Happy Startup Ebook PDF

BUILDING A
STARTUP
THAT
MATTERS
“Great thinking for entrepreneurs.”
Tim O’Reilly
There’s lots of bad reasons to start a
company. But there’s only one good,
legitimate reason, and I think you know
what it is: it’s to change the world.
Phil Libin, Evernote

Late in 2012 we co-founded The Happy Startup School to
encourage more budding entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.
Not any old entrepreneurs though – rather a unique group of people
that started businesses for reasons other than money.
Despite this, the great majority of entrepreneurs are still on a
treadmill– chasing investment and growth, without even stopping to
consider why.
They do what they think they should be doing, typically following
someone else’s ideals — whether that be investors, partners or
shareholders.
We find one simple question cuts through all this:
“What will your epitaph say?”
This can shake them up a little.
“Huh?”
“Yes, your epitaph. What will people miss about you, and your
business, when it’s gone?”
Not did it buy you that beachside condo in the Caribbean, but did it
make other people’s lives meaningfully better – in a way they’ll never
forget?
On the quiet over these last 4 years we’ve built up a grassroots
movement of 100,000+ founders and changemakers from around the
world that care more about their legacy, rather than exit, strategy.
These trailblazers are creating companies they’d never
sell — meaningful companies.
We believe business can, and should be, a force for good. And our
community is proof that it’s possible to balance purpose and profit.
And not just possible, it makes perfect business sense. We’re glad to
have you as part of our tribe. Changing the world, one startup at a
time.
Laurence McCahill & Carlos Saba
Brighton, England – July 2017

BUILDING A STARTUP THAT MATTERS
INTRODUCTION
We’re told 9 out of 10 startups fail. We created this e-book to help you
become more confident in what you’re doing (and why), get clearer on
what to focus on right now, and reduce your chances of becoming
another statistic.
Before setting up The Happy Startup School, we ran a successful
startup studio, helping entrepreneurs bring their startup ideas to life.
Those years were our apprenticeship in startups — learning from
others mistakes, as well as our own. We worked with various tools
and techniques but felt that too many of these, and the startup world
in general, focused solely on the mechanics of starting a business.
We felt that it was time we made our businesses more human and in
the process give them a better chance of survival.
We could see that the world was changing, the Purpose Economy was
coming and the existing tools weren’t fit for purpose.

You may have heard of the lean canvas or business model canvas?
We’ve found these work just fine if you want to build a product
business, but if you want to build a community – a tribe of superfans –
they start to creak a little.

Introducing The Happy Startup Canvas – a blueprint for creating a
meaningful company…
(See appendix to see the full canvas.)

This is where our canvas comes in — it helps you to tap into the
growing trends that will ultimately affect how your business operates
and start to bake purpose into your company’s DNA:

● Customers care more about who they’re buying
from — they‘re becoming more interested in the story than
the price tag
● Employees care more about who they’re working for — they
want to feel like they’re contributing to something worthwhile
● Founders care more about the impact they’re
making — there’s a growing breed of entrepreneur that
wants to make money and do good. And since you’re reading
this book, we’re guessing you’re one of them.
The 8 chapters of this book will help you develop the DNA of your
organisation. It will get you on the road to aligning your values to your
work and allow you to build a more authentic, impactful business as a
result.


Developed over 3 years ago, it’s since been used in workshops and
accelerators all over the world, translated into multiple languages and
helped tens of thousands bring their ideas to life. And it’s been one of
the key factors in us building our community of 100,000 founders and
movement makers.

But while it’s a simple tool, it takes a bit of work to know how to use it.
Luckily help is at hand…

In this book we’ll walk you through this proven method for bringing
purposeful ideas to life — whether that’s for a new business, project
or reigniting the flame on an existing venture.

The following 8 chapters will help you to get clarity on your ideas and
give you the confidence to move forward. You’ll shift from thinking to
doing.


Each chapter will have a challenge for you to complete with
supplementary materials in the appendix — from getting clear on
your why, to developing a killer value proposition.
“Using the canvas has helped us to take a step back and evaluate our
underlying core beliefs and set out a foundation based on values. I
think that was the hardest part — to try and distance ourselves from
what we were doing already and focus on the why. It made us
question our motives and see new perspectives. We found that once
we had explored our core values, things began to flow more easily.”
Marcus & Ieva, M.I.Scribe


Each chapter relates to a section of the canvas:
1. Purpose: Be clear about your why
2. Vision: Share your vision for change
3. Values: Tell the world what you stand for
4. Story: Know your story
5. Problems: Find a problem worth solving
6. Solution: How are you going to help?
7. Fans: Find people that care
8. Value Proposition: Make something people actually want

Ready for the first chapter? Great, let’s get going.

