evidence-based entrepreneurship

By Eric Koester

BUILDING MVPS

Evidence-based Entrepreneurship

MVP Series Become an Evidence-Based Entrepreneur

Use Data to Make Key Early Startup Decisions Create your first Minimum Viable Product(s)

Welcome to the…

MVP SERIES Sept. 25 -- MVP 101: Lean Entrepreneur: Applying the principles

of lean Oct. 22 -- MVP 102: Creating a Minimum Viable Company: Lean

Naming, Lean Logoing and Lean Teaming Nov. 12 -- MVP 103: Building your MVP: How to create a product

without (or with minimal) technical skills Dec. 9 -- MVP 104: Workshop: Creating MVPs on Web and Mobile

Evidence Welcome to

Based Entrepreneurship

It works… The National Science Foundation has been running

a 2 year experiment of the effectiveness of this process.

The results? Control group - funding rate 18% I-Corps group - funding rate 60%

ERIC KOESTER I’m an Entrepreneur.

I’m going to be your Sherpa.

Hi. I’m

GET Let’s

Started

RECAP: MVP 101 & 102 1.  History of “Lean” and “Evidence Based Entrepreneurship” 2.  Tool #1: Idea Generation 3.  Tool #2: Customer Discovery 4.  Scientific Method 5.  Tool #3: Data Driven Decision-Making 6.  Tool #4: Using the Crowd

VIDEOS AVAILABLE AT: bit.ly/mvp102wksp

RECAP: Our Guts are Bad 1.  Lendvice #5

2.  Finance Keystone #3 3.  Fund Sourcer #4

4.  Directed Funding #2 5.  Capital Swift #1

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Preference -‐ Ranking

Lean Entrepreneurs Our tools:

1.  Idea Generation (MVP 101) 2.  Customer Discovery (MVP 101)

3.  Data-Driven Decision Making (MVP 102) 4.  Tapping the Crowd (MVP 102)

5.  Minimum Viable Products (MVP 103) 6.  Customer Development (MVP 104)

MVP 103 1.  What is an MVP? 2.  Tool #5: Minimum Viable Products 3.  Selecting the right MVP approach 4.  Example MVP Bonanza 5.  Volunteer?

Your Concept… Inspiration

Light Idea Validation Idea Selection

Customer Discovery Okay, Let’s Go

Setting the Stage You’ve settled on an initial concept // approach

You’ve hopefully talked to 40-50 potential customers You can clearly state the problem

You’ve researched competing solutions and don’t think they cut the mustard

You’ve got a decent theory about a unique solution You’ve got some good feedback from customers that they’d buy

MIMINAL? Is this…

VIABLE? A PRODUCT?

Taking the Leap “If you are not embarrassed by the first

version of your product, you've launched too late.”

- Reid Hoffman, founder LinkedIn.com // Partner Greylock

“UN”-MVP: The Point •  “Easy & Effective

Group Action” •  10 months developing

•  10 months backtracking

“UN”-MVP: The Point Andrew Mason…

Turned the concept into:

MVP (Money) Talks… “There’s a world of difference between talk and action. What your customers say, and what they

eventually do. At a certain point you’ve got to put the product in

their hands. And yes: ask money for it.” - ScaleMyBusiness.com

Taking the Leap (Smartly) “Build half a product, not a half-assed one.”

- Jason Fried, founder 37Signals (Basecamp)

MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCTS


The Minimum Viable Product

Pivot

Customer Discovery

Customer Validation

The smallest feature set that gets you the most… Orders… Learning… Feedback… Failure

The Minimum Viable Product

To Pivot (Try Again)

MVP: Your Test(s)

to Learn… To Continue On

Example MVPs Interviews * Reports * Consulting * Blogs * Email * Facebook Page * AdWords * Existing

Tools * Wordpress * Social Media

Zaarly MVPs Startup Weekend (Day 1) Startup Weekend (Day 2)

South by Southwest Social Media

Launch 1.0

Building It The smallest feature set that gets you

the most… Orders… Learning… Feedback… Failure

MVP APPROACH Selecting the right

Start with a Question What’s the biggest risk to this startup?

Where is my biggest assumption? Where could the user’s experience “break”?

1 2 3

DESCRIBE EXPERIENCE

PICK RISKIEST

IDENTIFY RISK

How does or could things work?

GOAL: Lay out a clear representation of the business process

1.

Describe Experience

Where are the places that look “challenging”:

•  Access •  Distribution •  Pricing •  Costs

•  Partnerships

GOAL: Get a list of “risk” or “pinch” points that seem like a challenge.

2.

Identify Risk

Find the spot where things might “break”: •  Can you sell it?

