Colin Barry

Target Customer Feedback (15.390, Monday, Week 8)

new-enterprisesyear-two

Make your target customer a real person. Key questions: What will get him promoted? Fired?

I am (sort of) selling insurance, and should probably look at how OnStar markets themselves.

Chris Dixon on "The Thin Edge of the Wedge"
What do you need to build for the first few adopters? Crossing the chasm-esque; complex products with many dependencies or network effects often need a separate feature-set to gain traction, a la the "single-player mode" in del.icio.us.

Brendan Mulligan's "Decrease Friction, Increase Happiness"
Design your customer experience to minimize friction and hassle. It is hard to incorporate into your spreadsheet when you try to figure out how much value you're creating for the customer, but it is the difference between delighted repeat customers and one-time users.