CHAPTER 1
PURPOSE

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS OTHER THAN TO
MAKE MONEY?

There’s a growing body of evidence showing that purpose-driven
companies are more successful.

In an ever more competitive world people are not just looking for a
product or service to buy, they’re also looking for companies they trust
and believe in.

When thinking about your big idea the starting point should really be
your why. Too often we dive straight into building solutions rather
than thinking about why we’re doing this in the first place.

● What’s driving this big idea?
● Whose needs are we serving?
● What’s led us to this point?


By taking time to reflect on, and define your purpose you’ll not only
attract the right customers, you’ll also get more clarity as to what you
should be working on.

It will help you to know what’s in and what’s out.

Starting with why
In his famous TED talk ‘How great leaders inspire action’ Simon Sinek
points out that you need to awaken an emotion within your early
customers so that they feel something — on the basis that most
buying decisions are based on emotion not logic.

This is where the above Golden Circle comes in.

When communicating what you do and focusing on the why you can
create much deeper connections with your audience and give your
business a better chance of success.

You want to capture people’s hearts as well as minds.

The products and services you offer will no doubt evolve over time, but
your purpose most likely won’t — it should just get clearer if anything.

This clarity on your why may take a little while to fine tune, but it will
become your True North, guiding you to make better decisions more
often than not.

At The Happy Startup School, we’re living proof that it’s possible to
build a passionate tribe and evolve your offering from a loyal base by
really focussing on our why.

Defining your purpose
The tip of our canvas is all about defining the vision and purpose of
your startup. In this chapter we’re tackling purpose.

Your purpose is the benefit you bring to the world through what you
do.

We want you to think about the why behind your idea and to craft a
statement that feels clear and authentic.

You want to think about how you will make a difference in the world,
and in the lives of those who matter most to you. Try to look for
alignment between “what you do best” and “how you benefit the
world.”

Helping Hand
To give you a hand here are a couple of examples of purpose
statements from well-known companies:
As the story goes, it took Southwest a few years as the leader in
low-fare air travel before the company defined its purpose:
“Give people the freedom to fly.”

It isn’t just about cheap flights across the US, it’s about making travel
to far flung places accessible to those that otherwise couldn’t afford it,
therefore expanding people’s horizons.

The company known for delivering happiness to customers says its
purpose is:
“To inspire the world by showing it’s possible to simultaneously deliver
happiness to customers, employees, community, vendors and
shareholders in a long-term, sustainable way.”

Tony Hsieh and his team are out to prove to the world that focussing
on the happiness and wellbeing of the people in the company will help
drive business success. As Tony himself says ‘we’re a customer service
company that just happens to sell shoes.”

And one lesser known example of a purpose-driven company…

Greystone provides individuals in Southwest Yonkers, NY with
employment skills and resources to lift them out of poverty. As they
say in their own words:
“We don’t hire people to bake brownies, we bake brownies to hire
people.”

A true purpose-driven company if ever there was one.
Companies such as Greystone and Zappos are so clear about their
purpose that you can imagine them applying their ethos to any sector.
For instance if Zappos started an airline you’d know what to
expect — great service delivered by people who care.

Others may try and copy what you do but they can’t copy the way you
do it. And anyway, when you’re following your purpose there is no
competition, only collaboration.

What about you?
● What’s driving your big idea?
● What needs are you trying to address?
● How do you want to positively impact people’s lives?
Bear in mind your answers for these exercises don’t need to be perfect
now. Don’t let perfection get in the way of completing the tasks. Go
with your best guess and re-visit later.
Complete the following:

Using an example of The Chirpy Business School:

CHAPTER 2
VISION

WHAT’S THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO MAKE?

If your purpose is your why, then your vision is what you hope to
achieve over the long term.
In other words, ask yourself “If I remain committed to my purpose,
what can I accomplish?” How will the world be different when I’m
done?
Without a clear vision, you’re going to be in danger of pursuing
opportunities for the wrong reasons (typically, just for the money).
We’re assuming you’ve got this far because you want the work you do
to have a point, not just bring in cash.

