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Comment by mahmud | Hacker News Reader

Can you describe what's unique to this "Customer Development" method that isn't discussed and taught in the rest of the business literature?

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He outlines a simple methodology for you to get out there, early, as soon as you start development on your first product concept, and get validation from the marketplace. The fact is: almost every startup makes bad assumptions about what their customers want, or who the customer for their product is. Steve's methodology takes it for granted that you are probably wrong about things, and incorporates customer feedback into your product development from day one.

Most of the existing product development literature fails to address the fact that most startups fail because they build something their customers don't want to buy.

So far, i only read about 35% of the content. I think what makes it unique is the language that it used is quite casual and it gives a lot of example per cases. It emphasized a lot about validating your assumptions. All in all, i highly recommended it too.

I highly recommend it too. The advice and method concrete enough but not too specific. It tells you a bit what to do, why and how. Since it's iterate process its gets better by time and goes well with agile development.

At first your goal is to define your assumptions, test them with potential customers and gather facts. Next integrate the facts into your product development. Continue verifying your product and business with customers, start your sales and go-to-market activities. Last, if you're successful, scale your company.

I read a lot business literature and Steve Blank's book is exceptional in way that it makes sense and offers you a path to walk on. For quick reference see http://www.slideshare.net/venturehacks/customer-development-... and http://steveblank.com/

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