from a talk I gave for the School of Visual Arts IxD program's Entrepreneurial Design class

1. Experiments & MVPs
Giff Constable Jan 2012

2. who am I?
partner @ Proof
early stage specialist
skillset generalist
16 years of startups
2 years as a fine artist
co-organizer, lean startup meetup
http://proof-nyc.com http://giffconstable.com

3. reducing waste
things people don't want or need
things that have no business potential
The core of lean startup

4. how to reduce waste?
validate early and often
get the formula right before you scale
The core of lean startup

5. not just for startups
for any innovative project
The core of lean startup

6. “lean startup” goes beyond
talking to customers
It's about running experiments

7. Running Experiments
1. have a hypothesis to test
2. brainstorm a few different tests, offline and
offline
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 (a. confirmed
belief; b. iterate test; c. iterate business)

8. Examples
manual delivery
(aka “wizard of oz”)

9. Examples
“concierge”
(i.e. be the software)

10. Examples
pre-sales
(with LOI, discounts)

11. Examples
landing page
(with calls to action)

12. Examples
video

13. Examples
paper testing
fake features

14. and of course...
working software

15. a minimal viable product is
not a point release
it’s a rolling series of iterations

16. a minimal viable product is for
learning, not launching
find product optimize
promote
market fit conversion*
* for enterprise-focused startups, replace with “find your repeatable sales process”

17. the best experiments
digital *or* analog
creative
focused
measured
as small as possible
btw “as small as possible” != “small”

18. lead with vision
use experiments to reality
check against the market
vision is essential -- you can’t A/B test your way to greatness

19. experiments are often not
definitive
and results have to be balanced
against vision and judgement
but that doesn’t mean we should
stick our heads in the sand
I don’t buy knee-jerk excuses to avoid this stuff

20. Business Assumptions
Exercise
can be found at http://giffconstable.com

21. I believe that my customers have a need to
________________________________________.
keep it concise!
Customer-Needs Assumption

22. This need can be solved with ________________
_________________________________________.
Solution Assumption

23. My initial customers will be _________________
________________________________________.
describe the person(s)
Initial Customer Assumption

24. The #1 value a client wants to get out of my
service is: ________________________.
The client can also get these additional benefits:
___________________ and __________________.
Value Proposition Assumptions

25. I will acquire the majority of my users/customers
through _______________________ and
________________________.
Marketing Assumptions

26. I will make money by _______________________
_________________________________________.
Business Model Assumption

27. My primary competition will be ______________
and ______________.
We will beat them in the market due to
__________________ and __________________.
Competition Assumptions

28. My biggest product risk is ___________________.
We will solve this through ____________________
______________________________.
Product Risk Assumptions

29. What assumptions does my business hold, that if
proven wrong, could cause the business to fail?
1._______________________________________.
2._______________________________________.
3._______________________________________.
4._______________________________________.
5._______________________________________.
Critical Risk Assumptions

30. Prioritize your assumptions
High Risk prioritize here
Known Unknown
Low Risk

31. Running Experiments
1. have a hypothesis to test
2. brainstorm a few different tests, offline and
offline
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 (a. confirmed
belief; b. iterate test; c. iterate business)

32. Thank You
email:giff@proof-nyc.com
twitter: giffconstable
blog: http://giffconstable.com
site: http://proof-nyc.com