Why is a vision important?
Your vision should be simple, powerful and inspiring — a view of
the future that gets you and others excited.

This will get you through the hard times and allow you to keep
persevering, so it needs to get your blood pumping. A compelling
vision will stop you getting bogged down in the detail and prevent you
from getting too attached to short-term success.

In the startup world there’s a lot of talk about pivoting your business
model based on feedback from the market.

However us entrepreneurs are a strange bunch and the best ones can
see things others don’t — they can spot trends and connect the dots
way before anyone else. This can mean that you need to trust your gut
and intuition, particularly early on where little data is available to back
up your hunches.

It’s about having faith in what you’re doing and getting comfortable
saying yes when everyone around you is saying no.

The secret of leadership is simple: Do
what you believe in. Paint a picture of the
future. Go there. People will follow.
Seth Godin


Helping Hand
One place to start is by framing what you’re doing against how things
currently are — what is the status quo that you’re trying to disrupt.
Having an enemy
When we first launched The Happy Startup School we were quite
clear about what we were fighting against.

● Business as usual — think The Apprentice or Dragon's
Den/Shark Tank and you’ll get the picture
● Billion-dollar ‘unicorn’ startups — an obsession with ‘hockey
stick growth’ above all else
● Unhappy workplaces — we’d been there ourselves and knew
how bad it could get
● Second-rate customer experiences — did anyone mention
Ryanair?

All of this gave us fuel for our mission for a better world — one where
people can flourish, bringing their whole selves to work and create
amazing companies in the process.
Vision statements
To help you create yours here are some examples from other
visionaries:

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft had a very clear vision of what the
future could look like:

“A computer in every home”


At the time this was crazy thinking. Computers were just for the
workplace. But he had this vision of the world where computers would
empower and enrich our lives. And guess what, not only do we have
them in our homes but also in our pockets. A lot of people bought into
this idea of the future.

Jeff Bezos
What started off as a service for buying specialist books online has
turned into “the world’s shopping mall”. Jeff didn’t want to stop at
books. And didn’t want to just stop at online shopping. His vision went
beyond e-commerce platforms but stretched to logistics and tech:

“To be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where
people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy
online.”

Anywhere you are in the world, at any time of the day you should be
able to get the product you want. That’s the world he’s trying to
create. This vision doesn’t only excite customers but also investors and
employees (though given some of the publicity they’ve had, maybe not
all employees).

Anyway, we hope you’ve got the picture. Think big but also keep it
simple.

Over to you
With this next challenge we want you to craft a vision for your
venture. The outcome of this exercise should be a statement like the
one below (or if you’re feeling creative, a vision board) that you will
want to share with everyone you come into contact with.

It should help anyone to quickly grasp what you’re trying to do and
better understand why you’re so driven. But again don’t worry about it
being perfect first time around — you have to start somewhere so
anything is better than nothing.

For our made up company The Chirpy Business School we’ve put the
following:

CHAPTER 3
Values

WHAT VALUES WILL DRIVE THE DECISIONS
YOU MAKE?

Umair Haque, the acclaimed author and economist, highlights that in
the Purpose Economy consumers are now much more careful about
who they buy from, and whether they represent the values they hold
dear. Therefore it’s important to pin down your values and what you
stand for before you set out on your entrepreneurial path.

Think of your core values as those that, when the chips are down, you
believe in so much, if you took them away your company would cease
to exist.

Any time you make a choice that compromises what you know is right,
you'll start to lose heart. Even small decisions made with the wrong
intention can lead you down a path that doesn't align with your vision.

As we highlighted in the first chapter people care not only about what
you do but why you do it. If your work is all about winning at the cost
of all else, it will ultimately leave you a little hollow inside – making it
harder to develop any deep connections with your audience.

This is why it's so important to start with your values, not your
solution.

What do you believe in?

By now we hope you've had a good think about your vision and
purpose, so you're hopefully a little clearer as to your why. We now
want to get you thinking about your guiding principles – the
foundation that will help you make the right decision more often than
not. A belief system that will guide you when uncertainty and
temptation come your way – do you accept that offer of investment? Is
this the right person to be your co-founder?

In his book 'Good Strategy/Bad Strategy' Richard Rumelt says that an
essential element of any good strategy is having a strong set of
guiding principles.

