Finding a product that
people want to buy and
use
Marko Taipale
@markotaipale
Imagine…
Idea
Magic Fairy

in 15 mins
3 years old being sick
HELP!
Mother of 2
What would you do
next?
Model
Validate
Develop plug concept
Build and sell plug
Find customer with hole
Validate
Find more customers
Sell more
Refine plug
Scale company
Fancier Model
Learn Build
Measure
Ideas
ProductData
Customer
Discovery
Customer
Validation
Customer
Creation
Company
Building
Pivot
.. in use
Idea
Magic Fairy

in 15 mins
3 years old being sick
HELP!
Mother of 2
Who has this problem?
Customer: Father / Mother
Problem: Got to get to work
It is a guess, right?
How would you figure
it out?
Mother of 2Me
Would you buy this idea?
Mother of 2Me
Would you buy this idea?
Imagine a scenario…
Could you walk me trough what happens?
!
Ok, what are the problems you face?
What I am trying to find out?
What I found out..
• 15 min is not a problem, the following days are..
• I’d see that paying to solve this problem would be
my employers responsibility
• There is a free service … but they do not have any
SLAs
• Trust is the biggest emotional issue
PIVOT
Idea
Magic Fairy

in 15 mins
3 years old being sick
HELP!
Mother of 2
Employer
Let me pay this
Customer: Company
User: Father/Mother
Problem: Save money by taking care of
sick kids
What I found out..
• 300+ hrs / family lost (in age of 27-45)
• Customer acknowledges the problem .. and
would pay if somebody would fix the problem
“Validating” that they
have this problem
Customer-Problem fit
Who is my customer?
What is her problem?
What’s next?
From problem to
solution
CustomerMe
Do you want to buy this?
CustomerMe
Do you want to buy this?
You mentioned that you have these problems…
!
Now we thought this very hard and came up a possible solutions, would you like to see it?
!
What do you like, what do you do not like? (and why?)
!
How would you like to have it?
!
What are the things you could live out?
!
When/would you be willing to test this out?
!
How much would you be ready to invest into this?
What I am trying to find out?
Minimum Viable Product
!
= the thing we need to do to learn
the most
“Validating” that they
need this solution for
fixing the problem
User centered design
can help us
Next 6 slides were originally presented by Ari Tanninen - check http://www.slideshare.net/aritanninen/design-up-front-is-back-v2
M O B I L E
A P P L I C AT I O N
L O W - F I PA P E R
P R O T O T Y P E
Image: flickr / Samuel Mann
F U T U R E
L I B R A RY
S E R V I C E
D R A M A , L O W - F I P H Y S I C A L
P R O T O T Y P E , W I Z A R D O F
O Z
Concept, picture & video: Pirjo Kivistö, Marika Latvala,
Mia Rahkonen, Terhi Kärpänen, Mikko Tenni / Laurea
University of Applied Sciences
TA L K I N G
S P O R T S
WAT C H
W I Z A R D O F O Z
Concept and pictures: Juho Vesanto, Marjo Karjalainen,
Sami Virtanen, Irina Ylikylä, Riikka Heloma / Laurea
University of Applied Sciences
Prototype
User
C A S E
M A N A G E M E N T
S Y S T E M A N D
P R O C E S S
D E S I G N G A M E
Image: Ari Tanninen, Gosei Oy
C O N S U M E R
S E R V I C E W I T H
W E B
T O U C H P O I N T S
S E R V I C E B L U E P R I N T
Image: Gosei Oy
C O N S U M E R
S E R V I C E W I T H
W E B
T O U C H P O I N T S
D R A M A
Image: Gosei Oy
CustomerMe
Do you want to buy this?
CustomerMe
Do you want to buy this?
!
If this fixes the problem, how valuable it would be for you?
How much you pay for this?
!
So what have we done
so far..
Customer-Problem fit
Who is my customer?
What is her problem?
Problem-Solution fit Does my solution fix the problem?
What would happen
next?
Customer-Problem fit
Who is my customer?
What is her problem?
Problem-Solution fit Does my solution fix the problem?
Product-Market fit Is there a market for my product?
Scale How can I grow the company?
Summary
• Idea -> Find the customer with the problem
• Problem -> Figure out the solution, check with
customers, use MVP to maximise learning, ask
cash in “day 1”
• Use simple tools to share and co-create
• Iterate & validate
The model as “one big
picture”
Idea
Customer-
Problem fit
Problem-
solution fit
Product-
market fit
Scaling
Find customer
candidates
Build in-
depth customer
understanding
Capture
problems
Validate
Choose
problem
Design
solution concept Validate
Design &
build MVP
Sell
Create new
customers
Refine
product
Develop
business model Validate
Develop
everything Build company Model of business and product
development by Marko and Ari
How agile software
development fits into this?
Idea
Customer-
Problem fit
Problem-
solution fit
Product-
market fit
Scaling
Agile SW

Dev
Developing in slices

Fast feedback

Frequent delivery

User metrics

Coordination
How do we do this
everyday?
Concept
Business
model
Lean Canvas
http://practicetrumpstheory.com/2010/08/businessmodelcanvas/!
Validation board
Validation
Lessons
Learned
CP fit
PS fit
PM fit
Hypos
Assumptions
Model
Our understanding
Reality
Customers
Riskiest !
assumption
Success criteria
Experiment
Results
Validated Learnings
Out of the building
What do you guys
think of all this?
marko.taipale@iki.fi
+358-40-57-86-447
@markotaipale
Books

Finding a product that people want to buy and use