This presentation discusses tools that are useful for startups. It begins by explaining the six key abilities needed for startups: forming, transforming, protecting, projecting, persuading, and collecting. It then provides examples of tools that can help with each ability. Specifically, it explores tools like the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, Agile project management tools, automated testing tools, legal agreements, website analysis tools, and customer relationship management systems. The overall message is that the right tools can accelerate a startup's customer development plan and help build the six core abilities in a lean way.

1. Presentation to Cambridge Startup Masterclass 11th March 2013
Stay Lean: Your Startup
Toolkit
Paul Walsh
CogniDox
http://www.cognidox.com

2. Why I got into Startup Tools as a topic
BACKGROUND

3. Lots of tools advice out there

4. Start-up Tools – the Wiki
http://startuptools.pbworks.com/w/page/17974963/FrontPage
Songkick started a Wiki around
April 2009 - "As a Startup, what
tools do you find useful“?
I added my list and have followed
the Wiki ever since

5. The list grew very long…
Arbitrary category structure / no
framework makes it hard to find
anything
A list is not “actionable advice”
How would it work as a Mindmap?

6. My Scope is Tools
My focus is technology Startups
(who are just starting out, don't have enough people, time or money and are bootstrapping like crazy)

7. What skills do Startups need to prosper?
THE SIX ABILITIES FRAMEWORK

8. Startups require many skills
“In a Startup, everybody does
everything”
http://www.wordle.net/

9. So, what abilities do you need
in a successful Startup?
Let’s go back to the basics…

10. I think I’ve got a good idea

11. I need to test my idea

12. I need to build it to prove I’m right

13. What if someone copies my idea?

14. I need to tell the world!

15. Will you buy it?

16. I need to get paid

17. Projecting
Protecting
Persuading
Value
Transforming Proposition
Forming Collecting

18. Um - isn't that like a ... snail?
Startups need protection
“The snail's shell structure can inspire new and
better designs for human protective equipment”
Startup growth is only relatively
fast. Be patient.

19. Funding
A very cheap shot at the venture capital industry ;-)

20. Abilities are built iteratively
Startup will pass through different phases
in cycles

21. The order isn’t rigid
• Only the forming stage has a fixed slot
• There’s nothing wrong with testing the market
demand before you build anything
• You’re unlikely to persuade before you project,
or collect before you persuade
• Protecting in particular may come early or
right at the end of the process

22. Individual profiles will exist
Projecting
10
9
8
7
6
Protecting 5 Persuading
4
3
2
1
Actual
0
Ideal
Transforming Collecting
Forming

23. Summary of Six Abilities
• In the course of any Startup journey there are
six types or groups of ability needed
• You won’t have/need them all to begin with
• Abilities are added in small chunks, not in total
blocks
• Different companies (even established ones)
will have individual ability profiles

24. What’s it got to do with tools?
• Tools enable more rapid and effective cycles
• Good tools:
– work like checklists or an ideal To-do list
– accelerate a customer development plan
– are more actionable than general advice
– don’t need to cost a lot of money

25. Next up…
• We’re going to go through each of the Six
Abilities and look in more detail at the
activities done in them
• We’re going to consider examples of tools that
will help with those activities
• First, a quick consideration of the Ideas part

26. How to form and express ideas or concepts
IDEATION

27. Customer value creation
An idea may improve one of
Convenience or
these existing product or Usability
service characteristics
Accessibility
Performance
Getting the Job
Customization Done
Risk Reduction
Brand or
Status
Cost Reduction
Price
Design Newness
From "Business Model Generation" (Osterwalder & Pigneur)

28. Writing an Elevator Pitch
is a/an
[your product name] [non-clichéd adjective] [software genre]
that to/for
[active verb] [most important benefit]
[most important market segment]
Based on Marcia Yudkin 'How to Create Killer Blurbs That Sell Software'
(2007) http://www.namedatlast.com/naming7.htm

