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Last updated: 25/3/2023
30-Day Startup Playbook
Build + Launch your startup in 30 days. Conditions apply!
Recommended: Start Here!
Lean idea validation board by Slidebean
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Learn more on how to build on this canvas and get a great understanding on your startup
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Note: This playbook is designed to be useful for those either pre-idea or who is actively working at the early stages of your startup.
Gameplan
- Conduct customer discovery interviews. You’ll begin understanding the problem space, user persona, and how well your solution will fit. If you don’t have a startup idea, here’s where you’ll find one.
- Define the founding hypotheses that will make or break the entire idea. The next four weeks will focus on stress testing these.
- Build and launch a landing page to capture initial customers and convey the value proposition.
- Hustle to find your first users. We’ll reach out to hundreds.
- Build and launch an MVP, ideally with no code. The goal is to get a feeling of a solution in the hands of interested users, asap.
- Conduct user interviews almost daily, meet new users, and get feedback from existing ones.
- Make adjustments to the MVP as you gather feedback and work through the hypotheses.
- On day 30, send out a survey to gauge product-market fit. You’ll review the founding hypotheses, and determine next steps. Will you double down and commit? Or move on to the next idea?
Don't have an idea yet? Check out IdeasAI for a list of AI-generated ideas delivered to your inbox weekly.
Venture building Phases - We have divided 30 days into various phases of building a startup from scratch.
- Ideating
- Concepting
- Validating + Building
- Launching
- Growing
30 Day Startup
#Let's simplify entrepreneurship and starting up.
Phase-1: Ideating
This is a phase where you build on the gaps you discovered in the current market, can be a problem or job to be done, innovation that the world has never seen or creating a new category.
Day 1: Market-Research
Day 2: See + Understand competition
Phase-2: Concepting
In other words, discovery and definition. Translate your idea into a customer-oriented problem and come up with solutions so you can test your hypothesis on the problem and potential solution (customer-oriented solution)
Day 3: Understanding SMART methodology
Day 4: Identifying a set of assumptions to validate your hypothesis
Day 5: Setting up a validation workflow
Day 6: Understanding + setting up experiments to validate the identified problem
Phase-3: Validating + Building
Validation - the most important phase of the entire company building process. No founder bias or appreciation from FFF doesn't work. Get obsessed with your customer. Develop an unbiased profile (persona) of your potential customer to see who are they? are their heads on fire? will they buy?. You will come to a conclusion on whether you should really go forward or back to the board.
Day 7: Understanding customer development process
Day 8: Understanding and building personas
Day 9: Creating surveys, on-page landing pages and community engagement
Day 10: Position your product/service
Understanding your value proposition. Understand why and how are you will be tackling the identified problem. Clearly define and communicate your problem and potential solution - customers and investors love this!
Day 11: Identify and define the value proposition
![How to Write a Great Value Proposition [Infographic]](https://blog.hubspot.com/hubfs/value-proposition.jpg#keepProtocol)
Day 12: Go back and search competitors again
![How to Do a Competitive Analysis in 2021[Template Included]](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CD685_HowToSellOnlineAssets_Blog-Hero_2000x730.png)
Day 13: Define competitive differentiation and advantage
Day 14: Business modelling - How will you make money / generate strong returns to your investors.
![Business models explained [with examples]](https://images.spr.so/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/j42No7y-dcokJuNgXeA0ig/6d24e7df-1272-4dc5-957b-85bae71436e4/Product_management_guide__10___1_/w=3840,quality=80,fit=scale-down)
Day 15: What is your TAM, SAM, SOM and how do you address them?
Building - This can be a landing page, a community of your potential customers, a database of early adopters. no-code solution (call it Lo-Fi MVP) to began validation and testing solution.
Day 16: Setting up an online presence
Day 17: Create content
Day 18: Build a landing page to attract customers and get feedback
Day 19: Set up trackers and funnels to see where are your customers customing from and how are they navigating your website/solution.
Day 20: Set up automation to collect as much data as possible. Remember documentation is highly valuable later for pre-seed / VC investments.
Product building - Spend time on DIY solutions that look clean and deliver value
Day 21: Build
Day 22: Build
.png&w=3840&q=80)
Phase-4: Launching
Customer acquisition. Craft targeted messages for your target market and identify your optimum growth channels. ROI is key as not every one of us is fortunate to have stacks of money.
Day 23: Define your growth strategy
Day 24: Develop insights into your best performing customer acquisition channels
Day 25: Marketing - organic and paid marketing to drive traffic to your website
Product Strategy - No matter how strong your validation is, if your product does not do what it is intended for, no more survival.
