Yes, most people are definitely willing to talk, IF you show that you value their time, and give them some context about why you're asking.
Show that you value their time by setting the space upfront, and when you're 10 minutes away, tell them "We have 10 minutes left, and I want to respect your time...". They'll decide to keep rambling or not.
Re: numbers, you can also preface with "I'm not looking to know anything confidential, but since I don't know your industry, as we talk, it would be great to have numbers with some context.
Here is my verbatim intro for learning more about cities+construction:
"Hi! I'm a technologist who left the tech world, and I'm focusing on how I can help cities. Particularly helping cities make better decisions with Data.
To prevent building something that doesn't help cities, I'm listening to key people in your space and understanding the problems they face. I'd really like to get an understanding of your role and the issues you face, particularly around the permitting process, and code compliance.
The conversation is less than an hour, and I can meet you in person, or over the phone. The questions are lightweight, no quizzes here. :)"
Be upfront about your curiosity, otherwise it falls apart pretty quickly if you have a deeper conversation :) What you want to focus on is learning about the space and the players, not pitching them a solution.
I tell people that I am interested in the space, and am in listening mode —> and what do they do? Tell me more....etc etc
Get out of the library and start talking to people in that field. It will take some time and have some slow starts, but the only way you learn about an industries inefficiencies and its opportunities is by hitting the pavement.
You’ll need some explanation “story” to help people understand your intentions. I am upfront and say I am interested in their space personally, and I’m looking for business opportunities - but I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know, and therefore I’m in listening mode.
With your example:
Go to the stall owners, and ask if you can talk when they’re not busy. Ask little, listen a lot. Stand there for hours and observe the different stalls. Take notes.
Map out the different players, and ask to talk to them. Eventually you’ll get connected to events that they attend, and they’ll also pass you along to their peers. Ask what conferences they attend and so on.
Looks promising. While it may seem obvious, I would spell out what double-blind means, the problem it solves, and how it is used elsewhere. That then sets you up to point out how doctors use these study types, adding credibility.
My Fitbit reports the number of flights climbed - it's the Fitbit 'One' model. Along with my daily 10k steps, I have a flights climbed goal that I track through the website. Maybe it's a different model that doesn't track this?
Hey, thanks. We're looking at a couple ways to pair with wineries, the tough part being that the small wineries are the best market, except they're the least experimental. Big wineries have people who understand trying out new venues.
I wouldn't say that's true. My unfunded wine startup, Swirl it! (http://swirlitapp.com) was covered by TC, and even had a video interview where we came in and swirled w/Colleen Taylor.
Kinda. All coastlines are public-access, but if you own the property up to the coast (say, a cabin on a river), you do not have to grant access across your property. So, you could walk down the river and hang out in front of this cabin, but you can't trespass across private property.
""Everybody had to comply with this spreadsheet," he said. "Every campus had two border routers, two cores, and two server farm switches. All the vendors had to propose exactly the same solution" based on the average number of servers deployed at each CSU campus. "All of this is based on exactly the same data to all of the vendors. It's exactly the same formula for all of the vendors.""
It's very easy to add new features to products, but until you sit down with a customer, listen to them, and watch them use your product you won't have a clear understanding of their needs. Good product managers realize they are very close to a product and need to constantly take a step back.
If you're skeptical, sign up for a UserTesting.com account and watch people navigate your site. You'll be surprised.
As pageld said, it's just a title. At an established startup, the product manager is generally the one translating the founders vision into a product. The founder might have an idea or see a need, but the product manager is the one who researches the market, does the competitive analysis and determines the feature set. Then they get it built and launched.
They may not do all the work, but they're the ones covering all the little details: making sure an email goes out when a new user signs up, reviewing that copy, watching retention, etc.
You'll see a lot of job descriptions for product managers reference 'Mini-CEO', which is pretty apt.
Along with good specs, I would add having an open line of communication with your engineers about what to do when the specs aren't clear. I've worked with some engineers that their personality caused them to think it was their fault they didn't understand the spec - and they spent unnecessary time and frustration trying to puzzle something out.
Raising your hand and asking, "Is this what you meant?" can save a lot of hassles, especially with remote teams.
You can be right - but your maturity is determined by your response when the team "comes around" to your idea. A mature developer nods, and immediately begins walking through their pre-developed action plan. That person has the confidence that the team knows there was a mistake, and no need to walk through the past.
An immature developer throws out the "I told you so" and lauds it over their team.
We all make mistakes, it's the foundation for the fail-forward-fast mantra. So acknowledge the mistake, impress others that you have a solution, and move forward.
Exactly. There are so many other factors regarding pricing: Long Term Value, and Cost to Acquire being one of them. It is common to break your audience into 'bands', and learn the trigger points for each band: cost to acquire a customer in this segment and how likely they are to make repeat purchases, at which price.
Simply put, the majority of your audience may make repeat purchases, but only if each purchase is a separate price. This is much greater value than a one-off purchase.
It depends on the process. A more expensive spirit could use processes that uses less chemicals, but takes longer to filter.
Some wines are filtered using fining agents that contain gelatin, where some winemakers choose to use higher-micron (more expensive) filters. Or they use sanitation 'preservatives' like Velcorin. Any one of these processes could either trigger an allergy or add something that your body doesn't like processing.
The closest example is decaf coffee: how to strip out the caffeine. There is a chemical way (cheap but uses benzene) vs the swiss water process.
More importantly, people shouldn't rely on what these wine raters say. This is their palate, not yours. And while it's a good 'nudge' to try one wine versus another, they are in no way the experts on your own tastebuds. I've been working on ways to map your palate and give you recommendations for this exact reason.
Show that you value their time by setting the space upfront, and when you're 10 minutes away, tell them "We have 10 minutes left, and I want to respect your time...". They'll decide to keep rambling or not.
Re: numbers, you can also preface with "I'm not looking to know anything confidential, but since I don't know your industry, as we talk, it would be great to have numbers with some context.
Here is my verbatim intro for learning more about cities+construction:
"Hi! I'm a technologist who left the tech world, and I'm focusing on how I can help cities. Particularly helping cities make better decisions with Data.
To prevent building something that doesn't help cities, I'm listening to key people in your space and understanding the problems they face. I'd really like to get an understanding of your role and the issues you face, particularly around the permitting process, and code compliance.
The conversation is less than an hour, and I can meet you in person, or over the phone. The questions are lightweight, no quizzes here. :)"
- nic