An article we liked from Thought Leader Alok Nandan, PhD of First Rays Venture Partners:

Founder's Guide to Customer Development - 🔥GPT edition🔥

A lot has changed since I wrote one of these. I wanted to revisit some of these insights from the previous series (Part 1, Part 2, AI-edition, COVID-edition) – in the brave new world of AI.

For founders, as part of the idea maze of navigating the category creation vs existing category question, customer development is a key activity. This is a key piece that founders should not take shortcuts (especially if you don’t come from the industry/domain). LinkedIn is your friend but you need to know how to craft a LinkedIn message that customers appreciate and more importantly, respond to.

💯 If you can master the art of cold outreach, the world is your oyster.

Here’s a suggested structure for sending emails on LinkedIn with regards to customer development.

1. Customer Development

• Subject: Research//Reference//Share Insight//RequestResearch: An opening that shows you have done your homework and that this is not a COLD call.

• Reference: Refer to other clients/people you talked to that have had a similar experience and what they did. Human beings value social proof a lot

• Share Insight: Offer value, such as a link to some blog or white paper

• Request: Offer to share more insights and ask for a meeting or a phone conversation.

• I have listed some other best practices in my previous blog.

💡GPT note: Each of these steps are…

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