Drew Falkman

One of the most amazing things I've experienced as an entrepreneur is the bonds I've formed with other entrepreneurs - both ones going through the process with me, and those who have travelled this rocky road. Do not hesitate to reach out to your network and join entrepreneur communities like Mercury Founder Community and especially in-person ones where you can create partnerships, share VC pipelines, commiserate and overall help each other out. Additionally, lean on advisors and experienced entrepreneurs to help you get through the tough spots. Be honest, there is nothing to lose here. Lastly, I will say that many VCs will help. They like to give feedback on decks and MVPs - even if they aren't in your industry. Reach out!

A good way to test your market is to google search terms around your problem statement. Are there ads offering solutions? That's a good sign! That means there is someone that is paying to help users in your problem space. Maybe you can find thought leaders, potential partners and others in the space you can reach out to and discuss. If you do find competitors, don't let it discourage you. Find out who they are, how they are doing, and how they are approaching the market to make sure you can and will differentiate. Google trends can also give you analytics around key phrases to see how frequent these related search terms are used over time. The bottom line: if there isn't much out there, you may not have a market yet.

The thing about work culture that I think is often missing in these conversations is that THE WORK actually IS the culture! What I mean by this is that it is the process of collaborating and building that is the work. I strongly believe in giving your team a lot of leeway to make decisions - but also make sure they know you're always there to support them so they don't get in over their heads or get stressed. Make sure to celebrate the wins and analyze the losses - not to determine whose fault it is, but to create the infrastructure to problem solve and prevent future ones. Also, those meetings are also the work so try to have fun and enjoy the time together. Share your personality and don't be afraid to be vulnerable and honest.

You don't know what you don't know. Make sure to identify the assumptions you are making when you launch your product. Some you will be easy to see like whether your target market will pay, or whether a feature will drive new users - but others you will be blind to. The only way to "see" the assumptions you are making is through user research. You should use user research to not only test your riskiest assumptions, but also to explore and discover these implicit assumptions you are making. I had a business where I sold wine directly from wineries to consumers, and having started a winery I assumed that finding suppliers would be easy. I discovered too late they were hesitant - I was the outlier given my tech background.

Know when to use different methods: 1) Qualitative data is data that is very DEEP but specific to one or a few people. This is typically obtained through user interviews or product tests, but can also be information gleaned from social media, or customer support, etc. While this can give you a better understanding of user's problems and their journey, you will need to make sure that what these users say are backed up by numbers. 2) Quantitative data is only as good as the data you acquire. The more users, the better. Surveys need to have hundreds of responses to have statistical value, and A/B tests need thousands. Quantitative data is best when it answer questions or ideas that come up from qualitative studies.

Product roadmaps should be simple and dynamic. I keep three lists with features in order or priority grouped as follows: 1) Now: the current and next cycle - approx. 30 days of work - should be fully defined, mostly designed, and ready for dev. 2) Next: these are items that you have determined are absolutely what should be added once you are done with the Now cycle ~ 2 mos. of work. These items can flex and change (specifically the order within this list) but should be items that you've determined through research and testing that will drive your KPIs/goals. 3) Later: this is the loosest list and is made up of anything you may want to add in the next year or so. These features should be undergoing user testing and feasibility spikes.