This document outlines an agenda and materials for a workshop on iterating venture design to success. The workshop covers topics like validating customer problems, designing minimum viable products to test hypotheses, and focusing a business model based on validated customer insights and assumptions. It provides examples of potential product ideas for workshop participants to explore. The workshop emphasizes an iterative, evidence-based approach to innovation using lean startup and design thinking methodologies.
Here is a draft product hypothesis statement for your peer presentation:
For HR and functional managers who struggle to effectively screen for technical skill sets, making the hiring process slower and more labor intensive and producing worse outcomes than they should reasonably expect, Enable Quiz is an easy, affordable, lightweight technical quizzing solution.
Venture Design Module 3: Engineering Your Business Model (GA)Alex Cowan
This document outlines an agenda for a session on engineering a business model. It discusses using a business model canvas to detail the business model and remaining assumptions. It also discusses designing the right product by pairing learnings from personas and hypotheses with user stories and wireframes for product development and validation. The document provides templates for the business model canvas and discusses various elements of the canvas like customer segments, value propositions, relationships and channels.
This document outlines an agenda for a venture design crash course covering 5 periods:
1. Achieving customer relevance through personas, problem scenarios, value propositions, and starting the business model canvas.
2. Iterating to success through venture planning, experiments, and minimum viable products.
3. Focusing and validating venture progress through reviewing field work, refining approaches, and planning next steps.
4. Engineering the business model by detailing it and remaining assumptions.
5. Designing the right product by pairing learnings with user stories, wireframes, and product development/validation.
The course teaches lean startup techniques like validating hypotheses through minimum viable products and experiments, and pivoting or persever
Venture Design Crash Course: Prep for Startup Weekend OaklandAlex Cowan
This document provides an agenda for a crash course workshop on venture design. The workshop will cover topics like personas, problem scenarios, value propositions, business model canvases, and customer discovery ideas. It will involve tutorials, examples, and exercises for participants to develop their first take on various venture design deliverables. The goal is to help participants learn techniques from design thinking and the lean startup method to hypothesize, learn from experiments, and iterate on their venture ideas.
Venture Design, Session I at General Assembly (GA SF)Alex Cowan
This document provides an overview of Alex Cowan's Venture Design course which teaches entrepreneurship and product development. The course is divided into 5 sessions covering topics like achieving customer relevance through personas and problem scenarios, iterating a venture based on customer discovery, focusing and validating the venture, and designing the business model and product. The document emphasizes the importance of design thinking and lean startup methodologies. It provides examples of exercises used in the course like creating vivid personas and exploring a day in the life of different persona types through photos.
Venture Design, Module I at General Assembly (GA SF)Alex Cowan
This document contains an agenda and materials for a series of Venture Design sessions. The agenda outlines 5 sessions focused on achieving customer relevance, iterating a minimum viable product, validating the venture's progress, engineering the business model, and designing the right product. Additional materials provide overviews of topics like the lean startup methodology, hypotheses testing, business model canvassing, and the roles and skills of a full stack product person.
This document outlines an agenda for a course on venture design. It includes topics like user stories, problem scenarios, prototypes, and agile methodologies. The epic story example walks through decomposing a high-level goal into more granular user stories. There are also examples of wireframes and prototypes created for a branding application. The document provides guidance on processes like identifying user needs, finding comparable applications, wireframing, prototyping, and testing assumptions with customers.
Here is a draft product hypothesis statement for your peer presentation:
For HR and functional managers who struggle to effectively screen for technical skill sets, making the hiring process slower and more labor intensive and producing worse outcomes than they should reasonably expect, Enable Quiz is an easy, affordable, lightweight technical quizzing solution.
Venture Design Module 3: Engineering Your Business Model (GA)Alex Cowan
This document outlines an agenda for a session on engineering a business model. It discusses using a business model canvas to detail the business model and remaining assumptions. It also discusses designing the right product by pairing learnings from personas and hypotheses with user stories and wireframes for product development and validation. The document provides templates for the business model canvas and discusses various elements of the canvas like customer segments, value propositions, relationships and channels.
This document outlines an agenda for a venture design crash course covering 5 periods:
1. Achieving customer relevance through personas, problem scenarios, value propositions, and starting the business model canvas.
2. Iterating to success through venture planning, experiments, and minimum viable products.
3. Focusing and validating venture progress through reviewing field work, refining approaches, and planning next steps.
4. Engineering the business model by detailing it and remaining assumptions.
5. Designing the right product by pairing learnings with user stories, wireframes, and product development/validation.
The course teaches lean startup techniques like validating hypotheses through minimum viable products and experiments, and pivoting or persever
Venture Design Crash Course: Prep for Startup Weekend OaklandAlex Cowan
This document provides an agenda for a crash course workshop on venture design. The workshop will cover topics like personas, problem scenarios, value propositions, business model canvases, and customer discovery ideas. It will involve tutorials, examples, and exercises for participants to develop their first take on various venture design deliverables. The goal is to help participants learn techniques from design thinking and the lean startup method to hypothesize, learn from experiments, and iterate on their venture ideas.
Venture Design, Session I at General Assembly (GA SF)Alex Cowan
This document provides an overview of Alex Cowan's Venture Design course which teaches entrepreneurship and product development. The course is divided into 5 sessions covering topics like achieving customer relevance through personas and problem scenarios, iterating a venture based on customer discovery, focusing and validating the venture, and designing the business model and product. The document emphasizes the importance of design thinking and lean startup methodologies. It provides examples of exercises used in the course like creating vivid personas and exploring a day in the life of different persona types through photos.
Venture Design, Module I at General Assembly (GA SF)Alex Cowan
This document contains an agenda and materials for a series of Venture Design sessions. The agenda outlines 5 sessions focused on achieving customer relevance, iterating a minimum viable product, validating the venture's progress, engineering the business model, and designing the right product. Additional materials provide overviews of topics like the lean startup methodology, hypotheses testing, business model canvassing, and the roles and skills of a full stack product person.
This document outlines an agenda for a course on venture design. It includes topics like user stories, problem scenarios, prototypes, and agile methodologies. The epic story example walks through decomposing a high-level goal into more granular user stories. There are also examples of wireframes and prototypes created for a branding application. The document provides guidance on processes like identifying user needs, finding comparable applications, wireframing, prototyping, and testing assumptions with customers.
The document provides information about the Business Model Canvas template and how it can be used for customer development and venture design. It discusses key elements of the canvas like customer segments, value propositions, and channels. It also discusses how design thinking techniques like personas and storyboarding can be applied with the canvas to develop value propositions for specific customer segments. The canvas is presented as a tool that can help structure the customer development process and manage assumptions through experimentation and learning.
This document provides an overview of the Lean Startup model presented by Alex Cowan. It discusses key aspects of the Lean Startup process like developing personas, problem scenarios, hypotheses, minimum viable products, and experimentation. It provides examples from companies like Dropbox and Zappos to illustrate how they applied Lean Startup principles. The document emphasizes the importance of customer discovery, developing assumptions to test, creating quick prototypes and experiments, and pivoting based on validation of assumptions.
The document discusses the lean startup model and how it has changed how businesses are started and operated. It covers topics like personas, problem scenarios, value propositions, experiments, pivots, agile development, and business models. Examples are provided of how companies like Dropbox and Zappos used lean startup principles in their early days.
Venture Design Workshop: Business Model CanvasAlex Cowan
These slides support the various workshops I do and my online curriculum in two principal places:
1. Business Model Canvas Tutorial
This is a more fully articulated instructional, complete with templates: bit.ly/nicebmc.
2. Startup Sprints
This is a structured self-service for Venture Design/new venture creation: bit.ly/startupsprints.
The document discusses the key resources section of the Business Model Canvas. It defines key resources as the most important tangible and intangible things needed for a business model to work. Examples of tangible resources include physical assets like factories, human resources like employees, and financial resources like capital. Intangible resources include intellectual property, brands, user bases, and customer trust. The document cautions against getting too granular and stresses the importance of identifying only the essential resources that drive the business model.
The document introduces a business model canvas as a common platform for analyzing and describing business models. It explains that the canvas breaks a business model down into nine building blocks: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. An example of how Skype's business model fits into the canvas is provided to demonstrate how the platform can be used to understand a company's operations.
The document provides guidance on optimizing landing pages by including key elements like a compelling headline, introductory text, key benefits, calls to action, forms, and supporting elements. It recommends crafting the headline and benefits to address user needs, keeping the call to action visible, minimizing forms, and including testimonials that specifically address common objections. The guidance is intended to help users clearly understand and easily complete the desired action on the landing page.
The document provides an overview of various business model canvas templates and topics related to developing a business model. It includes templates for sections of the business model canvas like customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. It also discusses topics like customer development, mapping customer segments to value propositions, and conceptualizing customer relationships and channels. The templates and discussions are intended to help users think through and detail the components of their business model.
Software Design Class (Session 5): Finding the Points of Light- Actionable Ex...Alex Cowan
The document discusses designing experiments to validate assumptions for a venture design process. It provides examples of experiments that could test assumptions for an MVP called "Enable Quiz." One example tests whether creating position-specific quizzes would result in HR managers using them 100% of the time and being willing to pay after two positions. Metrics, thresholds, and next steps are outlined. The document concludes by assigning participants to design their own experiments to test assumptions for their ventures.
This document provides information about design thinking and venture design workshops led by Alex Cowan. It discusses creating effective personas, which are detailed representations of target customer types. Good personas tell vivid stories about people's lives and make their needs, behaviors and goals clear. They should be based on real research and observation rather than assumptions. The document emphasizes the importance of personas being actionable, detailed, identifiable, distinct and realistic. It provides tips for persona creation, such as using a "Think-See-Feel-Do" framework, and suggests an exercise where participants generate personas and imagine a day in their lives.
The document discusses solution narratives, which are a way to communicate an awesome user experience in 60 seconds or less using 3 visuals and an accompanying narrative. Solution narratives can be used to pitch products to investors, clients, or business partners. They follow a framework of showing the app context, a key call-to-action, and the resulting awesome moment. Examples and templates are provided.
Crash Course in Design Thinking (+Japanese)Alex Cowan
This document provides an overview of a design thinking workshop conducted in Japanese. It includes sections on design thinking, personas, problem scenarios, and alternatives. The workshop leader, Alex Cowan, discusses topics like empathy, creativity, and applying design thinking. Examples of personas created during exercises include Sally the Single Mom. The document contains copyright notices and promotes Cowan's online brand.
This document discusses the concept of the "full stack product person" and their skills and responsibilities. It covers topics such as design, UX, programming languages, sales, analytics, architecture fundamentals, agile development, and model-view-controller frameworks. It also discusses discovery techniques like creating personas and problem scenarios to understand customer needs. The document emphasizes skills like design thinking, customer development, and technical literacy to effectively build products.
The document discusses lean startup principles for minimizing an MVP (minimum viable product). It emphasizes testing assumptions through experimentation to guide product development. Examples are provided for three companies - a communications software provider, photo sharing app, and technical quiz builder for hiring. Their MVP journeys are outlined from initial consulting products to more fully-featured software. The document stresses the importance of proving pivotal assumptions about customer needs through low-cost, non-software MVPs before investing heavily in development.
The document discusses how UX practitioners can adopt an agile mindset and work within agile frameworks. It outlines key agile concepts and compares traditional vs. agile development lifecycles. It also provides an example project timeline to illustrate how UX and development tasks are interleaved. The presentation emphasizes that agile is about people over process and advocates evolving design documents alongside software development through iterative conversations.
This document discusses using agile methods when working with big customers. It advocates focusing expertise, leveraging economies of scale, and using an outside perspective to help resolve internal disagreements. It also notes that initiatives can lose momentum and provides tips for maintaining initiative. Some key agile practices discussed include focusing on individuals and interactions over processes, working software over documentation, customer collaboration, and responding to change. The document emphasizes writing user stories and testing ideas quickly through experiments.
The passage discusses the importance of summarization for processing large amounts of text data. It notes that automatic summarization systems aim to condense long documents into shorter summaries while maintaining the most important concepts and entities. The challenges of building such systems include identifying the most salient pieces of information, understanding natural language at a deeper level, and generating coherent summaries.
The document provides information about the Business Model Canvas template and how it can be used for customer development and venture design. It discusses key elements of the canvas like customer segments, value propositions, and channels. It also discusses how design thinking techniques like personas and storyboarding can be applied with the canvas to develop value propositions for specific customer segments. The canvas is presented as a tool that can help structure the customer development process and manage assumptions through experimentation and learning.
This document provides an overview of the Lean Startup model presented by Alex Cowan. It discusses key aspects of the Lean Startup process like developing personas, problem scenarios, hypotheses, minimum viable products, and experimentation. It provides examples from companies like Dropbox and Zappos to illustrate how they applied Lean Startup principles. The document emphasizes the importance of customer discovery, developing assumptions to test, creating quick prototypes and experiments, and pivoting based on validation of assumptions.
The document discusses the lean startup model and how it has changed how businesses are started and operated. It covers topics like personas, problem scenarios, value propositions, experiments, pivots, agile development, and business models. Examples are provided of how companies like Dropbox and Zappos used lean startup principles in their early days.
Venture Design Workshop: Business Model CanvasAlex Cowan
These slides support the various workshops I do and my online curriculum in two principal places:
1. Business Model Canvas Tutorial
This is a more fully articulated instructional, complete with templates: bit.ly/nicebmc.
2. Startup Sprints
This is a structured self-service for Venture Design/new venture creation: bit.ly/startupsprints.
The document discusses the key resources section of the Business Model Canvas. It defines key resources as the most important tangible and intangible things needed for a business model to work. Examples of tangible resources include physical assets like factories, human resources like employees, and financial resources like capital. Intangible resources include intellectual property, brands, user bases, and customer trust. The document cautions against getting too granular and stresses the importance of identifying only the essential resources that drive the business model.
The document introduces a business model canvas as a common platform for analyzing and describing business models. It explains that the canvas breaks a business model down into nine building blocks: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. An example of how Skype's business model fits into the canvas is provided to demonstrate how the platform can be used to understand a company's operations.
The document provides guidance on optimizing landing pages by including key elements like a compelling headline, introductory text, key benefits, calls to action, forms, and supporting elements. It recommends crafting the headline and benefits to address user needs, keeping the call to action visible, minimizing forms, and including testimonials that specifically address common objections. The guidance is intended to help users clearly understand and easily complete the desired action on the landing page.
The document provides an overview of various business model canvas templates and topics related to developing a business model. It includes templates for sections of the business model canvas like customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. It also discusses topics like customer development, mapping customer segments to value propositions, and conceptualizing customer relationships and channels. The templates and discussions are intended to help users think through and detail the components of their business model.
Software Design Class (Session 5): Finding the Points of Light- Actionable Ex...Alex Cowan
The document discusses designing experiments to validate assumptions for a venture design process. It provides examples of experiments that could test assumptions for an MVP called "Enable Quiz." One example tests whether creating position-specific quizzes would result in HR managers using them 100% of the time and being willing to pay after two positions. Metrics, thresholds, and next steps are outlined. The document concludes by assigning participants to design their own experiments to test assumptions for their ventures.
