>Can anyone translate this into language I can understand?
(1) "classical competitive analysis" (Porter) would be basing business decisions on market trends.
(2) "experimentation" is what many of today's startups call "MVP minimum viable product" + "iteration", or "lean startup" popularized by Eric Ries[1].
So (1) would be more theoretical work in spreadsheets to model market size, risks, projected revenue, etc -- vs -- (2) would be start building something small in Javascript/PHP/C++ on AWS and keep iterating on features to see what "sticks"
The (2) experimentation is emphasized lately because cloud infrastructure like AWS makes software experiments very cheap and fast to test business ideas.
But (1) classical analysis is often the only choice especially for building physical products requiring upfront heavy capital investment. You can't "cheaply iterate" to build airplanes or launch a constellation of commercial communications satellites. You have to commit billions to build them first based on theoretical market projections and hope customers will buy it. E.g. both Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 were designed by working backwards from market data analysis. Neither had the money to iterate by having the factory build 10 different airplanes.
>What is the market for a paper like this? And why can't it be written in plain English?
Based on the author's bio, the primary "market" appears to be his PhD thesis advisors:
https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous...
Since it’s not 100% obvious - the poster “eries” is a popular author and popularized the idea of lean startups, which currently has (4,636) reviews on Amazon and a 4.5 star rating:
The best way to get started is well, to get started. Follow the ‘Lean Startup Methodology’ and test the hypothesis about your business. Learn what works and what doesn’t and perfect your idea.
Following the principles stated in The Lean Startup (I strongly suggest you to read the book if you haven’t already) you will be able to build a business around your idea avoiding many of the failures that plague most of the startups.
Testing if your product/service has a real market should be your first step.
Good luck fellow Entrepreneur!
by tapicer 2019-11-17
La mayoría de las startups se funden sin generar ganancia (agotando todo el capital inicial), la forma de evitar eso es darte cuenta lo antes posible de si tenés un mercado real o si lo estás suponiendo. No consumas un año de tu vida (o más) intentando ver si una idea funciona. Un "estudio de mercado" no es suficiente, tenés que probar la validez de tu idea EN EL MERCADO REAL lo antes posible con la menor cantidad de recursos posibles, para decidir si seguir adelante o no, o hacer un cambio de modelo (pivot).
Todo eso no lo inventé yo, es como se desarrollan la mayoría de las startups "inteligentes" hoy en día y las ideas vienen de Lean Startup (http://theleanstartup.com/, https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898), te recomiendo conseguir y leer bien el libro antes de gastar guita. Para la mayoría de las ideas podés probar la "viabilidad" en muy poco tiempo con muy poca plata. El libro es viejo, pero aún vigente. Si no querés leer todo el libro leete los primeros capítulos y los otros por encima, pero te recomiendo aplicarlo antes de programar siquiera 1 línea de código, porque si no vas a fundirte con un 99% de probabilidad. No lo digo por pesimista, si no por realista. Uno confía mucho en sus propias ideas, pero hasta que salís a probarlas no te das cuenta si van a funcionar o si es tu apego a tu creación.
by Karpuz12 2019-07-21
This should help you with number 1
​
Book: The lean startup
by rafaelspecta 2019-07-21
Exactly. That is the idea.
Problem Fit => Solution Fit => Product Fit => Market Fit
Each step teaches us very important details and you engage your early-adopters in the process. When you have the actual product you already have customers, and sometimes paying customers.
And there are books around this that EVERYONE SHOULD READ.
"The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" (Eric Reis) - 2011
https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/
"Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works" (Ash Maurya) - 2010
https://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172
"Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" (Jake Knapp - Google Ventures) - 2016
https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/150112174X/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1550802301&s=gateway&sr=8-1
by rafaelspecta 2019-07-21
If you are going for a internet business or any product-oriented business here a are the best books
BEST ONES
"The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" (Eric Reis) - 2011
Read Cracking the PM Interview [1] (for an overview of the job, not the actual interview tips) and The Lean Startup [2] (for general philosophy).
35 is a great age for a PM, especially since PM's often start elsewhere -- maturity is a plus here. I'd say there are 3 main ways into it -- as an engineer, who starts to do PM-type stuff on a team where there's no PM. As a designer, who starts to do PM-type stuff on a team where there's no PM. Or as an MBA who has a good sense for engineering and design. Certifications generally don't mean anything -- communication and leadership skills, good judgment, experience and a proven track record are what matter. But all those things can be demonstrated in previous non-PM roles, in order to make the initial switch.
