Why 1000s of Startups Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Doesn´t with Nick McEvily
For this episode, Mike´s guest is Nick McEvily a product leader and a startup advisor who has raised over $40 million for tech ventures. They discuss why so many startups fail and how to stop that from happening. Including why so many startups inadvertently end up building a product that their customers don´t want.
Nick shares the validation methods, human-centred design, rapid product testing, de-risking and pre-sale strategies the startups he works with use to ensure that they build exactly what people need and sell it in huge numbers.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Even good products fail if they are not a good market fit and are not tested early enough.
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There is no replacement for knowing your customer. That means truly listening and never assuming you know what they want.
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Invest in your research, interview your target customers and be prepared to reward them for their time. Nick explains how to find them and capture what you need to know.
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Pay close attention to the language potential customers use to describe your product and mirror it.
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If you can´t find people to interview about the product you are planning, you have to ask if there is really a market for your idea.
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Initially, use LinkedIn for outreach and to start to get your outbound marketing language right.
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You need to use pre-sales, but the people who buy then may not be fully representative of your main customer type.
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The validation process should be kept going indefinitely so you continue to gain insights into what your customers truly want.
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Understand your risk profile. If it is too high your product may not be viable. Nick explains how to check for this.
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Mastering tech is a lifetime task.
BEST MOMENTS
00:20 "The brutal reality is that most products aren't failing because they are bad. They are failing because they weren't tested early enough"
8:38 “As a designer and a founder myself, I'll never outsource talking to my customers."
13:08 “The first litmus test for a founder is finding their product market fit."
15.35 “How will you sell it if you cannot find people to talk about what you're planning to sell?”
19:00 "Ultimately, to move this thing forward, you need compartmentalised skill sets …. departments that all have their own specialities."
33:53 "You need Google Search Console and Google Analytics plugged into your site map, your landing page."
41.51 "The market product fit analysis is never finished."
47:20 "The risk profile is too high if it takes a long time to find the talent you need."
57:35 "You got like, 10s of millions impressions on the game when it went live with your go-to-market campaign, and then you got hundreds of 1000s in the first week or so."
ABOUT THE GUEST
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmcevily
ABOUT THE HOST
Meet Mike, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and visionary with over two and a half decades of invaluable experience in founding and scaling successful tech start-ups. Mike brings a wealth of firsthand knowledge, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and tech professionals.
As a host, Mike is dedicated to sharing actionable insights, strategies, and stories gathered from conversations with industry leaders, innovators, and experts. With a remarkable ability to distil practical wisdom from guests, Mike curates engaging discussions that resonate with both aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals.