The key concept in any start-up? The freedom to experiment as basis for accelerated learning. Or like Pink Floyd sang in the 70’s: “We don’t need no education.” Is your FabLab ready for it?

1. The era of pretotyping | Building the Right It, before Building It Right 1
CONFIDENTIAL Template Innovation Day 2019CONFIDENTIAL
THE ERA OF PRETOTYPING
Kevin Douven
BDM Consulting Office
Kevin.douven@verhaert.com
TRACK 3
MyStartUp
“Making sure you’re building the right IT,
before you build IT right..”

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3.2 The era of pretotyping has arrived 2
PRETOTYPING IS.. Validating market interest and
actual use of a potential
innovation..
USABILITY
DESIRABILITY
UTILITY
QUICK
>
>
>
by simulating the core
experience..
with the minimum investment of
time and resources

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SOME FACTS
About the Law of Market Failure

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FACT 1 / MOST NEW PRODUCT LAUNCHES FAIL
Harvard professor Clayton
Christensen said:
more than
30.000
new consumer products are
launched every year.
85%
of them fails.
80%
OF PRODUCTS
FAIL
Nielsen report:
“Setting the record straight on
Innovation Failure”
2011 2018

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FACT 2 / MOST START-UPS WILL FAIL
75%
OF VENTURE-
BACKED
START-UPS
FAIL
HARVARDBUSINESSSCHOOL
SHIKHARGHOSH
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=122194

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WHY ..? Sales, marketing or distribution fails to
reach the intended market
OPERATIONS
LAUNCH
PREMISE
>
>
>
Failure due to
Launch,
Operations or
Premise
Design, functionality or reliability fails to
meet user expectations
People are simply not interested in your
idea. They can find it, try it, or buy it, but
they simply just don’t care ...

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AND NOT ONLY STARTUPS GET IT WRONG..
Oakley Thump, Oakley (2005)
Sunglasses with built-in mp3 player for
$495 (in 2005 dollars), cheap-feeling,
weak sound, and terribly unfashionable…
Segway, Segway Inc. (2001)
two-wheeled self-balancing scooters, that
looked dumb and cost a fortune. Now
reserved for mall cops only..
Fire Phone, Amazon (2014)
A clunky phone with limited app options,
and a Firefly feature that couldn’t win over
customers…
Viewsonic Airpanel, Microsoft
(2003)
A tablet that could only work when
connected to a desktop computer..
Home Battery Pack, Mercedes –
Benz (2017-18)
Expensive for the market, and basically
over-served its customers
New Coke, Coca-cola (1985)
A change consumers never asked for and
public backlash was a disaster
Keurig Kold, Keurig (2016)
Trial for the at-home soda machine
market, with pricey machine, pricey pods
& dissatisfying user experience
Lip balm, Cheetos (2005)
The idea of smearing your lips with
something Cheeto-scented/ flavored
clearly didn’t appeal to many..

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Google Graveyard
BUT THESE ARE COMPETENT COMPANIES
Microsoft Morgue
Most new ideas fail in the market—
even if competently executed.
The Law of Market Failure
- Alberto Savoia , Building the right IT, 2019

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How do we avoid or pivot
away from failure?
The importance of Customer Validation

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EARLY STAGE
CUSTOMER VALIDATION
De-risking your innovation
QUALITATIVE
INSIGHTS
IDEA TESTING
>
>
>

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BUT WAIT..
People don’t really know
what they want!?
"If I’d have asked people
what they wanted,
they would have asked
for a faster horse”
– Henry FORD
“It’s really hard to design products by
focus groups. A lot of times, people
don’t know what they want until you
show it to them.”
— Steve JOBS

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THE PROBLEM WITH
‘THOUGHTLAND’
People don’t know what they
want, nor what they’ll do?
▪ Lost in translation / interpretation
▪ Prediction problem / envision
▪ No Skin in the Game / investment
▪ Confirmation bias / prejudice

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It's much easier to get people
to open their mouth than
to open their wallet
Alberto Savoia

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DON’T ASK FOR OPINION
▪ Understand motivation
→ Job-to-be-done
→ Triggers
→ Motivators
→ Hurdles
→ …
▪ Get your own data (YODA)

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Make sure - as quickly and as cheaply
as you can - that you are building the
right it before building it right
Alberto Savoia - Google

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THE IDEA OF PRETOTYPING

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THE BENEFIT OF PRETOTYPING

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HOW DOES AMAZON DO IT?
LAUNCH
& LEARN
ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE
“SOME OF THESE INVESTMENTS WILL PAY OFF OTHERS WILL NOT,
AND WE WILL HAVE LEARNED ANOTHER VALUABLE LESSON IN
EITHER CASE “ JEFF BEZOS – 2013 SHAREHOLDER LETTER

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CONFIDENTIAL
PRETOTYPING
How do we get started?

