cdi founder workshop session 8 - minimum viable concept

MINIMUM VIABLE CONCEPT

WORKSHOP

@JeremiahGardner

gettalk.at/collaboratory

@JeremiahGardner

We’ve advised the innovation practices of:

• Author, The Lean Brand

• Principal, Moves The Needle

• Startup Mentor, Investor & Advisor

• Co-founded deckhub.co & redbottle

Hello! 8

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ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRITPart I

SEARCHEXECUTE(known) (unknown)

© All Rights Reserved

@JeremiahGardner

STARTUP NARRATIVE

got my logo & business cards this is gonna be huge! pitch, pitch, pitch

gotta hire that CTO

business plan of course I’m right

eureka! an idea grandma loved it

funding! success! success!


@JeremiahGardner

REAL STARTUP JOURNEY

empathy wow, I understand

really!? another opportunity

nope! hit a wall

nope! hit a wall

learn more! iterate

big signal on the right path

Confused about it’s product

Confused about it’s customers=Confused about how to make $

STARTUP

Sees the world differently

Chooses to take action=Assumes they’re wrong

FOUNDER

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ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEYPart II


@JeremiahGardner

FOUNDER METRICS

IT’S PERSONALWhat does success look like to you?


@JeremiahGardner

FOUNDER MINDSET

ENTREPRENEURIALmindset founder

ENTREPRENEUR

addictSERIAL ENTREPRENEUR


@JeremiahGardner

THREE E’S OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

EMPATHYShifting your view to become customer-centric.

EXPERIMENTATIONGenerating new learning.

EVIDENCEMaking decisions based on what’s actually learned.

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UNCOMFORTABLY NARROWPart III


@JeremiahGardner

FINDING YOUR MARKET


@JeremiahGardner

Oculus @ Work An startup team gained 3 key insights through their customer interviews:

• People who work on distributed teams have a hard time collaborating

• Using analog tools is a struggle

• Pain was evident as a major lack of productivity


@JeremiahGardner

CUSTOMER ZOOM EXAMPLE

unique attributes

part of a distributed

team

techie: other online collab tools (slack, webex, etc.)

works with analog tools

(stickies, sharpies, etc)

hangs out on techcrunch, lifehacker

reddit

setting up meeting with

team and trying to use

tools

has written articles on techcrunch about collab

Freddie Castle

behaviors

zoom

What’s his work environment like?Does he use online collaboration tools? Does he use offline tools?

How does he look for new tools?Always the guy to setup hangout and slack. How does he cope with the pain?

Picture NameJob Title (if applicable)


@JeremiahGardner

wants to be more

productive as a team

meetings will be shorter and higher

impact

Execs will notice his leadership

no way to translate analog to

digital

high cost to physically be

with team

hates existing

conference calls /video

you’ll have productive

remote team meetings and build better

solutions faster

PROBLEM ZOOM EXAMPLE

desired outcomes

pains & problems

zoom

How will solving problem affect the life of customer?Is there a significant time or cost impact? Is there a bigger emotional or aspirational win?

What stops the customer from behaving differently now? What obstacles need to be overcome? What are limitations of workaround?

We promise “______” We hope the outcome will be “______”


@JeremiahGardner

BRAINSTORMING RULES

Defer judgmentQuantity > Quality

Document everything One idea per Post-it

“What if?” / “And then…” The crazier the better


@JeremiahGardner

GETTING TO MVP

MVP An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the first attempt to deliver the value you promise to your customers.

An MVP is a threshold, not just the first version of your product.

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IDENTIFYING ASSUMPTIONSPart IV


@JeremiahGardner

assumptions

“Something taken for granted or accepted as true without proof”

• Opinions vs. Facts

• Say vs. Do

• Evidence vs. Ideas

(Hint: What you think is fact, is likely an assumption)

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SHARE OUT!Part V

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WHAT’S NEXT?Part V


@JeremiahGardner

hypothesis If we do X, Y% of people will behave in way Z.

X = Business Activity

Y% = Target Metric

Z = Customers’ Behavior


@JeremiahGardner

OPERATING IN THE UNKNOWN


@JeremiahGardner

WHERE TO START?

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THANKS!

@JeremiahGardner

gettalk.at/collaboratory

cdi founder workshop session 8 - minimum viable concept

Small Business & Entrepreneurship