1. Step 5: Persona for your Beachhead Market

2. How to choose and profile your Persona More than just an exercise
Outline
Overview
How to choose and profile your Persona
More than just an exercise
Multiple personas?
Workshop
December 2, 2018

3. Choose one end user from one potential customer to be Persona
Overview
Choose one end user from one potential customer to be Persona
Build detailed description of that real person
Make Persona visible to all in new venture
Will serve as ongoing reference
December 2, 2018

4. Developing a Persona is unifying step
Overview
Developing a Persona is unifying step
End User Profile – a composite of a person that represents target customer
Persona – a person who represents primary customer from beachhead market
December 2, 2018

5. All team members have clarity and focus on same goal
Overview
Persona- one end user that represents one potential customer who best exemplifies your beachhead market
Process of defining Persona for beachhead market makes target customer more concrete
All team members have clarity and focus on same goal
Better than just guessing based on abstractions
December 2, 2018

6. Persona- must be a real person, not a composite or abstraction
Overview
Persona- must be a real person, not a composite or abstraction
Choose an actual end user as Persona
No room for second-guessing
Can ask them directly
No one person will represent 100% of characteristics for ALL end users
But defining Persona helps immensely
Help develop product for this Persona
December 2, 2018

7. How to choose and profile your Persona More than just an exercise
Outline
Overview
How to choose and profile your Persona
More than just an exercise
Multiple personas?
Workshop
December 2, 2018

8. How to choose and profile Persona
Very important step / exercise
Must involve everyone on team
Look to answer this question:
If I had only one end user to represent our End User Profile, who would it be?
December 2, 2018

9. How to choose and profile Persona
Prepare a fact sheet about Persona
Include a drawing or photo of person
Include information:
Born
Raised
Education
Family
Age
Job
Income
...
December 2, 2018

10. How to choose and profile Persona
Prepare a fact sheet about Persona
Must be specific! E.g.,
Not “5-figure salary”, but “$65,000”
Not “lives in PacNW”, but “lives in Bend”
Use their real name …
Impossible to be too detailed!
December 2, 2018

11. How to choose and profile Persona
Most important: Persona’s prioritized purchasing criteria
Will dictate purchasing decisions
Top priority
Keeps them up at night
Fear the most
Gets most excited about
Critical to understand how customer prioritizes wants / needs
December 2, 2018

12. How to choose and profile Persona
Will want to interview your Persona
Open-ended conversation
Add info to fact sheet
Include non-verbal information
Pictures
Neatness …
December 2, 2018

13. How to choose and profile Persona
Post Persona on wall as constant reminder
Never forget the customer!!
Some startups make a cardboard cutout!
Jeff Bezos puts empty chair in important meetings (customer)
December 2, 2018

14. How to choose and profile your Persona More than just an exercise
Outline
Overview
How to choose and profile your Persona
More than just an exercise
Multiple personas?
Workshop
December 2, 2018

15. More than Just an Exercise
Value of Persona persists well beyond this step
Should be used to help guide decisions later
What features to drop? Prioritize?
What should our message be?
Where do we meet customers?
Who should we partner with? …
December 2, 2018

16. More than Just an Exercise
Persona should be precise and accurate
Correct any mistakes sooner rather than later
Creating a Persona is NOT a one-time event
Should be visible / accessible by ALL team members
Should be your team’s “north star”
December 2, 2018

17. How to choose and profile your Persona More than just an exercise
Outline
Overview
How to choose and profile your Persona
More than just an exercise
Multiple personas?
Workshop
December 2, 2018

18. Yes, but only when dealing w/ two-sided market
Multiple Personas?
Yes, but only when dealing w/ two-sided market
E.g., Ebay success requires both buyers and sellers
In general, resist the urge to create multiple Personas
Better to focus on one
Don’t need the extra distractions
Sometimes helpful to generate Personas that you will definitely NOT serve
December 2, 2018

19. How to choose and profile your Persona More than just an exercise
Outline
Overview
How to choose and profile your Persona
More than just an exercise
Multiple personas?
Workshop
December 2, 2018

20. Persona similar to End User Profile
Workshop
Persona similar to End User Profile
Except it’s one specific individual person
Much more in depth
Want a clear picture of target end user
Persona tells story of who your customer is
And why it matters that you are solving their pain
December 2, 2018

21. Important that Persona represents broader End User Profile
Workshop
Important that Persona represents broader End User Profile
Don’t take first willing person
Don’t choose someone from the team
Persona is a simple way to keep focus in right place
“keep the main thing the main thing”
December 2, 2018

22. Want someone in the “middle” of the end user bell curve Not an outlier
Workshop
Want someone in the “middle” of the end user bell curve
Not an outlier
December 2, 2018

23. General info on Persona Persona profile for beachhead market
Workshop
Worksheets
General info on Persona
Persona profile for beachhead market
Things to consider
Must be real person
Make it visual / omnipresent
Specificity is good (cannot have too much detail)
Team exercise
December 2, 2018

24. Workshop
December 2, 2018