1. Find Customers First
2. Customers are the most important thing is business, but getting the product or service right is the hardest thing.
3. You must speak to a customer at some point, if you make that the first thing, you save incalculable time and money.
4. For new business, you must compete on design, not price.
5. Research will lead only into known markets. You are then limited to cannibalizing present trade by offering a lower price. Finding new business is a matter of “search and learn” tactics.
6. You need no money to start up a business, you need customers. if you need money, you have no customers. If you have no customers, you need no money.
7. Finance means you get paid even if you do not perform. This is a weak basis from which to launch a company.
8. There is massive overcapacity right now, but at all times there is enough overcapacity to produce without investing in the means of production. As Mises noted, entrepreneurs have complicated supply lines.
9. “Intellectual” “property” “rights” is an inherently evil concept, necessarily grounded in violence. It is of tactical advantage to disadvantage large businesses by their adherence to the regime. (And traceability trumps trademarks.)
10. You have no product (or service) until you have customers.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
3 comments:
Doesn't item 5 contradict item 4? In our research, we improve on a known product in a known market, to offer a new product design, but at a higher price at the upscale stores? We get a new business started with a new product design that is available no where else.
Thanks for the list, it helps newbie entrepreneurs like me keep focused on the important stuff.
Thank you, thank you... this is why I rough draft everything on my blog... it truly was contradictory, exactly the opposite of what I intended... I've updated it to make the sense I wanted. (I hope...)
For item 5, "Research will lead only into known markets." What do you mean by "research" in this sentence? I assume you mean seeing what products already exist, and trying to make or offer them cheaper, without any new redesign or improvement, to the same customers or known market.
As entrepreneurs, we want to offer new products to new, previously unknown markets, where the competition does not compete with us - on design or price. We want to avoid known markets, and uncover the unknown market. By initially talking directly to customers in known markets for improving known products, we find a new, previously unknown, market for the new product design. Researching this way leads to the discovery of previously unknown and new markets for new product designs. It's impossible to uncover and discover these hidden unknown markets without talking to customers first.
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