Desifer Venture Diagnostic

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Data processing

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Your name and company* This field is required.

Name

Company

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Now, let's get started!

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What phase are you in?* This field is required.

Discovery phase: I’m working on an idea

Pilot phase: I’m developing an initial product / MVP to launch

Launch phase: I have launched my initial product and am trying to acquire new customers

Scale phase: I have a customer base and am trying to grow and scale my business

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Alright, let's look at the
venture idea.

Did you know that 42% of startups fail because there is no market need for the product?

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#1. What is the basis for your idea?* This field is required.Select the alternative closest to you

The idea is based on a problem that potential customers have expressed

My team and I have experience in the market and strongly believe there is a customer problem that can be solved with this idea

We think our idea offers a better solution to a known problem

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#2. How do you know that the customer problem exists?* This field is required.Select the one most important to you

We have collected external data and/or feedback from potential customers

We have experienced the problem ourselves

The collective industry experience, and my team, knows that the problem exists

We have reached out to industry experts and thought leaders for confirmation

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#3. When you think about the problem, what rings true?* This field is required.Select one or two alternatives that rings true

Many customers have this problem (it’s widespread)

More and more customers have the problem (it’s growing)

Customers experience the problem frequently (it’s frequent)

When/if customers have the problem, they need to solve it RIGHT away (it's urgent)

When customers have the problem, they MUST solve it (e.g. for legal reasons)

When customers have the problem, it will cost them money if they don’t solve the problem (it has a financial impact)

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#4. What is your assessment of the competition in the market today?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable to your situation

There are a large number of competitive solutions (products)

There are a few competitive solutions (products)

There are existing competitive solutions (products) but they fail to adequately solve the problem

The most significant competition is the status quo, that potential customers may not change their behavior around how they solve the problem

We believe competition is non-existent

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#5. Being open and honest with yourself, how does your solution compare to the competition?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable in your case

It is equivalent to the competitors'

It is twice as good

It is 10x better and it offers a user experience with a WOW effect when showed to customers

It is better in some areas and worse in others when we compare to competitors, but we have other advantages

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Next, let's look at the
team structure for venture building.

Did you know that 23% of startups fail because they do not have the right team?

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#1. Which of the following statements matches your team's practices, or the practices you plan to use? * This field is required.Select one or two alternatives that apply most to your team

My team is actively seeking insights from data and is influenced by this in their decision making

My team is defining experiments to try out to learn new things and validate assumptions

My team is iterating, working in a repeated cycle, and trying different tactics to continuously learn and ultimately achieve results

My team deliberately and continuously considers what team and leadership is optimal for the venture (e.g. external entrepreneur or corporate intrapreneur) based on the stage we are in

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#2. Which of the following statements matches your team's, or future team's, mindset?* This field is required.Select one or two alternatives that apply most to your team

My team is willing to continuously challenge their assumptions and the status quo

My team is not afraid to try new and radically different approaches to achieve results

My team is entrepreneurial with an urge to move fast and validate things, to be creative in problem-solving, and to create momentum toward a desired result

My team is constantly curious about the customer and also connected to the customer, trying to get into the customer's head

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#3. Which of the following statements are true for your team, or do you plan to be true?* This field is required.Select one or two alternatives that apply most to your team

My team is cross-functional (e.g. business/tech/design) and has the most important competencies needed to develop the venture

My team can quickly get support in areas of competence not included in the team (e.g. legal)

My team is autonomous and can independently make decision that allows us to move forward quickly

My team is dedicated to the venture and not compelled to multitask across several projects/ventures

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Next, let's look at the
product category.

Did you know that 17% of startups fail because they offer a user-unfriendly product and 13% fail becasuse the product is mistimed?

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#1. How do you work with, or plan to work with, understanding your customers on a deeper level to develop a product that fits their needs?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable in your case

We continuously explore, or plan to explore, our customers' needs and problems to improve the product based on these insights

We have only used, or only plan to use, exploration of our customers' needs and problems before building the product

We only perform, or plan to only perform, various validation methods such as online surveys, user tracking, feedback polls, etc, before starting product development

We have not used, nor do we plan to use, any specific exploration into the needs and problems of our customers

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#2. How have you defined, or do you plan to define, the scope of your initial product?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable in your case

We have defined quite a broad scope to make certain we have something of interest to the customer

We have defined a narrow scope with a few features where we excel

We have defined a Minimum Viable Product that we believe will solve only key needs for our initial target group. We use this product to validate this is the case