Also, if you want to be a PM then you'd better enjoy meetings, slides, people, and communicating & convincing all day long, day-in day-out. If those make you say an enthusiastic "yes that's me!" then jump right in. If not... you're gonna have a bad time...
If you care at all about this stuff, do yourself a favor and read "The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses". [1] Eric Ries shines a light on vanity metrics, tells you what you should be tracking, and ways to track it. [2] He goes into detail about how companies, big and small (himself included), often track the wrong metrics, which in turn give wrong indicators, he helps you turn that around.
When you have some ideas, before you start, spend the first couple hours reading "The Lean Startup" [1] by Eric Ries. This book will give you a measuring stick to see if these ideas work.
You should also read "The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" [1]. This will give you a guide to metrics you should be using to track your status.
Slightly longer term advice, but do make a point of reading The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - some amazing advice on product validation. https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0307887898
Other than that, the Growth Hackers website has a load of great resources too. https://growthhackers.com/
by brikis98 2017-08-19
It sounds like you've identified a problem. The fact that you have a mockup suggests you also have an idea for a solution. Both of these are good.
The next step is to validate the problem and solution. That is, your goal is to find real customers who (a) have that problem and (b) are willing to pay for your solution. You want to know that there is a market for this product before you invest a lot of time and money in building it. Or, to put it another way, if you can’t find ten people who say they’ll buy it, your company is bullshit.
For more info on how to launch a startup idea, check out The Startup Checklist and Hello, Startup. Full disclaimer: I created both of these and they are designed specifically to help people like you, who have an idea and are trying to figure out what to do next.
by msupr 2017-08-19
Had this list together from a blog post I wrote a few months ago. Not sure what exactly you're looking for, but these are my favorite books and I'd recommend everybody read them all. There are other great books out there, but this is a pretty well rounded list that touches everything a company needs.
(1) "classical competitive analysis" (Porter) would be basing business decisions on market trends.
(2) "experimentation" is what many of today's startups call "MVP minimum viable product" + "iteration", or "lean startup" popularized by Eric Ries[1].
So (1) would be more theoretical work in spreadsheets to model market size, risks, projected revenue, etc -- vs -- (2) would be start building something small in Javascript/PHP/C++ on AWS and keep iterating on features to see what "sticks"
The (2) experimentation is emphasized lately because cloud infrastructure like AWS makes software experiments very cheap and fast to test business ideas.
But (1) classical analysis is often the only choice especially for building physical products requiring upfront heavy capital investment. You can't "cheaply iterate" to build airplanes or launch a constellation of commercial communications satellites. You have to commit billions to build them first based on theoretical market projections and hope customers will buy it. E.g. both Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 were designed by working backwards from market data analysis. Neither had the money to iterate by having the factory build 10 different airplanes.
>What is the market for a paper like this? And why can't it be written in plain English?
Based on the author's bio, the primary "market" appears to be his PhD thesis advisors: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous...
https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous...
The best way to get started is well, to get started. Follow the ‘Lean Startup Methodology’ and test the hypothesis about your business. Learn what works and what doesn’t and perfect your idea.
Following the principles stated in The Lean Startup (I strongly suggest you to read the book if you haven’t already) you will be able to build a business around your idea avoiding many of the failures that plague most of the startups.
Testing if your product/service has a real market should be your first step.
Good luck fellow Entrepreneur!
La mayoría de las startups se funden sin generar ganancia (agotando todo el capital inicial), la forma de evitar eso es darte cuenta lo antes posible de si tenés un mercado real o si lo estás suponiendo. No consumas un año de tu vida (o más) intentando ver si una idea funciona. Un "estudio de mercado" no es suficiente, tenés que probar la validez de tu idea EN EL MERCADO REAL lo antes posible con la menor cantidad de recursos posibles, para decidir si seguir adelante o no, o hacer un cambio de modelo (pivot).
