Minimum Viable Products in Entrepreneurship

Minimum Viable Product

first version to test ideas fast

Building MVPs

observing what people do is more informative than asking them what they want

- should be lean

Value Hypothesis

Assumption about solution's value to users.

- quantitative

- test users must be a part of your target audience

Smoke Test

Early MVP to spark user interest visually.

Concierge MVP

Custom service that mimics product features

Wizard of Oz MVP

Human-operated service mimicking automated processes.

Type 1 MVP

Illustration of future product with no functionality.

- sketch/video

- must be realistic

Type 2 MVP

Product with only essential features for testing.

-prototype

Type 3 MVP

Product lacking infrastructure but providing service.

- concierge MVP

- Wizard of Oz MVP

What is the MVP designed to do?

learn as much as possible about customers with minimal effort

It is crucial to understand that MVP is NOT about

creating a minimal profuct for quick launch but understand the customers needs

What are the key concepts of MVP (7)

- focus on learning

- context-dependent

- testing core values

- early customer engagement

- iterative process

- experimentation and validation

- not just physical products

Build-Learn-Measure Approach

throwing incomplete products out of the building to see if they work

Build-Measure- Learn intent

maximize learn ing through incremental and iterative engineering

Waterfall development model

process with limited early customer feedback focused on execution rather than customer needs

Agile development lacked

a framework for testing all commercialization hypothesis

The Build-Measure-Learn aims to address this by focusing on building MVP...

not as a product with less features, but as the simplest thing to show custimers to gain the most learning

Build-Learn-Measure detailed steps

1. ideas

2. build

3. code

4. measure

5. data

6. learn

What are the 6 steps missing?

hypothesis rather than just general ideas

What is the updated diagram for building MVPs

1. hypothesis

2. experiments

3. tests

4. insights

Youtube video: most effective way for start ups and prototypes

launching quickly and iterating is often more effective than trying to build a perfect product

youtube video: Key-takeaways

- talk early to customers

- avoid fake Steve-jobs syndrome

- focus on limited functionability

- target customers with "hair on fire"

- surveys suck

- learning

fake steve jobs

(multiple iterations)

hair on fire

focus on users who have a significant problem and are willing to use a non-perfect solution to solve it

Practical tips for building an MVP quickly

- set a specific deadline

- write down initial specifications

- cut unnecessary features

- dont fall in love with initial MVP, it will change based on user feedback