Comments on: A Zero Budget Customer Advisory Board http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html by April Dunford Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:09:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Gary May http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-7585 Gary May Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:15:23 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-7585 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">RT @girimedia: A great article from @aprildunford http://goo.gl/9yq7f on a zero budget customer advisory board> A great tool for #sta ...</span></span> RT @girimedia: A great article from @aprildunford http://goo.gl/9yq7f on a zero budget customer advisory board> A great tool for #sta …

]]> By: James Stayton http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-7582 James Stayton Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:12:46 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-7582 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">A great article from @aprildunford http://goo.gl/9yq7f on a zero budget customer advisory board> A great tool for #startups</span></span> A great article from @aprildunford http://goo.gl/9yq7f on a zero budget customer advisory board> A great tool for #startups

]]> By: Eric Hannon http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4349 Eric Hannon Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:32:11 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4349 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">RT @aprildunford: A Zero Budget Customer Advisory Board http://bit.ly/9nO1qk</span></span> RT @aprildunford: A Zero Budget Customer Advisory Board http://bit.ly/9nO1qk

]]> By: aprildunford http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4321 aprildunford Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:47:35 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4321 Hi Sean, Thanks so much for the comment. I think you are right in that the company is going to have to sift through feedback and weigh what they hear from individuals with what they hear multiple times. As far as having a group get together to come to a consensus on a feature or a roadmap issue, I would be very wary of that. I think boards are a great way to go deep on customer problems, but the company has to own making decisions about the solution. We've asked customers for feedback on product but we've steered clear of any sort of "what should we do" sorts of conversations because there are so many other factors to consider (funding, talent, longer term direction) that you can't always share with customer that will have a big impact on the product decisions you make. The board focuses more on getting a deeper understanding of customer problems, the market, customer environments, etc., than it is on the company's product. That doesn't mean there isn't value in getting product feedback in a forum like that, it's just not what we've been focused on in the boards I've run. April Hi Sean,
Thanks so much for the comment.
I think you are right in that the company is going to have to sift through feedback and weigh what they hear from individuals with what they hear multiple times.
As far as having a group get together to come to a consensus on a feature or a roadmap issue, I would be very wary of that. I think boards are a great way to go deep on customer problems, but the company has to own making decisions about the solution. We’ve asked customers for feedback on product but we’ve steered clear of any sort of “what should we do” sorts of conversations because there are so many other factors to consider (funding, talent, longer term direction) that you can’t always share with customer that will have a big impact on the product decisions you make.
The board focuses more on getting a deeper understanding of customer problems, the market, customer environments, etc., than it is on the company’s product. That doesn’t mean there isn’t value in getting product feedback in a forum like that, it’s just not what we’ve been focused on in the boards I’ve run.
April

]]> By: Sean Murphy http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4304 Sean Murphy Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:13:55 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4304 A Customer Advisory Board can provide a startup several different kinds of insight, but one of the most important is that affords them a chance to take part in a conversation among customers. I have seen small advisory groups work by telephone/skype (four to eight customers) and they have the advantage of enabling customers to negotiate with each other over feature definition and roadmap priorities. One way to help with traffic control on a conference call is to add a text chat that allows folks to add comments or "raise their hand to speak." In the model you propose I worry that the startup will get bounced between the naturally occurring conflicting inputs from different customers when they would be better served to facilitate a conversation between key customers over direction. Obviously there is also value in private conversation with key customers, which any B2B startup should be doing as a matter of course. I think there is a similar value to fostering these same kinds of serious conversations between other advisory boards a startup may have: e.g. technical or business advisory boards. Allocating some time for your advisors to interact and come to a rough working consensus is a useful complement to individual conversations. A Customer Advisory Board can provide a startup several different kinds of insight, but one of the most important is that affords them a chance to take part in a conversation among customers. I have seen small advisory groups work by telephone/skype (four to eight customers) and they have the advantage of enabling customers to negotiate with each other over feature definition and roadmap priorities. One way to help with traffic control on a conference call is to add a text chat that allows folks to add comments or “raise their hand to speak.”

In the model you propose I worry that the startup will get bounced between the naturally occurring conflicting inputs from different customers when they would be better served to facilitate a conversation between key customers over direction.

Obviously there is also value in private conversation with key customers, which any B2B startup should be doing as a matter of course.

I think there is a similar value to fostering these same kinds of serious conversations between other advisory boards a startup may have: e.g. technical or business advisory boards. Allocating some time for your advisors to interact and come to a rough working consensus is a useful complement to individual conversations.

]]> By: aprildunford http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4279 aprildunford Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:32:33 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4279 Hi Jennifer, Thanks so much for the comment (and sorry it took so long for me to publish it, it was caught in my spam filter I have no idea why). Thanks for adding your experiences with your board! That's a great point about having a good moderator. A good one can really enhance the tone of the discussion as well as keep things on track. April Hi Jennifer,
Thanks so much for the comment (and sorry it took so long for me to publish it, it was caught in my spam filter I have no idea why).
Thanks for adding your experiences with your board! That’s a great point about having a good moderator. A good one can really enhance the tone of the discussion as well as keep things on track.
April

]]> By: Rick O'Connor http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4276 Rick O'Connor Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:03:13 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4276 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">RT @aprildunford: A Zero Budget Customer Advisory Board http://bit.ly/9nO1qk</span></span> RT @aprildunford: A Zero Budget Customer Advisory Board http://bit.ly/9nO1qk

]]> By: Anuradha Sridharan http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4236 Anuradha Sridharan Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:13:38 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4236 <span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">Very useful article RT @aprildunford: A Zero Budget Customer Advisory Board http://bit.ly/9nO1qk</span></span> Very useful article RT @aprildunford: A Zero Budget Customer Advisory Board http://bit.ly/9nO1qk

]]> By: aprildunford http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4233 aprildunford Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:46:29 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4233 Hi Brendon, That's a good question and I'm not sure I have a good answer. In the advisory boards I've run in the past where we were doing face to face meetings I did have competitors together in the room and it didn't seem to be too much of an issue as long as they knew ahead of time that each of them were going to be part of the board. The members were CIO's so that might have had something to do with it - I would guess line of business execs would be more hesitant to openly talk about things in a room with competitors. If there is an issue with your customers you might need to structure it more like the example I give above and meet with the customers separately. Hope that helps - and thanks a lot for the comment! April Hi Brendon,
That’s a good question and I’m not sure I have a good answer. In the advisory boards I’ve run in the past where we were doing face to face meetings I did have competitors together in the room and it didn’t seem to be too much of an issue as long as they knew ahead of time that each of them were going to be part of the board. The members were CIO’s so that might have had something to do with it – I would guess line of business execs would be more hesitant to openly talk about things in a room with competitors.
If there is an issue with your customers you might need to structure it more like the example I give above and meet with the customers separately.
Hope that helps – and thanks a lot for the comment!
April

]]> By: Brendan http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/2010/07/a-zero-budget-customer-advisory-council.html/comment-page-1#comment-4232 Brendan Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:30:48 +0000 http://www.rocketwatcher.com/?p=1769#comment-4232 Great tips... I have been trying to implement a CAB for some time but keep getting push back. This gives me some great ideas on how I can frame my discussion. Do you have any suggestions on running a CAB when your customers compete against one another in a B2B2C environment? Huge fan of your blog! Thanks for the post. Great tips… I have been trying to implement a CAB for some time but keep getting push back. This gives me some great ideas on how I can frame my discussion.

Do you have any suggestions on running a CAB when your customers compete against one another in a B2B2C environment?

Huge fan of your blog! Thanks for the post.

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