This document provides information about design thinking and venture design workshops led by Alex Cowan. It discusses creating effective personas, which are detailed representations of target customer types. Good personas tell vivid stories about people's lives and make their needs, behaviors and goals clear. They should be based on real research and observation rather than assumptions. The document emphasizes the importance of personas being actionable, detailed, identifiable, distinct and realistic. It provides tips for persona creation, such as using a "Think-See-Feel-Do" framework, and suggests an exercise where participants generate personas and imagine a day in their lives.
The document discusses solution narratives, which are a way to communicate an awesome user experience in 60 seconds or less using 3 visuals and an accompanying narrative. Solution narratives can be used to pitch products to investors, clients, or business partners. They follow a framework of showing the app context, a key call-to-action, and the resulting awesome moment. Examples and templates are provided.
Crash Course in Design Thinking (+Japanese)Alex Cowan
This document provides an overview of a design thinking workshop conducted in Japanese. It includes sections on design thinking, personas, problem scenarios, and alternatives. The workshop leader, Alex Cowan, discusses topics like empathy, creativity, and applying design thinking. Examples of personas created during exercises include Sally the Single Mom. The document contains copyright notices and promotes Cowan's online brand.
This document discusses the concept of the "full stack product person" and their skills and responsibilities. It covers topics such as design, UX, programming languages, sales, analytics, architecture fundamentals, agile development, and model-view-controller frameworks. It also discusses discovery techniques like creating personas and problem scenarios to understand customer needs. The document emphasizes skills like design thinking, customer development, and technical literacy to effectively build products.
The document discusses lean startup principles for minimizing an MVP (minimum viable product). It emphasizes testing assumptions through experimentation to guide product development. Examples are provided for three companies - a communications software provider, photo sharing app, and technical quiz builder for hiring. Their MVP journeys are outlined from initial consulting products to more fully-featured software. The document stresses the importance of proving pivotal assumptions about customer needs through low-cost, non-software MVPs before investing heavily in development.
The document discusses how UX practitioners can adopt an agile mindset and work within agile frameworks. It outlines key agile concepts and compares traditional vs. agile development lifecycles. It also provides an example project timeline to illustrate how UX and development tasks are interleaved. The presentation emphasizes that agile is about people over process and advocates evolving design documents alongside software development through iterative conversations.
This document discusses using agile methods when working with big customers. It advocates focusing expertise, leveraging economies of scale, and using an outside perspective to help resolve internal disagreements. It also notes that initiatives can lose momentum and provides tips for maintaining initiative. Some key agile practices discussed include focusing on individuals and interactions over processes, working software over documentation, customer collaboration, and responding to change. The document emphasizes writing user stories and testing ideas quickly through experiments.
The passage discusses the importance of summarization for processing large amounts of text data. It notes that automatic summarization systems aim to condense long documents into shorter summaries while maintaining the most important concepts and entities. The challenges of building such systems include identifying the most salient pieces of information, understanding natural language at a deeper level, and generating coherent summaries.
The Salesforce Playbook- 6 Steps to Better DeploymentsAlex Cowan
This document provides an overview of a framework for improving Salesforce implementations based on Alexander Cowan's experience. It discusses common problems with CRM implementations like high failure rates and offers strategies to address these, including focusing more on consulting rather than just order taking, emphasizing design over just building functionality, solving problems rather than just applying software fixes, and taking an iterative approach versus big batch implementations. The document provides templates and exercises to help define a company's strategy and map it to customer experiences and processes to improve Salesforce deployments.
The document provides an overview of storyboarding techniques for venture design and product development. It covers topics such as developing personas and problem scenarios, defining customer journeys, improving agile user stories, and applying the "Hook" customer engagement framework. Templates and exercises are provided to guide users in storyboarding techniques, including frameworks for venture design, agile user stories, and capturing the customer experience journey. The overall document aims to equip readers with visual storytelling skills to help design new ventures and products.
The document provides an overview of venture design and startup methodologies including design thinking, lean startup, business model canvas, and agile development. It discusses that venture design is a process that involves hypothesizing business assumptions, learning through customer discovery and validation experiments, and iterating the business model. Each methodology has its own techniques for gathering customer insights, defining problems and solutions, testing assumptions, and building business models in an iterative process.
This file contains templates for creating a provisional persona and hypothesis statement. For more information about how they are used, see the materials from the "Hands-on Lean UX for Digital Designers" workshop http://www.slideshare.net/LaneHalley/hands-on-lean-ux-for-digital-designers
This document summarizes an introductory software design class session. It introduces the instructor Alex Cowan and outlines the venture design process that will be used. It discusses that students will work individually and in teams, using methods like design thinking, lean startup, agile development, and user experience design. Students will complete assignments on personas, problems, alternatives, and discovery questions. The class aims to improve students' abilities to generate and test ideas, collaborate, and engage with product design. Grading will consider attendance, assignments, and a team venture design project.
This is a class for businesspeople/MBA that I currently teach at UVA Darden. It's a continuation of Software Design (bit.ly/sw-class). For more on the Software Development class, see bit.ly/sw-dev.
On Intrapreneurship: Lean Startup & MVP'sAlex Cowan
1) The document discusses lean startup methodology and customer development frameworks. It provides examples of how companies like Dropbox and Leonid Systems used minimum viable products (MVPs) and hypothesis-driven experimentation to validate business ideas.
2) Different types of MVPs are described, such as "Wizard of Oz" prototypes and "pre-sales" validation of topics. The document also outlines four types of hypotheses to test - related to personas, problems, value propositions, and customer creation.
3) Frameworks and best practices for hypothesis testing and product development are laid out, including developing an understanding of customer personas, defining problems and alternatives, designing MVPs, and using discovery and experimentation to iterate the business model
Venture Design Module 4: Designing the Right ProductAlex Cowan
This document provides an overview of agile product design and development. It discusses topics like user stories, storyboarding, wireframing, and prototyping. The document uses a case study of an HR screening tool to illustrate concepts like writing user stories and epics, creating a storyboard for an epic, identifying needs and comparable applications for prototyping, and documenting assumptions. The overall message is that early-stage product design should involve iterative experimentation through techniques like storytelling, wireframing, and quick prototyping in order to validate assumptions and gather user feedback before investing heavily in development.
@ Charlottesville Business Innovation Council- Accelerating Your StartupAlex Cowan
This is a talk I did for entrepreneurs and investors at the Charlottesville Innovation Council (CBIC). For footage on the topics, please see www.alexandercowan.com/speaking.
Fat funding for lean startups part 1 - capital efficiency v2AUVALIE-Innovation
1) The document discusses methods for efficiently funding lean startups, including capital efficiency and leveraging public funding.
2) It describes Auvalie's Labs-to-Market program methodology, which takes a three stage approach of validating a vision, exploring business models and assumptions, and executing with an MVP to test growth hypotheses.
3) The methodology aims to help startups focus resources and learn how to build a sustainable business through validated experiments and metrics rather than assumptions.
This document introduces the Lean Launchpad approach to entrepreneurship. It argues that startups should focus on search, not execution, through customer development. This involves testing hypotheses about the problem and solution with customers to pivot the business model as needed. The document outlines the Lean Launchpad process of iterating through customer discovery, validation, and creation phases to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. It attributes the Lean Launchpad method to Steve Blank, an educator and serial entrepreneur.
This document provides information on design thinking and lean startup methodologies. It includes sections on personas, problem scenarios, assumptions, experiments, storyboards, and the customer journey (AIDA model). Key aspects summarized:
1. The document discusses creating personas to represent target customer segments, developing problem scenarios they may face, and determining value propositions to address those problems.
