When You’re Short on Money #1

I’m working with two startups right now at the pre-revenue stage.  Like everyone, we’re trying to build as much value into the company as we can with VERY little dollars (what's new eh?). So I thought I’d devote the next few posts to sharing my advice for building value when you’re short on money.

Here’s #1...

#1 -- Get Your Product Out There!

Value comes in many forms but when you’re short on money and time, the one thing I believe strongly in is getting the product in to the target customer’s hands.  Don't wait until you've perfected it -- freeze it when it's good enough and GO!

VCs, partners, and other customers want to know who’s proving out/validating your business concept.  Target customer references are gold at this stage. 

I don’t believe in a haphazard approach to this – I encourage you to be strategic about putting together a program – call it a trial program, beta, code-name it, and assign someone to make it happen. Your target customers will be forming their first impression of you.  You need to set expectations about the product readiness and feedback you’re seeking and then work hand-in-hand to support these trial accounts.

Also, remember that just because a target customer takes the product doesn’t mean they’ll try it – it’s your job to make sure it gets installed, tested out, with customer support and of course, commitment to be that all important customer reference.

So, in a nutshell -- put time and effort in to making this happen for your company – it will pay the biggest dividends when it comes to “walking the talk”.

Comments

[maria]

Hi, Wendy - great point! I thought of your post above when I read this, from Al Ries: "Why Being First Matters So Much" (http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=45279). I encounter SO many clients who tweak a product to death - without ever knowing if they're even tweaking the right things. Brand leaders don't get it right the first time; they get it first at the right time.