“The biggest source of waste in a startup is building something that nobody wants.” - Eric Reis, The Lean Startup
...so...
Most startups fail, that’s a given.
Most of the time, they fail for the same basic reason, and it isn’t from technology or ex*****on risk. They fail because they run out of money before they learn how to build something people want.
Finding product/market fit is hard. Usually it takes years, not months, to reach it.
Lack of P/M fit means the product is never quite working, and thus, all the subsequent problems that come along with that:
Lack of investor interest
Employees leaving
Cofounder fighting
And of course, running out of money
It’s a stressful time when things aren’t working.
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So how do you get there?
This is the fundamental question that guides everything we do here at PARADIIIGM. We want more startups to succeed, and so our primary focus is to confront head-on the most common reason why they fail.
That said, every startup is different and we’ll be the first to admit that there is no one-size-fits-all formula for finding P/M fit. There is however a framework we’ve found that when followed can significantly improve your chances of getting there, and that is what we teach the companies we work with.
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A key component of this framework is the Design Sprint, created by Jake Knapp at Google Ventures and later refined by the Berlin based design agency AJ&Smart. It’s essentially a structured process for rapidly solving big challenges, creating new products, or improving existing ones, that compresses potentially months of work into only a few days.
The Design Sprint process allows us to design, build, and validate a realistic prototype with real users in less than a week. It establishes a lightning quick iteration cycle and accelerates the pace of learning for the entire team, which is crucial.
It also has numerous other benefits including increasing the clarity of thought surrounding the opportunity, improving alignment among team members, and generating massive momentum towards reaching your business goals. And, oh yeah, talking to customers doesn’t hurt either.
We believe this to be the most efficient process for figuring out how to build things people actually want that we’ve ever encountered in over 10 years of working with startups. It has quickly become our primary offering because it simply works, and our clients love it.
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If this approach resonates with you and you’re interested in learning more, we invite you to send us a message or simply schedule a call. Our strategy sessions are purely diagnostic (no sales people on our team) and designed to figure out if we’re a good fit to work together. Even if that isn’t the case, we do our best to add value and provide some insight on whatever challenges you’re currently facing with every call.
We look forward to helping you reach your goals.
Best,
Nathan Canning | Founder and Principal
