#1 Testing business ideas and creating a culture of discovery | David Bland, author of Testing Business Ideas

Today's guest is the one and only David Bland, author of the bestselling book Testing Business Ideas co-written with Alexander Osterwalder and part of Strategyzer's book series. David is one of my biggest references in Product. His work, combined with Teresa Torres, is such a potent cocktail for anyone wanting to build better products and discover value more effectively. One of the things I love about David's work is his emphasis on evidence-based decision-making and how practical he made it for teams to adopt this mindset.We talked about: * How to map your assumptions and which risks to consider first* Why working collaboratively and across various areas of the business is so important when testing desirability, viability, and feasibility* Why you should start discovery with a small and 100% dedicated team, and expand as you generate evidence* How desirability and viability are intertwined, and how to go about de-risking it* How to frame hypotheses* How to evolve your evidence from what customers say to what they do (going beyond interviews and surveys)* How to sequence experiments and get the right balance between running 1 experiment and planning ahead* How to test willingness to pay* Characteristics of high-performing teams doing discovery * The importance of time-boxing and connecting it with how the company makes decisions and approaches funding* How leaders can foster a culture of discovery* And more  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com