2. It also covers planning experiments to test assumptions about the business using a lean startup approach, with the goal of proving or disproving assumptions as quickly and cheaply as possible.
3. Additional sections provide templates and examples for storyboards to illustrate the customer experience and journey from awareness to retention through the AIDA model of Attention, Interest
This document provides information on design thinking, lean startup methodology, customer development, agile development practices, and other topics related to venture design and product development. It includes descriptions and examples of key concepts like personas, storyboards, assumptions, experiments, pivots, minimum viable products, and agile user stories. Copyright notices are included at the bottom of most pages.
The document discusses jobs-to-be-done theory, which holds that people buy products and services to accomplish tasks and achieve goals. It defines a job-to-be-done as the process a customer goes through to make progress. Understanding the job helps define customer needs. A value proposition outlines how a company's products and services help customers achieve gains and relieve pains associated with their job. Developing a value hypothesis tests whether a product truly delivers value by helping customers complete their job.
Building trust and rapport is the key to establishing credibility. So when given a window of opportunity to prove credibility with a prospective client, it is critical to lead a meaningful conversation. But how do you engage the executive with crossed arms and furrowed brow? The answer is to be interesting and to develop and deliver value-based stories that prove you understand their business and industry situation. Value-based stories will also validate your track record. Then once you've hooked them, executives are more likely to open up, share their perspective and start a professional relationship with you.
This document provides information about building a startup and lean startup methodology. It includes:
1) An overview of the Lean Startup Dublin Meetup group which discusses topics like lean startup, agile, and crowdfunding.
2) Details of a new Lean Startup for Enterprise Meetup group focused on topics for growing enterprises.
3) An explanation of the Lean Launchpad program which helps entrepreneurs increase their chances of success.
4) A description of the importance of observing customers and associating to gain insights through unexpected connections.
Lean Startup for AgileTalks#6, May 13, 2015, Bucharest, RomaniaDragos Gavrilescu
This is a general presentation I made to a community of practice of Agile development.
Thank you in advance for any kind of feedback!
Also thanks to www.MozaicWorks.com for inviting me to this meetup group.
Ciao, Dragos
This document outlines the key concepts taught in a class on business models and customer development. It discusses moving from traditional functional organizations and waterfall development to having founders run customer development teams and use agile development. The business model canvas is used to articulate hypotheses about the business model and keep score of customer development progress. Customer development involves testing problems before solutions through building minimum viable products and pivoting if needed based on customer feedback.
This document provides an overview of how to build a startup presented by Raomal Perera. It discusses identifying problems worth solving, defining minimum viable products, validating solutions qualitatively and quantitatively, and the importance of customer development. It emphasizes getting outside the building to test hypotheses with customers rather than relying only on internal assumptions. Business model canvases and customer archetypes are presented as tools to help organize thinking and guide customer interactions.
The document provides an overview of Steve Blank's teachings on business models, customer development, and how startups differ from large companies. It discusses that startups search for a repeatable business model through customer development, while large companies focus on execution. Key points include:
- Startups are temporary organizations that search for a business model, while companies execute known business plans.
- The business model canvas is used to visualize hypotheses about the problem and solution that are then tested through customer development.
- Customer development involves building minimum viable products and pivoting based on feedback, rather than following traditional product launch processes.
- Founders run customer development teams rather than hiring functional roles like sales and marketing early on.
The document presents an overview of Lean Startup methodology. It discusses that Lean Startup is a scientific approach to create startups faster through experimentation over planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over "big design up front". It outlines the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop process and emphasizes validating customer problems before proposing solutions. The presentation provides examples of Lean Startup workshops conducted worldwide and resources like an experiment board template to help structure hypothesis testing through customer experiments.
This document provides an overview of how to build a startup. It discusses identifying problems and opportunities, defining solutions, validating ideas with customers, and pivoting based on feedback. Key frameworks mentioned include the Lean Startup methodology, customer development process, minimum viable product, and business model canvas. The document emphasizes the importance of getting outside the building to test hypotheses with customers rather than making assumptions internally. It also notes common startup metrics and the need for fast decision making and validation through customer experiments.
1. The document discusses Lean Startup and Lean UX methodologies for product development under conditions of uncertainty. It emphasizes starting with customer development and validating hypotheses through iterative testing of prototypes.
2. Key concepts include minimizing waste, focusing on learning through experiments, and getting customer feedback early via low-fidelity prototypes. Cross-functional collaboration and visualizing processes are also emphasized.
3. Successful implementation requires formulating hypotheses about problems and solutions, designing experiments to test assumptions, and using results to continuously improve products and the development process.
Similar to Venture Design II: Iterating to Success (20)
Have you ever been confused by the myriad of choices offered by AWS for hosting a website or an API?
Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, Lightsail, Amplify, S3 (and more!) can each host websites + APIs. But which one should we choose?
Which one is cheapest? Which one is fastest? Which one will scale to meet our needs?
Join me in this session as we dive into each AWS hosting service to determine which one is best for your scenario and explain why!
Digital Marketing Trends in 2024 | Guide for Staying AheadWask
https://www.wask.co/ebooks/digital-marketing-trends-in-2024
Feeling lost in the digital marketing whirlwind of 2024? Technology is changing, consumer habits are evolving, and staying ahead of the curve feels like a never-ending pursuit. This e-book is your compass. Dive into actionable insights to handle the complexities of modern marketing. From hyper-personalization to the power of user-generated content, learn how to build long-term relationships with your audience and unlock the secrets to success in the ever-shifting digital landscape.
Salesforce Integration for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions A...Jeffrey Haguewood
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This video focuses on integration of Salesforce with Bonterra Impact Management.
Interested in deploying an integration with Salesforce for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Dive into the realm of operating systems (OS) with Pravash Chandra Das, a seasoned Digital Forensic Analyst, as your guide. 🚀 This comprehensive presentation illuminates the core concepts, types, and evolution of OS, essential for understanding modern computing landscapes.
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Skybuffer SAM4U tool for SAP license adoptionTatiana Kojar
Manage and optimize your license adoption and consumption with SAM4U, an SAP free customer software asset management tool.
SAM4U, an SAP complimentary software asset management tool for customers, delivers a detailed and well-structured overview of license inventory and usage with a user-friendly interface. We offer a hosted, cost-effective, and performance-optimized SAM4U setup in the Skybuffer Cloud environment. You retain ownership of the system and data, while we manage the ABAP 7.58 infrastructure, ensuring fixed Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and exceptional services through the SAP Fiori interface.
How to Interpret Trends in the Kalyan Rajdhani Mix Chart.pdfChart Kalyan
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Your One-Stop Shop for Python Success: Top 10 US Python Development Providersakankshawande
Simplify your search for a reliable Python development partner! This list presents the top 10 trusted US providers offering comprehensive Python development services, ensuring your project's success from conception to completion.
Unlock the Future of Search with MongoDB Atlas_ Vector Search Unleashed.pdfMalak Abu Hammad
Discover how MongoDB Atlas and vector search technology can revolutionize your application's search capabilities. This comprehensive presentation covers:
* What is Vector Search?
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Perfect for developers, AI enthusiasts, and tech leaders. Learn how to leverage MongoDB Atlas to deliver highly relevant, context-aware search results, transforming your data retrieval process. Stay ahead in tech innovation and maximize the potential of your applications.
#MongoDB #VectorSearch #AI #SemanticSearch #TechInnovation #DataScience #LLM #MachineLearning #SearchTechnology
This presentation provides valuable insights into effective cost-saving techniques on AWS. Learn how to optimize your AWS resources by rightsizing, increasing elasticity, picking the right storage class, and choosing the best pricing model. Additionally, discover essential governance mechanisms to ensure continuous cost efficiency. Whether you are new to AWS or an experienced user, this presentation provides clear and practical tips to help you reduce your cloud costs and get the most out of your budget.
Nunit vs XUnit vs MSTest Differences Between These Unit Testing Frameworks.pdfflufftailshop
When it comes to unit testing in the .NET ecosystem, developers have a wide range of options available. Among the most popular choices are NUnit, XUnit, and MSTest. These unit testing frameworks provide essential tools and features to help ensure the quality and reliability of code. However, understanding the differences between these frameworks is crucial for selecting the most suitable one for your projects.
Trusted Execution Environment for Decentralized Process MiningLucaBarbaro3
Presentation of the paper "Trusted Execution Environment for Decentralized Process Mining" given during the CAiSE 2024 Conference in Cyprus on June 7, 2024.
A Comprehensive Guide to DeFi Development Services in 2024Intelisync
DeFi represents a paradigm shift in the financial industry. Instead of relying on traditional, centralized institutions like banks, DeFi leverages blockchain technology to create a decentralized network of financial services. This means that financial transactions can occur directly between parties, without intermediaries, using smart contracts on platforms like Ethereum.
In 2024, we are witnessing an explosion of new DeFi projects and protocols, each pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in finance.
In summary, DeFi in 2024 is not just a trend; it’s a revolution that democratizes finance, enhances security and transparency, and fosters continuous innovation. As we proceed through this presentation, we'll explore the various components and services of DeFi in detail, shedding light on how they are transforming the financial landscape.
At Intelisync, we specialize in providing comprehensive DeFi development services tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients. From smart contract development to dApp creation and security audits, we ensure that your DeFi project is built with innovation, security, and scalability in mind. Trust Intelisync to guide you through the intricate landscape of decentralized finance and unlock the full potential of blockchain technology.
Ready to take your DeFi project to the next level? Partner with Intelisync for expert DeFi development services today!
HCL Notes und Domino Lizenzkostenreduzierung in der Welt von DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-und-domino-lizenzkostenreduzierung-in-der-welt-von-dlau/
DLAU und die Lizenzen nach dem CCB- und CCX-Modell sind für viele in der HCL-Community seit letztem Jahr ein heißes Thema. Als Notes- oder Domino-Kunde haben Sie vielleicht mit unerwartet hohen Benutzerzahlen und Lizenzgebühren zu kämpfen. Sie fragen sich vielleicht, wie diese neue Art der Lizenzierung funktioniert und welchen Nutzen sie Ihnen bringt. Vor allem wollen Sie sicherlich Ihr Budget einhalten und Kosten sparen, wo immer möglich. Das verstehen wir und wir möchten Ihnen dabei helfen!
Wir erklären Ihnen, wie Sie häufige Konfigurationsprobleme lösen können, die dazu führen können, dass mehr Benutzer gezählt werden als nötig, und wie Sie überflüssige oder ungenutzte Konten identifizieren und entfernen können, um Geld zu sparen. Es gibt auch einige Ansätze, die zu unnötigen Ausgaben führen können, z. B. wenn ein Personendokument anstelle eines Mail-Ins für geteilte Mailboxen verwendet wird. Wir zeigen Ihnen solche Fälle und deren Lösungen. Und natürlich erklären wir Ihnen das neue Lizenzmodell.
Nehmen Sie an diesem Webinar teil, bei dem HCL-Ambassador Marc Thomas und Gastredner Franz Walder Ihnen diese neue Welt näherbringen. Es vermittelt Ihnen die Tools und das Know-how, um den Überblick zu bewahren. Sie werden in der Lage sein, Ihre Kosten durch eine optimierte Domino-Konfiguration zu reduzieren und auch in Zukunft gering zu halten.
Diese Themen werden behandelt
- Reduzierung der Lizenzkosten durch Auffinden und Beheben von Fehlkonfigurationen und überflüssigen Konten
- Wie funktionieren CCB- und CCX-Lizenzen wirklich?
- Verstehen des DLAU-Tools und wie man es am besten nutzt
- Tipps für häufige Problembereiche, wie z. B. Team-Postfächer, Funktions-/Testbenutzer usw.
- Praxisbeispiele und Best Practices zum sofortigen Umsetzen
HCL Notes and Domino License Cost Reduction in the World of DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-and-domino-license-cost-reduction-in-the-world-of-dlau/
The introduction of DLAU and the CCB & CCX licensing model caused quite a stir in the HCL community. As a Notes and Domino customer, you may have faced challenges with unexpected user counts and license costs. You probably have questions on how this new licensing approach works and how to benefit from it. Most importantly, you likely have budget constraints and want to save money where possible. Don’t worry, we can help with all of this!
We’ll show you how to fix common misconfigurations that cause higher-than-expected user counts, and how to identify accounts which you can deactivate to save money. There are also frequent patterns that can cause unnecessary cost, like using a person document instead of a mail-in for shared mailboxes. We’ll provide examples and solutions for those as well. And naturally we’ll explain the new licensing model.
Join HCL Ambassador Marc Thomas in this webinar with a special guest appearance from Franz Walder. It will give you the tools and know-how to stay on top of what is going on with Domino licensing. You will be able lower your cost through an optimized configuration and keep it low going forward.
These topics will be covered
- Reducing license cost by finding and fixing misconfigurations and superfluous accounts
- How do CCB and CCX licenses really work?
- Understanding the DLAU tool and how to best utilize it
- Tips for common problem areas, like team mailboxes, functional/test users, etc
- Practical examples and best practices to implement right away
5. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AGENDA
Period! Deliverables!
Venture Design I: Achieving
Customer Relevance
Personas
Problem Scenarios-Alternatives-Value Propositions
Start Business Model Canvas
Storyboards
Customer Discovery
Venture Design II: Iterating to
Success
Venture Planning- focal hypotheses, experiments, and
minimum viable ‘product’
Venture Design III: Focusing &
Validating Venture Progress
Review of field work, refinements of approach, planning next
steps.
Venture Design IV: Engineering
Your Business Model!
Detailing your business model and remaining focal assumptions.
Venture Design V: Designing the
Right Product!
Pairing your learnings on personas & hypotheses with high
quality, actionable inputs (stories & wireframes) for product
development and product validation.
6. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PRODUCT IDEAS?
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
Do you have a
product idea you
can use?
12. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
Foundation in
Design Thinking
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN
13. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN
14. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
Foundation in
Design Thinking
User Stories &
Test Cases
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN
15. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Product &
Promotion
User Stories &
Test Cases
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN
17. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
THE FULL STACK PRODUCT PERSON
Specialties
DESIGN&UX
UNIXSYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
...
ENTERPRISESALES
...
SEO
ANALYTICS
...
...
...
Technical
Literacy
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS
App. & Platform
Integration
ROLES &
SYSTEMS
In a Technical
Team
Foundation
Concepts
LEAN
DESIGN
THINKING
CUSTOMER
DEV.
AGILE
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS
Model-View-
Controller
18. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
THE FULL STACK PRODUCT PERSON
Specialties
Technical
Literacy
Foundation
Concepts
LEAN
19. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE STARTUP: THEN AND NOW
Five Year
Plan
Then
!5,000,000%
0%
5,000,000%
10,000,000%
15,000,000%
20,000,000%
25,000,000%
30,000,000%
35,000,000%
40,000,000%
45,000,000%
2012% 2013% 2014% 2015% 2016% 2017% 2018% 2019% 2020%
Revenue%
Expense%
EBITDA%
Lean
Management
Now
6.a PIVOT
experiments
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 PIVOT OR PERSEVERE?
6.b PERSEVERE
20. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
OLD SCHOOL VS. NEW SCHOOL
OLD
SCHOOL
NEW
SCHOOL
$ !?
? ! ? ? ?
21. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION VIA ‘LEAN STARTUP’
Do I have real evidence from my buyer
that this is compelling?
01 IDEA!
What are the key assumptions required
to make this business work?
02 HYPOTHESIS
How do I definitely prove or disprove the
assumptions with a minimum of time
and effort?
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATIONAm I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
22. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION VIA ‘LEAN STARTUP’
Do I have real evidence from my buyer
that this is compelling?
01 IDEA!
24. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION & DESIGN THINKING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
25. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION & DESIGN THINKING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
What job(s) are you doing for the
customer?
What existing need or behavior
are you fulfilling?
26. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION & DESIGN THINKING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
27. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION & DESIGN THINKING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
If they currently use spreadsheets, watch
them use it and get a copy of it.
If they currently put notes on the family
fridge, ask about it, photograph it.
28. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION & DESIGN THINKING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
!
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
29. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION & DESIGN THINKING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
!
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
Are they better enough than the
alternative(s)?
30. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
YOUR PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
X… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S) …
?
… where they’re currently using
certain ALTERNATIVE(S) …
!
… and we have a VALUE
PROPOSITION that’s better
enough than the alternatives to
cause the persona to act
(purchase, use, etc.).
A certain PERSONA exists…
31. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: YOUR VENTURE HYPOTHESIS
… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S) …
… where they’re currently using
certain ALTERNATIVE(S) …
… and I have a VALUE
PROPOSITION that’s better
enough than the alternatives to
cause the persona to act
(purchase, use, etc.).
A certain PERSONA exists…
‘HR and functional managers are in charge of
technical hires
and they struggle to effectively screen for
technical skill sets, making the hiring process
slower and more labor intensive and
producing worse outcomes than they should
reasonably expect.
Currently they implement a patchwork of
calling references and asking a few probing
questions.
By offering an easy, affordable, lightweight
technical quizzing solution, Enable Quiz can
acquire and retain these customer personas,
delivering material value.’ (4 min.)
Enable Quiz example:
32. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION VIA ‘LEAN STARTUP’
Do I have real evidence from my buyer
that this is compelling?
01 IDEA!
What are the key assumptions required
to make this business work?
02 HYPOTHESIS
How do I definitely prove or disprove the
assumptions with a minimum of time
and effort?
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATIONAm I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
33. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION VIA ‘LEAN STARTUP’
What are the key assumptions required
to make this business work?
02 HYPOTHESIS
How do I definitely prove or disprove the
assumptions with a minimum of time
and effort?
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
34. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
ASSUMPTIONS: ORGANIZED AND PRIORITIZED
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
[A key assumption about the
business]
[Whether it needs
proving
[Experiment to
prove or disprove]
1
Hiring managers would
prefer a lightweight quiz app
over calling references and
ad hoc probing.
Yes
* Customer interviews on problem
scenario
* Value testing through ‘minimum
viable product’
2
Managers want to be able to
add their questions as well
Yes
* Show prototypes with choices
* Test in beta
2 Parents have smart phones No n/a
Focus on strategic,
pivotal assumptions
35. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
FOCUS AND THE LEAN STARTUP
Crossing t’s
Dotting i’s
Doesn’t matter unless it
helps prove (or disprove)
your pivotal assumptions
36. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
FOCUS AND THE LEAN STARTUP
Subject
all your
activities +
metrics to
that litmus
test.
37. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
38. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
39. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
VALUE
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
40. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
VALUE
HYPOTHESIS
CUSTOMER CREATION
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
41. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
42. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PERSONA HYPOTHESIS- CHECKLIST
! Hypothesis Experiment
✔︎ This persona exists (in non-trivial
numbers) and you can identify them.
- Can you think of 5-10 examples?
- Can you set up discovery interviews with them?
- Can you connect with them in the market at large?
✔︎ You understand this persona well. - What kind of shoes do they wear?
- Are you hearing, seeing the same things across your discovery
interviews?
✔︎ Do you understand what they Think in
your area of interest?
- What do you they mention as important? Difficult? Rewarding?
- Do they see the work (or habit) as you do?
- What would they like to do better? To be better?
✔︎
Do you understand what they See in
your area of interest?
- Where do they get their information? Peers? Publications?
- How do they decide what’s OK? What’s aspirational?
✔︎
How do they Feel about your area of
interest?
- What are their triggers for this area? Motivations?
- What rewards do they seek? How do they view past actions?
✔︎ Do you understand what they Do in your
area of interest?
- What do you actually observe them doing?
- How can you directly or indirectly validate that’s what they do?
43. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PERSONA HYPOTHESIS- OUTPUTS & PIVOTS
Common Pivots
1) Re-segmentation (more granular)
2) Revision of area of interest/
problem space
3) Strategic pivot
Template: bit.ly/personast
Outputs
46. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: WHO’S YOUR EARLY MARKET?
1) How do they differ within your existing persona definitions?
Example: At Enable Quiz, they’re startup’s doing lots of hiring
2) How will you locate them?
Example: At Enable Quiz, they’ll read tech rags to see who just got funded.
3) How will they help you transition to your next segment?
Example: At Enable Quiz, via case studies, references, and incented posts on LinkedIn.
Answer each as best you can: ~ 1 min/each
(4 min.)
47. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: PERSONA DISCOVERY QUESTIONS (5 MIN)
Question Form Examples Questions (‘Enable Quiz’)
Tell me about [yourself in the role of the persona]? - Tell me about being an HR manager?
- How did you choose that line of work? Why?
- What do you most, least like about the job?
- What are the hardest, easiest parts of the job?
- I’ve heard [x]- does that apply to you?
Tell me about [your area of interest]? - Do you do screen new candidates? If not, who?
- Can you tell me about the last time? What was the trigger?
- Who else was involved? What was it like?
Tell me your thoughts about [area]?! - How should it ideally be done?
- How is it actually done? Why?
What do you see in [area]?! - Where do you learn what’s new? What others do?
- How did you make your last decision?
What do you feel about [area]? - What motivates you? What parts of it are most rewarding? Why?
Tell me about the last time?
- What would it be like in your perfect world?
What do you do in [area]? - Would you show me your interview guide? Example notes? - What
the vetting process was like on the last few candidates?
48. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
KEY TO GOOD PERSONA DISCOVERY
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
1) Create a level of person-ability and comfort
2) Acclimate them to the idea that you’re not just
wondering about the ‘general picture’
3) Assure them by demonstration that you’re not
selling anything or advocating a point of view
49. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
50. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS- CHECKLIST
! Hypothesis Experiment
✔︎
You’ve identified at least one discrete
problem (habit/need)
- Can you describe it in a sentence? Do others get it?
- Can you identify current alternatives?
✔︎
The problem (habit/need) is important - Do subjects mention it unprompted in discovery interviews?
- Do they respond to solicitation (see also value and customer creation
hypotheses)?
✔︎
You understand current alternatives - Have you seen them in action?
- Do you have ‘artifacts’ (spreadsheets, photos, posts, notes, whiteboard
scribbles, screen shots)?
51. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS- OUTPUTS & PIVOTS
Outputs Common Pivots
1) Pivot to a more material problem area
2) Strategic pivot
Template: bit.ly/personast
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM
SCENARIO(S) X
52. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: PROBLEM DISCOVERY QUESTIONS
(5 min.)
Question Form Examples Questions (‘Enable Quiz’)
What are the top [5] hardest things about [area of
interest]?!
- What are the top 5 most difficult things about making good tech
hires? Why?
How do you currently [operate in area of interest- if
you don’t have that yet]? OR Here’s what I got on
[x]- is that right?
- How do you currently screen for technical skill sets?
- Who does what?
- How does that work?
What’s [difficult, annoying] about [area of interest]? - What’s difficult about screening technical candidates?
- How do you validate they have the right skill set?
- How are the actual outcomes? Examples?
What are the top 5 things you want to do better
this year in [general area of interest]?
- What are the top 5 things you want to do better in technical
recruiting and hiring?
Why is/isn’t [your specific area of interest on that
list]?!
- Why is/isn’t screening for technical candidates on that list?
53. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
KEY TO GOOD PROBLEM DISCOVERY
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
1) Avoid prompting, progressing to it only as a
last ditch effort
2) Get them in storytelling mode- focus on
specifics and details
3) Focus on just getting them talking- mind the
time but be careful about interrupting for course
corrections
54. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION VIA ‘LEAN STARTUP’
Do I have real evidence from my buyer
that this is compelling?
01 IDEA!
What are the key assumptions required
to make this business work?
02 HYPOTHESIS
How do I definitely prove or disprove the
assumptions with a minimum of time
and effort?
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATIONAm I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
55. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION VIA ‘LEAN STARTUP’
04 EXPERIMENTATIONAm I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
56. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
VALUE
HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
57. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
VALUE HYPOTHESIS- CHECKLIST
! Hypothesis Experiment
✔︎
Your product is better enough than the
alternative to make sales (traffic, etc.)
- You successful execute a (paid?) concierge MVP
or
- You successfully pre-sell the product
or
- You successfully drive drive sign-up’s online
✔︎
Customers will readily perceive this
superiority if you [x]!
- (see above)
58. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS- OUTPUTS & PIVOTS
Outputs Common Pivots
1) Pivot from pre-conceived solution/
proposition
2) Pivot to new problem area
3) Strategic pivot
Template: bit.ly/personast
VALUE
PROPOSITION(S)
X
?
!
59. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: VALUE DISCOVERY QUESTIONS
(2 min.)
Question Form Examples Questions (‘Enable Quiz’)
How do you decide on and buy [stuff in general
area of interest]? !
- How do you buy [access to recruiting services, resume
searches, HR software, training, prof. ed. books]?
- Who’s involved? What’s the scope of individual discretion?
How much did you spend [last period]?! - How much do you spend on [items of interest]?
[most of this needs to be obtained through direct experimentation (next
section); the following are useful but probably not pivotal]
60. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
TESTING YOUR HYPOTHESIS VIA ‘MVP’
M
V
P
inimum What is the fastest,
cheapest way to
validate or
invalidate this
option so we give
ourselves more
options on future
success?
61. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
TESTING YOUR HYPOTHESIS VIA ‘MVP’
M
V
P
iable Will it give us a
definitive result?
What are the
actionable metrics?
inimum
62. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
TESTING YOUR HYPOTHESIS VIA ‘MVP’
M
V
Product
Does it really
require actual
product? Can we
use alternative
brands, channels?
iable
inimum
63. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
TESTING YOUR HYPOTHESIS VIA ‘MVP’
is not necessarily actual software/product
(see concierge MVP)
is a first and foremost learning vehicle …
vs. a project plan
(OK to do those things but always
subordinate them to the learning mission)
vs. a product development project
M
V
Product
iable
inimum
64. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE MVP LITMUS TEST
output !=
outcome
Is your MVP driving an
extraordinary outcome?
Or is it a vehicle to create output
as usual?
65. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: DROPBOX
OPPORTUNITY
Underlying demand and supporting
infrastructure ready for a great file sharing
app.
CHALLENGE
Building a great cross-platform app.
required VC funding. VC’s saw a space
with lots of existing competitors struggling
to get traction.
66. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: DROPBOX
Persona
Problem
Scenario
Alternatives
Value Prop.
Tom the Techie- early adopter who works on projects that require swapping a lot of files between a
shifting network of collaborators.
It’s difficult to share files between a network of collaborators, particularly if they’re: big or numerous or
change a lot.
Many existing products, but none of them super compelling and widely adopted.
Also, custom setup’s which work but are cumbersome to set up and maintain.
A file sharing service that truly feels transparent to the user across all major platforms- OSX, iOS,
Windows, etc.
What Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
That you can bootstrap?
That doesn’t require software at all?
67. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE ‘WIZARD OF OZ’ MVP
Result: Excellent traction and
conversion to sign-up’s.
Strong validation signal.
Created a synthetic demo
tailored for early market
(techies), promoted it, and
measured email sign-up’s.
68. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXAMPLE: ENABLE QUIZ
OPPORTUNITY
Hiring quality technical talent is critical for
many companies, but screening for skill
sets is time consuming and awkward.
CHALLENGE
The founding team wants to bootstrap
without external funding so they need to
focus on a specific technical domain, one
that will get them strong early traction.
69. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXAMPLE: ENABLE QUIZ
Persona(s)
Problem
Scenario
Alternatives
Value Prop.
Helen the HR Manager- responsible for sourcing and screening job candidates
Frank the Functional Manager- hiring manager responsible for acquiring and managing talent
Helen: hard to screen for technical skills
Frank: never has enough time for recruiting and doesn’t want to be a jerk during interviews
Helen: call references, take their word for it (on skills)
Frank: ask a few probing questions
A lightweight quizzing app that has Helen can use to do quick, effective screening.
What Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for deciding on the right first topics?
That you can bootstrap?
That doesn’t require software at all?
70. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THE ‘PRE-SALES’ MVP
Target Outcome: Informed
selection of starter topics (and
baseline on initial conversions).
Ran Google AdWord
campaigns across top ranking
technical topics, measuring
click through rate and landing
page sign-up’s.
71. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: LEONID SYSTEMS
OPPORTUNITY
Major disruption and new product
opportunities among telecom providers
with introduction of voice-over-IP and cloud
communications.
IT systems need to be rethought.
CHALLENGE
As a one-person startup, Leonid had
actionable ideas but not enough resources
to execute an end-to-end solution.
72. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: LEONID SYSTEMS
Persona
Problem
Scenario
Alternatives
Value Prop.
Chris the CTO- has funding and mandate to transition the business towards hosted services; many
bases to cover
IT is the most expensive, most risky area when making changes to the business.
1) Place large, risky bets on major new system upgrades. 2) Make small incremental updates (but risk
not keeping pace).
Leonid will offer modular, integration-friendly applications in two critical areas: 1) services provisioning
and 2) end user self-service portals.
What Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
That you can bootstrap?
That doesn’t require software at all?
73. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
LEONID MVP’s: FROM CONSULTING TO PRODUCT
CONSULTING
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
PRODUCTS
Started with consulting as a
‘concierge’ vehicle to create
tactical solutions, evolving to
full-fledged product.
Result: Steady step-wise
growth with consistently better
understanding of key customer
problem scenarios.
74. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: ZAPPOS
OPPORTUNITY
An observed problem scenario around the
difficulty of finding the right shoe at local
retail and a giant (but nascent) market in
online retail (1999).
CHALLENGE
Consumers still in the early stages of
adopting and habituating to online retail.
Founder (Nick Swinmurn) wanted to
bootstrap.
75. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: ZAPPOS
Persona
Problem
Scenario
Alternatives
Value Prop.
Sam the shoe-hound- knows what he wants but not where to get it.
Sam is unable to find the shoe he wants at local retailers, wasting time and getting frustrated.
Possibly mail order or wait until he’s in a bigger market to go to the store.
Make the shoe Sam wants accessible online and make sure he has a great experience so he’ll come
back and not have to think about where to find the shoe he wants anymore.
What Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
That you can bootstrap?
That doesn’t require software at all?
76. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: ZAPPOS
Result: It worked and the rest
is history.
Photographed shoes and put
them online to observe
whether anyone bought them.
77. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: SPRIG
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2014)
Startup looking for early traction for
investors: Whole Foods (deli) meets Uber.
OPPORTUNITY
Large opportunity to resegment and
disrupt food prep. and delivery business.
Desire to move fast and learn fast.
CHALLENGE
Some existing competitors and slow
fundraising process. Food prep. and
delivery requires infrastructure.
78. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: SPRIG
Persona*
Problem
Scenario
Alternatives
Value Prop.
Paula the Professional- health conscious, short on time, moderate to high income, already uses
similar services like Uber.
I want to have a nice, healthy dinner with no hassle and at a price I can afford (like $12).
Going to the store or an expensive, take-out, or a slow delivery service (>20 minutes).
A healthy meal like you would order a cab (on Uber): “Dinner on Demand … Prep Time is 3 Taps
… Delectable Prices” (Sprig Home Page)
What MVP?
That you can bootstrap?
That doesn’t require software at all?
* This is me interpolating/guessing on an item; not part of the Sprig team’s explanation.
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2014)
79. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
SPRIG MVP & EXPERIMENTATION
Result: Excellent uptake and
valuable observations on the
proposition and customer
journey.
Hire a chef for the day, put the
offer on Eventbrite, email
friends - concierge MVP.
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2014)
80. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: PAUL HOWE & ASSOCIATES
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2013)
OPPORTUNITY
Funded startup team rapidly iterating
through B2C concepts with lightweight
experimentation.
One idea: Some people would like to know
how much their stuff is worth.
CHALLENGE
Iterate to a successful concept while the
time and money permits.
81. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: PAUL HOWE & ASSOCIATES
Persona*
Problem
Scenario
Alternatives
Value Prop.
?
I have a lot of stuff around that I might want to sell and/or I’m just generally curious about how much it’s
worth, how much I’ve spent.*
Going through credit card statements or receipts.
It’s interesting and possibly useful to know how much stuff you have.*
What MVP?
That you can bootstrap?
That doesn’t require software at all?
* This is me interpolating/guessing on an item; not part of the team’s explanation.
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2013)
82. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CONCIERGE MVP: PAUL HOWE & ASSOCIATES
Result: They don’t care. Time
to move on to the next
concept.
Get a few sign-up’s with
access to email and bank
account info. Review by hand
on a concierge basis and
compile a statement for them.
Do they care?
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2013)
83. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: STEALTH PHOTO-SOCIAL STARTUP
OPPORTUNITY
Lots of exciting things happening in the
photo-social space.
CHALLENGE
The team had several ideas but few
resources.
84. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CASE STUDY: STEALTH PHOTO-SOCIAL STARTUP
Persona
Problem
Scenario
Alternatives
Value Prop.
Existing poster of photos. Personas: Martha the Mom, Pat the Party Planner, Teresa the Teen Social
Butterfly
[I want to do something interesting with my photos so that my social graph rewards me with interest and
acclaim]
Manually enhance photos, use alternative enhancers/amplifiers like Instagram
[This is something users can do with photos that will generate engaging content for their social graph]
85. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
USER JOURNEY: PHOTO-SOCIAL
ASSUMPTION
User’s social network
will like and share the
app’s output
What MVP?
That you can
bootstrap?
That doesn’t require
software at all?
86. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PHOTO-SOCIAL STARTUP: MVP & EXPERIMENTATION
MVP
Create the target output
by hand (concierge
style)
Does anyone care?
ASSUMPTION
User’s social network
will like and share the
app’s output
87. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
ABOUT MVP’S AND PRODUCTS IN GENERAL
You have to put the magic in
the software.
(Not the other way around)
Concierge and other non-
software MVP’s can be pretty
magical.
Find 100 people that are really
into it and you can probably
grow.
88. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
EXERCISE: YOUR (CONCIERGE) MVP
Component
Notes
What is the experience you want to provide? - What are the preconditions and general steps?
What measurable outcome would validate
your value proposition?
- How will you know if it’s delivering value?
- This could be: a) measurably better outcomes b) activity
levels c) follow-on interest
How will you find participants and what are
the core screening/qualification criteria?
- How will you know if the subjects are relevant to your
core hypothesis?
(5 min.)
89. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
LEAN AT LARGE
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
[A key assumption
about the business]
[Whether it needs
proving
[Experiment to
prove or disprove]
1
Parents want to
organize the
distribution of
ll ith
Yes
* Post the proposition in ads
online
* Measure sign-up’s on a landing page
2
Parents want to link
allowances to chores
Yes
* Show prototypes with choices
* Test in beta
2
Parents have smart
phones
No n/a
90. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
Foundation in
Design Thinking
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN
Lean at Large
91. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING WITH LEAN AT LARGE
Let’s assume.
Then test.
Let’s not
argue
93. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
THINK SEE
FEEL DO
PERSONAS
Who?
X
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
What?
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
& ASSUMPTIONS
What if?
!
USER
STORIES &
PROTOTYPES
How?
Scale?
Pivot?
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
/
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
Tell me…?
FULL CIRCLE
94. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
FULL CIRCLE (IN REVERSE)
!
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
USER
STORIES &
PROTOTYPES
Did the implementation
deliver on the story?
/
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY
&
EXPERIMENT
How did the
customer/user
react?
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
& ASSUMPTIONS
!
Was the
implemented
story relevant to
the proposition?
X
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
Is problem
relevant? Is the
proposition
better vs.
alternatives?
THINK SEE
FEEL DO
PERSONAS
Do we
understand this
person? What
makes them
tick?
95. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
CLASS PRESENTATIONS
As Presenter
1) What is it? Use pos. statement.
2) How are you doing on the personas
checklist?
4) The problem scenarios checklist?
5) Where/how will you find interview
subjects? What’s your target number?
6) Ideas for MVP? Next steps, timing?
As Audience
- Focus on the process; avoid
editorial
- Ask a lot of questions
- Think about it like an investor
(5 min./each)
96. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
POINT OF EMPHASIS
You are
the most
important
part of the
experiment
Make sure
you’re
learning
97. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
AGENDA
Period! Deliverables!
Venture Design I: Achieving
Customer Relevance
Personas
Problem Scenarios-Alternatives-Value Propositions
Start Business Model Canvas
Storyboards
Customer Discovery
Venture Design II: Iterating to
Success
Venture Planning- focal hypotheses, experiments, and
minimum viable ‘product’
Venture Design III: Focusing &
Validating Venture Progress
Review of field work, refinements of approach, planning next
steps.
Venture Design IV: Engineering
Your Business Model!
Detailing your business model and remaining focal assumptions.
Venture Design V: Designing the
Right Product!
Pairing your learnings on personas & hypotheses with high
quality, actionable inputs (stories & wireframes) for product
development and product validation.
98. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
“Homework”
1. Draft a working set of assumptions
2. Design your experiments and execute.
GOOGLE DOC TEMPLATE FOR ABOVE:
http://bit.ly/venturetemplate
99. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
Follow-On Workshops
1. For Creating Strong Personas
Day in the Life Workshop: http://bit.ly/daynthelife
2. For Structuring Your Product Value Propositions into Testable Assumptions
Venture Design II: Iterating to Success: http://bit.ly/vdesignII
3. For Designing a Profitable Business Model
Venture Design IV: Engineering Your Business Model: http://bit.ly/vdesignIV
4. For Linking the Above to an Effective Product Development Program
Venture Design V: Designing the Right Product: http://bit.ly/vdesignV