Eliminating Product-Market Risk 📈
Aug 20, 2021 7:01 pm
Happy Friday!
You'll notice I have a whole lot of articles below. I'm going back and editing them a bit more for syndication on a development website. They're articles with an overview of the material I walk my career clients through to get 100% interview rates.
Though if you're not a developer some of the resume format advice would change. If you want to find out about that, give me a call.
Alright, so almost seven years ago I was working for a company that somehow allowed me to explore the crazy ideas that were presented in The Lean Startup. Specifically, this meant forming hypotheses about our products, customers, and treating them as assumptions we had to test.
I'd say that while most companies I've been at have espoused the need to know their customers and validate their business cases, that seems to be lip-service when it comes right down to it. Everyone wants to hurry up and start building.
So, what I've done recently for a client has opened at least a few of their eyes up to what they've been missing.
As usual, the major players came up with their idea and big features and wanted screens put together and a team built. I suggested that while they wait for that, that we go talk to a handful of our intended users and confirm they've got the problems we're solving.
I built a small script and we called 3-4 of our users. We went over the list of problems we thought they had and a few extra just to make sure and asked them to rank those problems as the most important to least important.
We then asked what problems they had that weren't on the list and where they fit in priority.
The first interview invalidated that initial scope. The second confirmed it, and the third provided enough insight to fundamentally change the concept of the product as a whole.
It turned out the initial feature set just solved the easy problems and ignored the tough ones. Initial features that were de-scoped were top priorities for our users, and we discovered that their jobs included a depth that we oversimplified in our assumptions.
We reviewed our notes and impressions and rescoped our MVP to incorporate those learnings. If we had built that initial scope, we would have built a product that demanded our users still work with their custom excel spreadsheets because we simply didn't understand the problems they dealt with.
So, next time you have that big project or product coming up, conduct a few problem interviews. It can save you millions.
Here's my weekly update for August 20th, 2021...
🗒️ Six-Figure Resume: Resumes Outperform Portfolios
I was talking with my first-ever career client, and I asked them what still stands out to them after the two or so years since they got their first job.
They said, “Just how important my resume is.
It’s a six-figure piece of paper.
”
🗒️ Six-Figure Resume: Putting Your Resume To Work
In this last article in my Six-Figure Resume, I want to put all the pieces together into a process that allows you to refine your resume and improve your interviewing rates.
🗒️ Six-Figure Resume: No Experience Necessary
Time to address one of the most common questions I get from my clients, “What if I don’t have development experience?
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🗒️ Six-Figure Resume: Avoiding Costly Mistakes
In this next article in my Six-Figure Resume series, I want to cover some myths and mistakes people make in crafting their resumes that hurt your chances or guarantee that you’ll get disqualified from a job early.
🗒️ Six-Figure Resume: A Winning Format
Now that we’ve covered the value of resumes and common mistakes that will prevent any resume from succeeding, its time to talk about the core elements your resume needs.
Enjoy,
Ryan Latta