Day 26: Understand and interpret insights so far
Day 27: Define post-launch metrics
Day 28: Setting up continuous validation loop or building in public showing your customers your roadmap and validating
Phase-5: Growing
#Taking a leap to the next phase of your product growth
Day 29: Applications - Accelerator/incubator programmes that can help you grow and receive funding
Day 30: Pitching and networking in social events
Note: I understand this may take full-time effort and lifetime persistence but that's what entrepreneurship is. It is like playing chess over and over no matter, you will or lose. We can do it!
The above is also from my personal experience participating in multiple accelerators including Y Combinator's startup school. Most of them follow a similar structure over the course of 4-12 weeks.
Please provide any feedback and ideas to improve at hello@founderskit.tools
Steps you can take to verify that the solutions you are working on to solve your target customer’s key problem or pain points.
Step 1 - List out one key / primary problem you are trying to solve for a particular target customer group. These are their pain points. Your research, immersion, and interviews will give you the required information for determining what problem you are trying to solve. This will heavily depend on the specific target customer group you are focusing on, which you need to identify.
Step 2 - What benefits or outcomes will flow to this target group if you can successfully solve their problem. From our target customer’s perspective, what benefits or outcomes they can expect from you – what’s in it for them?
Step 3 - How do you measure the benefits or outcomes you intend to provide to your target group? What are the KPIs or SMART measures of success are you seeking to achieve? (Up to 2 KPIs per outcome) Starting with the end in mind, what should your investors or stakeholders expect from you?
Step 4 – What strategies will you consider and adopt to deliver on the measures of success – as the saying goes, what gets measured, gets done. Your strategies must link to your KPIs, which is your measure of success.
Step 5 – List down all possible actions or action steps needed to deliver on each of your high-level strategies. You may also identify what assets you need to build like a website, mobile apps, etc.
Step 6 – Evaluate your options and prioritise your work plan. Some solutions may not be feasible at this moment.
General metrics that are trackable
Note: These are the metrics I came up with for my automation consulting business during an accelerator program.
- Automation increases productivity by _% and reduces expenses by _%
- _% employees report having time on primary activities such as analysis and productive work
- _% of users see increased customer satisfaction and engagement as a benefit of automation
- _% of companies see ROI in automation in _ months
- Companies utilise automation source _% new clients/projects more in the pipeline than who do not
- _% of SME’s see an annual growth of _% by using automation and leveraging on its capabilities
- _% of businesses could save up costs of $_ per month/year using automation
- Companies using automation reduce human errors by _%
- Auto-generated reporting could save up to _hours per employee per _ (monthly/quarterly)
- Automation can reduce ignored leads from _% to _% (decrease in ignored leads)
- Companies with automation can increase revenue by _% in _ months
- Companies using automation saves _% or $_ on other software expenses annually
- Streamlining process would achieve efficiency by _%
- Automation helps in achieving KPIs by _%
- The business using automation as a service saved _ hours on administration per week/month
- Increase in meeting compliance requirements by _%
- Business directors spend on _% of work that can be automated
- _% of occupations could save _% amount of work with process automation
- _% of ineffective expenses could be saved using effective process mapping and automation
- _% of business owners believe _% of structure can be added by using automation (reduction in a poor quality of results)
- Eliminate paperwork by _%
- Increase the effectiveness of training programs by _% by saving time
- Reduce time spent on the onboarding process by _% (adding consistency)
- Manage time and work better of customer service professionals by _% (directs to quick problem solving)
- Increase accuracy in documentation by _% (standardising templates)
How to prepare for the launch day?
FYI
Product Launch Process
Product Launch Strategies
Product Launch Checklist
Also, see;
Happy building and launching!
Other useful resources
Software Development Costs
Product Development Roadmap
Customer Discovery Questions
Human-Centred Design
Design Sprint Kits: https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/introduction/overview
Customer Interview Script Generator: https://customerdevlabs.com/Script/
How to conduct User Interview: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/how-to-conduct-user-interviews
User interview example questions: https://usability.yale.edu/understanding-your-user/user-interviews/user-interview-example-questions
DE Toolbox: https://www.detoolbox.com/
Stanford Design School: https://dschool.stanford.edu/
PASTEL Analysis
Root Cause Analysis: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_80.htm
Cognitive Bias Codex
Round-Robin Brainstorming: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/round-robin-brainstorming.htm
Peter J Thomson Digital Brand Strategy: https://www.peterjthomson.com/2013/11/value-proposition-canvas/#mc_signup
Product Development Cycle: https://www.shipsh.it/
Prototyping and User Testing
Design Spring / Google Venture Sprint: www.gv.com/sprint
CustomerDiscovery
Business Modelling
Board on Innovation: https://www.boardofinnovation.com/
CoDesign Innovation Process: https://www.trilateralresearch.com/collaborative-innovation-the-advantages-of-co-design-in-creating-sustainable-technological-solutions/
Social Media Marketing
Accounting Software: https://www.waveapps.com/
Building the MVP
Artist and Innovator: https://blog.leanstack.com/the-artist-and-the-innovator-e6b4888c5869
Start with MVP: https://blog.leanstack.com/dont-start-with-an-mvp-aa883de5cd18
Step guide to building an MVP: https://www.netsolutions.com/insights/how-to-build-an-mvp-minimum-viable-product-a-step-by-step-guide/
Controlling MVP Scope: https://app.hubspot.com/documents/3907246/view/67790749?accessId=1e5a7b
Innovation Marketing Simulation: Crossing the Chasm: http://academic.hbsp.harvard.edu/crossingthechasm
Customer Focused Sales: https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/customer_focus/toc.html
The Beginner's Guide to AARRR Framework: https://partners.livechatinc.com/blog/aarrr-metrics/
Lean Product Management
- http://theleanstartup.com/principles
- https://www.organisationalmastery.com/lean-product-management/
- https://280group.com/product-management-blog/apply-lean-product-management/
Pitching and Storytelling
Pitch decks example: https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/writing-a-storytelling-pitch-deck--cms-33047
Pitch Techniques: https://medium.dave-bailey.com/12-storytelling-techniques-to-supercharge-your-pitch-ddc14f34b17a
Perfect Pitch deck: https://medium.com/@iskender/the-perfect-pitch-deck-designed-by-a-vc-902842ce7f38
How to Write the Perfect Pitch Deck: https://slidebean.com/blog/startups-how-to-write-the-perfect-pitch-deck
Digital Marketing and Growth
Partnerships 101: How to Launch a Tech Partnership Program - https://blog.crossbeam.com/partnerships-101-how-to-launch-a-tech-partnership-program
Tools for Unmoderated Usability Testing: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/unmoderated-user-testing-tools/
Leveraging Task Views in Project Management Software — Practical Guide - https://blog.niftypm.com/leveraging-task-views-in-project-management-software-practical-guide-cfae960e0e4b
Page Contents
- 30-Day Startup Playbook
- Recommended: Start Here!
- 👋🏻 Let's get started!
- Gameplan
- 30 Day Startup
- Phase-1: Ideating
- Day 1: Market-Research
- Day 2: See + Understand competition
- Phase-2: Concepting
- Day 3: Understanding SMART methodology
- Day 4: Identifying a set of assumptions to validate your hypothesis
- Day 5: Setting up a validation workflow
- Day 6: Understanding + setting up experiments to validate the identified problem
- Phase-3: Validating + Building
- Day 7: Understanding customer development process
- Day 8: Understanding and building personas
- Day 9: Creating surveys, on-page landing pages and community engagement
- Day 10: Position your product/service
- Day 11: Identify and define the value proposition
- Day 12: Go back and search competitors again
- Day 13: Define competitive differentiation and advantage
- Day 14: Business modelling - How will you make money / generate strong returns to your investors.
- Day 15: What is your TAM, SAM, SOM and how do you address them?
- Day 16: Setting up an online presence
- Day 17: Create content
- Day 18: Build a landing page to attract customers and get feedback
- Day 19: Set up trackers and funnels to see where are your customers customing from and how are they navigating your website/solution.
- Day 20: Set up automation to collect as much data as possible. Remember documentation is highly valuable later for pre-seed / VC investments.
- Day 21: Build
- Day 22: Build
- Phase-4: Launching
- Day 23: Define your growth strategy
- Day 24: Develop insights into your best performing customer acquisition channels
- Day 25: Marketing - organic and paid marketing to drive traffic to your website
- Day 26: Understand and interpret insights so far
- Day 27: Define post-launch metrics
- Day 28: Setting up continuous validation loop or building in public showing your customers your roadmap and validating
- Phase-5: Growing
- Day 29: Applications - Accelerator/incubator programmes that can help you grow and receive funding
- Day 30: Pitching and networking in social events
- Steps you can take to verify that the solutions you are working on to solve your target customer’s key problem or pain points.
- General metrics that are trackable
- How to prepare for the launch day?
- FYI
- Product Launch Process
- Product Launch Checklist
- Other useful resources