Lean Startup Chapter 6: Testing slides |

Takeaways from Chapter 6 - Test

• BIG IDEA: The Minimum Viable Product

• Goal is to test articulated hypotheses
• MVP different from a prototype, beta test, mockup because of it’s explicit purpose
• Many types of MVP: video, concierge,
• Visionaries or early adopters accept expect a product that is incomplete. They want to be ahead
• Early adopters want to feel special: be the first one on the block with a product, or have an unfair advantage over other companies.
• If you leave out features, customer often fills in the blanks which may suggest missing features

Summary of Chapter 6

• Introducing MVP: designed to test a hypothesis. Not necessarily a prototype.
• Visionaries or early adopters accept in fact expect a product that is incomplete. They want to be ahead. Early adopters want to feel special: be the first one on the block with a product, or have an unfair advantage over other companies.
• Also realize that if you leave out features, customer will often fill in the blanks in their mind giving you info about what feature to add or not.
• How can you test whether 10% of trial users will install, if you can’t even get trial users?
• MVP: any work beyond whats needed to learn / prove the hypothesis is waste!
• Food on the Table: I thought it an odd idea: delivering customized recipes based on specials in the local grocery store. An extended scenario of an MVP is described. Lessons:
  • While CEO was visiting customer to learn what recipes would be worth while, this very inefficient MVP is different from a restaurant where the owner is serving customers personally. In the former case, we are trying to learn. In the case of the restaurant, this is not a test, it is the real product.
• Aardvark uses “wizard of oz testing” which to me sounds just like concierge!
• Is the MVP philosophy at odds with ‘quality’?
  • No. But don’t build quality, or beauty because you assume it is a customer requirement.
  • Sometimes that’s not what matters initially.
  • If you discover that your MVP is failing because people think its ugly or cannot figure out how to use it, that’s something else
  • Remove any feature, process or effort that does not contribute directly to learning.
• MVP thoughts
  • Customers don’t care how difficult or costly it is to provide something; and the thing they love most might be very minor in your eyes
  • Role of courage: you need to dare to respond to what you learn even if it is not what you thought or intuited.
• Commit to iterate
  • Even if the MVP fails decide up front that you will pivot and iterate

Discussion Questions for Chapter 4-6

• Preparation
  • Someone to present Zappos, Kodak, HP, VLS cases, CFPB,
• What are some of the hypotheses that had to be tested in Zappos case? List them.
  • Are people willing to buy premium shoes online?
  • What kinds of shoes, and prices do better?
  • Will customers will appreciate a very liberal return policy over a big discount?
  • What kind of photography is required? Will videos help sales?
• What is a concierge product and in Zappos case?
• What are “Leap of Faith” Assumptions? What were they for Zappos? What were they for HP? What were they for Kodak? How are they different from other assumptions?
  • Those which if not true will cause the business to fail or need to be rethought. The riskiest assumptions. Crux of the vision.
  • Zappos: People will buy shoes online
  • HP: Employees have a desire to do volunteering
  • Whats an MVP? What are the kinds of MVP? What would an MVP be for your project?
    • video
    • web site
    • sign up for beta waiting list
    • concierge product
    • mockup/prototype/3d rendering
• What does “Genchi Gembutsu” mean to you? “Go see for yourself”?
• Give an example of analysis paralysis
• Dropbox: Were there previous products? What was the key leap of faith value assumption? How could it be tested in an MVP?
  • yes there were lots. But they were all hard to use
  • that if the product was seamless to use people would in fact flock to it
  • hard to test in an mvp because it was difficult to prove seamlessness
  • but then they made a video to fake the product
  • added tons of people to the beta waiting list.
• What did you think of Food on the Table service?
  • What about Craig’s List, eBay? Can you think of products that are kind of known for their roughness? First release of iPod? Original cordless phones, original cell phones? Original laptops?
  • Seems very complicated and elaborate
  • Is it solving a real problem?
• What is the direct connection between the mvp and the hypotheses?
  • An mvp should clearly be designed to validate a hypothesis.
• What are some MVP Challenges?
  • IP protection might be impeded if you reveal your product too early. You might loose your ability to patent
  • Competitors might learn about your product and rip it off. In fact the biggest challenge is to be noticed at all! Ideas are cheap!
  • Damaging the brand? You should be able to insulate yourself by making sure customers know this is a test or a alpha product, but worse comes to worse, give it a separate identity. Change the name!
  • Bad for morale: team gets discouraged by bad news or failure to penetrate
• Is the MVP approach at odds with a good quality? What are the risks and are they worth it?
  • give the company or the name a bad reputation?
  • the product concept may be good but because of bad quality it is not appreciated?
  • OTOH in the startup phase we don’t know who the user or the product is so how do we know what quality is?
• Is the MVP approach workable for hardware products?
  • Why not? Because it costs too much to create an MVP
  • No: MVP is not necessarily a prototype!