Talk on iteration given to Fall 2014 cohort of Founder Fuel (Montreal startup accelerator)

1. Iteration After
Problem/Solution Fit
Isaac Souweine
Head of Product @ Frank & Oak
Preso to Fall 2014

2. I. what do you do?

3. you have a startup!
Biz co-founder
Tech co-founder
AWESOME CO.

4. your startup has a product!!
Biz co-founder
Tech co-founder
AWESOME CO.
Our
Product

5. you want customers to use that
product, so you tell them about it
Biz co-founder
Tech co-founder
AWESOME CO.
Our
Product
Customers

6. your customers tell you (or show you)
what they think of your product
Biz co-founder
Tech co-founder
AWESOME CO.
Our
Product
Customers

7. you improve your product based on their
feedback or actions
Biz co-founder
Tech co-founder
AWESOME CO.
Our
Product
Customers

8. this is iterative product development.
for most* early stage web startups, it is
all you need to know about right now.
*things change if you cannot easily iterate on your product, e.g., hardware

9. here’s a more popular iteration diagram (with
one addition)
LEARN
MEASURE MARKET* BUILD
*the addition

10. III. what should you
iterate on?

11. this is a lean canvas

12. your job is to fill the canvas with hypotheses

13. and then prove or pivot them

14. right now, you are probably about here

15. which is to say that you’re here
Problem/Solution Fit
Your Startup
Product/Market Fit
- you’ve identified a real problem and a way to solve it
- your solution has come to life in a product
- you’re working to improve the product
- you’re searching for scalable customer acquisition
- you have some sense of key metrics you’re working on
- you have a bit of revenue (optional)

16. if so, you should be focused here

17. 1. your product
● landing experience
● 1st time experience
● core product experience
○ for user type 1
○ for user type 2

18. 2. your marketing
● traffic sources
● marketing message

19. 3. intersection of product and marketing
● click through experience
● email
● referrals and virality
● etc.

20. IV. let’s look at some
examples

22. product stuff that brownie points could be
iterating on
● new merchant onboarding
● merchant dashboard
● in store user experience (e.g. QR code)
● what else?

23. marketing stuff brownie points could be
iterating on
● merchant demand drivers
● merchant sales collateral
● app demand drivers
● in store marketing
● what else?

25. product stuff that selective few could be
testing
● landing experience
● product display on site
● product assortment on site
● email flows
● viral hooks (refer a friend)
● what else?

26. marketing stuff that selective few could be
testing
● paid search
● paid display (aka FB)
● social
● referral
● email
● what else?

27. V. how should I
iterate?

28. know your metrics
● computable
● accessible
● intuitive
● less is more

29. make it happen
● don’t be stealthy
● move fast b/c you have to

30. make it count
● test things you believe in
● seek meaningful results
● seek actionable results
● be serious about testing methods

31. practice upaya (skillful means)
● don’t overbuild
● don’t underbuild
● make sure your sample is valid
● trust your instinct

32. THANK
YOU and
HAPPY
ITERATING
@sonofsarah