29. Writing an Elevator Pitch
is a/an
[your product name] [non-clichéd adjective] [software genre]
that to/for
[active verb] [most important benefit]
[most important market segment]
Based on Marcia Yudkin 'How to Create Killer Blurbs That Sell Software'
(2007) http://www.namedatlast.com/naming7.htm

30. My Product / Service is…
a
(Adjective) (Genre)
that
Enables you to (meet a need)
which
Delivers (key benefit)

31. One paragraph approach
What we do
+
Who we do it to
+
Why you should care
after Brad Feld
http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/10/if-you-cant-explain-what-you-do-in-a-paragraph-youve-got-a-problem.html

32. The Story Spine
Once upon a time, [fill in the blank]
Every day, [fill in the blank]
But one day, [fill in the blank]
Because of that, [fill in the blank]
Because of that, [fill in the blank]
Until finally [fill in the blank]
Ever since then, [fill in the blank]
And the moral is [fill in the blank]
Based on The Story Spine as created by Kenn Adams (playwright and actor) as a way of understanding
dramatic structure. Also referenced by Dan Pink as The Pixar Pitch in his book "To Sell is Human"

33. But don’t write in formulas!
…when you use formulas to write

34. Startup Wizards

35. Checklist for Forming
 How to start (form) a company
 Where to look for co-founders
 How to capture a business model
 Where to find funding
 Where to find a development team
 How to research your contacts
 How to research your market
 How to research your competitors
 How to price your product

36. Checklist for Forming
 How to start (form) a company
 Where to look for co-founders
 How to capture a business model
 Where to find funding
 Where to find a development team
Business Model Canvas
 How to researchCanvas
Lean your contacts
Startup Canvas
 How to research your market
 How to research your competitors
 How to price your product

37. Deep Dive – The Canvas
• Alex Osterwalder @AlexOsterwalder
– Business Model Generation #bmgen
– Strategyzer
• Rob Fitzpatrick @robfitz
– Startup Toolkit: a canvas aimed at startups
• Ash Maurya @ashmaurya
– Lean Canvas: a canvas aimed at lean startups
• Salim Viranim @SaintSal
– Business Model Trigger Cards
• Business Model Hub
– http://businessmodelhub.com/

38. Business Model Canvas
Poster, iPad or Web-based?

39. Lean Canvas

40. Subtle differences in models
Business Model Canvas Startup Canvas Lean Canvas
Value Proposition Value Proposition Value Proposition
Customer Segments Customer Segments Customer Segments
Customer Relationship Unfair Advantage Unfair Advantage
Revenue Streams Revenue Streams Revenue Streams
Key Activities Key Activities Key Metrics
Cost Structure Cost Structure Cost Structure
Partners Problem Problem
Key Resources Solution Solution
Channels Channels Channels

41. Complete canvas in this order
1. Value Proposition - why you are different / what user need
you address / why your product or service is worth buying
2. Customer Segment - who you are selling to / which are
most important
3. Customer Relationship - how you contact and inform
buyers
4. Revenue Streams - how you collect revenue
5. Key Activities - how you maximise revenue
6. Cost - what you need to spend money on
7. Partners - who can help you
8. Key Resources - assets you need to deliver the value
proposition
9. Channels – how you fulfil your orders / path to customer

42. A simple alternative
2. Problem 3. Value Proposition
Don’t build
ideas, solve Need / Benefit
Who is it for?
problems Statements
1. Buyer Profile
May need to start
Price – Cost
with user, then What makes you
X buyer special?
Big Number
4. Profit Formula 5. Your Capabilities

43. Forming & the Lean Startup
• Invent a succession of short customer pitches.
For each pitch, do a Business Model Canvas
• Build your MVP plan – treat it as a Product
Backlog, look at Agile PM tools to assist
• How do you research your competition?
– Research is the precursor to Experiment. Look at
company and market data using tools

44. Startup Wizards

45. Checklist for Transforming
 How to plan a software release
 Choosing right development method
 Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and Backlog
 Managing your code base
 Tracking change requests
 Lean build, test & deploy process
 Communications in the dev team
 Design for good user experience
 Where to turn for help