•  Can you distribute it? •  Can you build it? •  Can you get the data?

GOAL: Figure out the place that makes you the most uncomfortable

3.

Pick Riskiest

Business Model Canvas

Business Model Canvas Collection of Hypotheses

Collection of Assumptions Test them

1. VP/TM – 2. Everything Else

Test What

Should You Run?

Lots of MVPs… 1.  Interviews

2.  Sketches/Mockups 3.  Adwords Campaign

4.  Explainer Video 5.  Competitor Usability Tests

6.  Landing Page 7.  Existing Tools or Hacks

(Etsy, Ebay, Amazon) 8.  Concierge MVP

9.  Wizard of Oz MVP 10.  Blog First / Wordpress

11.  Email List 12.  Crowdfunding

13.  Other (Gumroad, Social Media, Etc.)

Organizing MVPs 1. Coverage: The number of reached customers. (An

interview is done with few people, an Ad-Words campaign may reach thousands).

2. Product Fidelity: How similar is the MVP to the end product? (A software prototype has a higher fidelity

than a paper mockup). Source: Stefan Roock

Organization of MVPs

Picking a Strategy Early On: Low Coverage & Low Fidelity

Head Nodding: Higher Coverage OR Fidelity Good Results: Flip It

Wow, this Might Work: Go Up & Right

Where Do You Fit?

EXAMPLE MVP **BONANZA**


Lets Dive In… 1.  Interviews

2.  Sketches/Mockups 3.  Adwords Campaign

4.  Landing Page 5.  Explainer Video

6.  Competitor Usability Tests 7.  Existing Tools or Hacks

(Shopify, Etsy, Ebay, Amazon)

8.  Concierge MVP 9.  Wizard of Oz MVP

10.  Blog First / Wordpress 11.  Email List

12.  Crowdfunding 13.  Other (Gumroad, Social

Media, Etc.)

Interviews Meet Steve Blank

(The Guru of Customer Discovery Interviewing)

Udacity “How to Start a Startup” SteveBlank.com

Sketches/Mockups -  Powerpoint

-  Excel -  Skitch -  Adobe

-  Balsamic -  Paper (iPad)

-  InvisionApp (Mobile) -  Wordpress

Try Paper & Pencil?

Adwords Campaign Run an Ad (Adwords or Facebook)

Measure click-through/conversion rates

Answer this question: How much would it cost to get a customer?

Landing Pages

Landing Pages Build It (Fast). Craft your landing page (Launchrock?)

Google AdWord. Run campaigns and drive traffic to your new landing page. Even here you can let the AdWord engine rotate different messages and test

what works best on your prospects GA. Set up Google Analytics. The most important thing to measure is

conversions – percent of visitors that sign up (or perform another desired action)

Chat. Set up a chat to make it easy for the visitors to raise questions Survey. Set up a service like Qualaroo to survey your visitors

Explainer Video

From 5,000 email signups to 75,000…

Competitor Usability How can a Marketplace Learn from Dating Sites?

Concierge MVP

Hustle-as-a-Product (HAAS)

Wizard of Oz MVP Fake It ‘Til You Make It…

Blog to Startup See if they read the

story, before you build the product

Email to Startup

Do They Open, Read & Act on the Email?

Preselling / Crowdfunding

Try Paper & Pencil?

Pre-Built Tools Tons of Tools…

Study: Case

Business Loans

Small Business Loans

Can We Get Them To Call?


Can We Get Them To Compare?


Can We Get Them To Rate & Review?

What? So now

1 2 3

BLOG IT

GET IT OUT

PLAN IT

WRITE & SHARE:

GOAL: See if others care and will create a discussion.

1.

BLOG IT •  See what people say •  Ask questions •  Start a dialogue

•  Don’t worry, people aren’t going to steal it

WRITE & SHARE:

GOAL: See if others care and will create a discussion.

1.

BLOG IT

WHERE IS RISK & WHERE CAN YOU LEARN:

•  Pick the right MVP •  What do you want to learn •  Can you make it simpler •  Like really simpler •  I mean SIMPLE

GOAL: Figure out what to learn and how best to learn it

2.

PLAN IT

It Won’t Be Perfect

•  Measure •  Learn •  Do it Again

GOAL: If it takes more than a week, it’s probably too long

3.

GET IT OUT THERE

Ready?

Homework Identify the highest risk

Build an MVP Test & Retest

(Use the Process)

MVP 104 Office Hours: Skype (erickoester) – Friday, 12/6

from 3 pm to 5 pm Next Session: December 9th

ERIC KOESTER WWW.EKOESTER.COM

@ERICKOESTER

evidence-based entrepreneurship

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