---
title: "Venture Building Articles | Len P. van der Hof"
description: Strategy, experimentation and operating systems for building useful ventures that survive contact with customers.
image: "https://lenvanderhof.com/photos/len-portrait-1.jpg"
---

Category

# Venture Building

Strategy, experimentation and operating systems for building useful ventures that survive contact with customers.

Venture Building

## [Cialdini in the funnel: six levers, one honesty test](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/cialdini-in-the-funnel/)

Reciprocity is a real sample. A fake crowd is still a fake crowd. Name the lever, then keep it.

Len P. van der Hof10 September 2026

Venture Building

## [Downstream effects: why the real cost of a decision lands later, and somewhere else](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/downstream-effects/)

Every choice starts a river. Most teams only watch the first bend. This is the operator definition of downstream effects, and a method you can run this week.

Len P. van der Hof15 August 2026

Venture Building

## [A go-to-market system that survives the first ten customers](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/gtm-that-survives-ten-customers/)

The deck is a prior. The first customers are the reality-test. Write one sourced claim per name.

Len P. van der Hof20 August 2026

Venture Building

## [Kahneman for marketing: System 1 is not a permission slip](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/kahneman-for-marketing/)

Losses weigh more than matching gains in prospect theory. That is a description. It is not a brief to frighten the buyer.

Len P. van der Hof10 September 2026

Venture Building

## [Marketing nudges are choice architecture, not a growth hack](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/marketing-nudges-are-choice-architecture/)

The fruit at eye height is a decision. So is the pre-ticked box. Name it, or someone else already did.

Len P. van der Hof9 September 2026

Venture Building

## [Positioning is a decision, not a tagline](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/positioning-is-a-decision/)

If the homepage still fits the people you refused, it is a tagline.

Len P. van der Hof22 August 2026

Venture Building

## [Pricing psychology: a price is never a naked number](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/pricing-psychology/)

If the only lever is 'make it feel cheaper,' you do not have psychology. You have a trick looking for a page.

Len P. van der Hof17 September 2026

Venture Building

## [Second-order thinking audit: the first-order metric is green](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/second-order-thinking-audit/)

If you cannot name the later bill in the meeting, you do not have second-order thinking. You have optimism with a lag.

Len P. van der Hof4 September 2026

Venture Building

## [What are downstream effects?](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/what-are-downstream-effects/)

The first-order metric can be green. The cost still has to land somewhere.

Len P. van der Hof22 August 2026

Venture Building

## [What is a deal architect?](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/what-is-a-deal-architect/)

The visible number is rarely the deal. The options after signature are.

Len P. van der Hof6 September 2026

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