In order to achieve your vision you're going to be faced with a
countless number of options and paths. Which ones do you choose?
How can you be confident that you've made the right choice? In the
end, when faced with uncertainty and incomplete information, you'll
have to go with your gut.

What your gut tells you will be based on what you feel to be right. So
being able to be clear on what's right for you is essential to being able
to make the right quick decisions in those high pressure situations.

We're assuming you're building a Happy Startup for a reason – you
want your personal values to align with the work you do. Your work
should be a reflection of what you believe and so knowing what you
believe is essential to your success.
Helping Hand
Trying to come up with a list of values that don't sound generic and
bland can be hard. What we want you to do is focus on your core
values. The things that you most strongly believe in.

One approach for doing this is to take stock of all the meaningful
events and crossroads in your life. For each event try to reflect on why
you followed one path rather than the other. You should hopefully be
able to spot a pattern in your decision making.

Think about the things that you hold most dear. That you could never
do without. Also you should also think about the things that you'd
never do. Those will be clear indicators of what you strongly believe in.

You can also think about how you'd like to live. What are the values
your aspire to? However, to make them your own, you must commit to
them and make them a part of your daily life. Don't just pay lip service
to them because they sound cool.


When we were running a startup studio we spent some time trying to
understand why we did the work we did. This helped us map out what
drove us to make the decisions we made.

It helped us come up with a one-liner that described our why. Funnily
enough it also coincided with the early days of the Happy Startup
School. By exploring our values we ultimately found out what we really
should have been doing! "Optimising entrepreneurial happiness".

Now it's over to you!
Write down the values that most influence your decision making. If you
have trouble thinking of them try to use the techniques described
above.

For The Chirpy Business School we'd write this…

CHAPTER 4
STORY

WHAT STORY DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO
TELL ABOUT YOU?

Too often people have a startup idea and then jump directly into
defining, and then selling, the solution. They think "wouldn't the world
be better if this shiny new thing existed".

They take on the role of visionary (the Steve Jobs complex) and
convince themselves that all they need to do is build it, and they will
come.

We know that this is rarely the case – there's a reason why most
startups fail. The truth is most of the time people don't care about your
idea.

At the very early stage try not to get too bogged down in the details
and instead spend more time trying to get people to buy into your
vision and listen to your story.

From cave painting to novels, stories have always fascinated us. A
story helps to illustrate a point better than a set of facts. It gives

people a reason to care about what you’re saying. They relate to your
story and therefore your message.

So don't try to sell your idea, connect with people on a deeper level.
You want to win the hearts and minds of your audience – and that
might include investors too. So try to make it personal – a great story
reels you in, feels human and authentic.

It will take time to shape this so the sooner you can start telling your
story, the sooner you'll find something that sticks.

Craft a story not a sales pitch
Start talking facts, figures and features and most people will quickly
lose interest. Tell a compelling story though and the same people will
sit up and take notice.

Don't be afraid to share – ideas can be copied, technology can be
stolen, websites cloned, but an authentic story can only be owned by
you.

Once you've got your story straight it will become a conversation
starter and an effective way of spreading your message (and a hell of
a lot cheaper than Google Adwords).

Finally having a great story and having it told by others is the first step
to creating your brand – these storytellers become your secret
marketing weapon.

Examples

Innocent Drinks
"Natural, delicious, healthy drinks that help people live well and die
old"

Although Innocent are known for their healthy drinks and down to
earth branding, the story they're known for is how they got started.
The story goes that the 3 founders sold their first smoothies from a
stall at a music festival in London. A sign above the stall reads “Should
we give up our jobs to make these smoothies?” and people were asked
to throw their empties into bins marked ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

Needless to say 'Yes' won.

TOMS Shoes
"Buy one, give one away"

A brand like TOMS shoes uses their story as a bedrock for their
existence. The tagline, “One for one,” means that for every purchased
pair TOMS gives a pair of shoes to someone in need. TOMS exists to
improve lives.

Their story describes the whole reason for the existence of the
company. That builds trust. Careful customers are asking “why should
I buy from you?” If you can answer that question with a real story, then
you’ve built the trust of that customer.

Helping Hand
So what story do you want people to tell about you? How do you come
up with your own compelling story? If you're stuck you can always try
to use what you've learned from the first 3 chapters. Every story needs
a hero that stands for something - YOU and your values. It also needs
a villain - the thing that's broken with the world and your vision of how
it could be better. And finally the hero needs a quest - in this case your
purpose. Combine these to create your own authentic short story.

