The document discusses defining and building the minimum viable product (MVP). It begins by defining what an MVP is - the version of a product that allows completing the build-measure-learn loop with minimum effort. It describes different artifacts that can be used to define an MVP, such as requirements, user stories, workflows and prototypes. It also discusses formulating hypotheses about customers, products and business models and testing them to learn quickly. Finally, it emphasizes defining the MVP upfront to save time and using the right techniques to test different types of hypotheses.

1. © 2014 ConceptSpring
Elaine Chen
November 2014
Defining and Building the MVP

2. “MVP”
• “M”: Minimum
• “V”: Viable
• “P”: Product
“The MVP is that version of the
product that enables a full turn of the
Build-Measure-Learn loop with a
minimum amount of effort and the
least amount of development time.
- Ries, Eric (2011-09-13). The Lean
Startup (p. 77), Random House, Inc..
Kindle Edition.
MEASURE
BUILDLEARN
ProductData
Ideas

3. Why define each MVP
when you know it’s going to change?

6. How do you define an MVP?

7. Artifacts (mobile app example)
• Requirements
• Workflows and storyboards (user centric)
• User stories (user centric)
• Flow charts (product centric)
• Wireframes
• Graphical compositions, a.k.a. “Comps”
• Interactive prototypes
• Actual native app, as submitted to the App Store or
Google Play

10. Requirements

11. Positioning Statement
For parents of children aged 6 or younger
Who need help keeping their children occupied when they are out and about
Playrific for iPhone/iPad is a free mobile application
that lets parents easily select safe, appropriate, parent and teacher approved
games, videos and other digital content for their children to enjoy anytime,
anywhere.
Unlike other child-friendly browsers and video player applications like Zoodles,
Kideos or Webipot,
The Playrific application can be used both online and offline, allowing young
children to be entertained with or without internet connectivity.

12. Workflows and storyboards (user centric)
12
1 2 3
4 5 6

13. As a… I want to… So that…
Teacher have parents reinforce the content we cover at
school
the child has a consistent learning experience at home and at
school
Teacher tailor the content for a classroom according to my
curriculum
the children progresses through learning materials in the right
order
Mom control the content my child sees my child is getting educational content while being
entertained
Mom have the content automatically refresh based on
guidelines I set
my child will not get bored and instead will stay engaged with
learning new things
Mom make sure my child does not accidentally go to the
wrong sites on the internet
my child sees only age appropriate content that I approve him
to see
Mom have my child be able to use the media player all
by himself without help from me
I can have enough time to complete small tasks while my child
is playing with the media player
Mom be able to run Playrific on my iPhone I can keep my child entertained during a busy day of errands
Mom be able to view movies I loaded on my phone from
the Playrific viewer
my child can enjoy the content I choose for her while we are
on the go
Mom be able to play audio books that I have purchased
for my iPhone from the Playrific viewer
my child can keep learning even when we are on the go
Mom minimize mobile broadband data charges I won't have a heart attack when I get the phone bill.
Mom minimize battery usage by the Playrific viewer I can still make calls after my child uses my phone
Child have fun and engaging things to look at and games
to play
I won't get bored
User stories (user centric)

14. 14
https://help.rallydev.com/sites/default/files/multimedia/user_story_callouts.png

15. Flow charts (product centric)
Splash screen
Setup
First run?
Content home
Skip sign
up?
Sign up
Audio book
page
Local
content
page
Streamed
content
page
Yes No
No Yes

16. Wireframes
Splash screen
Graphic that shows iOS
experience
Setup
x
x
First name: *
Email: *
Welcome to Playrific, a content curator
and viewer for young children. Please
take a moment to set up your child’s
information, add offline content if you
like, and they will be ready to play!
DoneView tutorial
Allow 3G streaming ON
Automatic update ON
Add local content >
Show online content ON
xLast name: *
xChild’s DOB: *
My contentBack
Audio books >
Camera Roll movies >
Audio booksBack
Title
Subtitle
3:02:55
Title
Subtitle
3:02:55
Title
Subtitle
3:02:55
Add
-
-
-
Add Audio BookBack
Title
Subtitle >
3:02:55
Title
Subtitle >
3:02:55
Title
Subtitle >
3:02:55
Title
Subtitle >
3:02:55
Title
Subtitle >
3:02:55
Title
Subtitle >
3:02:55
-
Camera roll
movies
Back Add
- - -
Add MovieBack
Camera roll
Media area
Swipe to go to next page
Tap each square to enter
media player

17. “Comps”

18. Interactive prototypes

19. Hardware products need functional specs
19

20. User story (the “What”)
• As a “Frustrated Sleeper”
using the Zeo sleep manager to
measure my sleep every night,
I need to be able to easily
charge my headband every
morning when I get up, and
trust that it’s ready to use when
I am ready to take a nap
Functional spec (the “How”)
• There shall be a charge dock with
a magnetic receptacle that accepts
the headband.
• There shall be a funnel like feature
to guide the headband to the right
location and make it easy to dock.
• There shall be two electrical
contacts – power and ground,
which shall charge the headband
via the charging circuitry inside the
docking station.
• The charging circuitry shall charge
a depleted battery to full capacity
within 2 hours.
How user stories relate to functional specs

21. Group Exercise
• Using the Playrific example, come up with the top 3-5
user stories from the child’s perspective
• Persona for the child:
– 3.5 years old girl
– Knows the alphabet but is not yet reading
– Loves looking at footage/pix of herself
– Loves to be read to
– Favorite character: Dora the Explorer
– Very comfortable with the iPhone
21

