The Hidden Benefit

How to Turn a Full-Time Job Into a B2B Business Opportunity

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2x B2B Startup Founder (Flagback & HireVoice)

Recognized Usability & UX Research Expert

2013 Most-Liked SlideShare Presentation Creator

Author of Lean B2B: Build Products Businesses Want

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Where did the majority of Inc. 500 founders find their business ideas?

50% of founders got their idea at their previous employer

50%*

* Study by University professor Amar Bhidé for The Origins and Evolution of New Business (2000)

Outside-Invs.

Inside-Out?

Part I

The Insider’s Competitive Edge

1.

Easy access to customers

Start a business where you can get access to customers easily.

- Max Cameron, Kera Co-Founder and CEO

2.

You know the initiatives & business priorities

If you don’t, you can ask...

3.

You can define the problem owner, the buyers & figure out where to

start selling

4.

You get credibility and expertise because you're from the market

If not, you can fake it...

5.

You can run ROI calculations and start with real data

6.

You understand the risks & what it takes to sell to large businesses

To overcome the “Status Quo Coefficient”, your solution should be at least two times

faster, two times better and two times cheaper than the known alternatives.

7.

You can build a relevant professional network on company hours

8.

You can pivot on the cheap at the idea level

It takes a while to get on people’s calendars [...] For this reason, it doesn’t make sense to leave your job before having a good indication that

you are working on a real business opportunity.

9.

You can turbo-charge long sales cycles by starting with a paying

customer

Part II

Other people have done it

+

Martin Ouellet, Who Sold Taleo for $1.9 Billion, Recalls His Startup Experiences

Martin Ouellet

+

Pyramid Digital Solutions Sells Assets to SunGard Business Systems

Dharmesh Shah

+

iBwave Makes PROFIT 200 List of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies for Third Consecutive Year

Martin Bouchard

Part III

Obvious Challenges

Is it a market of one?

Will anyone buy?

Can it be productized?

How will you transition from employee to entrepreneur if

you’re successful?

Fire !!

Part IV

How to do it

The First Question to Ask Yourself:

Core Business?

Non-Core Innovation?

Keep your eyes out for explicit and implicit problems.

People love to talk about their problems. The moment that you’re talking about a person’s problems,

they’re happy.- Brant Cooper, The Lean Entrepreneur Co-Author

Network. Talk around the problem. Get different inputs.

Narrow the field. Score problems by pain, budget availability and impact potential.

Understand what you need to replace.

Understand the market, the watering holes, influencers, risks, buyers, buying processes, etc.

Create a plan to test your hypotheses.

There are

other

customers

The product

can be

productized

The market

is wide

enough to

sustain a

business

There

won’t be

legal

restrictions

Solicit a broader set of voices.

+ =

“Interesting” is a distraction, watch out.

Don’t build. Negotiate your exit. Leave on good terms.

Part V

Key Takeaways & Conclusion

Which makes most sense?

A Paid Work

B Saving up?

Which makes most sense?

The best time to be an entrepreneur is when you, and your team, have really

learned about an unmet need, understand the customer’s pain and you

are ready to take the plunge.- Ken Morse, Serial Entrepreneur &

MIT Entrepreneurship Founder

The shortest path to successful entrepreneurship is what you already

know. Start there.

« Read this book before you schedule even one more meeting about your startup. » - Jeffrey L. Cohen, Co-Author, The B2B Social Media Book

« Lean B2B nails the key to being nimble and iterative in the complex, drawn-out world of B2B entrepreneurship: relationships. It captures how I've been running my own Lean B2B practice for years and makes it accessible to anyone. » - Brian Gladstein, CEO and Founder, Explorics

« Lean B2B is a must-read to understand one of the most under-addressed market opportunities by startups: B2B. » - Wandrille Pruvot, Chief Revenue Officer, Art of Click

« Lean B2B is filled with rock-solid advice for technology entrepreneurs who want a rapid-growth trajectory. Read it to increase your certainty and your success rate. - Jill Konrath, Author of AGILE SELLING and Selling to Big Companies

LEAN B2BBUILD PRODUCTS BUSINESSES WANT

@egarbugli /egarbugli

www.leanb2bbook.com

Étienne Garbugli: