Crossing the Concierge Chasm by Khalid Smith & Nicole Tucker-Smith @khalidrudo Lessoncast @MsTuckerSmith Lessoncast The Lean Startup Conference 2013 http://leanstartup.co/

1. The Concierge Chasm
Maneuvering your lean team from boutique consulting to big-league SAAS
chasm(s)

2. Q. What do you do when you have
paying customers,
but your product or service
“isn’t scalable”?

3. you follow
Lean Startup 101:
1) Build an MVP
2) Sell it!

4. so what happens when that is a
FAIL?

5. what did you
learn?
what do you really
know?

6. Lessoncast’s 5 Laws Theories

7. for
Crossing the Concierge Chasm

8. I. Start at the beginning

9. 1
Consultants have the biz all figured out BUT NO PRODUCT
ProblemSolution Fit
Proposed
MVP
Proposed
Funnel(s)
?
Business Model
Sales and Marketing
Roadmap
Image credit: Steve Blank’s customer development via custdev.com

10. 1
Don’t be fooled:
When you build your product YOU ARE NOT HERE
ProblemSolution Fit
Product / Market
Fit
Proposed
MVP
Business Model
Proposed
Funnel(s)
Sales and Marketing
Roadmap
Image credit: Steve Blank’s customer development via custdev.com

11. 1
YOU ARE HERE:
?
?
ProblemSolution Fit
Proposed
MVP
X
X
X
Image credit: Steve Blank’s customer development via custdev.com

12. I. Start at the beginning
a. Keep looking for early adopters in extreme
pain
b. Restart your problem/solution interview process
but

13. what

14. about

15. all

16. that

17. stuff

18. I

19. learned

20. consulting?

21. 2. Unpack the baggage

22. 2
Q. What would you BUILD to automate this concierge model?

23. 2
It depends.
Consulting models collapse several problem/solutions into one
No need to grocery shop
Quality customized meals
Convenience of no preparation
Simple Clean Up

24. validated learning
So exactly how much
can we take from all that consulting?

25. NOT
MUCH

26. So what was the
point?

27. To become an
expert.

28. direct access
to customers users
Consulting allows

29.
(particularly

30. valuable

31. in

32. some

33. B2B

34. models)

35. 2
Leverage CONCIERGE services to research END USERS
Invite consulting
customers to use some
D.I.Y
“features”
(Offer

36. decreasing

37. levels

38. of

39. assistance)

40. 2. Unpack the baggage
a. Exploit
access to develop superior end-user UX
b.Test hybrid MVPs to disaggregate value prop
but

41. Which

42. problem

43. is

44. the

45. right

46. ONE

47. to

48. sell?

49. maybe

50. none

51. of

52. the

53. above

55.
3. Find a Villain

56. 3
Look for a different type of pain.
Early adopters:
narrow, intense, higher-order pain
carbon

57. neutral!
For product market fit:
Solve
broad pain-points.
How

58. much

59. will

60. I

61. save

62. on

63. gas?

64. 3
Villains threaten the status quo
create the need for change
Regulation
Disruptive Market Entrants
Changing Consumer Behavior
Embrace

65. the

66. villain.

68. You

69. NEED

70. the

71. villain.

74. 3
How to deal with villains
a. Use your insider
access

75. 3
How to deal with villains
police

76. chief
a. Use your insider
access

77. 3
How to deal with villains
access
b. Choose a nemesis
a. Use your insider

78. 3
How to deal with villains
JOKER

79. VS.
YELLOW

80. LANTERN
access
b. Choose a nemesis
a. Use your insider

81. 3
How to deal with villains
access
b. Choose a nemesis
c. Build your UX to stop disruption
a. Use your insider

82. 3
How to deal with villains
BAT

83. SIGNAL
SECRECY
CREDIT?
access
b. Choose a nemesis
c. Build your UX to stop disruption
a. Use your insider

84. 3
Protect Customers from Villains
Villains cause crises.
Be a
preventative solution
with some value-added benefits
(don’t

85. sell

86. the

87. utility

88. belt,

89. sell

90. crisis

91. management)

92. 3. Find a Villain
a. Choose a nemesis
b. Blame nemesis for disruption
d. Build UX around stopping disruption
e. Protect, educate, prevent
next

93. we

94. have

95. an

96. example

97. of

98. what

99. NOT

100. to

101. do

102. 4. Automate chores not core
or

103. “Why

104. didn’t

105. batman

106. open

107. a

108. police

109. academy?”

