Really insightful breakdown of how the to-do list concept operates across markets. Your point about enterprise deals requirign champions who REALLY need to solve something resonates deeply, especially the nuance about slightly idiosyncratic projects that still form repeatable patterns. The McKinsey example is particuarly clever because it shows how you can industrialize around bespoke needs without losing that custom fit.
I've done a lot of mentoring with academic/commercialization accelerators. Customer discovery is really tricky...a lot of times it's like the dog who sang opera. It's not how good the aria was, it's that the dog sang at all. So in a lot of cases you recommend it because the founder is so profoundly clueless about the market space, workflow, etc. Hopes are seldom high. (And the typical "customer discovery" protocol is completely wrong, but that's probably minor in the grand scheme of things.)
Selling is something a lot of tech founders don't want to do at all. That's even more true with the kinds of deeptech that often come out of university labs. If they *try* to do CD, there may be some hope. Maybe. But in a lot of cases it's like those huge 350-person Chem 101 classes at Big State U. It's not about learning about ions and covalent bonds, but about weeding out freshmen.
Love this point. My big gripe with the CD recommendation is that it sets the bar low to meet our assessment of skills/motivation, which sets some up to pass who wind up failing in the real world. Rather than setting the bar where the standard is, and helping people get there. So agree on avoiding sales though. It’s entirely because we misunderstand what sales is & how it works
This is really great and helpful!
Really insightful breakdown of how the to-do list concept operates across markets. Your point about enterprise deals requirign champions who REALLY need to solve something resonates deeply, especially the nuance about slightly idiosyncratic projects that still form repeatable patterns. The McKinsey example is particuarly clever because it shows how you can industrialize around bespoke needs without losing that custom fit.
Another fantastic post.
I've done a lot of mentoring with academic/commercialization accelerators. Customer discovery is really tricky...a lot of times it's like the dog who sang opera. It's not how good the aria was, it's that the dog sang at all. So in a lot of cases you recommend it because the founder is so profoundly clueless about the market space, workflow, etc. Hopes are seldom high. (And the typical "customer discovery" protocol is completely wrong, but that's probably minor in the grand scheme of things.)
Selling is something a lot of tech founders don't want to do at all. That's even more true with the kinds of deeptech that often come out of university labs. If they *try* to do CD, there may be some hope. Maybe. But in a lot of cases it's like those huge 350-person Chem 101 classes at Big State U. It's not about learning about ions and covalent bonds, but about weeding out freshmen.
Love this point. My big gripe with the CD recommendation is that it sets the bar low to meet our assessment of skills/motivation, which sets some up to pass who wind up failing in the real world. Rather than setting the bar where the standard is, and helping people get there. So agree on avoiding sales though. It’s entirely because we misunderstand what sales is & how it works