RECAP

-Subtraction: Remove a key element

-Multiplication: Copy a key element

-Division: Dividing a products into components

-Task unification: assign new task to existing element

-Attribute dependency change: create new dependencies

or break old ones up

Variation of product attributes

(especially functions)

Thermos

Idea

The BEST way to

communicate?

Can we subsract

more?

Prototypes and

Customer-

Development

temiz@kth.se

Back ground • B.S Electronics and Communication

Engineering

• Master in ICT entrepreneurship ,

• Master of Arts, MBA etc.

• SSES Alumni

• Previously Java,.Net Developer

• PhD Candidate at Indek KTH

• Now business developer, entrepreneur,

This presentation

• Not about a specific business idea

• About business processes

• About prototypes

• It is pretty long

• Feel free to fall asleep, interrupt or leave

• I hope you know all this already.

• If not, I really think it can give you a lot

Startup process

Development process

Waterfall is drying

• Agile Agile Agile Agile Agile

• Scrum

• XP extreme programming

• Kanban

• Continous Integration/Deployment

• Developers hate Waterfall like mad!

What is Agile?

• It works when

requirements change

• And requirements

change

Why Agile?

Add agile to process

What is wrong with

this picture?

Everything except

agile • Old style startup model must DIE!

• I will dance on it’s grave!

• Because it sucks!

• Because where is the customer?

• Because things change!

• Market risk! Need to adapt!

Lets get serious • A lot of startups fails

• It affects your relationships

• It absorbs your life

• It can make old friends be enemies

• It is your life. Don’t let business coaches

or experts run your life.

• It is not fun to fail. It is also your

coworkers and familys problem. Lets

avoid that, then running a startup can be

fun and meaningful.

Why should I listen to you?

• Do not listen me!

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO

QUESTION ALL ASSUMPTIONS. MINE,

YOURS, EXPERTS.

Are you a God?

• I can predict what my customers

want

• I can predict a 5-year financial plan

• I can predict what customers will like

• I can manage this process

• I know the risks, the opportunities

• I will never give up

Are you a mortal • I have a hunch about what customers want

• I think it can make money

• I will measure and discuss with customers

• Lets use the scientific method. Measure!

• Test assumptions, test on users, be

scientific.

• If I find problems, I can change things. Why not use the scientific process to develop business

ideas? A business idea is a set of testable hypotheses.

Some are actually

Gods?

• Twitter

• Google

• mystery company

Twttr has married Short Code Messaging, SMS

with a way to create social groups. By sending a

text message to a short code (for TWTTR) you

can send your location information, your mood

information or whatever and share it with people

who are on your social-mob! Best part – no

installation necessary! NOTE: They have done a PIVOT. Changed

idea, but not completely. Rhetoric question: What use was the prediction about

the SMS market they probably had in the business

plan?

"Wave has not seen the user adoption we

would have liked," Senior Vice President Urs

Holzle said in the blog post. "We don't plan to

continue developing Wave as a standalone

product, but we will maintain the site, at least

through the end of the year, and extend the

technology for use in other Google projects.

NOTE: They are doing a PIVOT,

reusing the technology in a new way.

Mystery company When we think of design, we think of this company

Rhetoric question:

Was their core value

firmly set in their

original business

plan?

Don’t burn your business plan

• Just don’t make a new one

• Thinking through the business is good

• But I think you can think through your business

in faster and better ways.

• Do a powerpoint instead (Guy Kawasaki).

• Business Model Canvas – another

presentation

• KEY POINT: CHANGE is the norm.

• KEY POINT: You have a vague idea what

CUSTOMERS will want.

Customer

Development • One line summary: Test your

assumptions

• Get out of the building

• Formulate hypotheses and test them

• Do Minimum Viable Products (MVP:s)

• Pivot. Change aspects of business as

you go The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful

Strategies for Products that Win

Steven Gary Blank

MVP

• Minimum set of features that is enough

to satisfy some set of customers

(usually early adopters)

Slice- which part of it/ how to rotate it?

