The document outlines the process of moving from idea to product launch, emphasizing the importance of identifying the right problem to solve through user interviews and iterative development. It also discusses various team structures for product development, including hiring freelancers or contract firms, as well as options for building software oneself, including no-code solutions. Key principles include prioritizing minimal viable products (MVPs), understanding user needs, and the value of frequent iterations.

1. Getting It Built
From Idea to Launch
BETTER PRODUCT CO

2. AGENDA
1. Introduction (15 minutes)
2. Burning Question Exercise (15 minutes)
3. Some Slides (30 minutes)
4. Questions and Answers (15 minutes)
5. More Slides (30 minutes)
6. More Q&A (15 minutes)

3. Introductions

4. INTRODUCTIONS
1. Who Am I?
a. Andrew Gassen
b. XAPPmedia, Pivotal Labs, Better Product Co, DevReady, Junyo, 360Ed, EA Sports
c. Can’t code, can launch products
d. Why this matters to me
2. Who Are You?
a. Name
b. Company Name
c. Problem You’re Solving
d. Biggest Fear

5. Write as many questions as you can
in 5 minutes
(One question per sticky)

6. Pick your TOP 5.

7. Got ‘em? Good!

8. Post your Top 5 on the wall. If
others are similar, group them
together.

9. Good Software is more than Code

10. THE RIGHT PROBLEM
● Perfectly crafted code is useless if nobody wants the product.
● Good products clearly solve a specific problem for a specific person.
● How do we know we have the right problem to solve for?
○ GOOB (Get out of the building!)
○ Exploratory interviews, not surveys or focus groups
○ Many potential users are feeling the same pains
○ The “Mom Test”
● Identifying the right problem significantly de-risks everything else!
● Example:
○ “I’m just starting my business and need an affordable place to work that’s not my
kitchen table”

11. THE RIGHT PROBLEM
● Perfectly crafted code is useless if nobody wants the product.
● Good products clearly solve a specific problem for a specific person.
● How do we know we have the right problem to solve for?
○ GOOB (Get out of the building!)
○ Exploratory interviews, not surveys or focus groups
○ Many potential users are feeling the same pains
○ The “Mom Test”
● Identifying the right problem significantly de-risks everything else!
● Example:
○ “I’m just starting my business and need an affordable place to work that’s not my
kitchen table”

12. THE RIGHT PROBLEM
● Perfectly crafted code is useless if nobody wants the product.
● Good products clearly solve a specific problem for a specific person.
● How do we know we have the right problem to solve for?
○ GOOB (Get out of the building!)
○ Exploratory interviews, not surveys or focus groups
○ Many potential users are feeling the same pains
○ The “Mom Test”
● Identifying the right problem significantly de-risks everything else!
● Example:
○ “I’m just starting my business and need an affordable place to work that’s not my
kitchen table”

13. THE RIGHT PROBLEM
● Perfectly crafted code is useless if nobody wants the product.
● Good products clearly solve a specific problem for a specific person.
● How do we know we have the right problem to solve for?
○ GOOB (Get out of the building!)
○ Exploratory interviews, not surveys or focus groups
○ Many potential users are feeling the same pains
○ The “Mom Test”
● Identifying the right problem significantly de-risks everything else!
● Example:
○ “I’m just starting my business and need an affordable place to work that’s not my
kitchen table”

14. EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS
● Ask open-ended questions
○ Tell me a time when…
○ That must’ve been hard, how did you…
○ If you had a magic wand…
● Don’t lead the user!
○ How great would it be if you had…
● Hunt for the problems they have, not specific solution ideas
○ Confirmation bias is to be avoided!
● Talk to 3-5 of each type of user
● Sticky note note-taking
● Synthesize!

15. UNDERSTAND YOUR USER
● What motivates them?
● How are they currently solving their problem?
● What’s their background?
● Is the User the same person as the Buyer?
● Make your user persona feel as real as possible
○ Give them a name
○ Draw a picture/find one on the internet
○ Refer to solving “Teri’s problem” in your head
● In what context(s) do they feel this pain?

16. Be passionate about your problem,
not a specific solution.

17. IDENTIFY POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
● Sketch! Like, really, sketch on paper.
● Come up with as many off-the-wall ideas that address your chosen
problem.
● Use a clickable prototype to test solutions with your users
○ Invision is great for this!
○ https://invis.io/45C32JKUD#/137581041_List_Page

18. Take 5 minutes to list out things
you need to do.
(One per sticky)

19. Select your Top 5. Pass the rest to
your neighbor to the right.

20. Ready?

21. Rip up the sticky notes you just got,
and tell the author, “You’re
welcome!”

22. PRIORITIZE RUTHLESSLY
● The 2x2 Framework
○ Do Now
○ Do Next
○ Seductive Distractions
○ Don’t Do
● There’s only one “Most Important” thing
● Solving one problem extremely well > addressing several problems poorly
● Why does this matter?

