What Type of Person?
This is a crucially important question for new start-ups. In a recent blog post Seth Godin highlights a very interesting issue. He points out that some people are better customers, prospects, sneezers and better at spreading the word. As a start-up entrepreneur finding these people is extremely important to your future success.
By now, we all have come to terms with the fact that word of mouth is really a start-up’s only shot. However, this requires people to recommend you to others. They appreciate what you do, and are only delighted to spread the word. They are naturally inclined to help. Also, they believe in fair value and have no problem paying for that little bit extra (well hopefully).
However, there is a flipside, there are some people who will waste your time, will hold you in a rut, and will keep their mouth zipped about your product. I call these the attention leaches. They require lots and lots of attention and give you nothing back. The sad thing is, that this can be fatal for a start-up, and particularly a start-up that must invest a lot of time to get a key reference site. If your start-up is in a niche like this, then it is doubly important.
When you are looking for early adopters, try and weed out the attention leeches and find the ones that will actively help you. If the early adopters actively contribute and make constructive suggestions on product development, you are on to a winner. However, if they make outlandish requests then you have a problem. If they are not constructive then move on.
Ideally, if your early adopters say “if would be cool if…” they are telling you how to press their word of mouth button. If they have a lot of influence in your sector then your word of mouth snowball could start rolling.
Your early adopters are an important ingredient in your start-up pie. Better quality ingredients make a better tasting pie.
