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Customer Development Workflow
Get out of the building: Steve Blank's four-step process to find product-market fit
The Four Steps of Customer Development
Step 1: Customer Discovery
Test whether your problem, solution, and customer hypotheses are correct.
Phase 1: State Hypotheses
- • Document your assumptions about the problem
- • Define your target customer segments
- • Outline your proposed solution
- • Map out your business model hypotheses
Phase 2: Test Problem Hypotheses
- • Get out of the building - talk to potential customers
- • Validate the problem exists and is worth solving
- • Understand how customers currently solve this problem
- • Identify early adopters vs mainstream customers
Phase 3: Test Solution Hypotheses
- • Show mockups or prototypes to customers
- • Get feedback on your proposed solution
- • Understand what features are must-haves
- • Test pricing assumptions
Phase 4: Verify or Pivot
- • Analyze all customer feedback
- • Decide if you have problem-solution fit
- • Pivot if hypotheses are invalid
- • Move to Customer Validation if verified
Step 2: Customer Validation
Build a repeatable and scalable sales process. Prove you have product-market fit.
Phase 1: Get Ready to Sell
- • Build MVP based on Customer Discovery learnings
- • Create sales materials and collateral
- • Define sales roadmap and process
- • Set up metrics tracking
Phase 2: Sell to Early Customers
- • Close deals with early evangelists
- • Refine sales process based on what works
- • Document objections and how to handle them
- • Gather customer success stories
Phase 3: Develop Positioning
- • Create company and product positioning
- • Develop marketing messages that resonate
- • Test different distribution channels
- • Build initial demand generation process
Phase 4: Verify or Pivot
- • Assess if you have a repeatable sales process
- • Verify economics work (CAC < LTV)
- • Confirm product-market fit signals
- • Pivot back to Discovery if not working
Step 3: Customer Creation
Create end-user demand and drive it into your sales channel. Scale customer acquisition.
Key Activities
- • Launch marketing campaigns to create demand
- • Build brand awareness in target market
- • Scale customer acquisition channels that work
- • Move from early adopters to mainstream market
- • Optimize funnel conversion rates
- • Build predictable lead generation
Step 4: Company Building
Transition from learning and discovery to executing at scale.
Transition Activities
- • Build departments and formal processes
- • Hire specialists for each function
- • Implement scalable systems and tools
- • Create culture and values for growth
- • Develop management structure
- • Focus on operational excellence
Core Principles
- •Get out of the building: There are no facts inside your office
- •Customer feedback trumps intuition: Let customers validate your hypotheses
- •Iterate and pivot: Change direction based on customer learning
- •Search vs execute: Startups search for a business model; companies execute one
- •Market type matters: Strategy differs for new, existing, or resegmented markets
Need help with Customer Development?
We can guide you through systematic customer discovery and validation.