1 of 9
Slide Notes
These are a set of slides for Start-Up Founders that have just recently learned about the "Lean Start-Up" movement.
In this I outline a simple high-level strategy of how to make sure you don't lose money or time unnecessarily and that you can get to the point of ramen profitability as quickly as possible without breaking the bank, after which you can focus on generating more exposure for your product.
Your first focus should be building a great product by testing your assumptions.
In this I outline a simple high-level strategy of how to make sure you don't lose money or time unnecessarily and that you can get to the point of ramen profitability as quickly as possible without breaking the bank, after which you can focus on generating more exposure for your product.
Your first focus should be building a great product by testing your assumptions.
Idea to Start-Up Success
Published on Nov 19, 2015
No Description
MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
IDEA TO START-UP SUCCESS
How to go from 0 to 1000 customers on a shoestring budget
These are a set of slides for Start-Up Founders that have just recently learned about the "Lean Start-Up" movement.
In this I outline a simple high-level strategy of how to make sure you don't lose money or time unnecessarily and that you can get to the point of ramen profitability as quickly as possible without breaking the bank, after which you can focus on generating more exposure for your product.
Your first focus should be building a great product by testing your assumptions.
In this I outline a simple high-level strategy of how to make sure you don't lose money or time unnecessarily and that you can get to the point of ramen profitability as quickly as possible without breaking the bank, after which you can focus on generating more exposure for your product.
Your first focus should be building a great product by testing your assumptions.
Route
- Concierge Minimum Viable Product
- Concierge M. Economically.V.P (W/A)
- Minimum Viable Product
- Minimum Economically Viable Product
- Lean User Acquisition
Here's a simple summary of the route you need to take to make sure you're not breaking the bank.
Ultimately the idea is to do as much of the marketing upfront as possible. In this instance, marketing is understood to be the discovery of determining meaningful value for the customer so that you can build a better product so that customers come to you.
*Glossary:
W/A: Where Applicable
Ultimately the idea is to do as much of the marketing upfront as possible. In this instance, marketing is understood to be the discovery of determining meaningful value for the customer so that you can build a better product so that customers come to you.
*Glossary:
W/A: Where Applicable
CONCIERGE Minimum Viable Product
- Run your "system" on paper or use 'scrappy' building blocks
- Iron out kinks in the system
- Address objections by users
- Treat users like VIPs
Much like the concierge in a hotel or a concierge personal assistant - these concierge's do everything personally and manually for you.
You must do the same for your customers while treating them like a concierge would, i.e. a VIP.
By doing this, you'll learn what are the assumptions you made about your product and customer that don't hold true in the real world. You'll also have the opportunity to fix these problems before you begin any kind of software/web/product development. This is the key to saving money i.e. solve these problems upfront so that you don't incur unnecessary expense.
Building blocks are existing systems that you might be able to use. For example, websites that offer landing pages, or other website/app services you can leverage to test your business idea before you develop your own. e.g. selling your product on eBay to see if anyone 'bites' before you build your own ecommerce website, or even taking out a trial shopify website as a simple example.
This is just one example of many.
You must do the same for your customers while treating them like a concierge would, i.e. a VIP.
By doing this, you'll learn what are the assumptions you made about your product and customer that don't hold true in the real world. You'll also have the opportunity to fix these problems before you begin any kind of software/web/product development. This is the key to saving money i.e. solve these problems upfront so that you don't incur unnecessary expense.
Building blocks are existing systems that you might be able to use. For example, websites that offer landing pages, or other website/app services you can leverage to test your business idea before you develop your own. e.g. selling your product on eBay to see if anyone 'bites' before you build your own ecommerce website, or even taking out a trial shopify website as a simple example.
This is just one example of many.
Concierge Minimum Economically Viable Product
- Start charging (where applicable)
- Validate Pricing & Business Model
- Identify and Address objections
- Identify lower and upper price points
Running a Concierge MeVP is not always possible in all scenarios, but you should try to create an MeVP as much as you can.
If you can persuade your customers to pay you even before you have a real or the final product, then you already know that your product is monetisable and you have that problem solved which allows you to focus on development when you're ready.
It's also much easier (or can be) to test price points and your monetisation model this way, since you're not having to instruct anyone to do any coding or development that would cost you money while you "learn" what it's going to take to get your customer to pay you.
