A Minimum Viable Product That Works

A Minimal Viable Product that worksHow to set your goals, test your assumptions and not waste your time

Olga Pavlovsky @Lplatebigcheese Bootstrap Seminars 21 October 2014

Why are you here?

Why do you need a product?

How much money do you have to invest in the

product?

Your Goal

Why are you doing this, really? !What do you want from your life? !What is your long term goal? !!!Does having a product company (or a High Growth Tech Startup) really get you to your LONG TERM goal?

I am assuming your short term goal is: to create and launch a product that people love and allows you to

build a revenue generating company.

Please: sit back and think about the idea you have for your

company and product. !

Apply the rest of this presentation to that idea.

My argument: Don’t build one MVP. !

Create MVP1. Prove the concept. Build MVP2. Make money.

!

Your steps to reaching the goal

!1. Create something you can SHOW to people !2. Get an OPINION on whether you have a business idea that solves a real problem !3. Set the list of prioritised features for your product !4. Create the first product that solves just enough of your target clients’ pain !5. Make money

The to do list!1. Create something you can SHOW to people Action: create MVP1. !2. Get an OPINION on whether you have a business idea that solves a real problemAction: go and speak with people about MVP1. Gather REAL data. !Go / No-Go decision !3. Set the list of prioritised features for your product Action: process the information gathered from speaking with people. !4. Create the first product that solves just enough of your target clients’ pain Action: create MVP2. !5. Make money Action: launch and grow MVP2.

What are you NOT trying to do?

Your non-goals

!1. Waste time !2. Waste money !3. Fail for completely avoidable reasons because you are listening to your social conditioning, bad advice from people who don’t know what they’re talking about or just forgetting your goals.

Your non-to do list

!1. Waste time Don’t: sit around thinking and not creating something to show. !2. Waste money Don’t: build too much or the wrong thing. !3. Fail for completely avoidable reasons because you are listening to your social conditioning, bad advice from people who don’t know what they’re talking about or just forgetting your goals. Don’t: just think this is going to be easy. You need to be on your toes at all times.

The most common mistakes I see founders making!1. Wasting time Not concentrating on the project full time, or directing energy into the wrong activities. !2. Wasting moneyHiding behind the creation of a product and not speaking to anyone. !3. Failing for completely avoidable reasons Mistake: getting defensive about problems raised by users, Mistake: not listening to the real data, Mistake: getting too emotional. !Remember: the goal of MVP1 is to gather REAL DATA and OPINION fast. !Then, proceed only if you feel you’re genuinely on a positive track.

Why can I help you?

[insert life story here]

Lessons you can learn from my life lessons

!1. Don’t waste time If you’re in the right place at the right time, act. !2. Don’t waste money Sell, from day 1. Don’t ever act like money grows on trees. It doesn’t. !3. Don’t fail for completely avoidable reasons. • Use. Real. Data. • Only stop when you get the right answer. • Trust your intuition (System 2 becomes System 1). Book: Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.

Some of the world thinks on similar lines!!The best things to read - priceless books: ! “The Four Steps to the Epiphany” - Steve Blank ! “Lean Startup” - Eric Reis ! “Traction” - Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares ! “Dream, Design, Surf “- Marcelo Bravo

And !

There’s one more thing.

Where are you now?

Where are you now?

What will happen if you start building right now, with only the information you have so far about your users?

Success is a process

But it all start out with the MVP (1 & 2)

Strategising is your friend Design in your friend Planning is your friend !BUT !Time waits for no man !And “if I had more time I would have written a shorter letter”

Your MVP is not a stand-alone project. It’s just a leg of the journey (a critical one). !!Today: build Tetris. !When you’re rich: build Grand Theft Auto V.

Now: the formula. !

How to research, design and build your MVP in record time

At Imaginary Cloud, we believe that the process of product creation has 5 key steps Completing each of these steps in the right order provides the greatest chance of your product being a success: high quality, on time and on budget.

The Product Design Process addresses the “Concept” stage of the product creation journey and delivering you the full design conceptAfter completing this successfully you will be able to move on to the “Strategy” phase, knowing that you have tested and validated your product assumptions with an expert design and development team.

CONCEPT STRATEGY DESIGN BUILD GROWCONCEPT STRATEGY DESIGN BUILD GROW

The Product Design ProcessConcept !Research 1. Industry research (benchmark) 2. User research Strategy 3. Value proposition and your features list Design 4. User journeys 5. Mood-board 6. Design 7. Technology & project plan !Build 8. Implementation !… and then Grow

The Product Design Process The small print

Each step is: - essential - dependent on those prior- needs to be managed against your goals !!Your goal at the end of this entire process: a completed MVP2 or diversion of attention to another project.

1. Industry benchmark

What are all the alternatives? Where is the gap? (and… is there a gap?)

2. User research

Who are your target clients/customer? Early adopters? What are their motivations? What is their top problem?

3. Value PropositionWhat is the value proposition for your target users? Which one is the easiest to deliver and attracts the right people?

This is the best tool I have seen to help you do this

3. Value Proposition = Feature ListPLEASE LISTEN CAREFULLY

!!The Value Proposition is delivered through one, or a number of features. !Each feature can do one, or more, of the following things: 1. Acquisition 2. Retention 3. Revenue 4. Remarkability !Each feature takes time to create. !So, using your prior research, you need to: - define the real value proposition - identity the features that deliver this, or parts of it - prioritise them

3. The method for prioritising you featuresVALUE

PROPOSITION Specific to this

audience

GOALS to activate the value

proposition

LOCATION of user when needing your product’s help

to achieve goal

PROCESS What steps must user

take to achieve goal?

