3. “It takes a combination of art & science to build world class products.
Creating something from nothing requires an instinctive, artistic flair but
scaling it massively requires a disciplined scientific approach”
0 1 5 10 50 n
Peter Thiel
4. Startup - From First Principles
Create Repeat Scale
“A startup is a temporary organization
searching for a repeatable & scalable
business model – Steve Blank”
1
7. Rationale for MVP: Startups ≠ Perfect
“If you are not embarrassed by the first
version of your product, you’ve
launched too late – Reid Hoffman”
8. 4
Product Market Fit (PMF)
PMF is the degree to which a product
satisfies a strong market demand.
Target Customer
Value Proposition
Underserved Needs
Features
UX
Product Market Fit
Product
Market
9. How do you know you have PMF?
*illustrative examples
Consumer PMF looks like*
Organic growth - 1000s of signups/day
Returning users - 100s of users returning 3 days/week
Clear path to 100K users
Enterprise/SAAS PMF looks like*
Freemium-to-paid conversion rate 5%
LTV/ CAC ratio > 3
Monthly churn rate < 2%
Clear path to $100K MRR
11. Simplified Funnel Metrics
Stripped down version of Funnel Metrics
Acquisition
Retention
Revenue
SlideShare version of Funnel Metrics*
Distribution (Team “distro”)
Engagement (Team “engage”)
Monetization (Team “biz”)
*Team division based on Funnel Metrics stages
12. Speed Now. Scale Later.
6
Speed is a startup’s
secret weapon
Done > Perfect
13. Virality = Focusing on Width (v/s Depth)
7
Virality is ability of an
object to self replicate
Single minded focus on
new user acquisition
Optimize viral loops
Viral CoEfficient* > 1
*Viral Coefficient is # of additional users every new user brings
14. 3 Point Thumb Rule for Product Prioritization
Product Features (prioritizing for a product)
Metrics movers
Satisfiers
Delighters
Product Roadmap (prioritizing overall product plan)
Core
Strategic
Venture
8
15. Prioritizing Product Feedback
One person's opinion (OPO) / Highest paid
person’s opinion (HiPPO)
Strong suggestion
Vocal minority phenomenon
Mandate
9
The context for feedback as imp as feedback itself!
16. Focus on your core, Outsource non-core complexity
10
Cloud: AWS, Azure
Hosting: Digital Ocean, Softlayer
Billing: Braintree, Razorpay
Analytics: Mixpanel, Clevertap
Voice: Twilio
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel!
Engineers (by default) like building new shiny tech toys:)
17. Consumer (B2C) SAAS (B2B)
Building for End Users End Users / Buyers
Key Focus User’s emotional need Workflow efficiency
Success Metrics Build what users love Revenue driven
Team Orientation Consumer mindset Business mindset
Product Adoption Virality driven Sales / BizDev driven
Consumer v/s SAAS User Values & Functionality
11
18. Manage the Holy Grail – Failure, Risk, Ambiguity
12
Failure Risk Taking Ambiguity
MVP, Lean, Agile are all ways to manage risk!