Michael Margolis

Find your ideal customer and unique value prop

Google

Walmart

Electronic Arts

UX Research Partner at GV (Google Ventures). Author of Learn More Faster. Contributor to Sprint. Formerly Google, Walmart.com, and EA.

Learn a practical formula for learning more faster: 5 customer interviews with 3 prototypes in 1 day.

Accelerate your customer and product discovery

Define the detailed characteristics that distinguish your bullseye customer.

Identify the specific customer segment to target first

Improve time-to-insight, drive team alignment, and boost momentum.

Make customer research a team sport.

If you are :﻿✔️ An aspiring entrepreneur who wants to build a world class technology product✔️ An existing founder who wants to maximize their runway✔️ A startup founder who is building a tech startup but lacks technical background✔️ A startup founder who wants to explore outsourcing This is the single most valuable resource for you. In my career spanning 17+ years I have been fortunate to have played the role of a startup founder who wants to build his MVP as well as of a technology consultant who works with startup founders to help them bring their startup dream to fruition. I have used this unique mix of experience from both sides of the table to assist multiple startups successfully traverse their 0 to 10 startup journey. I have now distilled all of this experience in to a concise and actionable learnings in the form of this course. This course is specifically built keeping in mind the needs of a new startup founder who if bogged down with huge amount of content telling them the theory of building their startup and MVP but does not provide them the tools and actionable items which they can start using immediately. Once you have completed this course you would have learned how to : 🏆 Clearly define a truly lean and minimal MVP.🏆 Get feedback from your ideal customer profile without needing to write a single like of code.🏆 Take key technical decisions about your product which have the potential to make-or-break your startup.🏆 A framework to identify the correct partners for you, be it hires or outsourcing agencies.🏆 Avoid common mistakes/gotchas that could end up as a huge drain of your time, money and effort.🏆 Have complete ownership over your IP while working with multiple third parties🏆 Actionable checklists, frameworks, templates and references to jumpstart your startup journey. I want you to immediately get to work towards building your startup MVP as soon as you finish this course. That is the guiding principal of how this course has been designed.

Jumpstart your startup journey by building your MVP the right way. 

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

The course will be conducted over a span of 2 days with 4 hours sessions on both the days.

Thursday and Friday

The next cohort goes live on Oct 3rd 2024 and will start at 8:AM EST

Oct 3, 2024

We will practice all that we learn, as we learn, in the form of a do-along case study. In this we take existing popular, complex startup product and go through the complete journey of building the MVP together.

Do-Along Case Study

Course schedule

Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to build a technology product by do not know where to start.

Existing startup founders, bootstrapped or funded, who want to maximize their runway.

Non technical founders who want to build, manage and scale a successful technology product.

Dreamers who are planning to build their startup soon.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

This course is much more than explanation of concepts and dos and donts. My goal is to equip you with tools that you can start using the very same day to start building your dream startup. I will provide you with actionable checklists, frameworks, legal templates and contacts.

Get actionable checklists, frameworks, legal templates and references to supercharge their startup product building journey

What used to take weeks can now be done in days (any many times hours) using the powers of GenAI. I will tell you how you can use AI tools to significantly speed up your MVP development without breaking the bank

Use GenAI to significantly speed up all aspects of MVP development

You will not have to wait for the final MVP to be built before you can get feedback from your target customers. I will teach you how you can build prototypes quickly so that you can collect valuable feedback quicker and course correct faster. Without writing a single line of code

Learn to get feedback on your idea without spending a single dollar on development

Converting ideas in your mind to actionable specs is an art that I have perfected over the last 17 years. I will teach how you too can build specs that are extremely cost and time efficient and will be loved by your designers, developers, contractors and you.

Convert ideas to actionable specs faster without ambiguity. Specs that your developers and partners will love.

A new founders journey is full of decisions, all of which can make or break the startup. I will teach you the framework using which you will maneuver decisions like which contractors to choose and how to hire your team making sure that you do not lose valuable resources and time.

Learn to Identify the correct partners to build your startup. Make informed decision on whether to hire devs or find agency.

Working with others is hard. Its even more challenging when you are a new fonder with not enough time and funding. I will simplify and codify the process for you so that you can ensure a smooth working relationship with partners while maintaining complete indemnity and onwership

Learn to avoid the common pitfalls when working with third parties, safeguard your IP and avoid unnecessary hiccups in your startup journey

MVP is just the beginning. You want to build a product that will scale with time as you grow. Something that will make prospective investors comfortable when choosing to invest.

Build a scalable and investable business.

I will teach you how you can maximize your capital efficiency by simply tweaking some product development decisions and significantly improve your runway. This is even more crucial if you are a bootstrapped founder.

Increase your runway significantly

Leverage GenAI to fulfil your startup dream by learning to validate your idea, translate idea to MVP & find right partners for your startup

Akhil Gupta

Cohort 2

Cohort 3

Most people think that corporate partnerships are about selling and pitching, it’s really about listening, planning, and collaborating. Position your startup to work with corporates and win that first pilot, proof-of-concept, or deal.