23. Deliver VALUE as early and often as
possible.

24. DEFINING MVP
Your Minimum Viable Product is not bad versions of lots of features.
Your Minimum Viable Product is the smallest lovable solution to your biggest
problem.
You will probably be extremely uncomfortable with what your MVP actually
is. (Psst...it might not be software!)
And now, a silly example...

25. DEFINING MVP
Your Minimum Viable Product is not bad versions of lots of features.
Your Minimum Viable Product is the smallest lovable solution to your biggest
problem.
You will probably be extremely uncomfortable with what your MVP actually
is. (Psst...it might not be software!)
And now, a silly example...

26. DEFINING MVP
Your Minimum Viable Product is not bad versions of lots of features.
Your Minimum Viable Product is the smallest lovable solution to your biggest
problem.
You will probably be extremely uncomfortable with what your MVP actually
is. (Psst...it might not be software!)
And now, a silly example...

27. “I need to get from here to there
faster than walking.”

29. OppsDaily.com
The founder believed app developers wanted to be connected to people who
needed apps to use.
1. Create a Mailchimp account
2. Throw up a landing page with a single input field
3. Mail out daily opportunities
4. Wait for interested devs to request a match
5. Request $25 via Paypal
6. Send an email connecting dev and customer
Total dev time: about 8 hours

30. ITERATION
Your software releases should be tied to value delivered to users, NOT new
features.
The longer you wait between releases, the riskier your product is becoming.
A simple barometer: You have confidence about 2 weeks into the future at
all times.
Frequent iterations de-risk your product.

31. VALUE OF FREQUENT ITERATIONS

32. AGILE
Iterative development practices are often referred to as “agile.”
There’s an agile manifesto, check it out!
Many flavors of agile exist:
● Scrum
● Extreme Programming
● SAFe
● Kanban

33. WATERFALL
The “old school” method of software is commonly referred to as Waterfall.
● All the requirements gathered up front
● All the designs done next
● All the development done next
● Launch
● Oops we were wrong

34. Important Tech Terms and Concepts

35. TECH LINGO 101
To be a successful founder, you DO NOT need to be a developer. You should,
however, be able to talk about the technology at a reasonable level.

36. TECH LINGO 101
● User-Centered Design
○ The concept of designing to solve user problems, not deliver features. Validation with
real users
● Clickable Prototype
○ Interactive designs that demonstrate workflow without building software
● Frontend
○ The parts of the application a user interacts with. HTML, CSS, Javascript
● Backend
○ The logic of the application a user never sees. Python, Ruby on Rails, Java, et al
● Database
○ The “bucket” where all your users’ stuff gets stored
● Web Application
○ Software a user accesses by navigating to a web address; Interactive, allows user input

37. TECH LINGO 101
● Website
○ Static, non-interactive content accessed by navigating to a web address
● Native Mobile App
○ iOS or Android app built using device-specific languages; best performing option
● Hybrid Mobile App
○ Cross-platform apps built using web technologies and wrapped to appear mobile; lower
performing
● API
○ Application Programming Interface; Allows apps to send data back and forth to each
other
● Infrastructure
○ Where the software is deployed; AWS, Azure; “The Cloud” most commonly

38. BALANCED TEAM 101
The “Balanced Team” approach allows you to get coverage for all the major
areas of your software development effort. It consists of:
● Product Designer
○ Interviews users, creates wireframes, creates target visuals. Primarily concerned with
how value is delivered on an experience level, and representing the voice of the user.
● Product Manager
○ Writes user stories, prioritizes the backlog, removes blockers. Primarily concerned with
what bits of value are delivered in what order.
● Software Engineer
○ Writes the code, releases the code, fixes the bugs. Primarily concerned about how the
value is implemented on a technical level.

39. BALANCED TEAM 101
The ideal world is one person for each role. You don’t want to have solutions
limited by an engineer’s poor design sense, or have technical details limited
by a product manager’s lack of acumen.
Even if you don’t have a person for each role, the responsibilities of each
need to be accounted for to de-risk the effort.
Protip: Look for “Full Stack” developers, they are best suited for delivering
incremental value with limited hurdles.

40. Ok, Let’s Build It!

41. Case 1: I have money to spend

42. HIRE YOUR OWN TEAM
Having a full-time, committed team is the best way to get bang for your
buck.
Incentivize them to share in the success of the company.
Look for true partners, not “implementers.”
Find folks comfortable and willing to work using an Agile methodology. Your
success depends on it!
Make sure you click on a personal level. Success will be hard to find if y’all
don’t get along.