Have some fun and write down a short story that you'd want people
to tell about you.


CHAPTER 5
PROBLEMS

HOW ARE PEOPLE STRUGGLING?

Most of us think we need to come up with the big idea. We
unnecessarily criticise ourselves for not being creative enough or get
disheartened when people don’t understand what we’re trying to do.
This obsession with having to be the inspired visionary leader is what
holds too many people back from beginning their startup journey.

We suggest you flip this mindset and instead look for problems worth
solving. Rather than trying to think up the next big world-changing
idea just take time to notice what's happening in your life and the lives
of those around you.

Be mindful of the world, talk to people and notice the things you and
they are struggling with. In other words, look for problems rather than
solutions. Get curious – ideas can come from anywhere.
Life's too short to build something nobody wants

The failed Sinclair C5

It's so important to put yourself in the shoes of your target audience
and think about what they need to get done. What holds them back
from getting something done or achieving an outcome? How could you
make it faster, easier or simpler for them?

By focusing on problems and barriers in people's lives, it makes it
much more likely that you'll develop an idea that people find useful
and valuable (we'll cover this in chapter 8 too).

If you've completed chapter 1 and 2 you should have a clear starting
point from where to search for problems that matter. By defining your
purpose and articulating your vision for the world you'll be able to
focus on what is stopping these things from happening. If you thought
about your enemy you might have already hit on some problems that
currently exist.

What's missing in the world?
At The Happy Startup School we saw that many people were
unhappy at work and wanted to have the freedom to work for
themselves, but found it difficult to find and develop a business idea.

They would waste time going round in circles and didn't have a
process to help them get clarity and focus – and weren't asking
themselves the right questions. Tackling this problem head-on aligned
with our vision of a world full of startups that truly matter. For us, it
was a problem worth solving.


So avoid diving straight into solutions. Think about what people are
trying to achieve and make it easier for them.

Helping Hand
If you haven't been able to get to grips with your vision and purpose
yet a good place to start looking for problems is by 'scratching your
own itch'. Some of the best ideas come naturally from your own
experiences – the most successful startups almost always begin this
way.

They're not looking to change the world, they're looking to change
their world.

A great example of this is the project management tool Basecamp:

A great way to build a business is to start
out by solving your own problems. You'll
be the target audience and you'll know
what's important and what's not.
Jason Fried, Basecamp


If you're solving problems that you don't experience yourself, you'll
need to do a lot more research and experimentation. So we'd advise
looking for problems that you know well and can then solve more
easily.

Here are 3 places to start:
Your personal passions
What do you love doing or feel strongly about? Is there a hobby you do
regularly that you'd like to do turn into a living? Do you currently work
with or help out a charity, school or social enterprise? What has got in
your way when trying to pursue these activities?

Paul Sinton-Hewitt started Parkrun because he was looking for a way
to pursue his love of running and also be part of the local community.
It's now gone international with over half a million runners taking part
in their weekly runs.

Your personal experiences
We all experience things that we are just waiting for someone to
solve. Min Kyu-choi, founder of the Mu slimline plug, loved his Apple
devices but saw that accompanying plugs were too bulky.

In his Do Lectures talk he beautifully illustrated the problem of mailing
an iPad through the post:


Your professional experiences
The majority of us spend at least a third of our waking hours working.
Because of this we have unique insights that others may not have
(even if they seem obvious to us). These experiences are often a rich
source of problems worth solving.

Whilst running our agency Spook Studio we used to spend a lot of
time with clients trying to agree who their audience was (more in
chapter 7). We made this a much more engaging and productive
process by developing a simple online tool that helped us get on the
same page quicker. As it turns out this was a problem that lots of
people have experienced too – we now have over 20,000 people
who’ve signed up for the product.

Your challenge today is to list the top 3 problems you're looking to
solve:


CHAPTER 6
SOLUTION

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SOLVE THESE
PROBLEMS?
Now you're hopefully getting clearer on the problems you're
addressing, it's time to think of how you're going to solve them.

Bear in mind it's rare for Plan A to be the one that works (unless
you're one of the lucky few), so the important thing here is to start
somewhere – and sooner rather than later.

At this stage coming up with solutions isn't so much about building
the perfect (or even right) product or service, but more about working
out whether you're on the right track. Most people start off thinking up
very complex solutions. Don't fall into the same trap. Now's the time to
put something out there fast.

