Valley of Death
The birth of the customer.
The Venture is in a fight for its survival and the way it will survive is to find customers - people or organizations who will pay for its product or service. Just as the founders co-created the Demo in the previous phase, so they now co-create the solution with the customer. This is a delicate dance as it will involve many changes to the Demo in order to become a viable product. In some cases, the initial Demo will be thrown away entirely. The Demo acts as a way to get the conversation going with the customer.
If possible, some Bootstrappers will find customers while still in the Ideation Phase.
Here again, there is a temptation to seek investor capital. However, the Bootstrapper knows that this will shift focus away from the critical dialogue with the key dance partner, the customer.
Key mantra: constraint creates innovation
This stage is similar to the Road of Trials as described by Joseph Campbell.