Todo eso no lo inventé yo, es como se desarrollan la mayoría de las startups "inteligentes" hoy en día y las ideas vienen de Lean Startup (http://theleanstartup.com/, https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898), te recomiendo conseguir y leer bien el libro antes de gastar guita. Para la mayoría de las ideas podés probar la "viabilidad" en muy poco tiempo con muy poca plata. El libro es viejo, pero aún vigente. Si no querés leer todo el libro leete los primeros capítulos y los otros por encima, pero te recomiendo aplicarlo antes de programar siquiera 1 línea de código, porque si no vas a fundirte con un 99% de probabilidad. No lo digo por pesimista, si no por realista. Uno confía mucho en sus propias ideas, pero hasta que salís a probarlas no te das cuenta si van a funcionar o si es tu apego a tu creación.
This should help you with number 1
​
Book: The lean startup
Exactly. That is the idea.
Problem Fit => Solution Fit => Product Fit => Market Fit Each step teaches us very important details and you engage your early-adopters in the process. When you have the actual product you already have customers, and sometimes paying customers.
And there are books around this that EVERYONE SHOULD READ.
"The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" (Eric Reis) - 2011 https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/
"Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works" (Ash Maurya) - 2010 https://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172
"Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" (Jake Knapp - Google Ventures) - 2016 https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/150112174X/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1550802301&s=gateway&sr=8-1
If you are going for a internet business or any product-oriented business here a are the best books
BEST ONES
"The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" (Eric Reis) - 2011
https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/
"Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works" (Ash Maurya) - 2010
https://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172
"Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" (Jake Knapp - Google Ventures) - 2016
https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/150112174X/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1550802301&s=gateway&sr=8-1
​
ALSO GO FOR (these are the ones that started organizing the Startup world)
"The Four Steps to the Epiphany" (Steve Blank) - 2005
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989200507/
"Business Model Generation" (Alexander Osterwalder) - 2008
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Model-Generation-Visionaries-Challengers/dp/0470876417/
Read Cracking the PM Interview [1] (for an overview of the job, not the actual interview tips) and The Lean Startup [2] (for general philosophy).
35 is a great age for a PM, especially since PM's often start elsewhere -- maturity is a plus here. I'd say there are 3 main ways into it -- as an engineer, who starts to do PM-type stuff on a team where there's no PM. As a designer, who starts to do PM-type stuff on a team where there's no PM. Or as an MBA who has a good sense for engineering and design. Certifications generally don't mean anything -- communication and leadership skills, good judgment, experience and a proven track record are what matter. But all those things can be demonstrated in previous non-PM roles, in order to make the initial switch.
Also, if you want to be a PM then you'd better enjoy meetings, slides, people, and communicating & convincing all day long, day-in day-out. If those make you say an enthusiastic "yes that's me!" then jump right in. If not... you're gonna have a bad time...
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-PM-Interview-Product-Technol...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous...
[1] http://www.amazon.ca/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuo...
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Startup#Actionable_metrics
[1] http://www.amazon.ca/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuo...
[1] http://www.amazon.ca/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuo...
Slightly longer term advice, but do make a point of reading The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - some amazing advice on product validation. https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0307887898
Other than that, the Growth Hackers website has a load of great resources too. https://growthhackers.com/
It sounds like you've identified a problem. The fact that you have a mockup suggests you also have an idea for a solution. Both of these are good.
The next step is to validate the problem and solution. That is, your goal is to find real customers who (a) have that problem and (b) are willing to pay for your solution. You want to know that there is a market for this product before you invest a lot of time and money in building it. Or, to put it another way, if you can’t find ten people who say they’ll buy it, your company is bullshit.
The general process is known as customer validation (see The Four Steps to the Epiphany ) or MVP. Note that the MVP isn't necessarily a product: at the stage you're at, a design mockup, landing page, video, or Kickstarter campaign may be enough to show that an idea is viable (see The Ultimate Guide to Minimum Viable Products).
For more info on how to launch a startup idea, check out The Startup Checklist and Hello, Startup. Full disclaimer: I created both of these and they are designed specifically to help people like you, who have an idea and are trying to figure out what to do next.
Had this list together from a blog post I wrote a few months ago. Not sure what exactly you're looking for, but these are my favorite books and I'd recommend everybody read them all. There are other great books out there, but this is a pretty well rounded list that touches everything a company needs.
The Lean Startup https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0307887898
Business Model Generation https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0470876417
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/1591847788
Talking to Humans https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/B00NSUEUL4
Predictable Revenue https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0984380213
To Sell is Human https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/1594631905
Rework https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0307463745
Delivering Happiness https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0446576220