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.
I worked for a company that fell into the trap of over fitting their product for their first customer.
The customer seemed ideal in every way; they really needed the product, they were willing to be beta users while the product was going from prototype to real deal, and they were paying for the privilege.
Unfortunately, this customer had a ton of other internal issues. Rather than being forced to fix their internal issues in response to using the new product, they insisted the product conform to their broken processes.
In the end, the product wasn't a great fit for other customers without a ton of additional work. Now that I type this out, I realize two other companies I've worked at fell into the same or similar trap.
I agree. For example, I can think of creative people that have been successful that just produced what they loved, without a customer in mind. If they had started off by thinking “how can I optimize for theoretical customer X?”, they never would’ve been as successful.
Don’t make a product for others. Make one for yourself that you can dogfood. If you can’t do that, you’re on shaky ground.
Your first customer is always you. If you don't have a problem to solve that you know something about, you aren't going to make a useful product. A useful product can be a successful product.
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).
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.