sustainable business.
      • Product Market Fit: During this activities the entrepreneur analyzes the market segments and its fit with the product under test. The outcome will provide insights over the value proposition and the customer fit to it.
      • Business Model: During this activities entrepreneurs will update their hypohthesis with the new information gathered from real feedback, destroying myths and enlghtenting the business. The Business Model Canvas will evolve.
      • Sales and Marketing Roadmap: During the Validation cycle, the startup creates their sales and marketing strategies and roadmap.
2. Execution Phase: This phase focuses on taking a sustainable business into the next level, expanding oprations and sales and building a company to maximize the revenues and market opportunities from it. This phase is where Operating Plans and Financial Forecasts take place and provide constant value to shareholders and employees.
   • Customer Creation: This cycle focuses on business development. Sales and Marketing take the most of the markets and develops customers that bring revenues to the company.
     • Scale Execution: This activities involve the methdological execution of operating plans and tracking of financial forecasts in order to reach sales targets and expand the business. The sacle of the business involves the scale of the value to customers.
   • Company Building: This stages focuses on evolving the startup into a company, that will sustain the business in time, and will continue adding value through the professionalization and optimization of the business.
     • Scale Organization: Evolving from the Customer Development Team startup organization into a functional or matrixed organization requires planning and testing. The organization will mutate through different Org chart trying yo reach the ideal structure that will allow the startup become an established company. The new structure will collaborate on the development of the business and its opreations.
     • Scale Operations: In order to have an established company, operations need to be scaled, deocumented, measured and optimized. In this step the operations are taken to the next level, becoming a set of processes and practices that create value to customers using the well known product that already serves customers.

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