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

• Even good products fail if they are not a good market fit and are not tested early enough.

• There is no replacement for knowing your customer. That means truly listening and never assuming you know what they want.

• 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.

• Pay close attention to the language potential customers use to describe your product and mirror it.

• 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.

• Initially, use LinkedIn for outreach and to start to get your outbound marketing language right.

• You need to use pre-sales, but the people who buy then may not be fully representative of your main customer type.

• The validation process should be kept going indefinitely so you continue to gain insights into what your customers truly want.

• Understand your risk profile. If it is too high your product may not be viable. Nick explains how to check for this.

• 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.nickmcevily.com

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.