A sales roadmap answers the basic questions involved in selling your product: Are we sure we have product/market fit? Who influences a sale? Who recommends a sale? Who is the decision-maker? Who is the economic buyer? Who is the saboteur? Where is the budget for purchasing the type of product you're selling? How many sales calls are needed per sale

One of the major outcomes of Customer Validation is a proven and tested sales roadmap.

Instead, you are going to develop your product iteratively and incrementally for the few, not the many. Moreover, you're going to start building your product even before you know whether you have any customers for it.

In contrast, the Customer Development diagram says going backwards is a natural and valuable part of learning and discovery. In this new methodology, you keep cycling through each step until you achieve “escape velocity” and generate enough success to carry you out and into the next

Startups, however, begin with a known product spec and tailor their Product Development to unknown customers. Product features emerge by vision and fiat against unknown customer and market requirements. As the market and customers get clearer

That's because Market Type changes everything a company does.

The Product Development model is so focused on building and shipping the product that makes the fundamental and fatal error of ignoring the process I call Customer Discovery.

“If you had a product like this [describe yours in conceptual terms], what percentage of your time could be spent using the product? How mission critical is it? Would it solve the pain you mentioned earlier? What would be the barriers to adopting a product like this?” Since

While a value proposition seems straightforward, it can be a challenge to execute. It takes serious work to get to a pithy statement that is both understandable and compelling. It's much easier to write (or think) long than to write (or think) short.