[rjurney]

I'd tell myself to read Steve Blank's '4 Steps to the Epiphany' and never waste time trying to raise money or build a product nobody wanted to pay for. Would have saved me years of wasted time.

http://www.cafepress.com/kandsranch.58024175

Its not a pay link, I'm just a groupie. This book contains everything I've learned in the last 8 years and then some. Of course, the book wasn't written until I was 25.

[plinkplonk]

"never waste time trying to raise money or build a product nobody wanted to pay for."

I have to (somewhat) disagree.

The problem with Steve Blank's advice (and I say this as someone who thinks it is very good advice) is that the more innovative/ game transforming companies don't get created this way.

"By asking them if they'll pay for it, and iterating until you come up with something they will?"

Take Google. If in the hey day of Lycos and Alta Vista and all those vanished search engine companies, Larry and Sergei had started looking for "customers" and "asking them if they'll pay for it", they would never have built Google.

"Would you like better search" "yeah sure" "So how much will you pay for it?" "Uhh ...Nothing".

Sometimes the "how to make money" becomes obvious after you make something cool.

Steve's advice is good for a certain kind of startup. Not all of them.

That said, the book is (very) worth reading as long as you don't blindly accept everything he says. I for one found parts of the book too "marketing organization" centric. Which is all right, because I as a discerning reader am supposed to think for myself.

[vaksel]

Better to buy it from here, 10 bucks less

http://www.cafepress.com/kandsranch.58024175

[rjurney]

Thanks, updated my comment.

[zackattack]

cafepress sells books?

[jbischke]

Thanks for all the great comments on the article everyone. As an aside, for those interested in customer development I wrote up an article a while back with a ton of links to blog posts, podcasts, etc.

http://jonbischke.com/2009/03/20/customer-development-the-de...

Hope this helps some folks.

[zackattack]

I'm familiar with the basics of the customer development process (c/o Eric Ries's blog, of IMVU), and intend to read the book soon. But one question is -- how do you come up with an idea for a product people want to pay for?

[potatolicious]

I generally come up with my ideas via my own needs (disclaimer: I have yet to make my millions...) - these ideas tend to be within a realm that I understand deeply, and thus I'm in a unique position to execute better than random other hacker down the street.

Not to mention that, as a consumer of the product, you'd be more in touch with the needs of the product and where it needs to go.

[rjurney]

By asking them if they'll pay for it, and iterating until you come up with something they will?