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Startup Therapy: Ten questions  

Not a new article, but one that bears reposting as we approach the new year, a traditional time of reflection.

See if you can find the time, over the next couple of weeks, to answer the following questions about your business:

  1. In one sentence, what does your product do and who buys it?
  2. In one sentence, why does someone buy your product?
  3. What one thing is most responsible for preventing sales?
  4. What one thing could you do to get more feedback from customers, potential customers, or sales you've lost?
  5. If you had zero revenue from now on, on what date would you run out of money?
  6. If someone handed you $100,000 today, how would you spend it to maximize future profits?
  7. If you were forced to hire someone today, how would you define her job such that she would contribute enough revenue to cover her expenses?
  8. Which of your business operations do you hate?
  9. What initiatives could be done half-assed without significant impact?
  10. If you could get one solid hour of advice from a guru you respect, what would you discuss and what would be the goal of the meeting?
More from the library:
Your product is not the product
Getting feedback on your prototype
Always drill down to fundamental metrics