Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality

Dr. Alex Osterwalder
January 16, 2017
#
 min read
topics
Customer Insights
Testing Business Ideas

You may think you know what customers want; but until you test and gather evidence on their reality, you’ll just be following a hallucination.

  Drawn    during a layover    in Doha, Qatar.
Drawn during a layover in Doha, Qatar.

Sometimes, we are so certain that we know what customers want, that we don’t think we need to test our ideas. In fact, the smarter and more experienced we are, the more likely we believe we are right.

The more we rely on our opinion, the bigger the risk that we might be hallucinating. It’s only by testing, and Customer Discovery, that we unearth the customer reality.

The more you test and perform Customer Discovery, the more you increase the overlap between your (visionary) ideas and the reality of customer needs. Sometimes when you start out the overlap is bigger; sometimes it’s smaller. However, without testing, you don’t know with certainty.

Make testing a priority

We've organized our 10 essential posts for testing your value propositions and business models in one place. Get out there and start talking to customers! 

READ NOW

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About the speakers

Dr. Alex Osterwalder
Entrepreneur, speaker, and business thinker

Alex is the inventor of the Business Model Canvas, used by more than 200,000 companies across 178 countries. He is co-author of Business Model Generation, named one of the Financial Times' top 10 most-cited business books. He ranks number four on the Thinkers50 list of global management thinkers and has won the Thinkers50 Strategy Award. He has spent two decades coaching senior leaders at organisations including Bayer, Bosch, WL Gore, Honeywell, and Mastercard.

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Dr. Alex Osterwalder
January 16, 2017
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Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality
Insights

Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality

Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality
Insights

Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality

January 16, 2017
#
 min read
topics
Customer Insights
Testing Business Ideas

You may think you know what customers want; but until you test and gather evidence on their reality, you’ll just be following a hallucination.

  Drawn    during a layover    in Doha, Qatar.
Drawn during a layover in Doha, Qatar.

Sometimes, we are so certain that we know what customers want, that we don’t think we need to test our ideas. In fact, the smarter and more experienced we are, the more likely we believe we are right.

The more we rely on our opinion, the bigger the risk that we might be hallucinating. It’s only by testing, and Customer Discovery, that we unearth the customer reality.

The more you test and perform Customer Discovery, the more you increase the overlap between your (visionary) ideas and the reality of customer needs. Sometimes when you start out the overlap is bigger; sometimes it’s smaller. However, without testing, you don’t know with certainty.

Make testing a priority

We've organized our 10 essential posts for testing your value propositions and business models in one place. Get out there and start talking to customers! 

READ NOW

related reads
No items found.
Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality

You may think you know what customers want; but until you test and gather evidence on their reality, you’ll just be following a hallucination.

Thanks for your interest in 
Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality
Thought provoker: vision, hallucination, and customer reality
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Team member avatarTeam member avatarTeam member avatarTeam member avatarTeam member avatarTeam member avatarMattTeam member avatarTeam member avatarTeam member avatarTeam member avatarTeam member avatar
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Want to turn strategy into results? Connect with us to explore practical solutions that fit your needs. We'll help you design business models and value propositions that deliver measurable growth.
Thanks for your interest in our solutions. We will be in touch with you soon.