Why startups absolutely MUST fake it till they make it

Feedback

Understand the existing experience

to design

solutions for improvement of people’s life

By now…

Problem validation

Identifying Early adopters

Finding Early adopters

Solution Validation

“ House renovation was a nightmare, the dust was everywhere.

It took a while to decide what and how I wanted to change in my

interior, but it took even longer to find professionals that were

available for work and could speak Dutch.”

So what’s the Problem?

Marion,

50 years old, happily married,

she has recently renovated their kitchen.

It’s never just one “problem”,

it’s a constellation of them.

The Constellation of Problems

is a summary of gaps & pains in current experience

Can’tcommunicate

Lackoftrust

Lackoftransparency

Toomuchhassle

Afraidtomakeawrongchoice

Focus on solving the most annoying problem that occurs more frequently

to maximize interactions with your customer (and gain customer Trust).

Feedback

Core Value?

First learn what’s needed to make your product a success

Feedback

Can you instead of providing the product start from manual service?

Concierge method helps you to learn HOW to solve customer’s problem

Start a product as a MANUAL service first

Feedback

In practice:

-  charge a customer for manually performing the service without any product development.

-  you can offer your service on a website, but all functions of the product are emulated manually.

Feedback

Benefits of Concierge:

ü  Collect invaluable data about what users want.

ü  Learn about the operational side.

ü Highly personalized approach, that is more

likely to delight your customers.

Feedback

ü Highly personalized approach, that is more likely to delight your customers.

And if it doesn’t then what are your chances with the “cold” online product?

Goals:

ü  Identify the core value;

ü  Learn about HOW to deliver it to your customers;

ü  Learn what users will pay for it.

Examples

Daily commuting together with customers to read them news out loud and learn about their habits, preferences and overall experience.

News reading app

ü  Matched customers with advisors & topical experts via video calling, afterwards asking to tip the expert if they find advice useful.

ü  Collected data on the most requested subjects, learned about customer’s decision making process.

Personal Shopping advisor (pivot after concierge!)

ü  Created personalized stories for kids together with their parents by adding kid’s friends names and photos into the story. ü  Measured progress (unlocking story after story) and collected

feedback.

ü  Talked to schools & parents. Arranged real life testing with kids. ü  Manually (via Skype) gave kids feedback on their reading skills,

cheering them up and helping to pronounce words correctly. ü  Learned which techniques work for kids to continue practicing

reading.

ü  Went to Retailers (mainly supermarkets), offered help with Company Assets Overview report. Collected feedback & currency.

ü  Learned about typical mistakes and problems, decision making process and potential gain creators.

ü  Tested hand-made solution with real firefighters. ü  Created a prototype and got 2 launching customers in The Netherlands within a few days.

ü  Tested the demand for Product Data consistency check throughout multiple online retailer websites.

ü  Manually delivered reports and collected currency.

Ask yourself:

•  How can we reach our early adopters?

•  Do they understand our Solution?

•  Does the Solution that we have in mind

actually solve their problem?

•  Will our Solution work in real life?

ü Test in context.

Requirements = Assumptions

We know = We Believe

Let’s build it = Let’s test it!

Goal is to learn, not to prove you are right.

Which tools to use to create prototypes?

Pop App

Proto.io

Marvel app

Adobe Muse

Pen & Paper

Powerpoint

Keynote

Axure

Invision

Which tools to use to create landing pages?

QuickMVP.com

Unbouncepages.com

Adobe Muse

Strikingly.com

Landerapp.com

Landingi.com

Launchrock.com

Images, videos & icons?

One source for all:

Allthefreestock.com

Daria Nepriakhina @epicantus daria@ideahackers.nl