Stop pitching and start listening

<ul><li>Knowing who is the customer is not always as easy as it seems and picking the right markets to focus on is life or death for your startup.</li></ul>

What markets do you want to reach?

<ul><li>You'll be able to identify key decision makers in your target customer and tailor your message to speak directly to them. </li><li>﻿You'll practice finding and listening for keywords that point to their biggest pain points which keep them up at night.</li></ul>

How do you map stakeholders?

<ul><li>See what it takes to get people over the hump and try before they buy. </li><li>Find ways for you to introduce new concepts and behaviors into a big company culture.</li></ul>

De-risking your solution

<ul><li>Demonstrate the case studies or proof points you need to keep growing and eventually scale!</li></ul>

Get the social proof to scale

Let's plan to test, learn, and iterate right away in your business.

Weekly projects

Course Schedule

Founders and CEOsYou want to be more strategic in your approach when identifying the best markets and industries.

Business DevelopersYou want to find the right decision makers and establish traction by partnering with big companies.

Marketers and Product ManagersYou want to make progress even if you don't have product-market fit. We'll focus on how to get going.

Key outcomes

Be more strategic when it comes to market size and sectors, find the best industries and decision makers who need their products, then understand how these prospects think.&nbsp;

Get the right strategic footing

Conduct world class customer development. Everyone's got problems in big companies. So are you good at identifying them? That's the secret to great customer development that makes your product better and creates new channels for your business.

Solve Valuable Problems for your Future Customers

How do you ask people to take a bet on you? I'll share the importance of building a pilot program. Together, we'll go create one. You will de-risk your startup's product/service for decision-makers so they will advocate for you.

De-Risk your Solution for Decision Makers

You'll need social proof to succeed. Turns that first win into a compelling case study for others to follow

Develop Results that Produce Momentum

Discover the secrets to influencing decision-makers and designing a pilot program that gets a YES. (Now in a one-day workshop).

Vijay Rajendran

20+ years of investing in and supporting entrepreneurs on their journeys

Cohort 7

Cohort 8

Many founders, marketers and product managers with great ideas or an amazing technology struggle to find the right customers for their product or grow it fast. In fact, according to a CB Insights report, lack of market need is the most common reason for startup failure. In 42% of cases, failed startups created a product or service that didn’t meet a real felt need in the market. It is also the case for feature or campaign launch. Navigating product market fit is not just about having a great digital marketing campaign or building an advanced technology. It starts from building the right product for the right group of people and communicating it in the best possible way. That's where "Unique positioning for your product" course comes in.In this course, you will: 🚀 Get clarity about market analysis, segmentation and trends to focus on🔍 Master the art of customer interviews to get actionable insights.🎯 Define clear product features and value propositions to communicate💡 Set-up the testing for the product or feature📖 Craft compelling product story for your pitch deck, demo, landing page or marketing plan Over the span of 4 weeks you will have access to 20 modules, 2 guest lectures and bi-weekly live office hours with Tata. Plus free access to:🎁 Pitch deck or landing page review and feedback🎁 Hands on positioning templates, GTM checklists and user interview guides🎁 Practical guide "how to use AI for marketing" All sessions are recorded - you can access it no matter what time zone you are in and how busy your schedule is. Course is designed to be hands on with well rounded approach to product positioning and will include slide presentation, checklists, templates and live Q&amp;As. Ready to rewrite your product's value proposition? Enroll now and redefine success on your terms.

Are you offering the right product to the right audience?

We will first discuss what is product positioning and how it helps you get your product market fit. And then cover all things frameworks, toolkits and how-to methods. Homework: your product deep dive using framework provided, it's features and value adds.

The Basics

In this module you will get a workbook to fill out and we will be going step by step through market overview, to competitor analysis, defining target segment and building questionnaire for your user research. Homework: fill-out first section of your workbook based on the frameworks provided: market segment data, research, insights from customers

Market and competitor analysis

There is nothing more important than obsessing over your customer group. Who they are? what do they do in spare time? what is important for them?We will review types of user research and quest-re examples. Homework: with quest-re ready, your next step is field work - you will go out there and talk with your current or potential customers.

Consumer deep dive and research

This will be our time to put all things together - your market research, your consumer insights and then using some of the frameworks experiment with your product story. You will walk out from this session with few ideas of how to position your product or feature.

Product positioning - building it!

When your product positioning is ready, you understand who your target audience is - next thing will be acquisition.We will learn together how to take all of the materials you have and define all pieces of story you tell - the narrative. We will also discuss how this could be used in identifying marketing channel mix and acquisition strategies.

From positioning to story

Run tests with your product positioning options and your narrative. Launch &gt; learn &gt; iterate &gt; test again

Testing and editing loop!

