6. IT’S A PROCESS
Some techniques are more effective than others.
Personas
But they all require substantial, consistent exertion.
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
10. VENTURE DESIGN
Hypothesize
Lean StartupStyle Assumptions
Business Model
Canvas
Learn
Experiment
User Stories &
Test Cases
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
11. VENTURE DESIGN
Hypothesize
Lean StartupStyle Assumptions
Business Model
Canvas
Learn
Experiment
User Stories &
Test Cases
Product &
Promotion
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
19. DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
•Women!
•Age 28-45!
•Have kids!
•Socialize with other mom’s!
•Online with Facebook!
•86% said they’d like to be more
organized!
•70% said they’d use an application
that organizes them
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
21. END USER PERSONAS
Rita
the Reseller
Rhonda
the Receptionist
Amy
the Assistant
Esteban
the Executive
Orson
the Office Mgr.
Susan the
Small Bus. Owner
Simone
the Standard User
Mikuko
the Mobile User
Ignatius
the IT Guy
Keith
the Key System User
Chuck
the Call Center Agent
Cindy
the Call Center Manager
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
22. ENTERPRISE PERSONAS
Bruce
the Business Owner
Sidney
the Sys. Admin.
Anthony
the Applications Eng.
Sam
the Support Eng.
Paola
the Provisioner
Percival the
Product Manager
Itzhak
the IT Developer
Saul
the Site Developer
Nietzsche
the Network Eng.
Sven
the Salesperson
Frank
the Field Eng.
Fritz
the Field Eng. Manager
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
24. DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
What job(s) are you doing for the
customer?
What existing need or behavior
are you fulfilling?
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
25. DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
26. DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
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.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
27. DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
!
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
28. YOUR PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS
A certain PERSONA exists…
… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S) …
X
… 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.).
!
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
29. ENABLE QUIZ: EXAMPLE PROBLEM SCENARIOS
PERSONA
Helen the HR Manager
Frank the Functional Manager
“It’s hard for me to screen on
technical skill sets and I end up
sending Frank unqualified
recruits.”
“I have limited time and I don’t
want to be a jerk. It’s hard to
screen for all the relevant
technical skill sets.”
ALTERNATIVE(S)
- Call references!
- Take their word for it
- A few probing questions!
- Take their word for it
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
New ability for meaningful
screening of technical
candidates, increasing % of
successful hires and lowering
Frank’s workload on recruiting.
Less time doing interviews, and
better hires sooner.
X
PROBLEM
SCENARIO
?
!
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
30. STORYBOARDING A PROBLEM SCENARIO
BEFORE
Problem
Scenario
+!
Alternative
AFTER
Problem
Scenario
+!
Value
Proposition
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
31. EXERCISE- PERSONA CREATION
1. List at least 3 personas (4 min)
Mary the Working Mom
Susan the Stay-at-Home Mom
Douglas the Dad
Nathan the Nanny
…
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
32. EXERCISE- PERSONA CREATION
1. Which are buyers? Users? Both? Note with a ‘B’ and/or ‘U’ on
the Post-It
2. Which have the most compelling need, desire? Sort top to
bottom
(4 min.)
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
33. EXERCISE- VALUE PROPOSITIONS
X
1. Brainstorm Problem
Scenario-Alternative-Value
PROBLEM SCENARIO Proposition Trios.
(7 min.)
?
ALTERNATIVE(S)
!
YOUR VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
Problem: Mary would like to be more
structured and consistent in her use of
allowances to teach the link between work
and financial rewards.
Alternative: Track the completion of chores,
homework, etc. manually using paper, boards,
notes on her phone.
Value Proposition: Use our app to easily and
consistently implement best practices tailored
to your situation.
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
34. EXERCISE- VALUE PROPOSITIONS
1. Prioritize your value propositions- if you could only pitch one,
which? After that? Etc.
(2 min.)
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
35. PEER PRESENTATIONS PREP!
For [target customer] who [statement of the need
or opportunity], the [product name] is a [product
category] that [statement of key benefit/key
reason to buy]. unlike [primary alternative], our
product [statement of primary differentiation].
Describe your venture
accordingly (5 min.)
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
36. EXERCISE: PEER PRESENTATION (2 MIN/EACH)
As
Presenter
1) Who is the persona? What kind of shoes
do they wear?!
2) What problem scenario(s) are you
looking at? What alternatives does the
persona use now?!
3) What’s your value proposition?!
As
Audience
- Focus on the process; avoid editorial!
- Ask a lot of questions!
- Think about it like an investor
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
37. THE BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Cost Structure)
(Value
(Customer
Propositions) Relationships)
(Customer
Segments)
(Channels)
(Revenue Streams)
The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
38. SEGMENT TO VALUE PROPOSITION MAPPING
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
39. EXERCISE- MAPPING PERSONAS, VALUE PROP’S
1. Print out the Canvas !
2. List your prioritized personas
(Customer Segments) and
Value Propositions!
3. Map your personas to your
Value Propositions !
(3 min)
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Persona_1
Persona_2
Persona_3
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
40. DESIGN THINKING- USING PERSONAS
MAKING
STUFF
What does the
user (most) want?
What does the
user actually do?
SELLING
STUFF
Who are we
selling to?!
!
!
Where do we
reach them?!
With what
proposition?
Personas
Who’s buying?!
Problem Scenarios
Alternatives
Your Value Propositions
!
Where?!
!
Why?
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
41. PERSONAS- DISCOVERY & VALIDATION
Interviews
AdWords, etc. + Landing
Page Tests
What language, propositions resonate? !
What is the customer prepared to do?
Real-Time Analytics
& Recording
MVP
Tell me about yourself.!
What do you do? How often?!
How does it make you feel?
What do users actually do?
Minimum Viable
Product
Do customers like it? Buy it? Use it?
Tell others about it?
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
43. PLANNING
Now
Then
Lean
Startup
Five Year
Plan
01 IDEA!
45,000,000%
40,000,000%
02 HYPOTHESIS
35,000,000%
30,000,000%
25,000,000%
Revenue%
Expense%
20,000,000%
EBITDA%
15,000,000%
6.a PIVOT
experiments
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
disprove
hypothesis
04 EXPERIMENTATION
10,000,000%
5,000,000%
0%
!5,000,000%
2012%
2013%
2014%
2015%
2016%
2017%
2018%
2019%
2020%
05 PIVOT OR PERSEVERE?
6.b PERSEVERE
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
44. PLANNING WITH LEAN STARTUP
Do I have real evidence from my buyer that
this is compelling?
What are the key assumptions required to
make this business work?
How do I definitely prove or disprove
the assumptions with a minimum of
time and effort?
Am I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
‘Pivot or persevere?’
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
45. ASSUMPTIONS & LEAN STARTUP
Priority
Key Assumption
Needs Proving?
1
[A key assumption about
the business]
1
Parents want to organize
the distribution of
Yes
allowances with an app
* 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
[Whether it needs
proving!
Experimentation
[Experiment to !
prove or disprove]
Focus on strategic,
pivotal assumptions
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
46. PLANNING WITH THE LEAN STARTUP
Crossing t’s
Dotting i’s
Doesn’t matter unless it helps
prove (or disprove) your
pivotal assumptions
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
47. PLANNING WITH THE LEAN STARTUP
Subject
all your
activities +
metrics to
that litmus
test.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
48. THE REVELATION OF CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT
You know you’re here
and should be doing
this, but. . .
MVP
. . . most people
mimic mature
business patterns and
start here.
Product-Market
Fit
Scale
PIVOTAL
ASSUMPTIONS Nascent
Test, revise,
test...
Validated- now
tactical
Validated- now
tactical
PRODUCT
N/A
MVP
Focus: efficiency,
extension
What would a
startup do??
ORG.
Founders
PARTNERS,
CHANNELS
Customer dev.
team
Full functional
organization
Scalable
organization
Probably too
soon
Probably too
soon
Yeah, maybe?
Yeah, definitely!
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
49. DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
!
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
50. YOUR PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS
A certain PERSONA exists…
… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S) …
X
… 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.).
!
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
51. LEONID MVP #1: CONSULTING
It pays
CONSULTING
It’s easy to scale
Consultants naturally do customer discovery
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
52. LEONID MVP #2: PRODUCTIZED CONSULTING
Customer empathymore scope, detail on
problem scenarios
It’s easier to sell
CONSULTING
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
It’s easier to staff
It’s easier to manage
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
53. LEONID MVP #3: SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
Customer empathymore scope, detail on
problem scenarios
CONSULTING
Validated problem
scenarios with
substantial detail
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
PRODUCTS
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
54. LEONID MVP #3: SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
Validated problem scenarios
Existing customer relationships
PRODUCTS
Ability to pre-sell
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
56. PHOTO-SOCIAL MVP
MVP
Create the target
output by hand. !
!
Does anyone care?
ASSUMPTION
User’s social network
will like and share the
app’s output
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
57. ENABLE QUIZ: PROBLEM SCENARIO
BEFORE
AFTER
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
58. CONCIERGE MVP: ENABLE QUIZ
Concierge MVP?
Sure: Hand craft quizzes on
paper on off-the-shelf tool.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
59. MVP: Zappos
Some shoe buyers are dissatisfied with
mall retail and would purchase online.
Photograph some shoes and create
a site to showcase them for sale.
source: CNN article ‘Zappos’ silent founder’
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
60. MVP: Paul Howe & Associates
Some people would like to know how
much their stuff is worth.
Do it for them buy hand.
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2013)
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
61. MVP: Sprig
Urbanites would like Uber-style,
healthy, hot, meals delivered in 20
minutes.
Put it on Eventbrite, email people,
see what happens.
source: as told to Lean Startup Circle, SF (Jan 2014)
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
62. MVP: Dropbox
Users would sign-up and pay for a file
exchange service that actually worked
well.
Create a ‘Wizard of Oz’ demo tailored
for early market (techies) and
measure sign-up’s.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
63. IN CONCLUSION…
You have to put the magic in the
software.
(Not the other way around)
Concierge and other nonsoftware MVP’s can be pretty
magical.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
64. LEAN AT LARGE
Hypothesize
Learn
Experiment
Lean StartupStyle Assumptions
Lean at Large
Foundation in
Design Thinking COWAN!
ALEX
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
65. LEAN AT LARGE
Let’s not
argue
Let’s assume.
Then test.
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
66. ASSUMPTIONS & LEAN STARTUP
Priority
Key Assumption
Needs Proving?
1
[A key assumption about
the business]
1
Parents want to organize
the distribution of
Yes
allowances with an app
* 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
[Whether it needs
proving!
Experimentation
[Experiment to !
prove or disprove]
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
68. EXERCISE: LEAN STYLE ASSUMPTIONS
List at least 3 assumptions (5 min.)!
“Parents want to better organize the distribution of allowances using
an app”
Priority: 1 [1 for existential; 2+ for others]
Needs Proving?: yes [yes or no]
...
One assumption
per index card
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
69. EXERCISE: LEAN STYLE ASSUMPTIONS
1. Rank order them. Which ones are truly pivotal?
Note with a ‘1’. (3 min.)
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
70. EXERCISE: GROUP PRESENTATIONS (3 MIN/EACH)
1) What’s your idea? (Read positioning statement)!
2) What’s your MVP/next step?!
3) What are your success criteria for validation?
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing