Post on 26-Aug-2014
description
Effective use of a Minimum Viable Product
-by Pushkar Gaikwad CEO, Enter Tech Solutions / CubicleProjects Entrepreneur at Start-up Chile
Myself
• Pushkar Gaikwad – Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay
• 5 Years in Oil & Gas Industry
• Started working on my startup “cubicleprojects.com” in May 2013
• My experiences taught me planning to minimize risk in a start-up
Cubicle
• Work Management for Engineering Projects
• Combines ERP with Project Management Tools
• In these slides I will share my experience of using Minimum Viable Products (MVP) for early customer validations
Idea
• Product / Service
• Customers
• Competition
• Capital
• Team
• Industry Trends
Basically I started with an idea for an ‘Integrated Project Management Platform’
while working as an Engineer
But there were MANY different factors which influenced viability of the IDEA. And
each one needed to be tested.
Showstoppers?
• Getting started
• No Product / No Customers
Often people have a great idea. But give up without any execution. And then 3 years
later you see someone else making millions with the same business
So if you decide to execute, make sure your product is technically feasible AND SALEABLE. Most start-ups fail because they can’t find any
buyers.
Risk Assessment
• Technological feasibility?
• Do you solve a PRESSING problem?
• Single dominant player in market?
• Long enough financial runway?
• 10X changes approaching?
Customer Development – Steve Blank
Customer Discovery
Customer Validation
Customer Creation
Building Company
MVP
Minimum Viable Product
• Test customer needs
• Determine minimum feature set
• Fix Bugs and Defects (code + workflow)
• Start making money!
MVP is a tool you can use to test certain assumptions about the market. And if the
MVP is good you can also monetize it.
MVP for Cubicle
1st Powerpoint Workflow Diagrams
2nd UI designed in Excel
3rd HTML Prototype
4th A functioning demo version in the cloud
For Cubicle, we started talking to customers from Day0, using different MVPs parallel to product development to validate
whatever we were doing.
Powerpoint
Animations
Videos with
workflow
UI Mock-ups
In Excel
Functioning software
prototype that
can be monetized
Different Tools for MVP
Excel Sheets – Quick to make, Testing not scalable
Powerpoint Presentations – Quick to make, Difficult to scale testing
Functioning App Prototype – Take longer, but Scalable Testing
Improve knowledge about customers
Improve product structure / features
Make some money
MVP for Flying Drones with Cameras
Drones Cameras Spectral Maps
What should be the MVP ?
http://www.linkedin.com/influencer/95015
To summarize…
It’s never too early to talk to customers
Basic market research can help a long way
Use MVPs and minimize risk
To summarize…
It’s never too early to talk to customers
Basic market research can help a long way
Use MVPs and minimize risk
Build a team
Raise money
Start your journey !!
www.cubicleprojects.com
Good Luck !!!
pushkargaikwad@cubicleprojects.com