Time kills the sensors
Most of the successful projects we've launched over the years have
been those where we've gone from idea to action fast. For instance

we conceived and launched our new online community in just 24
hours.

Whether it's more features for a new app or more offerings as part of
their service, there's a tendency for first time entrepreneurs to over
complicate by adding too much to their first solution and taking too
long to launch something. We'd advise against this for several
reasons:

1. It takes lots of time and money to make complex things
2. There's a higher risk of things going wrong
3. If it isn't simple there's a big chance you'll confuse customers
4. More effort means more attachment to the solution and so
you’re less likely to change tack if it doesn't work

So don't try to over engineer your first solution and instead try to
reverse engineer the problem. Break the problem down and identify
the simplest thing you can build to get feedback on your idea.

Don't build the whole thing, now's the time to experiment..
Fake it before you make it
If you're thinking of opening a flower shop or franchising a
McDonald's defining the right solution may not be such a big problem.
These are known businesses and so the product and customer need is
well understood. Making businesses like these work is mainly about
good marketing and sales.

However, if you've got an innovative idea then you'll need to follow a
different plan. One that requires a bit more risk-taking and
experimentation.

Things won't always go to plan, so it's important to be aware of this.
It's about accepting uncertainty, and learning from any setbacks you
have, not taking them to heart.
It's all about learning
At this stage don't worry too much about getting customers and
growing revenue, but focus on learning. Really understand the
problems you're solving and who you're solving them for (more on this
in the next chapter).

If you started this e-book with a business idea in mind you've
probably got certain assumptions about your customers and your
solution. However, based on the problem you defined in chapter 5 we
want you instead to think of the simplest and cheapest solution that
helps test your assumptions.

How could you begin to solve the problem without having to spend
loads of time and money on it? What could you do next week?

Helping Hand
Now's the time to get creative! You need to embrace the constraints of
limited time and money to see how you can approach the problem in
different ways. This is good practice for startup life since time and
money are luxuries you rarely have.

We suggest you try brainstorming lots of different solutions. Don't get
too caught up with trying to find the best one, just spend some time
getting lots of ideas down on post-it notes (no matter how crazy they
sound). Then pick the best one to use for this week's exercise.

Here are examples of some solutions to get you thinking:

1) Build a landing page
While this doesn't sound quite like a solution to a problem it's a great
way for you to get in touch with potential customers. The page should
explain the problem you're tackling and how your potential solution
will address it. You should then ask people to sign up to be the first to
use that solution. Try using Squarespace or Strikingly to get a quick

page up. We took this approach for our mountainside retreat Alptitude
in 2015 and had more than 100 applications for only 25 spaces before
we'd even confirmed the event.

2) Create a demo video
If it's difficult to describe your solution in words then try creating a
simple demo video. This approach is similar to the previous one but in
this case you tell the story of the problem and the solution in a more
engaging way. This is exactly what Dropbox did before they'd even
built their product.

3) Build a pop-up
This approach is particularly useful for business ideas that require
premises such as restaurants or physical stores. You could look for
empty premises or locations with spare space you could use. A
previous student on our Happy Startup Home School had a grand
vision to build a play zone for adults. He started testing the idea by
putting a ball pit in his office and running nerf gun sessions. Since then
he's been scaling up with bigger versions of the concept in bigger
spaces.


4) Play Wizard of Oz
Rather than build out any technology, employ staff or invest in too
much infrastructure you could use existing tools and a bit of manual
effort to replicate the final solution. This is the tactic followed by the
founder of Zappos when he was working out whether people would
buy shoes online. He basically posted pictures of shoes on his website
and when anybody ordered them he'd buy them from a local store and
then mail them to the customer. He didn't make any money but he
learned a lot.

While these approaches might not make you any money they will help
you test out your idea and connect you with customers. Fake it before
you make it and you'll reduce the risk of building the wrong thing.

So, get back to your worksheet and write down the first solution you
could try out to address the problem from chapter 5. Remember this is
just your Plan A – most likely it will evolve once you've got feedback
from real people:


CHAPTER 7
EARLY ADOPTERS

WHO WILL BE YOUR PASSIONATE FIRST
CUSTOMERS?

At the very beginning of your startup journey not everyone is going to
understand what you're trying to do, particularly if you have an
innovative idea.

Most people start off by thinking that the whole world is their market
and so they cast their net as wide as possible trying to reach the
greatest number of people. However us humans are a diverse bunch,
with different needs and behaviours.

