I stumbled upon Trevor back in 2011 on SkillShare actually. Saw a class below $10 and decided to give it a go and that was indeed my first SkillShare class. When he mentioned he had this Lean Startup Machine weekend, I was like oh bummer, but I got no idea and money to attend the class.

3 days before the actual weekend, a lightbulb lit up. Volunteer as a helper! Bingo! That was how I attended Lean Startup Machine for free (shhh…). I shot Trevor an email and he replied just one day before.

It was an amazing 3 days to see groups of hungry people to start their idea, but to obtain validation was the core for them over the weekend. If I have the chance again, I would love to help out a weekend with them. A few things I picked up from Trevor and the team during the weekend were

  1. Get out of the building
    Yup, to validate the idea, get out of the f***ing building. Cause there’s no point stayng in house and doing your own research when you do not understand customers’ needs and wants.
  2. Know what you wanna do and what to ask
    To validate your learning is to ask the right questions. Keep them as neutral and as open as possible. Answers can go either way, and always ask why!
  3. Customers know what they want
    Best part is if you get the right customers and they actually know what they want. It helps you to give you lots of clarity for your validated learning.
  4. Customers do not know what they want/need
    Yup, like Steve Jobs said, customers sometimes do not know what they want/need. And that’s usually tough, but if you can provide a solution to that unknown need/want, you will get a bingo.
  5. Paying is a big key validation
    Let’s face it, you are doing a business anyway. Payment is a big validation point for your business. If people are not wiling to buy, then you got to figure out what value to provide them to get their payment.
  6. Returning
    Returning is as big of a learning as paying, cause getting loyalty in the long run would transcend into recommendation to others.
  7. MVP, Test, validate repeat
    Eat, Drink, Rave Develop your MVP, test it out, validate it with customers and then repeat. Sometimes along the way, when your business do grow, you tend to forget this process, but it’s such an important tool to know what works and what doesn’t.
  8. Pivot
    Don’t be afraid to pivot if you hit a brick wall. Pivot is sometimes the ultimate move that could decide on whether you gain traction or not.
  9. Fail faster
    Er, yeah. Fail faster, cause the faster you fail, you faster you can move on what works, by knowing all the things which are not working.

Practice this in any industry. Starting lean is  so much easier than below. With rising cost, co-sharing everything is now very common. All you got to do is to innovate.

I would encourage all Malaysians to try to unlock the city of KL to be a destination for Trevor and team. Go to link here

https://www.leanstartupmachine.com/cities/kuala-lumpur

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