He Who Hath Customer Hath the Gold

About to start a business? Heres the single most important piece of advice I can give you, (And I learnt it the hard way).

Forget the product, Forget Product R&D, Forget everything – except the customer.

If you have a customer willing to buy something from you – go fill the need. Simple.

Don’t wait until you have the new product all polished up – waiting to wheel it out on an unsuspecting world – chances are you will fail – or at least go broke attempting to market it from cold. And if you suceed – I bet the product changes along the way.

I heard today that on average -  startups will spend 3 times as much as they estimated getting to market – and twice as much getting clients as developing the product.

If you get the customer first – one with real dollars – not a tyre kicker – then you know your product or service is a winner – and you just might shave something off of the r&d.