Experiments (What are MVPs?)

Giff Constable Dec 2011

What are MVPs?

Think Experiments


fall in love with a customer need, not a solution


needsolution

customer & marketcustomer acquisition

business model

Validate:


The fastest, simplest path to validated

learning

Your Goal:


Prioritize experiments

High Risk

Low Risk

UnknownKnown

experiment here first


pre-sales(with LOI, discounts)

Examples


“concierge”(i.e. be the software)

Examples


manual delivery(aka “wizard of oz”)

Examples


paper testing

Examples


landing page(with calls to action)

Examples


video

Examples


working software

Examples


experiments can be analog or digital


usually many ways to skin the cat


1. have a hypothesis to test

2. brainstorm a few different tests, offline and online

3. try to break the tests into even smaller units of work

4. choose a test and set a goal

5. run the test (try to hit the goal)

6. review results and make a decision

Process


Hit goal and confirmed assumption (for now)

Missed goal1. need to iterate the test or2. need to iterate the business

Results

OR


“MVP” isn’t always about product

It definitely isn’t about a launch


At some point, you’ll be building something real

so remember...


a minimal viable product is not a point release

it is a rolling series of releases that iterate and improve based on a mix of data and vision/judgement


an MVP is not the first step in a linear feature rollout

if you aren't setting goals, gathering data, and iterating what you have, then you are piling risk on top of risk


focus ruthlessly on the target customer, and the core

function / benefit

don't get lost in add-ons, improvements, futures, or

attempting to serve everyone


a minimal viable product is for learning, not marketing

find product market fit

optimizeconversion*

promote

* for enterprise-focused startups, think of this step as “find your repeatable sales process”


keep on doing simple experiments outside of the product

development path


this isn’t just for ground-floor startups


but rather, for any product or business that

faces uncertainty


now let’s create some experiments

[email protected]://giffconstable.com

Experiments (What are MVPs?)

Technology

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