For this reason it's going to be impossible to cater for all of them
(unless you've got the resources of Apple perhaps).


The key here is to focus on a group of people who really get what
you're trying to do.

At the beginning gear your message and solution towards them and
only them. Don't think of them as potential customers, but rather allies
and co-creators of your movement for change.

With their advice and feedback you'll be able to refine and hone your
offering. So what are you waiting for? Now's the time to start a
conversation with them. At this early stage it's about attracting this
niche that will love what you do, rather than just like you a little.

It's the depth of passion you're looking for. And this will happen if you
solve their problem, believe in the same things and talk the same
language. To build your tribe you want them to feel like they've found
their people.

Marketing is dead. Long live the tribe.
We want you to think about building a tribe not just a customer base –
loyal followers who believe in the vision as if it were theirs. With
passionate folks like these on board there'll be no need for the hard
sell, but rather a willingness to engage in an honest conversation.

The brand myth and adoption

Your brand isn't your logo, it isn't what you say to your customers, it
isn't your latest campaign. Your brand is the relationship.

Many of you will know the diagram below of how new technologies
are adopted by a population. Most people fall in the Early Majority and

Late Majority bands. They rarely try something new and so selling a
new idea to them is going to be an uphill struggle.

When building your tribe focus instead on the smaller group of people
– the Innovators and Early Adopters – those on the lookout for
emergent ideas and new technologies. They'll typically have an unmet
need that they're trying to solve so your first mission will be to help
them.

Managed well, this small group are going to be one of your most
valuable assets for several reasons:
1. When trying to manage and act on feedback it's much easier
to work with a smaller group.
2. If you listen well and use their input wisely not only will you
build a better solution but your tribe will gain a sense of
ownership of your idea. They'll love what you do because they
helped you make it. This is taking advantage of what
behavioural economists call the Ikea Effect.
3. This group will become evangelists and advocates. Essentially
they'll do all your marketing – for free! Who could say no to
that?

So if you want to change the world you need to start off with a
handful of believers – a familiar story to us. We started a global
movement by running intimate events in the UK.

All great things start small.


If you've followed the steps so far then you'll know that by tackling the
peak of the canvas you'll have the starting point for a story that should
start attracting the right people to your mission. But to be laser
focused we've found it can really help to have a vivid picture of who
your first tribe members might be.

Helping Hand
Included in the appendix is our persona template and cheat sheet.
Print out a few copies.

Play around and use these to create a number of personas – these are
meant to be customer archetypes. At the beginning base these on
what you know right now, even guesses. Over time you can refine
these based on your knowledge of who you're talking to.

Whose problem do you want to solve? To help you get clarity the
persona template is split into 4 quadrants:

● Name & Picture
● Facts and Demographics
● Behaviours
● Need & Goals

As an added help you could also use our Personapp tool. That way
you'll be saving the trees too.

Once you've come up with a persona for you ideal tribe member
complete the following section of your worksheet:

For The Chirpy Business School we'd write this...

CHAPTER 8
VALUE PROPOSITION

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE PEOPLE’S
LIVES BETTER?

As we mentioned in the Solutions chapter most people get carried
away with adding more features or offerings to what they do as they
think it adds more value.

However as we pointed out this approach is more likely to confuse
than attract them. Ultimately your customers want to know one thing:

“What are you going to do for me?"

There are a myriad of ways you can help them but typically it comes
down to making their life better in some way, whether that is saving
time or money, convenience or peace of mind.

Your job is to uncover what the real source of value is for your
audience so you can use this in your messaging and being crystal
clear about the benefits of your product or service.

In the last chapter we emphasised that you should engage in
conversations with your early adopters. However, beware of just
asking them what they want (most of the time they won't know what
is possible). Instead look deeper and understand their underlying
needs.


Focus on outcomes not features
In his 2003 book The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen writes:

"Don’t sell products and services to customers, but rather try to help
people address their jobs-to-be-done."

It's important to differentiate between what your product and service
does and the outcome you're trying to create.

For instance if you sell gardening services, rather than focusing solely
on what you do e.g "Garden maintenance and clearance", instead
focus your message on the value you create:

"Reclaim your weekends. We love gardening so you don't have to."
Green Girls slogan

Focusing on outcomes keeps you clear on what you should be
building rather than what seems like a cool idea.


