Leverage Your Product Release and Make it a Hit!

While some learning happens during the requirements-gathering stage, most learning happens after you release your product.

The first step is to reduce the scope of your minimum viable product (MVP) to its essence so that you build the smallest thing possible. Reducing the scope of your MVP not only shortens your development but also removes unnecessary distractions that dilute your product's measuring. 

How to accomplish an MVP:

• Clear your slate:  include only features which can be justified
• Start with your number one problem: the job of your unique value proposition (UVP) is to make a compelling promise and the job of the MVP is to deliver on that promise.
• Eliminate nice-to-haves and don't-needs: eliminate don't-needs right away, nice-to-have should only be included if they are a prerequisite feature of a must-have feature - otherwise, add it to your features backlog queue.
• Repeat previous step for your number two and number three problem 
• Consider other customer feature requests:  such as integration for example
• Charge from day one, but collect on day 30
• Focus on learning, not optimization: don't waste efforts optimizing servers, code, database - most likely you will not have a scaling problem when you launch. 
• Get Started deploying contentiously:  a technique of shortening the cycle time from requirements to release in a way in which the product is built end-to-end versus a batch-and-queue approach.  Implemented correctly, Continues Deployment does not shortcut quality as long as stricter testing and monitoring is in place.

One of the core values we have as a company is to inspire and empower people in all aspects of their lives. Additionally, if you want to read about our Custom Software Solutions and Consulting Services, please visit www.isucorp.ca

Making Your Products a Success Even Before Creating Them!

There are millions of ideas out there, but how are you going to find out which one will break through the clutter. When starting up a business it is very important to set up your product for success, even before creating it. In order to do this you must use The Solution Interview process. 

 What you need to learn

• Customer risk: who has the pain?
• Product risk:  how will you solve the pain?
• Market risk: what is the pricing model?

Test the solution with a “demo” before building the actual product.  A demo will help customers visualize your solution. In order for a demo to be effective, keep the following in mind:

• The demo needs to be realizable – simple, clean but effective
• The demo needs to look real – the more real the more accurate
• The demo needs to be quick to iterate -   have the ability to incorporate customer feedback
• The demo needs to minimize waste – create it according to the final technology to be used
• The demo needs to use real-looking data – actual content that supports your solution 

Testing your pricing:

When testing pricing, don’t ask customers what they will pay, tell them – it will allow you to measure customer’s reaction.

You cannot convince a customer that he/she has a “must-have problem” but you should convince a customer to pay a “fair” price for your product which is usually higher than the customer thinks it is.

Your job is to find early adopters who are at least as passionate about the problem’s you are addressing as you are who are willing to pay you that fair price.

Remember, your pricing is not only a part of your product; it defines the customer segment you attract.

One of the core values we have as a company is to inspire and empower people in all aspects of their lives. Additionally, if you want to read about our Custom Software Solutions and Consulting Services, please visit www.isucorp.ca

Get Maximum Growth by Understanding your Customer

The Main Goal:  Understand your customer's view before formulating a solution.

Problem interview is all about validating your hypothesis around the problem you pretend to solve. At this stage you mostly want to tackle the following 3 types of risk:

• Product risk: what are you solving?
• Market risk:  who is the competition?
• Customer risk: who are they?

The problem interview will allow you to measure how customers react to the top problem/problems - describe customers the main problem or problems you are tackling and wanting to solve. Measure their reaction, response; ask the customer if those resonate with them. Never tackle more than 3 problems.

Prior to proceeding make it clear that you do not have a finished product, you are not selling or pitching anything.

The problem interview sheet should be clear, concise, and measurable by following the next criteria:

• Collect Demographics to test customer segment.
• Tell a story to set the problem context.
• Problem ranking to test the problem.
• Explore the customer's view.
• Wrap up.

In your interview sheet, when formulating a specific problem in one sentence make sure that you determine a priority ranking once the customer provides you with feedback:

• Is the problem a major concern to them of no concern at all
• What is the pain level, is it high or low

When exploring the customer's views, the best strategy is not to have a script; simply ask the interviewees which main problem they like to be addressed and in which way. Let them go into as much detail as they wish.

• Ask follow up questions making sure your questions don't lead them or try to convince them - be impartial.
• Get a sense of how they rate the problem: "must have", "nice to have" or "don't need"
• If they offer up new problems along the way, explore them the same way.

When wrapping up provide a hook to keep the interest - explain briefly your solution at a high level (it makes the interviewee spread your message), ask for referrals (new interviewees), ask them if they would be willing to take a look at your product when something is ready.

Once the interview is finished, document your results immediately - while the information is still fresh in your mind.

It's recommended that during your first few interviews you have another person with you to keep the interviews as objective as possible. each one should also fill the form independently. Have a debriefing session between both to compare notes - and record the interview results.

One of the core values we have as a company is to inspire and empower people in all aspects of their lives. Additionally, if you want to read about our Custom Software Solutions and Consulting Services, please visit www.isucorp.ca