46. Software Development Blueprint
The lean Startup needs a lean development model

47. Deep Dive – Project Planning
Agile Zen lean project management
Trello project collaboration

48. Checklist for Transforming
 How to plan a software release
Automated testing: Selenium
 Choosing right development method
 Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and Backlog
Continuous Integration: Jenkins
 Managing your code base
Continuous Deployment: Heroku
 Tracking change requests
 Lean build, test & deploy process
 Communications in the dev team
 Design for good user experience
 Where to turn for help

49. Deep Dive – Automated Test
Browser recording WebDriver & Selenium Server
Selenium web browser automation

50. Transforming & the Lean Startup
• Build User Personas and devise a strategy for
continuous UX testing
• Lean teams choose tools to support Agile, Scrum
or Kanban process
• Develop around Continuous Integration (CI) and
Automated Testing tools
• What does Continuous Deployment mean for
your product? Implement the answer

51. Startup Wizards

52. Checklist for Protecting
 Where to find contracts, legal agreements
 How to research and create patents
 How to register your trademark
 Find and register your web domain name
 Compliance, governance and regulations
 Data security and user privacy
 How to avoid “We’ve been hacked”
 Ways to ensure business continuity
 How (not) to protect your reputation

53. Checklist for Protecting
 Where to find contracts, legal agreements
 How to research and create patents
 How to register your trademark
 Find and register your web domain name
 Compliance, governance and regulations
Writing an agreement helps you
 Data security and user privacy the issues and
better understand
 How to avoid “We’ve been hacked”
communicate with lawyers
 Ways to ensure businesssave money
It can also continuity
 How (not) to protect your reputation

54. Top 10 Contracts to look for…
Shareholder Contract of End User Subscriptions Evaluation
Agreement Employment License Agreement License
Agreement
Sales Referral Sales Partner Terms of Share Option Developer
Agreement Agreement Service Agreement Services
Agreement

55. Examples are out there

56. Patents are good for entrepreneurial Startups
• Patent trollsbackcome after SMEs
Let’s go don't to the basics…
Companies with less than $100M
annual revenue made up 66% of unique
defendants and at least 55% of unique
defendants in these cases make under
$10M per year (Chien, 2012)

57. The Curious Case of Python
• Open source programming language since 1991
• Domain python.org registered 27-Mar-1995 by Python
Software Foundation
• Domain python.co.uk registered 29-Oct-1997 by UK
company (Our Holdings Ltd / Pobox Internet Ltd)
– EU community trademark application; exclusive right to
use "Python" for software, servers, and web services in
Europe
• Unrelated company pobox.com gets flamed on twitter
and has to deny links with pobox.co.uk
• Costs of a trademark opposition by PSF will be "tens of
thousands of dollars"
• One of the Python principles:
– "Complex is better than complicated"

58. Protecting & the Lean Startup
• Draft your legal agreements, it’s good for you
• Trademarks and domain are part of your MVP
• Learn some anti-Troll tactics
• Worry about data & security vulnerabilities
• Don’t @*&^ with your Startup reputation

59. Startup Wizards

60. Checklist for Projecting
 How to design the company image
 Using a launch page
 Building and optimizing a web site
 Listing in product directories
 How to do Content Marketing
 Making videos and screencasts
 Using social media for marketing
 How to do a press release
 Manage your Blog

61. Checklist for Projecting
 How to design the company image
 Using a launch page
 Building and optimizing a web site
 Listing in product directories
 How to do Content Marketing
Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, etc.
 Making videos and screencasts
Hubspot Market Grader
 Using social mediaOpenmarketing
SEOMoz for Site Explorer
Ahrefs Backlinks report
 How to do Analytics (Google, Piwik, etc.)
a press release
 Manage your Blog

