the art of the minimum viable product (mvp)
TRANSCRIPT
Organized by Startup DC
Special shout-out to:
Levent Gurses@gursesl
Upcoming Events
● 9/24 - End of Summer Mixer - Loudoun Edition
● 9/26 - Government Solutions Hackathon with AT&T
● 10/14 - App Monetization Secrets
● 10/20 - From Idea to Revenue: 5 Steps to Validating Your Startup Product
● 10/21 - Happy Hour @ The Laughing Man Tavern
● 10/22 - October Pitch Fest @ Penn Social
● 10/27 - How to Pitch to Investors
● 11/17 - Hacking IoT - How Target was hacked through the HVAC data system
Agenda
● The Five Steps (Prequel)
● Featured Startups
● How to Be Successful (Sequel)
● Drinks at Rocket Bar
Frequently Asked Questions
● How much does/should it cost to build an MVP?● How many features would you include in an MVP?● How long should it take to build an MVP?● What kind of skillset will I need?● What should I do with an MVP?● Should I seek investment before or after an MVP?● When do I pivot?● What should I measure? For how long?● How many MVPs before the “real product”?
Contact Me
● Tweet me at @gursesl
● I will spend 30 minutes FREE trying to answer these or other questions you may have
● No sales pitches, just my [biased] opinion
What is Art of the MVP?
Here’s a 100% Fake MVP
What Determines The Level of Fake?
The purpose of the MVP.● Test a new idea/feature
● Understand product-market fit
● Present (demo) to investors
● Version 1 in a highly-regulated market
● Get a promotion at work
Who is the MVP of the MVP?
The Product Manager is the Most Valuable Person in your Minimum Viable Product team.
Identifying a Product Manager
The MVP Process: Step 1
The MVP Process: Step 2
The MVP Process: Step 3
The MVP Process: Step 4
The MVP Process: Step 5
Featured Startups
● Zinthu - Chris Braddock
● Electric Feel - Farah Brunache
● Visual Chameleon - Ke Shang
Success Factors
Research
● Market research
● User research
● Customer research
● Vendor research
Strategy
● MVP Discovery
● Go to market strategy
● Delivery channels
● Lean canvas exercise
People
● Product Managers - Your new hero!
● Functional teams
● Cross-functional teams
Functional Teams
CrossFunctional
Teams: Centered
Around the Product
CrossFunctional
TeamsVer. 2.0.0
Process
● Assemble the smallest team possible
● Go with a super-lean, agile process
○ No stand-up meetings
○ No ceremonies
○ Measure product features, not story points
● Fake features
MVP Feasibility Study
● Product Vision● Key Success Factors● Scope
○ Feature Backlog● Lo-Co Estimates● App Interaction Flow● Website/App Map● Lo-Fi Wireframes
● Draft Architecture● Team
○ Dependencies○ Roles
● Application Lifecycle● Project Plan
○ Roadmap○ Milestones
Sample Weighted Features Table
Sample Weighted Features Table
Sample High-Level UX Diagram
Sample UX Flow Diagram
Sample Data Layer Diagram
Sample System Diagram
Sample Wireframes
Sample Wireframes
Sample Wireframes
Sample Sitemap
Sample Project Roadmap
Sample VisionPRODUCT is a new-generation social advertising platform designed to disrupt the marketing and advertising industry by offering consumers the opportunity to become brand ambassadors and create social ties based on product and brand loyalty.
PRODUCT is a unique concept, composed of several powerful ingredients:
● Targeting based or user demographics
● Social network for advertising
● Incentive-based system for users
● Brand and product awareness and following
● Strong analytics and data gathering
● User generated brand promotion
PRODUCT offers interactive advertising and social network capabilities for video, display, and print ads. It serves as the hub for advertisements and allows users to search for the advertised sale directly from the advertisers and agencies. Users can share ads and earn rewards by performing actions such as purchasing products, sharing ads and creating their own brand promotion videos to share with their network.
Sample Success FactorsPRODUCT will rely on the following key factors for a successful launch and continues growth:
● Ability to drive traffic to the website
○ Organic Search Engine Optimization
○ Paid ads
● Ability to convert the traffic into conversions
● Ability to attract agencies and advertisers
● Ability to encourage user engagement beyond the first several interactions
● Create an engaging and user-friendly interface
● Create a meaningful reward system for users who take action
● Generate a sustained press coverage and social media buzz
● Create a flexible technology platform which will allow for quick updates in the face of changing requirements
● Ability to create a mobile site or application from existing website assets
Sample Key Features● Consumers get paid for participating in product advertisements
○ Post comments
○ Promoting to other users
○ Sharing with other users
○ Participating in focus groups or market research
● Ads have offers tied into them (Discounts, rewards, sales, etc.)
○ Discounts
○ Rewards
○ Sales
○ Points
○ E-Dollars
● Advertisers are notified when a competitor’s product is about to be purchased or is in a shopping cart and you can
participate to offer a better deal on your products.
Sample Assumptions● The product is named PRODUCT and hosted at www.product.com
● PRODUCT will host videos on external storage lations such as Amazon S3
● MVP will be designed primarily for web users with modern browsers such as Google Chrome. It will run on most other recent web browsers supporting
HTML5 & CSS3
● During sign up, users will provide limited information such as username, email, and password
● User Profile page allows user to upload picture, select age, gender and limited set of interests
● Friends page includes social graph data such as friends list
● Video player will support multiple video formats
● Promote Partial Video Clips will not be part of the MVP
● HTML5 web pages will be designed for optimal desktop and mobile experience
● A set of wireframes will guide the implementation
● The HTML5 web pages will have the necessary look & feel according to the provided wireframes
● Agency dashboard page will be mocked up for the MVP
● Agency analytics page will be mocked up for the MVP
● Admin/Agency video post will be static. Website admins will add content directly into the database for the MVP phase
● User Account Incentives has limited functionality and add up static predefined rewards amount to the user
● Promote / Purchase / Watch add Incentives has limited functionality and add up static predefined rewards amount
● Purchase button sends user to the product page and add up some predefined reward amount
Sample Interaction Flow● Users will land on the PRODUCT home page through
○ Organic search○ Social network campaigns○ Paid search campaigns○ Offline marketing campaigns
● Users will create an account● Users will interact with brands
○ Watch product videos○ Comment on product videos○ Purchase products○ Like products○ Promote products
● Users will interact with other users○ Add as friend○ Send a message○ Comment on users’ profiles
● Admins will login through a separate interface (Mocked in the MVP)● Advertisers will login through a separate interface (Mocked in the MVP)