22. Formulating and testing hypotheses

23. Customer / Problem Related Hypotheses

24. Product / Solution related hypotheses

25. Business Model Hypotheses
25
Emails sent
Click through
Signed up for trial
Began using product
Converted to paid
subscriber
Free Beta
500
40%
80%
100%
N/A
30 day trial to paid subscription
5000
14%
1 subscriber

26. Testing hypotheses
• Customer / Problem hypotheses
– Detailed interviews
– Observation
– … etc
• Product / Solution hypotheses
– Usability benchmark
– Show-and-tell + detailed interview
– … etc
• Business model hypotheses
– A/B testing on pricing
– Analyze sales funnel
– … etc

27. Example: Zeo Mobile

28. Example: Zeo Mobile
Hypothesis How to test this Hypothesis Can this be tested without
a saleable product?
Customers are interested
in understanding their
sleep issues
Customers are interested and engaged and
demonstrate good knowledge during detailed
interviews about their sleep
On-line survey about their sleep issues
Yes
Yes
Customers will wear a
headband to measure their
sleep
Analyze back end uploaded data of existing
customers to look at their compliance
Yes, with a non-saleable
prototype
Customers will make
lifestyle changes to
improve their sleep
Sign-up rate for sleep improvement coaching
program
On-line survey of existing customers
Yes, with a non-saleable
prototype
No – needs customer base
Customers will pay to gain
insight into their sleep
problems
Purchase intent surveys
Test purchase intent via pre-orders
Analyze sales metrics for the first 6 months of
sales to identify patterns in early adopters
Yes
Yes
No

29. Example: Baxter Robot

30. Example: Baxter robot
Assumption How to test this assumption Can this be tested without a
saleable product?
The uncaged aspect of this
inherently safe robot is game-
changing
Detailed interviews of potential economic buyers and
influencers in target companies
Yes
The fast setup time provides
an unfair advantage over the
competition
Detailed interviews of potential economic buyers and
influencers in target companies
Win-loss analysis of 30 prospective customers
Yes
Yes
No integration is needed to
deploy this fully self contained
robot
Application engineering analysis of manufacturing line
cadence
Test deployments in production lines
Yes
Yes, with non-saleable
prototype
Human level speed, payload
and precision is adequate for
this robot
Application engineering analysis of manufacturing line
cadence
Test deployments in production lines
Yes
Yes, with non-saleable
prototype
SMEs are a sweet spot for this
robot due to the low price
Detailed interviews with SMEs and large companies
Analyze sales metrics for the first 6 months of sales to
identify patterns in early adopters
Yes
No

31. Group Exercise
• Continuing with the Playrific example, come up with
the top 3 hypotheses
• For each hypothesis: decide how you will test it
– Specify who you will test this with
– Specify how, and what props will you need
– Think about how much time / $ you need to create
these props
– Decide how you will know if you were right or wrong
on each assumption
– Think about what you can and cannot test without
having built a saleable product
31

32. On testing business hypotheses

33. “But my product is not ready!”
33

34. 34

35. 35

36. A smart concept: “Concierge” MVBP
• The product works enough to solve a real problem, but
is not polished enough to be used without help…
• …so you ship an engineer with every product via a
high touch post-sales customer service model
• This method, while very expensive and not
sustainable, allows you to enter the market much
sooner than otherwise to test your assumptions before
you scale up your operations
• You will save money and win in the end by entering
the market sooner with a small scale concierge MVBP

37. The 18 month roadmap
37
Year X Year X+1
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Zeemote JS Product line
JS1 improvements
JS1.1
JS2
JS3 feasibility
SDK's
Java SDK
Blackberry SDK
Symbian SDK Beta
Zeekey application
Zeekey for S60
Zeekey for BlackBerry

38. The 5 year roadmap
38
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
iOS 1.2b1
iOS2.2
iOS3.0
iOS 2.0
iOS4.0
iOS2.2.1
iOS2.1
iOS3.1
iOS3.2
iOS4.1
iOS4.2
iOS4.3
iOS5.0
iOS5.1
iOS6
“Platform strategy”

39. Building the MVP

40. What do I need to know to plan the MVP?
• Tech readiness: is this a science project, or do we
know how the technology works underneath?
• Time: how long to something tangible and demo-
ready, and better yet, saleable?
• Cost: how much $ do I need to spend (on
headcount, consulting, prototyping etc)?
• “Are we crazy?”: How long did it take someone
else to make something like this, and how much did
it cost? (a.k.a. are we crazy?)
• Progress: How do I track progress?
• Risk: How do I manage risk and play to win?
40

41. What’s “reasonable”?
• Mobile apps – no science: 0-3 months
• Web apps – no science: 0-3 months
• Web apps, big data science: 3-6 months+
• Embedded software releases (e.g. firmware running
on a car): 6-9 months after the hardware is stable
• Small scale mass produced consumer electronics
products : 9-12 months (e.g. a new tablet)
• Complex industrial equipment with mechanisms: 12-36
months (e.g. Tesla S)
41

42. Sometimes, it really does take that
long. Do it right, or do it over.
42

43. Technology

44. Prototype

45. Product

46. Business

47. Company

48. Summary
• It pays to define each MVP. A little time invested up
front saves a lot of time in the end.
• Different artifacts are used to define different products
– match the output to the product
• Formulate hypotheses clearly and test them
individually, one at a time
• Use the right technique to test each type of hypothesis

49. @chenelaine blog.conceptspring.com
Thank you