I think maybe having one ideal customer might be a useful a place to start.
But probably it isn't a good idea to invest a lot of time in tailoring experiences/services/products to that ideal customer until you have actual customers.
Because without a lot of relevant experience, the ideal customers in your imagination don't correspond to actual ideal customers in the real world:
+ People do what they do for a lot of reasons. Some walk tightropes, others wear belts and suspenders.
+ People view money in a lot of different ways. $1000 is unrealistic for many people and pocket change for others. $10/year is great for people who don't care if you stay in business and a red flag for people who do care.
+ In general we tend to imagine people are similar to us (mostly because it is easier that way). But selling to people who are not like you is what selling to strangers consists of.
Interesting points! Starting from a narrow perspective gives you feedback that is valuable, not noise that you can ignore. Most founders set their sights on an audience that is overfit (too narrow) or underfit (they have no experience). Striking a balance is key.
Consulting is one thing, but in the startup ecosystem I'm in I have (during the last 15 years) never ever seen a startup having a too narrow target segment (and I know several investors with the same mindset).
For me it helps to simply search for willingness to pay. The push-pull between your conceived offering and the customer’s perceived value, tend to turn these persona assumptions into something testable. Then, once true WtP is established, you can model a persona, but in my experience, too much wishful thinking goes into world modeling unless you go outside right away.
[random remarks from the internet]
I think maybe having one ideal customer might be a useful a place to start. But probably it isn't a good idea to invest a lot of time in tailoring experiences/services/products to that ideal customer until you have actual customers.
Because without a lot of relevant experience, the ideal customers in your imagination don't correspond to actual ideal customers in the real world:
+ People do what they do for a lot of reasons. Some walk tightropes, others wear belts and suspenders.
+ People view money in a lot of different ways. $1000 is unrealistic for many people and pocket change for others. $10/year is great for people who don't care if you stay in business and a red flag for people who do care.
+ In general we tend to imagine people are similar to us (mostly because it is easier that way). But selling to people who are not like you is what selling to strangers consists of.
Interesting points! Starting from a narrow perspective gives you feedback that is valuable, not noise that you can ignore. Most founders set their sights on an audience that is overfit (too narrow) or underfit (they have no experience). Striking a balance is key.
Consulting is one thing, but in the startup ecosystem I'm in I have (during the last 15 years) never ever seen a startup having a too narrow target segment (and I know several investors with the same mindset).
For me it helps to simply search for willingness to pay. The push-pull between your conceived offering and the customer’s perceived value, tend to turn these persona assumptions into something testable. Then, once true WtP is established, you can model a persona, but in my experience, too much wishful thinking goes into world modeling unless you go outside right away.