Preface xi

Introduction: News Flash: Entrepreneurship Can Be Taught! xv

Six Themes of the 24 Steps xxxi

Tracking Your Progress: the Disciplined Entrepreneurship (DE) Canvas xli

Step 0 Getting Started 1

Step 1 Market Segmentation 12

Step 1a Primary Market Research (PMR) 40

Step 2 Select a Beachhead Market 54

Step 3 Build an End User Profile 62

Step 4 Calculate the Total Addressable Market (TAM) Size for the Beachhead Market 71

Step 5 Profile the Persona for the Beachhead Market 83

Step 6 Full Life Cycle Use Case 101

Step 7 High-Level Product Specification 110

Step 8 Quantify the Value Proposition 120

Step 9 Identify Your Next 10 Customers 130

Step 10 Define Your Core 138

Step 11 Chart Your Competitive Position 150

Step 12 Determine the Customer’s Decision- Making Unit (DMU) 160

Step 13 Map the Process to Acquire a Paying Customer 169

Step 13a Windows of Opportunity and Triggers 185

Step 14 Calculate the Total Addressable Market Size for Follow-on Markets 194

Step 15 Design a Business Model 202

Step 16 Set Your Pricing Framework 215

Step 17 Calculate the Lifetime Value (LTV) of an Acquired Customer 225

Step 18 Design a Scalable Revenue Engine 240

Step 19 Calculate the Cost of Customer Acquisition (CoCA) 254

Step 20 Identify Key Assumptions 269

Step 21 Test Key Assumptions 275

Step 22 Define the Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP) 287

Step 23 Show That “The Dogs Will Eat the Dog Food” 302

Step 24 Develop a Product Plan 313

What Else? Beyond the 24 Steps 323

Glossary 329

Acknowledgments 333

About the Author 337

Index 339

DISCIPLINED ENTREPRENEURSHIP
THE PROVEN AND SYSTEMATIC WAY TO BUILD A NEW VENTURE

“My go-to book when building my companies. Accessible, rigorous, gives clear direction.”
Frederic Kerrest, Co-Founder of Okta, author of Zero to IPO

“A must-read. The first version, which was published in 2013, has proven to be the best book for entrepreneurs, investors, and entrepreneurship educators on building a high-growth startup. This update looks to be even better.”
Mark Gorenberg, Founder and Managing Director, Zetta Ventures; former Director of the US National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)

“After having conducted a 10-year longitudinal research study on the effect of this methodology, the evidence is clear that it had a profoundly positive impact on participating students’ rates of success (69% 5-year survival rate) and magnitude of success.”
Professor Daniela Ruiz Massieu, ITAM University, Mexico

“Using this methodology with existing entrepreneurs showed dramatic improvement effective immediately. Within twelve months the companies saw an average increase of their annual revenue of 200%.”
Fiona Bennington, Director of Entrepreneurship, Catalyst Technology Hub, Belfast, Northern Ireland

“My go to book when building my companies. Accessible, rigorous, gives clear direction”
-- Frederick Kerrest, Co-Founder of Okta, author of “Zero to IPO”

“A must read. The first version, which was published in 2013, has proven to be the best book for entrepreneurs, investors and entrepreneurship educators on building a high growth startup. This update looks to be even better. ” -- Mark Gorenberg, Founder and Managing Director, Zetta Ventures; former Director of the US National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)

“While using this methodology existing entrepreneurs showed dramatic improvement effective immediately. Within twelve months the companies saw an average increase of their annual revenue by 400%”
-- Fiona Bennington, Director of Entrepreneurship, Catalyst Technology Hub, Belfast, Northern Ireland 

“After having conducted a ten-year longitudinal research study on the effect of this methodology, the evidence is clear that it has a profoundly positive impact on participating students’ rates of success (69% 5-year survival rate) and magnitude of success.”

24 STEPS TO SUCCESS!

Interest in entrepreneurship is at an all-time high and for good reason—and it's not about to stop. Entrepreneurship is a way to solve problems and increase our quality of life, as well as a way for people to take control of their own lives. Yet some feel it is something they cannot participate in. This book shatters that myth. It will give you a clear and accessible path to become an entrepreneur yourself.

There is nothing mystical about entrepreneurship. It is a craft that can be taught and continually improved over time. It is a mindset, skill set and way of operating that will be fundamental to all people in a rapidly changing world.

Disciplined Entrepreneurship offers a proven, comprehensive, integrated, and step-by-step approach to transforming yourself into an entrepreneur. It provides a road map to creating innovative and highly-successful products which is at the core of every great company. It focuses on both the sequential and iterative process that builds your confidence and skills to see the future with much more optimism. Whether the answer is creating a physical good, a service, or the delivery of information, Disciplined Entrepreneurship breaks down the necessary processes into 24 accessible steps that any industrious person can learn and perform…and get better at over time.

This step-by-step guide to creating a new venture shows you how to systematically analyze and determine:

• Who is your initial target market segment (Beachhead Market)
• What critical value you can create for your customer (Quantified Value Proposition)
• How your customer acquires your product/ solution (Decision-Making Process)
• How you make money from your solution (Unit Economics)
• How you should build your solution (Minimum Viable Business Product)
• How you scale your business (Product Plan for Follow-on Markets)
• And much, much more!

Since this book was initially released in 2013, it has changed the field of entrepreneurship. It has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, been translated to over two dozen different languages, used in hundreds of schools and other organizations, won numerous awards, and become the foundation for online courses taken by hundreds of thousands more across the globe. Most of all, it has helped create a new generation of millions of innovation-driven entrepreneurs.

This new Expanded and Updated Edition of Disciplined Entrepreneurship offers the wisdom of the original in a more concise fashion but also with updated examples and new developments in the field. It also integrates into one book key elements of the successful Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook as well as links to an online library of additional resources. If you are a first-time or repeat entrepreneur, this book, Disciplined Entrepreneurship, will help you take your game to the next level. Everyone has entrepreneurship in them, and this book will help bring it out.