43. HIRE YOUR OWN TEAM
Having a full-time, committed team is the best way to get bang for your
buck.
Incentivize them to share in the success of the company.
Look for true partners, not “implementers.”
Find folks comfortable and willing to work using an Agile methodology. Your
success depends on it!
Make sure you click on a personal level. Success will be hard to find if y’all
don’t get along.

44. HIRE YOUR OWN TEAM
Having a full-time, committed team is the best way to get bang for your
buck.
Incentivize them to share in the success of the company.
Look for true partners, not “implementers.”
Find folks comfortable and willing to work using an Agile methodology. Your
success depends on it!
Make sure you click on a personal level. Success will be hard to find if y’all
don’t get along.

45. HIRE YOUR OWN TEAM
Having a full-time, committed team is the best way to get bang for your
buck.
Incentivize them to share in the success of the company.
Look for true partners, not “implementers.”
Find folks comfortable and willing to work using an Agile methodology. Your
success depends on it!
Make sure you click on a personal level. Success will be hard to find if y’all
don’t get along.

46. HIRE YOUR OWN TEAM
Having a full-time, committed team is the best way to get bang for your
buck.
Incentivize them to share in the success of the company.
Look for true partners, not “implementers.”
Find folks comfortable and willing to work using an Agile methodology. Your
success depends on it!
Make sure you click on a personal level. Success will be hard to find if y’all
don’t get along.

47. HIRE YOUR OWN TEAM
Challenges:
● Expensive
○ A solid performer in each role starts over $100k in this area
● Finding a rhythm
● Getting buy-in on the vision and direction
● You’re likely to give up equity

48. HIRE A FREELANCER
Freelancers are happy to work for you (for as long as you can pay them.)
If you have an established process and set expectations, they can easily fill
in.
Check their portfolio, ask for references.
Understand their availability, make sure you have shared expectations.
Look for someone local, or at least someone willing to spend hours on video
chat daily collaborating.
Beware low-priced freelancers. You get what you pay for.

49. HIRE A FREELANCER
Freelancers are happy to work for you (for as long as you can pay them.)
If you have an established process and set expectations, they can easily fill
in.
Check their portfolio, ask for references.
Understand their availability, make sure you have shared expectations.
Look for someone local, or at least someone willing to spend hours on video
chat daily collaborating.
Beware low-priced freelancers. You get what you pay for.

50. HIRE A FREELANCER
Freelancers are happy to work for you (for as long as you can pay them.)
If you have an established process and set expectations, they can easily fill
in.
Check their portfolio, ask for references.
Understand their availability, make sure you have shared expectations.
Look for someone local, or at least someone willing to spend hours on video
chat daily collaborating.
Beware low-priced freelancers. You get what you pay for.

51. HIRE A FREELANCER
Freelancers are happy to work for you (for as long as you can pay them.)
If you have an established process and set expectations, they can easily fill
in.
Check their portfolio, ask for references.
Understand their availability, make sure you have shared expectations.
Look for someone local, or at least someone willing to spend hours on video
chat daily collaborating.
Beware low-priced freelancers. You get what you pay for.

52. HIRE A FREELANCER
Freelancers are happy to work for you (for as long as you can pay them.)
If you have an established process and set expectations, they can easily fill
in.
Check their portfolio, ask for references.
Understand their availability, make sure you have shared expectations.
Look for someone local, or at least someone willing to spend hours on video
chat daily collaborating.
Beware low-priced freelancers. You get what you pay for.

53. HIRE A FREELANCER
Freelancers are happy to work for you (for as long as you can pay them.)
If you have an established process and set expectations, they can easily fill
in.
Check their portfolio, ask for references.
Understand their availability, make sure you have shared expectations.
Look for someone local, or at least someone willing to spend hours on video
chat daily collaborating.
Beware low-priced freelancers. You get what you pay for.

54. HIRE A FREELANCER
Challenges:
● They aren’t incentivized to make your company successful
● If you take a break, it can be hard to re-hire when needed
● Difficult to predict or scale number of hours needed
● Tough to know what rate is a good value
● Hard to build the “team” cohesion with several independent freelancers

55. HIRE A CONTRACT FIRM
There are many successful, talented firms of all shapes and sizes that can
deliver software on your behalf.
Check their customer references, check their portfolio for quality work or
software similar to yours.
Do a Google search, Glassdoor, Quora, Twitter. People talk.
Have a plan for continued development when their time ends. Software is
never done!

56. HIRE A CONTRACT FIRM
There are many successful, talented firms of all shapes and sizes that can
deliver software on your behalf.
Check their customer references, check their portfolio for quality work or
software similar to yours.
Do a Google search, Glassdoor, Quora, Twitter. People talk.
Have a plan for continued development when their time ends. Software is
never done!

