1. BOOTCAMP SOCIAL INNOVATION ACCELERATOR TO CREATE LASTING CHANGE
POWERED BY SANTANDER
developed in partnership with

2. RAPID PROTOTYPING A LEAN APPROACH TO QUICKLY VALIDATING ASSUMPTIONS

3. David Evans
CEO, Geode Software, Inc.

4. Mentor Prep + Cost Assumptions
Business Model Validation Lab
Identify Assumptions
Rapid Prototyping
Mentor Prep + Cost Assumptions
Strategic Planning
Customer Discovery
Customer Validation
Mentor Feedback
Keep Momentum

5. I’M BUILDING A HOUSE

6. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH?

7. IT STARTS WITH A PROTOTYPE

8. A methodology to learn something very quickly about your customer
WHAT IS A PROTOTYPE?
A prototype is an early sample or model of a product, service, experience, or plan that is built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from
A methodology to learn something very quickly about your customer

9. THE LEAN STARTUP WAY
“We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want.”
Eric Ries, Lean Startup
Definition of a prototype

10. IT STARTS WITH A THOUGHT
Hypothesize
Prototype
Validate

11. HOW NOT TO DO IT “I know what this market needs”
SaaS point of sale for ticket resellers
18 months of development
Early pilot customer

12. THE RIGHT WAY “Will people buy shoes online?”
Deal with a local shoe store
Simple site with limited inventory
Only validating the core question

13. PUT THE OBJECTIONS AWAY
I’m too advanced for this...
I’ve already built my prototype...
I already have a product I am selling...
I handle sales, my co-founder handles the product

14. THIS IS A MENTAL MODEL
A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about his or her own acts and their consequences.

15. ASSUME A 5% CHANCE OF SUCCESS

16. Jim Barksdale, Netscape
OPINIONS ARE LIKE…
“If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.”
Jim Barksdale, Netscape

17. THE MOST DANGEROUS PHRASES TO A STARTUP
“I think…”
“We assume…”
“Someone said…”

18. A PROTOTYPE GATHERS DATA
Product
Service
Customer experience
Website
Marketing campaign
1-pager for sales / marketing
Sales process

19. NOW GO GET IT Feedback from as close to your target as possible
Actual interaction is the best
If you have to ask, use the “Mom Test”

20. BUT LET’S NOT GO NUTS

21. EXERCISE TIME

22. HYPOTHESIZE PROTOTYPE VALIDATE EXERCISE QUESTIONS
What aspect of your business do you want or need to test?
What action do you need your customer to take?
HYPOTHESIZE
What can you do to get a customer to take the desired action?
PROTOTYPE
How many people does it take to reach a conclusion?
How will you measure success?
VALIDATE

23. LESSONS TO TAKE AWAY Prototype Validated Feedback
A testable hypothesis is measurable
Measure one variable, if possible
It’s not just product and marketing that can be prototyped
Asking is not testing
Must be tangible enough for the audience to “get” it
The best feedback is from actual customers with actual money

24. QUESTIONS?