112. 4
Don’t confuse core identity with core concern
WE WERE SELLING:
THEY WERE SAYING:

113. We

114. have

115. a

116. tool

117. to

118. help

119.
better

120. prepare

121. teachers

122.
for

123. the

124. challenges

125. of

126.
today's

127. classroom.

128.
FAIL!
THAT’s

129. WHAT

130. WE

131. DO!

132. 4
Don’t confuse core identity with core concern
WE WERE SELLING:

133. We

134. have

135. a

136. tool

137. to

138.
help

139. YOU

140. better

141. prepare

142.
teachers

143. for

144. the

145.
challenges

146. of

147. today's

148.
classroom.

149.
THEY WERE SAYING:
We

150. need

151. tools

152. to

153. help

154.
collect

155. data

156. and

157. PROVE

158. that

159.
we

160. are

161. preparing

162. teachers

163. for

164.
the

165. challenges

166. of

167. today's

168.
classroom.
getting somewhere..

169. 4
Minor features can uncover major benefits.
WE WERE SELLING:

170. We

171. have

172. a

173. tool

174. to

175.
help

176. YOU

177. better

178. prepare

179.
teachers

180. for

181. the

182.
challenges

183. of

184. today's

185.
classroom.

186.
THEY WERE SAYING:
We

187. need

188. tools

189. to

190. help

191.
collect

192. data

193. and

194. PROVE

195. that

196.
we

197. are

198. preparing

199. teachers

200. for

201.
the

202. challenges

203. of

204. today's

205.
classroom.
Whoa!

207. This

208. is

210.
Well,

211. we

212. built

213. our

214. own

215. system

216. to

217. help

218. tag

219. exactly

220. what

221. we

222. need!

223.
and

224. manage

225. our

226. data.

228. Want

229. to

230. see

231. it?
I’ll

232. take

233. it!
Whoa! we were not expecting that...

234. 4. Automate chores not core
sometimes

236.
V

238.
a. Part of giving good service is to
give away the credit.
b.
Don’t be so proud of you
benefit that you need acknowledgement.
as

239. long

240. as

241. you’ve

242. been

243. paid

244. 5. Get by selling a little
help to your friends

245. 5
Don’t abandon concierge too soon
Reintroduce highly
requested services as
premium add-ons.

246. 5
Automation creates by-products
Review your newly automated
processes for opportunities to
add value with metadata or analytics

247. 5. Get by selling a little
help to your friends
Remember

248. -

249. the

250. point

251. of

252. consulting

253.
in

254. the

255. first

256. place

257. was

258. to

259.
EARN

260. while

261. you

262. LEARN.

263. Lessoncast’s 5 Laws Theories

264. for
Crossing the Concierge Chasm
1. Start at the beginning.
2. Unpack the baggage.
3. Find a Villain.
4. Automate chores not core.
5. Get by selling a little help to your friends.

265. Lessoncast’s Law UNIFIED

266. THEORY

267. of
Crossing the Concierge Chasm
Build

268. software

269. and

270. services

271. that:
Help customers
manage disruptions
they don’t fully understand and enables them to
take credit for the resulting benefits.

272. THANKS!
Nicole
Khalid
Nicole@Lessoncast.com
@MsTuckerSmith
Khalid@Lessoncast.com
@KhalidRudo
Drop us a line or read our other lessons learned or at Lessoncast.com