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#3. How do you identify, or plan to identify, how product changes affect key customer metrics?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable in your case

We keep, or plan to keep, a close dialogue with users/customers to collect feedback

We use, or plan to use, a data-driven approach to track all interactions with analytics

We run or plan to run, experiments and keep a close dialogue with users/customers, as well as use a data-driven approach for user tracking

We are not sure what the best approach is

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#4. How do you measure, or plan to measure, progress and success for the product during a pilot phase?* This field is required.Select the one most important to you

Conduct surveys to measure user satisfaction

Measure to which extent pilot users are engaged by using Customer Engagement Score (CES) as a success metric

Use Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Monitor retention rate and churn rate

Adopt a pending approach and await feedback from users/customers before determining what to measure

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#5. How do you work with, or plan to work with, product development and product management?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable to your situation

Have an agile development approach with continuous iterations and frequent releases based on gained insights and customer feedback

Have a product roadmap with a long-term perspective but work with monitoring KPIs and identifying improvements to be flexible to make necessary changes with planned releases

Have a short-term perspective and monitor how the product is being received by the target market and evaluate before making any decisions concerning future releases

We are not sure what the best approach is

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Next, let's look at the
supporting structure.

Did you know that 29% of startups fail because they run out of cash and 18% fail becasuse of cost issues and pricing?

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#1. How have you leveraged or planned to leverage existing corporate assets (e.g., customer base, proprietary data, industry knowledge, brand)?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable to your situation

We plan to time integration and leverage of corporate assets and systems wisely, knowing that in the early phases speed and flexibility are more important than leverage

We have a leverage strategy, prioritize speed and flexibility in the early phases, acknowledge the potential impact of existing assets in the later phases, and we have access to people that can enable leveraging to be effortless.

Leverage assets (e.g. customer base) sometimes but to do this in an ad hoc fashion

We think our venture can and should do without existing corporate assets

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Finally, let's look at the
commercialization for this venture idea.

Did you know that 17% of startups fail because they offer a product without a business model and 14% fail due to poor marketing?

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#1. What advantage do you have when compared to your competitors?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable in your case

The product (it's much better suited to solve the problem compared to competitors' products)

The team (our team has substantial experience and talent)

Customer acquisition (we can acquire new customers faster and/or cheaper)

Barriers to entry (e.g., network effects, patents, scale, switching costs)

We have no advantage in that respect or have not yet identified any

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#2. Does your product have a clearly defined target group?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable to your situation

The target group has been defined but not in detail

Yes, primary and secondary target markets have been identified

Yes, primary and secondary target market have been identified, ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) has been defined, and buyer personas have been created

No detailed definition as of yet

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#3. How do you decide, or plan to decide, on a pricing strategy and the subsequent pricing model to apply?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable to in your case

Our initial focus is on building up a user base before contemplating how to generate revenues

We do not believe that the choice of pricing strategy and model has any noticeable impact on the final outcome for the business, thus it is not a priority

We explore different pricing models to identify which one is most likely to achieve maximum growth

We collect user feedback, charge for using the product during the pilot phase, and measure key defined metrics to gain insights into a willingness to pay (WTP) and price sensitivity

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#4. Have you made financial projections?* This field is required.Select the one most applicable to your situation

We have clearly defined revenue streams but no detailed cost structure

We have a good understanding of the cost structure but there is uncertainty regarding the revenue generation

We have a full financial plan, which includes P&L and cashflow

There are no financial projections as of yet

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#5. What measures do you take, or plan to take, in order to achieve a successful launch?* This field is required.Select the alternative closest to your approach

Test various sales and marketing tactics to find the most effective approach without using a formalized approach

Direct all efforts towards sales- and/or marketing activities

Have a strategy for how to reach and convince our ICPs (Ideal Customer Profiles) and how to make sales scalable

Follow a well-defined go-to-market strategy, track key metrics, and work continuously to optimize and automate our customer acquisition

Due to uncertainty concerning best-practice, we have, or plan to have, a wait-and-see attitude and make decisions once we have initial product usage insights

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Total score:

Out of a total of 120 points

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Total score idea:

Out of a total of 30 points

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Total score team:

Out of a total of 30 points

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Total score product:

Out of a total of 25 points

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Total score structure:

Out of a total of 15 points

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Total score commercial:

Out of a total of 25 points

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Thank you! The venture diagnostic is now completed.
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