If you can persuade your customers to pay you even before you have a real or the final product, then you already know that your product is monetisable and you have that problem solved which allows you to focus on development when you're ready.
It's also much easier (or can be) to test price points and your monetisation model this way, since you're not having to instruct anyone to do any coding or development that would cost you money while you "learn" what it's going to take to get your customer to pay you.
Minimum Viable Product
- Create a Strategic IO Map
- Strip out every "maybe" feature
- Use quickest/dirtiest development technology
- Validate assumptions / test with early adopters
- Collect Data for Qltv and Qtv Analysis
By the time you get to this stage, you'll know exactly which features your product needs, what works and what doesn't.
That said, It is extremely important not to be infected by 'feature creep' syndrome when building an MVP.
To help mitigate this problem, use a Strategic IO map that will help you avoid unnecessary features so that you can minimise financial and time expenditure.
Here's a link that shows you how to put a strategic Io map together: http://www.dbrmfg.co.nz/Strategy%20Constraint%20Management%20Model.htm
You need to set your "Goal" as the problem that you're solving in the market.
e.g if you're building an app that helps learn a new language, then the goal would be "speak new language" and then below that would be the necessary conditions and critical success factors that are needed for that to happen.
From there you can create a minimal spec of what your MVP needs and you can be certain that it will viable enough.
Always build in ways to make sure you collect plenty of data though. I personally like to use Mixpanel and Google Analytics for collecting data.
That said, It is extremely important not to be infected by 'feature creep' syndrome when building an MVP.
To help mitigate this problem, use a Strategic IO map that will help you avoid unnecessary features so that you can minimise financial and time expenditure.
Here's a link that shows you how to put a strategic Io map together: http://www.dbrmfg.co.nz/Strategy%20Constraint%20Management%20Model.htm
You need to set your "Goal" as the problem that you're solving in the market.
e.g if you're building an app that helps learn a new language, then the goal would be "speak new language" and then below that would be the necessary conditions and critical success factors that are needed for that to happen.
From there you can create a minimal spec of what your MVP needs and you can be certain that it will viable enough.
Always build in ways to make sure you collect plenty of data though. I personally like to use Mixpanel and Google Analytics for collecting data.
Minimum Economically Viable Product
- Build MeVP
- Monetisation into product or pre-sell
- Treat paying customers like VIPs
- Build retention and engagement into product
This is the monetised version of your product. By this point you should already have a functioning MVP and you should have tested it with your audience.
Now it's time to fix any of the basic issues and start making money.
Depending on what your product is you might either add a paid plan, start charging for the usage of the app, or pre-sell the product. Pre-sell works great for hardware type of items such as new gadgets, fashion items and so on. Though that's not to say it can't work for software/digital goods either.
If you want to increase your revenue make sure you build in features that encourage the user to keep coming back.
Now it's time to fix any of the basic issues and start making money.
Depending on what your product is you might either add a paid plan, start charging for the usage of the app, or pre-sell the product. Pre-sell works great for hardware type of items such as new gadgets, fashion items and so on. Though that's not to say it can't work for software/digital goods either.
If you want to increase your revenue make sure you build in features that encourage the user to keep coming back.
Finding New Customers
use analytics data to identify potential outposts
This is the thing that start-up founders worry about the most and they really needn't ought to.
At this point, you should have strong product and have the confidence that it has the ability to satisfy each user. Therefore you should find it easier to attract new users.
Use that analytics data you collected to learn more about your audience and figure out where most of them "hang out". You can then target these places to acquire more users.
Read this blog post for more on this subject: http://blog.krmmalik.com/marketing-the-new-definition
At this point, you should have strong product and have the confidence that it has the ability to satisfy each user. Therefore you should find it easier to attract new users.
Use that analytics data you collected to learn more about your audience and figure out where most of them "hang out". You can then target these places to acquire more users.
Read this blog post for more on this subject: http://blog.krmmalik.com/marketing-the-new-definition
Notes
- Some Start-Up ideas can jump straight to MeVP
- You can never collect too much data
- Don't blow all your budget on development costs
- Execution, Execution, Execution
Simple Start-up insights brought to you by
Khuram Malik: krmmalik.com/me
