

    The barriers for starting a company have come down. Today, the total available markets for new applications are hundreds of millions if not billions of users, while new classes of investors are popping up all over (crowdfunding, mobfunding, angels, superangels, archangels, and even seraphim and cherubim have been spotted.)

    Entrepreneurship departments are now the cool thing to have in colleges and universities, and classes on how to start a company are being taught over a weekend, a month, six weeks and via an online course.




    Science Experiments

    One of the amazing consequences of business-model design and customer development is the ability to assess product-market fit with very few resources, time and money.

    This allows a part-timer to significantly reduce the risk (and increase valuation of a round) before having to quit. In addition, the low cost of creating web and mobile apps means you can get a lot of experiments in both hardware and software up and running simultaneously and affordably. I call these app development projects “science experiments.”

    These science experiments are the logical extension of the customer discovery step in the customer development process. They’re a great way to brainstorm outside the building, getting real customer feedback as you think through your ideas about value proposition/customer/demand creation/revenue model.

    These low-cost experiments are the 21st century version of a product sketch on the back of a napkin. But instead of just a piece of paper, you end up with a site that users can visit, use and even pay for or a prototype users can play with or see.

    Tens of thousands of people who could never afford to start a company can now start several over their lunch break. And with any glimmer of customer interest, they can decide whether they want to:
    •   run it as a part-time business
    •   commit full-time to build a “buyable startup” (~$5 to $25 million exit)
    •   commit full-time and try to build a scalable startup

    The Difference Between Science Experiments and Commitment

    It’s important to note what these science experiments are not. They are not businesses. To turn them into buyable or scalable startups requires more than just working code or prototype hardware. It requires distribution, pricing, revenue models, demand generation, funding a team and all the other elements that turn something into a business. These elements remain difficult.

    They’re difficult because most of the time you get them wrong, fail, pick yourself up, iterate and pivot. You do it again and again until you run out of time and money. If startups weren’t difficult then you wouldn’t worry about quitting your day job to make them real.

    The reality is that until you actually commit to going “all in” by choosing one idea, quitting your day job and committing yourself 24/7, it’s not clear that the word “founder” even applies. And yes, while the definition of “founder” is just semantics, its definition (at least where I live) has specific meaning and causes specific actions or inactions for professional investors and sets a standard of behavior for the entrepreneurs themselves. One of the main challenges in building a buyable or scalable startup is to convince others (investors, employees and potential customers) to take part in the venture. People who are not willing to commit themselves will find it very hard to convince others.

    Founding a startup is an act of complete commitment.

    (Read more from startup mentor Steve Blank.)

    (Read about startup mentor Steve Blank.)