Pivoting

• Changing important part of business

model

• - can be simple: chancing pricing

• -can be complex: target customer, user

needs change, feature set changes,

new distribution channel

• Disclaimer: I did not actually read the

Four Steps to the Epiphany when I

prepared presentation.

• However, I have read the “cheat sheet”

• And I have read blogs and so on...

• I simply started with the “prototype”

book. Then, I bought the “Full” book.

Lean Startup

• Eric Ries. He has failed, he has succeeded.

• Lean Startup = Customer Development +

Agile

http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

Search for Eric Ries on YouTube! Great 1h talk!

Cust Dev +

Prototypes • Consumer Development = business prototypes

• Lean startup = Cust dev + Agile

• Lean startup is great. But requires that you have

IT-guys in team

• My idea = Cust Dev + Prototypes

• Might work better when you don’t have an IT-

team or do not want to waste your resources!

• Complements agile

Some kinds of prototypes

• Mockups/line drawings. Show ideas.

• Paper prototypes. Test interaction on

users.

• Landingpages. Great way to test business

idea!

• Working prototype. Testable IT that works

as a specification.

Mockup • Line drawing to show how system looks

• Computer aided, such as Balsamiq

Mockups

• Or use pen and paper

• Get your ideas down!

Paper-prototypes

• Users try system, talk out loud

• Test interaction

Paper-

prototypes/Story

Board

Test: Landingpage

• You find discover a new electric-engine that

can be installed in old cars. By concentrating

on a few Swedish bestsellers such as Volvo

V70 and Saab9-5, you think you can make a

business out of this.

• Make a single webpage explaining the idea.

• It has two buttons “Pre-order for V70”, and

“Pre-order Saab9-5”.

• Buy Ad-words for “electric car“ showing ads

“Adapt Saab9-5 to electric power”

Landingpage • Measure how many visit the landing-

page

• Measure how many click the “Pre-order”

buttons (and get their contact details)

• Just explain to viewers politely you have not

started yet but will get back to them.

• Before committing to anything, you can verify if

people are interested and if they are on the

way to actually buy for the price you show.

• Do A/B tests of messages, see what works.

Results: Landingpage

• Sorry, thousands view the page but no one

buys.

• You have just saved a lot of trouble.

• But, you discover a lot of visitors from a blog

from old Rolls-Royce enthusiasts.

• PIVOT: A lot of people wants to cruise with old

classics and want to be eco-friendly and these

cars really suck gas. And they can afford the

conversion. Your market is now high-margin and

European, maybe global.

Working prototypes

• Looks / behaves like a real program

• But the aim is to make it fast to explain

• A prototype explains better than a

specification

• A prototype can be used to test on users

Working prototypes

Prototype vs Agile

• Agile = building gradually. Quality.

• Prototype = max shortcuts

• No database needed, no security/scalability

• Free to use a completely other

language/tools.

• Optimize shortcuts, quality is secondary

• The anti-thesis of what programmers usually

do. Few take pride in doing shit.

Why prototypes?

• Demo, try, get feedback, think through

• Show to customers

• Show to investors

• A much better specification. Same cost?

• Can be combined with Agile

• Makes outsourcing possible

• Make mistakes early

Mock Up: Twitter

Mock Up: Guess

Mock Up: Guess

Mock Up: Evernote

Prototype Example

Project Glass Staff Hardware Engineer Jean

Wang, 2013

Now, may I ask some

questions?

• Was it too ugly? drawings, videos etc.

• Too long?

• Easy or difficult to follow?

• Anything to remove/add?

• Other comments?

This presentation is

also a prototype • Try message/slides. Get feedback !!!

• MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

• The slides can be given to graphic

designers

• Even outsourced

• Would you give a specification to

designers? 1. Picture of trad biz process

2. Picture of waterfall

Second slide.

Waterfall.

• Thank to CEO ColoredCoins Henrik

Hjelte

• Twitter: @hankhero

Thank you!

• Serdar Temiz

• temiz@kth.se