Maximizing your Minimum Viable Product: How to get high results. Assumptions vs facts. In 11 slides I guide you through the MVP basics.

1. Maximizing your minimum viable product:
How to get high results
Assumptions vs facts

2. Basic strategy
The basic strategy when building your MVP:
the Minimum Viable Product should provide one COMPLETE FOCUSED
EXPERIENCE to the early adopters.

3. Minimal
It is easy to build something that is very minimal and that you can
call a “product,” but it is very challenging to build something that
is “VIABLE” too.

4. HOW to test?
•Identify our assumptions (to understand the customers’ problems)
•Identify the minimum features we need to start
•Find the right focus group(s) to test hypothesis
•Gather feedback and modify for MVP2
•Use an additional customer survey
•Do (additional) market research

5. MVP or EVP: drycake or
cupcake?
• In the Dry Cake model, the more common of the two, product
teams start with a very basic product that may not be very
interesting — like a plain dry cake. Then, as their resources expand,
they are able to add new features such as icing or filling to get a
more interesting and complete end product.
• While it makes great sense operationally, it’s problematic from a
competitive and customer perspective. As Schauer puts it, “cake
with no filling or icing isn’t that appealing. Plus, anyone can just
make a cake.”

6. Drycake model

7. Cupcake model
• In the Cupcake model, product teams start with a smaller yet complete
product that — as anyone who was once a child knows — is far more
desirable. It has all the appeal of a complete cake, icing and filling, etc.,
but its production costs are much lower.
• People want a complete product, and they’ll pay for it. Plus, selling a
Cupcake product also sets you apart from the bland or chaotic
alternatives.

8. Cupcake model

9. Go for the early evangalist
1. They have a problem that, presumably, our product
will solve.
2. They understand that they have this problem.
3. They have already been actively searching for a
solution, and are under some kind of time constraint
to find it.
4. The problem has affected them so much, they have
already tried an (ineffective) interim solution.
5. They have, or can quickly acquire, the money
necessary to afford a product that can solve their
problem.

10. Early evangelists are a special breed of clients willing to take
a risk on our startup’s product or service.
They can actually envision its potential to solve a critical
and immediate problem—and they have the budget to
purchase it. Unfortunately, most clients don’t fit this
profile.
But the thing to remember is thatit’s very likely that early
evangelists aren’t buying our product.
They’re buying our vision. No one is under the assumption
that the MVP is the final solution.

11. Surveys and questionnaires
•This will not replace our (problem) interviews, but will help to polish
our value proposition. Surveys can be done manually over the
phone,etc.
•There are also ways to use very simple surveys (and install onto our
website) using:
http://www.survey.io/
http://www.survio.com/en/
http://www.google.com.sg/forms/about/
In any case, keep it very short.