EXPERIENCE How can you make each of

those processes

really simple?

FEATURE What’s the

feature you’re going to build?

Acquisition Retention Revenue Remarkability #

Audience 1

(Name)

Goal 1

Device(s) in use:

Goal 2

Device(s) in use:

Goal 3

Device(s) in use:

(C) Imaginary Cloud 2014

3. Value Proposition -> prioritised feature list

3. Prioritised feature list = closing this

4. User journeys

What do your users need to do to “get” the value proposition? Can you shorten and simplify this? What can users get in one click?

CATALOG | COLLECTED COVVERS

CATALOG | COLLECTED COVVERS

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Sharing optionsPrivate | Public

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Edit Covver

CREATE | CATALOG | DISCOVER | STORE

Account Name | Inbox

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Name

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ADD TO MY ACCOUNT

CREATE ACCOUNT | SIGN UP

CATALOG ONE-VIEWCREATION TOOL

Owner's view

User 1 shareswith user 2

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Name

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ADD INSIDE PAGES

CREATE | CATALOG | DISCOVER | STOREAccount Name | Inbox

Toolbar V2

User 1creates

User 1view

User 2Add to account

Visitor's view

5. Moodboard

Really useful, especially for helping you pitch your vision. !!Honestly, if done efficiently, this is ample time won.

6. Graphic Design

Option 1: design the interfaces and make them “work” Sell the vision and help people imagine their problem is being solved

6. Graphic DesignOption 2 !Design a Brochure Use a company such as Hippoprint to create a small print sample of physical brochures. !!Option 3 !Design a landing page with great content and a way for people to express their interest Use Launchrock, or other templates.

!Work fast. Be pragmatic.But remember, your message must be clear and brilliantly expressed to ensure people understand the concept.

6. Graphic Design: Tools for mock upsThere are literally hundreds of tools which can help you create sketches and wireframes which are “interactive”. !You need to choose one which matches your team capabilities and needs: !Ask: 1. Will I, or a qualified designer be using it? 2. Will I be doing this for the web or mobile? 3. Will I be branding it, or just telling a nice story? 4. Will the OPINIONS I gather from MVP1 help me decide to move onto

MPV2 where I gather real data by trying to sell people something? !

Now that MVP1 is complete…1. Set your assumptions Do people really have the problem you’re convinced is there? How do they solve it now? Would they pay to solve it? How much would they pay to solve it? Observe: who will actually pay to solve it? !!Survey as many people as possible. What is statistically significant to you? !Be honest with yourself about the results. !

If all goes well, if you prove your assumptions with real information… !Then GO TO MVP2

If you have doubts, confront them now. And act now.

7. Technology and project planThis is for MVP2 where you want to actually put something on the web or on mobile and get people to part with their time and cash. !You need to be aware of the following stack in software: !!!!!!!!!!!!Make the right choice given your confidence in the idea following MVP1, your team’s technical capabilities and financial circumstances

Product   (Shopify)

Super  fast Very  rigid

Framework  (Ruby  on  Rails)

Speeds  you  up Flexible  for  a  defined  purpose

Language  (Ruby)

Pretty  slow Completely  flexible

8. Technical implementationThis is a whole other subject… !There’s a whole body of literature out there - please do your research. !!But the basics: !1. Find someone who knows what they’re doing. !2. Check that they really do know what they’re doing. !3. Keep on checking they know what they’re doing. !!Beware of compromise - it will cost you later.

Launch and Grow!!Not the subject of this talk… but a subject you must become expert in. This is now your full time job. !!!Please remember this book: !“Traction” by Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares

How much should you spend on MVPs?MVP1: keep it to a few hundred pounds at most. !MVP2: try to keep it to one month of development, or maximum of two. [NB if you have a CTO or are really approaching this with a solid understanding of technology, the architecture will take more time. But I strongly recommend your first features take just a month or two to build). !!Why should you keep the spend low? In my experience, two things usually happen: 1. You will throw the first product away 2. You will discover you could have done things much, much more simply than you did, and you’ll change a lot. !!!!

How much do real people spend?I have observed that there is a calculation that can be done to see if your MVP costs are aligned with your place in the product’s journey. !!MVP cost = customer expectations + idea confidence + circumstances !!£2,000 = (huge problem, low expectations) + (founder new to market) + (needs investment to continue building product) !!£100,000 = (customers are CEOs of banks) + (founder has excellent connections) + (founder has cash to invest) !In both cases, it took about 12 months of full time work from day 1 for the businesses to be self-sufficient (i.e. allowing the founders to focus on them full time)

If you take away just three things today, please make it these:

Our friend, the design lozenge

The method for prioritising featuresVALUE

PROPOSITION Specific to this

audience

GOALS to activate the value

proposition

LOCATION of user when needing your product’s help

to achieve goal

PROCESS What steps must user

take to achieve goal?

EXPERIENCE How can you make each of

those processes

really simple?

FEATURE What’s the

feature you’re going to build?

Acquisition Retention Revenue Remarkability #

Audience 1

(Name)

Goal 1

Device(s) in use:

Goal 2

Device(s) in use:

Goal 3

Device(s) in use:

(C) Imaginary Cloud 2014

And build Tetris

not GTA V

Thank you!

@Lplatebigcheese Olga Pavlovsky

COO, @Imaginary_Cloud