57. HIRE A CONTRACT FIRM
There are many successful, talented firms of all shapes and sizes that can
deliver software on your behalf.
Check their customer references, check their portfolio for quality work or
software similar to yours.
Do a Google search, Glassdoor, Quora, Twitter. People talk.
Have a plan for continued development when their time ends. Software is
never done!

58. HIRE A CONTRACT FIRM
There are many successful, talented firms of all shapes and sizes that can
deliver software on your behalf.
Check their customer references, check their portfolio for quality work or
software similar to yours.
Do a Google search, Glassdoor, Quora, Twitter. People talk.
Have a plan for continued development when their time ends. Software is
never done!

59. HIRE A CONTRACT FIRM
Challenges:
● Very Expensive
○ You’re paying for salaries plus markup
● Extra level of management overhead for you
● They aren’t incentivized for product success, they’re incentivized to finish
their scope of work
● They process they use may not match your needs
● Hard to set up long-term support arrangement at a reasonable price

60. Case 2: I have no money (yet)

61. BUILD YOUR OWN TEAM
Having a full-time, committed team is the best way to build a balanced dev
team.
Incentivize them to share in the success of the company.
Look for true partners passionate about the problem you’re solving.
Make sure you click on a personal level. Success will be hard to find if y’all
don’t get along.
Find people who can commit to the level that you need.

62. BUILD YOUR OWN TEAM
Challenges:
● Hard to find folks willing to work for free
● Accepting someone that can help you vs someone who can’t but wants
to
● Getting buy-in on the vision and direction
● You’re almost guaranteed to give up equity
● Earning trust

63. CODE IT YOURSELF
If you can build it yourself, why not? There are many advantages to building
the first version of your software.
● Something to show people
● Get something out there without paying much
● Don’t give away any equity
● Working software > Pitch Deck
● Prove to your investors and team members that you’re serious about
this
● Learn the complexities of the software you’re trying to build

64. CODE IT YOURSELF
Challenges:
● Coding software takes time away from doing other activities
● You might not know how
● Watch out for compromising on your needs due to your own technical
limitations
● You may become married to the code you wrote, making it difficult to
throw out or refactor later

65. BUILD IT YOURSELF, NO CODE
There are many platforms out there today that allow you to build mobile and
web apps without writing a single line of code. For real!
You can test your ideas crazy fast, release software crazy fast, and make
changes based on learnings crazy fast. It’s just crazy. And fast.
Low cost, low effort way to get real, paying users without breaking the bank.

66. BUILD IT YOURSELF, NO CODE
Challenges:
● Platforms may not scale to millions of users gracefully
● Still takes up your time and attention
● Vendor lock-in
● Learning a very, very specific skill
● If you need something that isn’t supported, you’re out of luck

67. Let’s Talk About Codeless Tools

68. DROPSOURCE
Dropsource lets you build native iOS and Android mobile applications.
Recently raised a Series A ($5.4 million)
PawBoost built with Dropsource
You can actually get the iOS and Android code exported to hand to a
developer
Currently free while in beta
Extremely powerful, a bit tougher to use than other options

69. KINETISE
Kinetise lets you build native iOS and Android mobile applications.
Mature and very extensive documentation
A bit pricey, but plans scale with your success
You can actually get the iOS and Android code exported to hand to a
developer
The editor is a tad wonky, but you can build most things that you can
imagine
You can “Hire a Pro” to help out and work with you

70. IONIC CREATOR
Ionic Creator lets you build hybrid iOS and Android mobile applications.
Mature and very extensive documentation, with frequent updates
No backend support
You can export the HTML, CSS, and JS
The editor is a bit limited, but most use cases will be covered
Widely used by some big name companies

71. BUBBLE
Bubble lets you build responsive web applications using a slick editor and
without writing a single line of code.
Very active community on the forums, several video courses available
One founder raised $300k, another over $2.5mm
All my web apps are based on Bubble
Let’s do a demo

72. Other Helpful Resources

73. RESOURCES
● The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
● Silicon Valley Product Group: www.svpg.com
● Anything by Steve Blank
● Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas
● www.howmuchtomakeanapp.com
● Built to Adapt (Pivotal Labs Blog): https://builttoadapt.io/
● https://saijogeorge.com/website-builders/
● Me!
○ andrew@betterproduct.co
○ Cell: 407-307-6049
○ www.betterproduct.co

74. Summary

75. 1. Solve a real problem for real people.
2. Do one thing masterfully, not 10 things poorly.
3. Don’t wait too long before you release something. Build a little, test a lot.
4. Prioritize ruthlessly. You are the gatekeeper.
5. Don’t get too caught up on a solution, even if you came up with it.
6. You don’t need to code to build software.
7. It’s better to find out you’re wrong earlier than later.