By Eric Koester

LEAN ENTREPRENEUR:

Evidence-based Entrepreneurship

MVP Series Become an Evidence-Based Entrepreneur

Use Data to Make Key Early Startup Decisions Create your first Minimum Viable Product(s)

Welcome to the…

HOW IT WORKS… Action-based Program

Four Lectures & Workshops Homework & Working with Classmates

End with an MVP

MVP SERIES Sept. 25 -- MVP 101: Lean Entrepreneur: Applying the principles

of lean Oct. 22 -- MVP 102: Creating a Minimum Viable Company: Lean

Naming, Lean Logoing and Lean Teaming Nov. 5 -- MVP 103: Building your MVP: How to create a product

without (or with minimal) technical skills Dec. 3 -- MVP 104: Workshop: Creating MVPs on Web and Mobile

ERIC KOESTER I’m an Entrepreneur.

I’m going to be your Sherpa.

Hi. I’m

GET Let’s

Started

MVP 101 1. Get the History of “Lean” and “Evidence Based

Entrepreneurship” 2. Learn about some of the key tools of the trade 3. Tool #1: Idea Generation 4. Tool #2: Customer Discovery 5. Homework 6. Discussion and Workshop Time

How we got here… Lean Thinking isn’t a new thing.

Originated from Toyota. Quickly spread throughout Corporate America.

Six Sigma, Total Quality Management.

What is a Startup? A temporary organization

designed to search for a repeatable and scalable

Business Model.

Startups & Lean The solution to make the search process

less “art” and more “science”

Now It’s Gone Mainstream

MAGIC. Entrepreneurship is not

It’s a process. (And one you can learn.)

Evidence Welcome to

Based Entrepreneurship

Evidence-Based Can we design a process using data, evidence and

facts to aid entrepreneurs in their search for a scalable and repeatable business model?

It works… The National Science Foundation has been running

a 2 year experiment of the effectiveness of this process.

The results? Control group - funding rate 18% I-Corps group - funding rate 60%

Lean Entrepreneurs Our tools:

1.  Idea Generation (MVP 101) 2.  Customer Discovery (MVP 101)

3.  Data-Driven Decision Making (MVP 102) 4.  Tapping the Crowd (MVP 102)

5.  Minimum Viable Products (MVP 103) 6.  Customer Development (MVP 104)

IDEA GENERATION Evidence-based Entrepreneurship

1 2 3

RESEARCH EVALUATE BRAIN STORM

Learn about industry •  Pull articles about the space, the sector,

the industry •  Look for articles that say, “Challenges for

2013…”, “Top 10 problems facing….”, “Emerging trends for…”

•  Share the best 4-6 articles

GOAL: Get a series of articles, quotes and insights to discuss.

1.

RESEARCH

Gather a Group to Discuss:

•  Go around the room and ask each person to present an idea

•  Define Problem and Explain Solution •  What was the source of the idea?

•  At end, save 30 minutes to rate each idea on a 1-5 initial interest scale

GOAL: Get a list of ideas and give a gut rating.

2.

BRAIN STORM

Take your ideas and run them through a process: •  Basic Research + Quick/Friendly

Interviews •  Understand Market Size, Competition,

Margins, Expert Opinions & Prior Failures •  Answer: Does this seem to be a problem

worth solving?

GOAL: Spend 30 to 90 minutes doing basic research to rank top candidates

3.

EVALUATE

What? So now

1 2 3 PROBLEM CUSTOMER SOLUTION

•  Identify the problem you want to solve

•  Why do you want to solve it?

•  Based on basic research, what’s your solution?

•  Market size, Competitors

•  Who do you think is the customer?

•  How do you get to them?

Evidence-Based Ideas Don’t fall in love with your first idea.

Use basic research as your friend. Know the market size, competition and challenges.

Get ready for customer discovery next…

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY Evidence-based Entrepreneurship

Building Get Out of the

& search for the Model

TALKING The key to customer discovery…

to customers

Learn from the Guru: Steve Blank

Watch “How to build a startup: Lean Launchpad”

Udacity

Customer Interviews

1 2 3

PERSON SOLUTION PROBLEM

3

PERSON

SOLUTION

PROBLEM 2

1 1

2 2 3

The MVP House

Learn about them •  Who are they? What’s their role?

•  Who is their boss? Who works for them? •  How did they get here?

•  What is their typical day like? How do they spend their time?

GOAL: Get a baseline background of the person. Build a relationship. Be broad.

1. The

PERSON

Learn about the problems they recognize first

•  What are the top 3 challenges they face? •  What is frustrating, expensive or time

consuming? •  What would you change right now? •  How are you solving this now?

GOAL: Get them to say the problem you want to solve is a problem they have (prefer

unprompted).

2. The

PROBLEM

Now you can reveal your solution

•  “That’s interesting” = Kiss of Death •  If they don’t want to get involved right

away, they aren’t your target… •  Read body language, voice inflection and

energy level for interest. •  Do the follow up (quickly)?

GOAL: Discover if they’re interested in your solution & gather feedback

3. The

SOLUTION

TIPS FOR INTERVIEWING 1.  Take good notes. 2.  Involve other team members. 3.  Be conversational. 4.  Go off script. 5.  Ask to see any MVPs they’ve made/use. 6.  If they’re excited about something, ask if they’ll pay for it. 7.  Show them mockups or early concepts if you have them and pay attention to their reactions/

feedback. 8.  Always Follow up. 9.  End with an ask. 10.  Be open to new problems and opportunities! 11.  Summarize and review your notes with your team.

Where do you find people to

INTERVIEW?

Where do you find people to

INTERVIEW? Friends/Family

Coworkers Classmates

UNDERSTAND THE SOLUTION

By understanding the problem, you’ll soon…

Stop trying to “sell” your solution

not Help

Sales

What? So now

1 2 3 INTERVIEW ITERATE REVIEW •  8-10 Per Customer Type •  Team of Two •  Take Detailed Notes+ •  Person-Problem-Solution

•  Summarize & Synthesize •  Review as a Team •  Look for Patterns •  Data + Anecdotes

•  Focus or Pivot •  Look/listen for the

direction •  Learning is Progress

1 2 3 SCRIPT DO IT LIST

•  Person-Problem-Solution •  Intro •  Broad to Specific •  Talk Less

•  8-10 Interviews •  4 Per Day Per Person •  10-40% conversion •  Build a BIG List

•  Schedule •  Get out of the Building •  Take Notes •  Accountability

Ready?

Homework Run Ideation Process to Select Idea

Watch “How to Start a Startup” Lectures Interview 10-15 Customers Per Week

Weekly Business Model Canvas

MVP 102 Office Hours: Oct 9th – 2 pm to 4 pm Lean Startup Panel: October 7 @ 1776

Partner Up Next Session: Oct 22nd

ERIC KOESTER WWW.EKOESTER.COM

@ERICKOESTER