1.
MVPs are too expensive
How wasteless validation leads to better insights
Tim Herbig - @herbigt - Director Iridion
Product Management Festival 2017

2.
3 Key Takeaways for you today
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Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

3.
Best visualization of MVP I could find
Source: Henrik KnibergTim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

4.
Common misconceptions about MVPs
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

5.
Common misconceptions about MVPs
• They’re crappy versions of all planned
features…
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

6.
Common misconceptions about MVPs
• They’re crappy versions of all planned
features…
• …but are good to live on after launch
anyways
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

7.
Common misconceptions about MVPs
• They’re crappy versions of all planned
features…
• …but are good to live on after launch
anyways
• They’re the cheapest way to validate
critical hypotheses
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

8.
Best MVP definition I could come up with
Source: Tim Herbig
"An MVP is about building the most critical value proposition
[…] to further prove your product idea’s potential and
product market fit and shipping it in the best possible quality
[…]. It is not about building slimmed down or extremely
compromised versions of all your features […]."
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

9.
But in general, MVP’s are cool,
right?
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

10.
Well, kind of…
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

11.
…there’s one problem
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

12.
How’s validating with MVPs 'too expensive'?
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

13.
How’s validating with MVPs 'too expensive'?
Cost of Building
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

14.
How’s validating with MVPs 'too expensive'?
Cost of Building Cost of Waiting
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

15.
Involved Resources
Product Manager Product Designer Business Owner
Product Manager Product Designer Development Team
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

16.
Involved Resources
Product Manager Product Designer Business Owner
Product Manager Product Designer Development Team
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

17.
Involved Resources
Product Manager Product Designer Business Owner
Product Manager Product Designer Development Team
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

18.
Involved Resources
Product Manager Product Designer Business Owner
Product Manager Product Designer Development Team
Busy building your MVP
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

19.
MVP Development Timeline
Concept & Design Story Slicing Estimation Development Iterations (Sprints)
Moment you’re
validating
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

20.
MVP Development Timeline
Concept & Design Story Slicing Estimation Development Iterations (Sprints)
Moment you’re
validating
Moment you should
be validating
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

21.
Discovery & Delivery Track Relation
Source: Inken Petersen/ubercreativeTim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

22.
Discovery & Delivery Track Relation
Source: Inken Petersen/ubercreative
Don’t take this for
granted
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

23.
Discovery & Delivery Track Relation
Source: Inken Petersen/ubercreative
Part Management
cares most about
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

24.
You need to be creative
about validation without
a development team
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

25.
But why do I need to
validate at all?
Can’t I just build an MVP?
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

26.
No, and here’s why
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

27.
No, and here’s why
Old way of thinking about resource
allocation
"This sounds like a
great feature idea
based on what I think to
spend time, people and
money on!"
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

28.
No, and here’s why
Old way of thinking about resource
allocation
"This sounds like a
great feature idea
based on what I think to
spend time, people and
money on!"
Modern way of thinking about
resource allocation
"Where’s the proof that
this is a good
opportunity to spend
time, people and
money on?"
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

29.
Even resources for building an
MVP must be earned by validating
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

30.
How validation relates to building an MVP
Source: Henrik KnibergTim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

31.
How validation relates to building an MVP
Source: Henrik Kniberg
Hypothesis:
People want to get faster from A to
B than walking.
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

32.
How validation relates to building an MVP
Source: Henrik Kniberg
Hypothesis:
People want to get faster from A to
B than walking.
Research & Ideation:
Find out problem with walking and
come up with alternatives (horse, car
etc.).
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

33.
How validation relates to building an MVP
Source: Henrik Kniberg
Hypothesis:
People want to get faster from A to
B than walking.
Research & Ideation:
Find out problem with walking and
come up with alternatives (horse, car
etc.).
Validation:
Simulate walking situations and test
whether value proposition of car
gets chosen over walking (or horse).
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

34.
4 Biggest Validation Mistakes
1. Falling for Confirmation Bias
2. Setting up only one hypothesis
3. Only validating indirectly
4. Picking the wrong method for the right
questions
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

35.
Types of Validation
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

36.
Types of Validation
Qualitative/Attitudinal
'What do People need?'
'How are people solving a problem?'
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

37.
Types of Validation
Quantitative/Behavioural
'Do people want the product?'
'Which design works better?'
Qualitative/Attitudinal
'What do People need?'
'How are people solving a problem?'
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

38.
Complexity to
validate
When validation becomes complex
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

39.
Degree Buying Moments are involved
Complexity to
validate
When validation becomes complex
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

40.
Your Typical Freemium Funnel
Upsell
Download/Access
Signup
Engagement
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

41.
Your Typical Freemium Funnel
Upsell
Download/Access
Signup
Engagement
Where’s the make-or-break
hypothesis located?
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

42.
Your Typical Freemium Funnel
Upsell
Download/Access
Signup
Engagement
Upsell
Where’s the make-or-break
hypothesis located?
Let’s say it’s here
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

43.
Forget about Qualitative Methods
Qualitative/Attitudinal Quantitative/Behavioural
'What do People need?'
'How are people solving a problem?'
'Do want people want the product?'
'Which design works better?'
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

44.
Examples of Quantitative Methods
• Pre-Order MVP
• Smoke Tests
• Fake E-Mail Testing
• Concierge MVP
Quantitative/Behavioural
'Do want people want the product?'
'Which design works better?'
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

45.
We believe that introducing profile visitors as a paid feature
to business professionals will achieve an additional growth of
Premium members by 15% per year.
We’re confident that this is true when we see a <3% click-
through rate on the new profile picture e-mail test.
Hypotheses in upsell validation
Wrong
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

46.
We believe that introducing profile visitors a paid feature to
business professionals will achieve an additional growth of
Premium members by 15% per year.
We’re confident that this is true when we see a <3% click-
through rate on the buy button within a faked profile visitors
list e-mail test.
Hypotheses in upsell validation
Right
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

47.
Summarized upsell validation findings
1. Don’t use qualitative methods to validate purchase-
related hypotheses.
2. Don’t confuse validated engagement with real
willingness to pay.
3. Fake the payment moment to make it as real as possible.
4. Prepare vouchers and pre-order discounts as
compensation. ;)
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt

48.
Thanks!
Let’s stay in touch.
twitter: @herbigt
at day: iridion.com
blog: herbigt.com
podcast: productish.com

49.
Overall key learning points
1. MVPs are about prioritized depth not crappy width
2. Building an MVP for validation builds up unnecessary waiting and
building cost
3. Validation needs to happen before you enter the delivery track
4. Validating hypotheses becomes harder the deeper you’re into the
freemium product funnel
5. Qualitative metrics fail for testing upsell moments
6. Your experiments should focus on the immediate purchase moment,
not the engagement prior to it
Tim Herbig - Product Management Festival 2017 - @herbigt