62. Deep Dive – Website Grader
e.g. Increase our
blogging frequency

63. Deep Dive – Site Explorer
Domain
Authority
/100
SEOMoz Site Explorer

64. Deep Dive – Backlinks

65. Projection is never easy
83% of IT decision makers have a broad understanding of the concept of
cloud computing
But…
22% think Platform as a Service is a
new philosophy in railway management
16% think Infrastructure as
a Service is a new road project
15% think cloud computing is a
free WiFi service for Internet access
in public places
Source: Six Degrees Group "Up to the Cloud"

66. Projecting & the Lean Startup
• Build a Lean Marketing Plan – it should
contain a market launch plan
• Are you SEO-ready?
• Plan ahead by preparing marketing content
• Streamline the content publishing process
• Be media-savvy

67. Startup Wizards

68. Checklist for Persuading
 Customer queries and help desk
 How to track customer relationships
 Collecting user feedback
 Automating your marketing
 Setting up user forums
 Running a user survey
 Sales calls, screen share and webinars
 Email marketing and newsletters

69. Checklist for Persuading
 Customer queries and help desk
 How to track customer relationships
 Collecting user feedback
 Automating your marketing
 Setting up user forums
 Running a user survey
Issue Tracking e.g. OTRS
 Sales calls, Self-service and webinars
screen share Answers e.g. Q2A
 Email marketing and newsletters

70. Deep Dive – Q2A
Q2A (Questions to Answers)

71. Checklist for Persuading
 Customer queries and help desk
 How to track customer relationships
 Collecting user feedback
 Automating your marketing
 Setting up user forums
 Running a user survey
From CRM (Relationship)To CXM
 Sales calls, (eXperience)and webinars
screen share
Don’t confuse with Salesforce
 Email marketing and newsletters
Automation

72. Deep Dive - CRM
SugarCRM Community Edition

73. Sales pipeline
• Building a sales pipeline model is one of the
most under-rated steps in Lean Sales
• Remove friction & waste = easier sales
• Useful only if (a) bespoke and (b) validated

74. Persuading & the Lean Startup
• Keep track of everything customer-related
• Refine Buyer Persona(s) when necessary
• Plan a Conversion Rate Optimization process
and test it
• Decide your Technical Support methodology
• How much of a Knowledge Base can you build
as early as possible?
• Integrate user voice tools into your testing

75. Startup Wizards

76. Checklist for Collecting
 Keep track of accounts
 Invoice professionally
 Ensure payments are made on time
 Tracking billable hours
 Manage your payroll
 Choosing an e-commerce system
 Subscription or membership billing
 Changing your price or pricing

77. Checklist for Collecting
 Keep track of accounts
 Invoice professionally
 Ensure payments are made on time
 Tracking billable hours
 Manage your payroll
 Choosing an e-commerce system
QuickBooks Online
Kashflow
 Subscription or membership billing
Freshbooks
 Changing your price or pricing
BrightPearl

78. Deep Dive - Accounting
QuickBooks Online
Nothing can help you get paid on time 

79. Changing the business model
Getting Users
vs Customers
Free / Premium
pricing can
cause more
fallout than
any other topic

80. A resource for Lean Startups
TOOLS & THE FRAMEWORK

81. A Startup Toolkit Resource
http://www.cognidox.com/toolkit
CLICK HERE

82. The Startup Tools Mind Map

83. Links to over 450 Tools

84. How to use the Mind Map
Hold down
mouse to drag
image
Click on a title to expand / contract
Built with:
Click on a link to open tool website

85. Other Startup Tool Lists
• Startup tools and blogs for entrepreneurs (Steve
Blank)
– http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/#startup-tools
– Resources and tools with emphasis on customer
development
• Seedcamp list for business tools
– http://biztools.pbworks.com/w/page/11120547/FrontPage
– Good on Resources (business philosophy and tips), but
light on business tasks / tools
• Lean Startup Wiki
– http://leanstartup.pbworks.com/w/page/15765221/FrontPage
– Good place to discuss Lean Startup concepts, but only
tools are Business Model Canvas (explained later)

86. Contacts
Cognidox Limited salesinfo@cognidox.com
St. John's Innovation Centre www.cognidox.com
Cowley Road
Cambridge CB4 0WS
United Kingdom