"Instant Value to customers - solve a problem or create value with the first use"

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Originally uploaded by michaelarrington.

The Double D Dodge, who may be the last 2.0 Product Planning Celebrity left @ 1 Microsoft Way, summarises a Kleiner Perkins' partners perspective at a 'Future of Software' conference on the characteristics of (I assume) of a 2.0 (largely) B2C play (btw I cant think of many Kleiner funded plays in the 2.0 space recently, so this must be future investments ?? i wonder if Ajit Nazre is talking enterprise, consumer or both ?)

KP's 7 rules for start-ups (Don Dodge link)
1. Instant Value to customers - solve a problem or create value with the first use
2. Viral adoption - Pull, not push. No direct sales force required
3. Minimum IT footprint, preferably none. Hosted SaaS is best.
4. Simple, intuitive user experience - no training required.
5. Personalized user experience - customizable
6. Easy configuration based on application or usage templates
7. Context aware - adjust to location, groups, preferences, devices etc.

I like The Rules, esp "Instant Value" - I've definitely learnt you must solve an immediate, real problem, rather than trying to be all things to all people. (or even all things to specific people) Not that Im a huge fan of small is the new big : But Solve a Big Micro problem first, save some time, then extend features from there.

The only problem with this small-big strategy, and the related ship often and early principle, is alot of stuff you build (back end admin tools, infrastructure etc) isnt really of use to the end user in their initial adoption, but you still need to build it.

There are many trade-offs in resource allocation to front end (you can touch it) features vs back end (optimisation and admin tools.) As a result, applying this rule, you launch with 15% of your total end user solution, and spend much longer that you thought shipping the remaining 85% - Which has to take longer because you now have to take care of your operational website and business; Hence need for Rule 2 "Viral adoption - Pull, not push. No direct sales force required" - I'll get back to you on that one : I'm learning that one again at the moment :)