How to build products people actually want. How to use Jobs-to-be-Done, Uncertainty Mapping, Hypothesis Validation and Audience-Building to build the right product and launch it to an audience.

1. Build it
and they will come
…?

2. Hey, I just had this great
idea for an app…

3. 6 months later…

4. Another month later…

5. Launch!

6. Launch!

7. Marketing!

8. Hockey stick growth!

9. Instead, only the sound of
jangkrik…
:(

10. So… what went wrong?

11. Build → Launch →
Market

12. We don’t know anything yet!
Who are our customers?
What do they (really) need/want?
How are they solving their problem now?
How can we reach them?

13. #1 Reason for Failure:
Making something nobody wanted
Not: “Can we build it?”
But: “Will people care?”
How do we find this out before building
our solution?

14. Market → Launch →
Build

15. Market → Launch → Build
Marketing – know your customer.
Launch – to an audience.
Build – the right product.

16. 1.
JOBS TO BE DONE

17. What job do your customers “hire” your
product for?
“When _________ (context/situation)
I want to _________ (motivation)
so I can _________ (goal)”

18. What job do your customers “hire” your
product for?
Example: Voice feedback platform for
mobile apps.
“When I release a new version of my app
I want to ask users for voice feedback
so I can understand what users are
thinking and feeling.”
.

19. 2.
HYPOTHESES

20. Formulate
Hypotheses
What needs to be true for
your idea to work?

21. What needs to be true for your idea to
work?
—Mobile app users prefer giving
feedback by voice.
—Voice feedback provides value that text
feedback can’t.
—We can mitigate the drawbacks of
voice feedback.
—Somebody is willing to pay for our
platform.
.

22. Uncertainty
Mapping
How critical is it that this
hypothesis be true?
(Impact)
How uncertain are you
about the outcome?

23. Uncertainty Mapping

24. 3.
VALIDATE

25. Minimum Viable
Product
Lean Startup Loop:
Build → Measure → Learn (Repeat!)
MVP = minimal thing you can do to get
through the loop as fast and cheaply as
possible

26. Design an Experiment
“We believe that _________ (hypothesis).
To verify this, we will _________ (test).
We are right if ________ (success metric).”
Result:
“We observed _________ (result).
From this, we learned that ____ (insight).”

27. Design an Experiment
“We believe that users prefer to give
feedback by voice.
To verify this, we will ask for voice/text
feedback (A/B test) in an existing app.
We are right if more users tap the button
in the voice segment.”

28. After you run the experiment
Document the results and learnings:
“We observed _____________ .
From this, we learned that _________ .”

29. Some useful experiments
—Pre-payments: collect from users
—Wizard of Oz: simulate a chatbot
—Unique links, give out & see who visits
—Google/Facebook ads: measure
conversion
—Landing page: measure conversion to
action

30. Warning:
Mistrust yourself; beware
of confirmation bias.
Super-important:
“We are right if _____ (success metric).”

31. 4.
BUILD AN
AUDIENCE

32. Landing Page
Explain the benefits.
Set a price.
Call to action.
Don’t wait.

33. Email List
Start early; build it up over time.
Ask for feedback from early adopters.
Initial launch audience.
Early adopters can become evangelizers.

34. Content Marketing
Provide free value for target audience,
e.g. through blog posts, podcast, videos.
Promote the content, not the product.
Build reputation for expertise, trust,
goodwill.
Long-term inbound marketing asset.
Capture email addresses.

35. Recap
Product risk > Tech risk.
Uncertainty vs impact.
Validate before you build.
Build an audience before
launch.

36. Are You an Artist
Or a Businessman?

37. Terima kasih.
Dankeschön.
Thanks.
@yangmeyer
hello@yangmeyer.de