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Customer Validation - 33 Great Articles

SoCal CTO

Beware of Mentors. I’m going to take that thought out into the field and validate it with my customers." I’ve spoken to dozens of customers, I have a validated customer persona, built an MVP to test key behavioral hypotheses, and the data doesn’t back what you’re saying." Customer Validation 101.

Customer 227
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Hiring Developers Before Product/Market Fit?

SoCal CTO

Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. You may end up hiring these people eventually and you'll know more about them when you do. The startup founder is definitely not ready to hire a CTO. Far from it. They need to conserve cash.

CTO Hire 205
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Document Your MVP for a Developer

SoCal CTO

I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs? This should be an iterative process with advisors and customers providing feedback on the product. Founder : Ummm. what do you mean? Don't stress over format.

Develop 354
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Open Source Business Model

SoCal CTO

Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO?

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Venture Capital is About Human Capital

Both Sides of the Table

After a decade on the job I’ve started to speak more openly when newer industry colleagues now ask me what I’ve learned. We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. I was mostly doing my job and trying to figure out how to be better every day.

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What Makes an Entrepreneur? Four Letters: JFDI

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my Startup Advice series. I had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI. (In So I was surprised at the sheer volumes of decisions that had to be made when I became a startup CEO. The technology team disagrees on direction and wants resolutions.

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Digital Revenue Expert – Vince Thompson

SoCal CTO

Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days. With that as a start it rarely feels burdensome. What keeps you up at night?

Startup 225