29
| Date post: | 24-Jan-2018 |
| Category: |
Technology |
| Upload: | dotinum |
| View: | 57 times |
| Download: | 0 times |
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
So.. you have a brilliant
idea for a very innovative business
You are pretty sure that you will
achieve a success.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
Actually, you already see yourself
clearly as a millionaire, lying on your
private beach, holding the favourite
drink in your hand.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
Hold on! You can’t be certain that your
idea will work out, especially if it’s very
innovative. But you can check it before
releasing. Have you ever heard about
Minimum Viable Product?
According to Eric Ries – Silicon Valley
entrepreneur, author of the book “The Lean
Startup” and a pioneer of lean startup
movement, Minimum Viable Product is:
“..that version of a new product which allows
a team to collect the maximum amount of
validated learning about customers with the
least effort.”
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
MVP
is the most basic version of your product
with only the most essential features.
Through testing it among rather small groups
of people, you can check if your idea works out
and it’s worth investing more money in the
project.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
While building a MVP, you should focus
on fulfilling the most basic need. In the
beginning, don’t focus on additional
facilities – you will do it later, when the
product is verified.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
Both of them fulfill the same
need of lighting.
First you check, if there’s
a demand for this kind of device.
It means you need to do
a big research
before you start anything.
If so, then you improve it
by making it easy to use
and looking more beautiful.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
WHY TO USE A MVP?
Building a MVP can help you decide which
features are important for the client, and
which you can simply skip. It will help you to
save a lot of money and time.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
The aim of building a MVP is to learn about the market.
BEFORE BUILDING A MVP
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
determine your target audience -
their age, region and how much they
are able to spend on your product,
do a market research - it means you
should talk to potentially interested
people and ask them what they think
about your solution
check if they like it and ask if they
would be ready to buy this product
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
1) Wizard Of Oz MVP
You create a product, that looks like it
functions automatically. However, it’s an
illusion. In fact there’s a human behind all
this that manually fulfills all tasks that
should be done by computer. You create an
automatically working product only after
noticing that there is a demand for this kind
of service. The story of Zappos success is
the example of that kind of MVP testing.
WW.DOT INUM.COM
2) Concierge MVP
It is very similar to Wizard of Oz MVP, but without using any
technology. First you provide the service manually. You have
to find a group of people who want to test your product.
Then, you need to learn lessons from the experiment and use
that knowledge while building the product. It means you
should follow people’s opinion, because they are going to be
your clients.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
The best example of Concierge MVP
is
Food on the Table - a mobile app,
that delivers easy-to-cook recipes, sale items and
grocery lists for weeknight dinners. Before building a
mobile app, the founder wanted to make sure it’s worth
doing. He carried out an experiment. First he found
people that were willing to take a part in it. Then he did
everything manually - compiled a shopping list, chose
right recipes and collected discounts from grocery
shops. After testing the idea, he created a proper
product that turned out to be a success.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
3) Landing page
You can validate your idea by creating a landing
page, where you introduce your product and
explain its functionalities.
You have to create a “call to action” button in
order to check if there are people willing to buy
your product. For example, it can be simply the
possibility to leave e-mail address.
CASE STUDIES - BIG COMPANIES
THAT FIRST CREATED MVP
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
BUFFER
What would do all these people that work in social
media without a tool that schedules their posts on
different platforms? However, the profession of social
media ninja wasn’t so obvious a couple of years ago.
Because of that, the founder of Buffer decided to test
his innovative idea first.
He created a simple landing page where people
could find basic information about the product - how
it works, pricing and main features. His aim was to
check if there is a demand for this kind of service.
The product wasn’t ready at that moment, so he gave
the opportunity to subscribe to the waiting list. It was
a part of the research. In that way he gained e-mail
addresses. He used them later to receive a valuable
feedback that was very helpful to build the product
that market needs.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
ZAPPOS
The story of well known online shop started in a very
unusual way. The founder of the company wasn’t
making any profit in the beginning. He created a
very simple website, just to check if acquiring shoes
through internet could be something people are
looking for.
He was taking photos from a local shoes
stores, then publishing them online. When
someone was interested in purchasing them,
he was buying at full price from store owners
and sending them to customers by himself.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
Zappos founder first tested his idea,
checked if there is a demand for this
service, then started investing in the
project.
In 2009 Zappos was acquired by
Amazon and is currently one of the
most famous online shoe stores in US.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
FACEBOOKIn 2004 Mark Zuckerberg built Thefacebook - a website, which
main objective was similar to the current one - to connect people.
However, that version initially was meant only for Harvard
students. Without all these facilities that we know now (feed,
timeline, status updates, pages) and very simple design, it
reached the popularity.
First it was tested on a rather small amount of people
(comparing to now), with limited options to use, just to get
some feedback.
Then Zuckerberg decided to develop the project by adding
more options and extending the accessibility of his product
to different countries.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
CONCLUSIONThese days we have less and less time. This is why we
shouldn’t waste our most precious resource on ideas that may
fail. Verifying our projects before releasing is the best solution
to prevent ourselves from spending money useless.
If your idea is very innovative, first check if there are clients
willing to purchase the solution you provide. Even if a product
seems to be brilliant for you, it doesn’t mean that the rest of
the world think similarly. Building a MVP and testing it seems
to be the best way to make sure that your idea is worth
developing further.
WWW.DOT INUM.COM
Need a help with building a MVP?
Dotinum is a software house and creative
agency from Poland, established in 2002.
We specialize in web, mobile and
e-commerce development.