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3.2 The era of pretotyping has arrived 20
1. Describe your idea as concrete as possible
• Market engagement hypothesis (MEH)
• Say it with Numbers : XYZ Hypothesis
• Hypozooming
STEPS TO PRETO
For instance, 2nd Day Sushi idea
Idea
“If it were reasonably tasty, safe to eat, and cheap enough,
I’d buy second day sushi!”
XYZ Hypothesis
“At least 20% of packaged-sushi eaters
will try 2nd day sushi,
if it’s half the price of regular packaged sushi”
Hypozoomed
“At least 20% of Carrefour clients buying packaged sushi today,
will choose 2nd day sushi
if it’s half the price of regular packaged Sushi”

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RE-LABEL
• Re-label an existing product
• Explore new marketing claims
• Start from a top-quality
product

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DROPLIFTING
• ‘Drop off’ your product in a
store, wait to see if anyone
tries to buy it
• Tests marketing story &
product look & feel
(Ask for store permission)

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EXAMPLE: AB INBEV
Freedom
Bring the party home.. On tap!
The future of flexible, convenient &
mobile draft beer
A portable draft tower called ‘Freedom’
-> Demonstration models developed
-> Priced 10$ -15$ -35$
-> Droplifted at Walmart

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1. Describe your idea as concrete as possible
• Market engagement hypothesis (MEH)
• Say it with Numbers : XYZ Hypothesis
• Hypozooming
2. Tactically design an agile validation plan
• Tactic1: Think globally, test locally
• Tactic2: Testing now, beats testing later
• Tactic3: Think cheap, cheaper, cheapest
• Tactic4: Tweak it & flip it before you quit it
STEPS TO PRETO

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3.2 The era of pretotyping has arrived 25
1. Describe your idea as concrete as possible
• Market engagement hypothesis (MEH)
• Say it with Numbers : XYZ Hypothesis
• Hypozooming
2. Tactically design an agile validation plan
• Tactic1: Think globally, test locally
• Tactic2: Testing now, beats testing later
• Tactic3: Think cheap, cheaper, cheapest
• Tactic4: Tweak it & flip it before you quit it
3. Validate your assumptions with YODA
> Skin in the game; Mechanical turk; drop lifting, landing page, relabeling, ..
STEPS TO PRETO

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SKIN IN THE GAME
≠ if we build it, will you buy it?
= if you buy it, we will build it

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EXAMPLE: HENKEL
Somat Smart
The smarter way of dishwashing “We’re not here for funding, but to reach
backers who are willing to test limited
edition Somat Smart devices at a special
price.
Feedback will help to understand if the
communication resonates and if this
technology truly makes life easier and
more enjoyable as we get ready for a
wider release”

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MECHANICAL TURK
• Perform manually without any
infrastructure in place
• Simulate an automated
process

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EXAMPLE: COCA COLA
‘the Glacier’
Instantaneous Cooling
Via conceptual system redesign, we
developed a novel open front cooler concept
with lower energy consumption than a closed
one,
yet with the same sell-through ratio as an
open-front cooler?
Do people understand, trust & use an instantly
cooled beverage?
-> fake it during live demo’s
-> test the perception before developing the
technology

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LANDING PAGE
• Test user interest and
expectations before building
anything
• Use A/B testing for comparing
alternatives

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EXAMPLE: P&G
DS3Clean -> EC30
Mission to re-imagine clean for the planet
After several years of development, and a lot of
experiments to continue to improve, a group of
inspired people came together to create a line of
products we named after the location those ideas
were created: DS3.

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PRETOTYPING VS PROTOTYPING
TECHNOLOGY
INNOVATION
USER
INNOVATION
BUSINESS
INNOVATION
THE
SWEET
SPOT
How much can we charge for it?
Will people continue to use it?
Are people interested in it?
Do people use it as expected?
PRETOTYPING
Can we build it?
How fast can we make it?
Will it work as expected? How cheap can we build it?
PROTOTYPING
Can we sell it?
How fast can we validate it?

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• Most companies know how to prototype a new product idea,
.. But go in overdrive for the purpose of pretotyping : glossy & shiny, serve to benchmark
against competing solutions..)
.. But wait too long & spend too much
• Let’s consider pretotypes as a design research tool, to get qualitative
feedback on a testable hypothesis
.. thus they serve another purpose: Need validation or feedback on the intented value
proposition
“ Early stage hypotheses should be validateable with €1000 and 48h”
MY TWO CENTS ON PRETOTYPING..

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PRETOTYPING RECAP..
..
1. Obey the Law of Market Failure
2. Make sure you’re building The Right It
3. Don’t get lost in Thoughtland
4. Trust only in Your Own Data (YODA)
5. Pretotype It
6. Say it with Numbers
7. Think global, Test local

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THANK YOU..
In particular
Stijn Smet
Mgt Consultant
VERHAERT
And of course
Alberto Savoia
Innovation Agitator
www.albertosavoia.com
Kevin Douven
M: Kevin.douven@verhaert.com
T: +32 485 573 193

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CONFIDENTIAL
One group, five brands
Our services are marketed through 5 brands each addressing
specific missions in product development.
INTEGRATED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
ON-SITE PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
DIGITAL PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
OPTICAL PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT