Hi, I'm Amy Jo Kim, designer, entrepreneur,
and startup coach.
I've worked with dozens of startups and game studios
to bring their early ideas to life
by creating an MVP, Minimum Viable Product.
Through trial and error, I've learned what works
and what doesn't at the early stages of innovation.
I synthesized these lessons into a set of techniques
I call MVP Design Hacks.
Today, I'm going to teach you a quick, effective hack that's
a great way to kick off your MVP process.
It's called the MVP Design Canvas.
This one-page document gives your team
a highly-useful tool for articulating and evolving
your product strategy and key assumptions.
This has places for you to write down your initial thoughts
about who your customers are, what their unmet needs are,
what problem you're solving, what solution you're coming up
with to solve that problem.
The value prop your solution delivers, the unfair advantage
or competitive edge that you and your team
have that makes you ideally suited to solving this problem,
the early metrics that you'll use to gauge whether you're
on the right track; and then, finally,
the key assumptions that you have going into this project
that you need to test to determine whether or not
this is a viable idea that's worth pursuing.
You'll use this canvas, as your assumptions get tested
and refined, throughout your development process.
To update and communicate your new vision strategy
and direction to your team and any investors
or interested people.
It's a great tool to help you and your team
stay strategically aligned.
Let's see how this design canvas works in action.
Let me tell you a story about a recent client I worked with.
Let's call them Toy Co.
They're part of the Collaborative Consumption
movement.
They're a toy rental company, initially
specializing in building toys.
We worked through our kickoff questionnaire,
and found we had a lot of unanswered questions--
some very clear assumptions.
Like many companies, Toy Co started with a solution.
They had this idea that a digital community, where people
could connect around their shared love of toys,
would be a great thing for their company,
for driving the metrics they're interested in.
Particularly satisfaction retention,
and the length of time each rental was out.
So we took that as a starting point,
and then fleshed out the rest of our assumptions.
After completing this Design Canvas exercise,
our assumptions were clear, and we set out
to test that assumption and see what our members really wanted.
Through a series of surveys and interviews
we identified a handful of early adopters,
sketched up our ideas, and walk them through the possibilities.
Here's what we learned.
First of all, let's look at the solution.
We found that, in fact, none of the members we talked to
were interested in the solution we were proposing.
However, they were interested in video content related
to the toys that would entertain and educate their children,
and keep them busy.
We found this out through our interviews.
We discovered our early customers had an unmet need
that we knew nothing about.
Which was a need for curated, wholesome,
family-friendly content they could
trust that would feed their kids' building toys habit.
Certain kids, when they're a certain age,
this is all they want to do.
And these parents, these enthusiast,
these early adopters, were very clear that that was something
they were seeking, and did not have a great solution for.
So the value prop, rather than being connected
with other parents, was actually enriching video content.
Trusted by the parents that they could show to their kids,
so they could make a phone call, take dinner off the stove,
have a few minutes with their husband at the end of the day.
That was the need we identified that we knew nothing about.
So we change the solution that we had in mind
to be this curated video collection.
Turns out, our MVP is a YouTube channel.
Not building some technology ourselves,
but simply developing some content
and testing it with our users by using the YouTube platform.
The unfair advantage remains the same.
The metrics basically remain the same.
And the assumption that we tested
resulted in a pivot of our focus for our digital community,
based on what we know our members want and need,
without building a single piece of technology,
or writing a single line of code.
That's the power of using this MVP
Canvas to think through and test your assumptions.
I hope this example has inspired you
to try this exercise with your own ideas.
It's a great way to crystallize and communicate
what you're doing.
And a great tool for tracking and communicating
changes to your project as you're thinking evolves.
If you can put aside your confidence,
and take the mindset and point of view of a scientist,
and run your MVP ideas through the gauntlet of testing it
with real users.
You will save time, money, and greatly increase
your chances of success.
Good luck with your project.
And be sure to go to MVP Design Hacks for more information,
more design hacks, and an eight-week program
that startups can use to turbo charge their MVPs.
Thank you.