Nascent Startups 🪺 Podcast

About Nascent Startups 🪺 Podcast

Nascent is a strategy for startups with no customers -- a methodology for founders to decide within days (not years!) whether their idea is an opportunity worth pursuing. nascentidea.com (https://nascentidea.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Mike Vladimer

Category

technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Feb 2024

Latest episode

5 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

39 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Oct 2026

   034: An interview on how to find valuable Pain with Bill Albert from Greenlight Idea Lab

   In this episode, I interviewed Bill Albert, the founder of Greenlight Idea Lab, who helps vet ideas for new business creation. Bill has spent over 25 years in UX and product. He co-authored Measuring the User Experience and co-edits the Journal of User Experience. After years of making products easier to use, Bill grew frustrated by products that people had no reason to use in the first place. Now he focuses on an earlier question: is this problem worth building a product for? Bill and I share an obsession with Pain, but we measure it differently. Bill triangulates across five criteria: severity, frequency, prevalence, no other options and urgency. A problem worth solving needs to clear most of these hurdles. We analyze Bill's framework, apply it to a Keurig-style cocktail machine and dig into why a rare Pain like a tornado can still be worth solving. In this episode: (00:00) Cold open: a party foul on a boat (00:38) Meet Bill Albert from Greenlight Idea Lab (01:41) Why Bill shifted from usability to usefulness (05:44) Drinkworks: easy to use, but why would anyone use it? (10:54) How do we measure whether a problem is worth solving? (12:00) Five criteria: severity, frequency, prevalence, other options and urgency (17:33) Tornadoes: a rare Pain can still be worth solving (20:13) Putting a dollar number on severity (23:40) Bill's takeaway: talk to your customers early and often Are you new to the Nascent podcast? This post (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/programming-update-monthly-podcasts) provides context and a starting point. Let's connect: Newsletter: https://nascentstartups.com (https://nascentstartups.com) Miro board with visuals and frameworks: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVGhU2Xoo=/ (https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVGhU2Xoo=/) Work with Mike: https://nascentidea.com (https://nascentidea.com) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevladimer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevladimer) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NascentIdea (https://www.youtube.com/@NascentIdea) Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5BtFtYF6nVUkLu7d7VVnSY (https://open.spotify.com/show/5BtFtYF6nVUkLu7d7VVnSY) Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nascent-startups-podcast/id1728760830 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nascent-startups-podcast/id1728760830) Twitter: https://x.com/NascentIdea (https://x.com/NascentIdea) Reach Mike at Podcast@NascentIdea.com About Bill Albert: Bill Albert (https://www.linkedin.com/in/walbert) on LinkedIn Greenlight Idea Lab (https://www.greenlightidealab.com/) Measuring the User Experience (https://shop.elsevier.com/books/measuring-the-user-experience/albert/978-0-12-818080-8) (3rd edition) Links and sources: The Drinkworks ending (https://www.fooddive.com/news/keurig-for-cocktails-abruptly-decides-to-shutter-operations/611684/) Nascent Ep032 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/032-yes-we-can-value-startup-ideas): Yes, we can value startup ideas in dollars. Behavioral economics and psychology are the key. Nascent Ep033 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/033-yes-talking-about-customers-harms): Yes, talking about "customers" harms most founders. Instead, identify "bank accounts" of Pain.

2. 

   7 Sept 2026

   033: Yes, talking about "customers" harms most founders. Instead, identify "bank accounts" of Pain.

   I hate it when a founder says they "talked to customers about a startup idea". If a startup is just an idea, then how can it also have customers? Sloppy language leads to sloppy thinking, which drives the most common outcome for startups: a founder wasting a year on an idea that was never going to get customers. The perspective of Nascent is that a startup is a project in creating new knowledge and that founders of startups with no customers need an accurate way to describe their audience: People in Pain™. Previously, Episode 032 presented how to convert emotions of People in Pain into dollar values. Here in Episode 033, we extend that framework to mean that People in Pain have a "bank account" in the currency of the problem that the startup will solve. Founders can use the People-to-Prospect Funnel™ to filter out the people unaffected by the problem — Blockers and Distractions — who have no bank account at all. This framework allows founders to better identify relevant interviewees and more quickly improve their startup idea. In this episode: (00:00) The cognitive dissonance of calling everyone a "customer" (01:44) The Lean Startup book has at least 4 meanings for the word "customer" (02:31) Examples of "customer" on pages 43, 51 and 121 of Lean Startup (04:08) What's earlier? Every customer starts as a Person in Pain (05:32) The People-to-Prospect Funnel reveals who founders should focus on (06:48) An example: The food cart pod (08:01) Bank accounts in the currency of your startup's problem (08:59) An example: an AI app for homeowners (09:41) For People with a "bank account", how much is in it? Are you new to the Nascent podcast? This post (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/programming-update-monthly-podcasts) provides context and a starting point. Let's connect: Newsletter: https://nascentstartups.com (https://nascentstartups.com) Miro board with visuals and frameworks: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVGhU2Xoo=/ (https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVGhU2Xoo=/) Work with Mike: https://nascentidea.com (https://nascentidea.com) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevladimer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevladimer) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NascentIdea (https://www.youtube.com/@NascentIdea) Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5BtFtYF6nVUkLu7d7VVnSY (https://open.spotify.com/show/5BtFtYF6nVUkLu7d7VVnSY) Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nascent-startups-podcast/id1728760830 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nascent-startups-podcast/id1728760830) Twitter: https://x.com/NascentIdea (https://x.com/NascentIdea) Reach Mike at Podcast@NascentIdea.com Links and sources: Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898) Nascent Ep022 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/022-yes-search-for-people-in-pain): Yes, search for People in Pain. But they're invisible. Nascent Ep025 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/025-no-searching-for-people-in-pain): No, searching for People in Pain is not marketing Nascent Ep028 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/028-yes-the-easiest-way-to-analyze): Yes, the easiest way to analyze discovery interviews is with the Yardstick of Pain. Nascent Ep027 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/027-no-dont-interpret-discovery-interviews): No, don't interpret discovery interviews by feel. Nascent Ep032 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/032-yes-we-can-value-startup-ideas): Yes, we can value startup ideas in dollars. Nascent frameworks referenced: People in Pain™ — The first signal a startup might have a customer. Every customer starts as a Person in Pain. People-to-Prospect Funnel™ — Maps the journey from all humans down to the few who might become a startup's first customers. Introduced in Ep022 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/022-yes-search-for-people-in-pain), detailed in Ep025. Blockers — People the problem simply doesn't apply to. The hay in the haystack. Distractions — People who don't have the problem but encourage you to build the solution anyway. They will never pay, so their encouragement is a false signal. Yardstick of Pain™ — A three-bucket emotional scale (hurting, fine, joyous) that founders use to categorize interviewees. Introduced in Ep027 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/027-no-dont-interpret-discovery-interviews).

3. 

   10 Aug 2026

   032: Yes, we can value startup ideas in dollars. Behavioral economics and psychology are the key.

   How valuable is your startup idea? Nascent is a measurement strategy for startups with no customers. This episode presents a crucial step in valuing an idea: connecting the emotions revealed in customer discovery interviews to willingness to pay, measured in dollars. To do this, Nascent applies concepts from behavioral economics and psychology: status quo bias, loss aversion and drive reduction theory. These concepts map to Nascent's Yardstick of Pain™ and allow founders to assign a value of $1, $0 and -$1 to interviewees. This quantification scheme enables founders to be decisive about their startup idea in days, instead of years. In this episode: (00:00) Measuring public companies vs startups with no customers (05:00) Behavioral economics: prospect theory, status quo bias and loss aversion (06:30) Kahneman's value function maps onto the Yardstick of Pain (07:57) Psychology: drive reduction theory; primary and secondary drives (11:19) Nascent's three-step process for monetizing pain (12:11) Mapping emotions to dollars: $1, $0 and -$1 (14:27) People who are fine or joyous are valuable counterexamples Are you new to the Nascent podcast? This post (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/programming-update-monthly-podcasts) provides context and a starting point. Let's connect: Newsletter: https://nascentstartups.com (https://nascentstartups.com) Miro board with visuals and frameworks: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVGhU2Xoo=/ (https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVGhU2Xoo=/) Work with Mike: https://nascentidea.com (https://nascentidea.com) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevladimer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevladimer) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NascentIdea (https://www.youtube.com/@NascentIdea) Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5BtFtYF6nVUkLu7d7VVnSY (https://open.spotify.com/show/5BtFtYF6nVUkLu7d7VVnSY) Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nascent-startups-podcast/id1728760830 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nascent-startups-podcast/id1728760830) Twitter: https://x.com/NascentIdea (https://x.com/NascentIdea) Reach Mike at Podcast@NascentIdea.com Links and sources: Nascent Ep031 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/031-yes-every-product-is-a-pain-relief): Yes, every product is a Pain-relief device. Only "hurting" people might pay money for products. Nascent Ep027 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/027-no-dont-interpret-discovery-interviews): No, don't interpret discovery interviews by feel. Nascent Ep028 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/028-yes-the-easiest-way-to-analyze): Yes, the easiest way to analyze discovery interviews is with the Yardstick of Pain. Nascent Ep019 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/019-the-next-100-episodes-on-nascent): The next 100 episodes on Nascent methodology. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374533555 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374533555) Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky on prospect theory: https://faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/nehring/teaching/econ106/readings/kahneman-tversky-prospect-theory-B.pdf (https://faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/nehring/teaching/econ106/readings/kahneman-tversky-prospect-theory-B.pdf) Drive reduction theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_reduction_theory_(learning_theory) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_reduction_theory_(learning_theory)) Alphabet 2025 full-year results: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204426000012/googexhibit991q42025.htm (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204426000012/googexhibit991q42025.htm) Alphabet reaches a $4 trillion market capitalization: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/alphabet-4-trillion-market-cap.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/alphabet-4-trillion-market-cap.html) Spirit Airlines 2025 results: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1498710/000095010325003231/dp226099_ex9902.htm (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1498710/000095010325003231/dp226099_ex9902.htm) Spirit Airlines market capitalization: https://companiesmarketcap.com/spirit-airlines/marketcap/ (https://companiesmarketcap.com/spirit-airlines/marketcap/) Nascent frameworks referenced: People in Pain™ — The first signal a startup might have a customer. Every customer starts as a Person in Pain. Yardstick of Pain™ — A three-bucket emotional scale (hurting, fine, joyous) that founders use to categorize interviewees. Introduced in Ep027 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/027-no-dont-interpret-discovery-interviews). ERNY value — Estimated Revenue Next Year from the ground up with no customers today, calculated by analyzing recorded discovery interviews. Introduced in Ep019 (https://www.nascentstartups.com/p/019-the-next-100-episodes-on-nascent). Quantified Pain Graph (QPG) — A data visualization where interviewees are plotted on the x-axis and their pain in dollars on the y-axis. Coming in a future episode.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 27 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

30

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

60

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