Course syllabus


18:00-19:30 CET/ 10:00 - 15:00 CET

Nov 12 - Nov 26, 2023

Expect to dedicate some time for homework

For early stage founders and tech leaders looking to bridge business knowledge gap, get pragmatic frameworks to build the right product

For product and marketing managers who are tasked to launch features and campaigns, create demos, landing pages and make it successful.

not a great fit for serial entrepreneursprofessionals, not expecting to work hands on

This course is

What you’ll learn

Review the core principles of product design, product positioning frameworksLook at industry and my practice examples how right product positioning drives growth

Understand product positioning and it's impact on growth

Market analysis, segmentation and trends to focus on

Chose market category and segment 

Or a big budget. Yes, you heard it right. Right after we cover some theory about types of research, guides questionnaire samples.You will also run your own project customer research.

Do research without a research team or a big budget

How to talk about the product benefits and test messaging, using basic understanding of human psychology

Use Communication hacks

We will get into the details how and which tools aside from ChatGPT to use to make your job faster.

How to leverage AI tools

Once you have product positioning defined, you can use industry leading examples of pitch decks and website wireframes to design yours.You will also get access also my custom GTM frameworks and plan samples to define your product's strategy.

Build website, pitch deck and GTM plans

Clear and easy to use frameworks and techniques + feedback on your website, pitch decks, GTM plans

Interactive feedback & special material

One of it's kind practical course to nail your product positioning and all what comes with it: landing pages, pitch decks and GTM strategy

Cohort 3 - Fall 2024

Tata (Tatevik) Maytesyan

Cohort 2 - May 2024

Cohort 4 - Winter 2025

In the constantly evolving world of B2B SaaS, understanding and pinpointing your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is not just an advantage—it's a necessity for scaling and sustained growth. Our course, "How to Identify and Find Your Ideal Customer Profile in B2B SaaS," is designed to transform B2B SaaS scaleups from broad-spectrum marketing and product efforts to targeted, high-impact strategies. Through a meticulously crafted 2-week program, you'll journey from the fundamentals of the B2B SaaS landscape to mastering the art of customer profiling. By the end, you'll not only have a comprehensive ICP but also the tools and insights to continuously refine and align your strategies with your market's evolving needs. ________________________ Week 1: Lay the groundwork with an in-depth understanding of B2B SaaS and the science behind effective customer profiling. Dive into research methodologies, learning how to gather and analyze data to build a solid ICP foundation. Week 2: Uncover strategies to find and develop targeted engagement campaigns tailored to your ICP, ensuring every marketing and sales effort counts. Measure success and learn to iterate on your strategies for continuous improvement and adaptation. By the end of the course, you'll not just find your ICP—you'll understand how to engage, delight, and grow your customer base effectively, ensuring your B2B SaaS business thrives in a competitive landscape. You can also check out our article "How to find your first ICP" to get a taste of what we'll cover: https://www.leahtharin.com/p/how-to-find-your-first-icp-guide

Unlock step-changing growth with your ICP

Before each week's session, you get pre-recorded micro lessons broken down into specific topics to allow you to learn at your own pace.

Course Material

Each week we encourage you to complete a small project that will kick-start your journey to developing and executing on your ICP.

Weekly Project

Every Wednesday we use this time to review the week's course material and discuss your specific challenges and questions as a group.

Live Sessions

B2B SaaS Founders &amp; Executives ready to refine their market strategy by identifying &amp; targeting their ideal customers to accelerate growth.

Marketing &amp; Sales Leaders looking to deepen their understanding of customer profiles for more effective targeting &amp; engagement strategies.

Product Managers &amp; Strategists seeking to align product and marketing efforts with the needs and behaviors of their most valuable customers.

Gain the skills to accurately identify and define your ICP, understanding the nuanced needs, behaviors, and decision-making processes of your most valuable customers.

Mastering Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Identification

Learn how to deploy both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to gather actionable data, ensuring your ICP identification is based on solid, empirical evidence.

Research Methodologies for Data-Driven Profiling

Develop specialized marketing and sales strategies that resonate deeply with your ICP, enhancing both engagement rates and conversion outcomes.

Crafting Targeted Engagement Strategies

Understand the dynamics of evolving markets and learn to adapt your ICP accordingly, ensuring your business remains aligned with market needs for sustained growth.

Continuous ICP Evolution and Market Adaptation

Discover how to establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) that accurately measure the effectiveness of your ICP strategies, providing insights for iterative improvement.

Analytics and KPIs for Measuring ICP Strategy Success

Engage with case studies and real-world examples that illustrate successful ICP strategies, offering clear, actionable insights you can apply directly to your business.

Practical Application Through Case Studies and Real-World Examples

Master B2B SaaS growth by identifying your Ideal Customer Profile in 2 weeks—essential for scaleups aiming to amplify their market impact.

Lightning Lessons

Find your ideal customer and unique value prop