This is where Design Thinking comes in. Simply put, it's about
developing empathy with the people you're creating this for. You're
wanting to live in the skin of your audience and understand what
they're feeling.

This is why 'scratching your own itch' is such a powerful way to build
a business – you understand your customer's world.

But whether or not you're in their shoes, if you're looking to build a
tribe you can avoid expensive market research by getting to know your
customers through real, authentic conversations. You're genuinely
trying to help them and have their interests at heart.

What are they actually trying to do?

Through these conversations you can dig deeper into the underlying
Jobs To Be Done rather than just observing people's behaviour.

For instance, a parent taking their children to a movie on a Saturday
afternoon may not just be about seeing the latest Pixar release but
more about finding something to do with them on a rainy afternoon?

Looking at the situation in this new way not only uncovers a more
interesting problem but also opens you up to thinking about other
potential competitors.

Helping Hand
When thinking about outcomes we want you to take the simple
approach of understanding your potential customers' current pains
and the potential gains they’re looking for.

What are they struggling with and what would they like to get that
they don't have now?

When thinking about your value proposition you want to reduce or
eliminate the pains and increase or create the gains.

Going back to the earlier chapters think about your early adopters and
the problem you're trying to solve. Then take a look at the solutions
you're proposing and then think about the following:

1. What pains can I reduce?
2. What pains can I eliminate?
3. What gains can I increase?
4. What gains can I create?

Taking our gardening example we could answer the questions in the
following ways:

1. I would like to reduce the time I spend in the garden centre
2. I want to eliminate getting frustrated with gardening
3. I want to increase the time I spend with my kids
4. I want to create a stronger family bond

Play around with this approach

You may need to modify the solution or dig deeper into the problem,
but this is one of the things we'd like you to take from this e-book –
that each element of your canvas is a work in progress. These will
need to be refined and perhaps even re-thought after working through
the exercises and speaking more with people.

This is perfectly normal – as we pointed our early on, Plan A isn't
usually the plan that works. If everything is going to plan, you're
probably not working hard enough!

Working lean
While we've presented the e-book as a linear process we hope you
will be going back and forth between each chapter as you get clearer
on your idea.

This is the part of building a startup that can feel most challenging for
many as it's full of uncertainty. However, it's also the part that is full of
the most possibility.

Don't panic. You're just starting to flex your Happy Startup muscles
and we'll be telling you how to keep the momentum going at the end
of this e-book.
This your final exercise. Remember this isn't supposed to be the final
version of your value proposition, just your best guess for now.

List out all your possible answers to the above questions and share
the clearest one in your worksheet:

For The Chirpy Business School we'd write this...

Wow, you’re done!

Well, you’ve reached the end of the start…
You’ve now got a better idea of how to use The Happy Startup
Canvas. But learning how to use the canvas isn’t the sole purpose of
this e-book.
We know that real progress happens when you connect and share
what you’re doing with like minded people at a similar stage. This may
sound scary but we’re gathering just such a group.
You can create a life and business rich with purpose and join The
Happy Startup School to develop your ideas further, get inspired
and move closer to launching your Happy Startup. We’ve created a
safe space to share your ideas and get the support you need to
turn your idea into action.
APPENDIX
Customer development matrix
SCORE FROM Customer Customer Customer Customer

1-3 segment segment segment segment
Level of pain
Ease of access
Will they pay?
Total
Name & picture Behaviours
Facts and demographics Needs & goals

Name & picture Behaviours
Describe their typical day. (Focus on behavoir
patterns relevant to your value proposition/
product)
Here are some examples:

- Has a housecleaner
- Buys take-away 3 times a week
- Frequently feels overwhelmed when she
forgets something
Facts and demographics Needs & goals

Describe the basics: age, family, job, hobbies and List common questions, tasks or frustrations they
interests. Where do they live? What is it like? have.
Some examples: Some examples:

- Working mum - Spend more time with her friends
- 34 years old - Feel like she ‘has it sorted’
- Lives in Reading, works in London - Live a healthier lifestyle
- Married, 2 kids - ‘Clone herself’
- Household 125k a year

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BUILDING A

Phil Libin, Evernote

Jason Fried, Basecamp

Wow, you’re done!

SCORE FROM Customer Customer Customer Customer

Will they pay?

Facts and demographics Needs & goals

Here are some examples:

Facts and demographics Needs & goals

Some examples: Some examples:

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