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PROFESSOR: As we start
the process here,

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it's critically
important to remember

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what a business is all about.

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We're not trying to
win a science fair,

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we're not trying to win some
sort of intellectual debate.

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We are trying to
start a new venture.

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And when we think about a new
venture or a new business,

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it's important to
simplify this down.

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The single-- there is one single
and necessary and sufficient

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condition for a business-- one
single and necessary sufficient

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condition for a business.

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It is not a business plan.

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It is not a CEO.

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It's not a mission statement.

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It's not a product.

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It's not even some sort
of market analysis.

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The single necessary
and sufficient condition

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for a business is
a paying customer.

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Everything that we do in a
business drives to the point

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where we have a customer
that will give us money

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for our product, our offering.

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And that's very, very important.

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Sometimes I have
students that come in

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and say, let me
explain to you about

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my nano-oscillation
technology with carbon fiber

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tubing and the like.

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And I don't understand
what they're talking about,

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but I look through
their whole plan,

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and I don't see a very
important thing in their plan.

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I see it's going to
be a 100 times better

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than the current technology.

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It's going to reduce the cost
by 50% of power consumption.

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But I point out to
them is, you really

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need to speak to a
friend of mine that--

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and they say, who is that?

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A friend of mine whose
kid is in the business.

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And they say, what kind
of business is he in?

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I said, he's in a business
that takes lemons.

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They say, what does
he do with the lemons?

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I say, he squeezes
the lemons and he

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puts sugar and water in
it and he makes lemonade,

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and he gets someone
to pay them for it.

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And he said, [INAUDIBLE],
what are you talking about?

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Are you insulting me?

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No.

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I'm trying to make
a key point here

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is-- until you get
a paying customer,

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you do not have a business.

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So it's not about how
great your technology is.

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It's not about how
wonderful your idea is.

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It's not about how well you
write your business plan

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or whatever else you do.

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It's about getting
paying customers,

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and getting many of
them, and doing so

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in a profitable manner.

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So that's what we're
going to focus on here.

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We're going to start
with the customer

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and we're going to build
the business back from that.