In the book, The Startup Owner’s Manual, authors Steve Blank and Bob Dorf outlined 14 rules that make up The Customer Development Manifesto. The manifesto discussed the must-have elements for startups to follow and to avoid costly mistakes.

I also found another somewhat expanded list on Steve Blank’s website and thought to keep both lists close-by for the ease of search.

1. There Are No Facts Inside Your Building, So Get Outside.
2. Pair Customer Development with Agile Development
3. Failure is an Integral Part of the Search
4. Make Continuous Iterations and Pivots
5. No Business Plan Survives First Contact with Customers So Use a Business Model Canvas
6. Design Experiments and Test to Validate Your Hypotheses
7. Agree on Market Type. It Changes Everything
8. Startup Metrics Differ from Those in Existing Companies
9. Fast Decision-Making, Cycle Time, Speed and Tempo
10. It’s All About Passion
11. Startup Job Titles Are Very Different from a Large Company’s
12. Preserve All Cash Until Needed. Then Spend.
13. Communicate and Share Learning
14. Customer Development Success Begins with Buy-In