Venture Design Crash Course: UVA iLab (June-2014; Wed. AM Session)

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
Crash
Course in
Venture
Design
(Wed. AM)
DESIGN&UX
UNIXSYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
...
ENTERPRISESALES
...
SEO
ANALYTICS
...
...
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS
App. & Platform
Integration
ROLES &
SYSTEMS
In a Technical
Team
LEAN
DESIGN
THINKING
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY
AGILE
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS
Model-View-
Controller

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
ABOUT ME
Entrepreneur (5x)
Intrapreneur (1x)

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
ABOUT ME

ABOUT ME
www.alexandercowan.com

Foundation in
Design Thinking
Product &
Promotion
User Stories &
Test Cases
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
THE FULL STACK PRODUCT PERSON
Specialties
DESIGN&UX
UNIXSYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
...
ENTERPRISESALES
...
SEO
ANALYTICS
...
...
...
Foundation
Skills
LEAN
DESIGN
THINKING
CUSTOMER
DEV.
AGILE
Technical
Literacy
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS
App. & Platform
Integration
ROLES &
SYSTEMS
In a Technical
Team
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS
Model-View-
Controller

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
WHAT DRIVES VALUE HAS CHANGED
Then Now

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
THE ARITHMETIC IS THE SAME
Profit
Drivers
Revenue
Drivers
Tighter Proposition (website, pres., etc.)
Finite Cost
Finite Deliverables
Increased Use of Channels
Ease of Entry
Easy to See What's on MenuUpsell
Intellectual Property Multipliers
Tighter Talent Definition
Simpler Training, Eval., Promotion
Cost of Delivery
Cost
Drivers
Less Consultative Selling
Simplified Contracting
Cost of Sales
Standard Project Management
Comparable Post Mortems
Engagement
Management
(example: product-driven consulting)

WHAT DRIVES VALUE HAS CHANGED
Infrastructure-Driven
UTILITIES TELECOM COMMODITIES
Scope-Driven
RETAIL BANKING CORP. LAW
Product-Driven
PACKAGED GOODS APP. SOFTWARE MEDIA

OLD SCHOOL VS. NEW SCHOOL
How it
was done
How to
do it
$ !?
? ! ? ? ?

OLD SCHOOL VS. NEW SCHOOL
Output vs. Outcome
Scaling vs. Learning

THINK SEE
FEEL DO
PERSONAS
Who?
X
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
What?
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
& ASSUMPTIONS
What if?
!
USER
STORIES &
PROTOTYPES
How?
Scale?
Pivot?
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
/
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
Tell me…?
BY THE NUMBERS

BY THE NUMBERS (IN REVERSE)
!
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
USER
STORIES &
PROTOTYPES
Did the implementation
deliver on the story?
/
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY
&
EXPERIMENT
How did the
customer/user
react?
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
& ASSUMPTIONS
!
Was the
implemented
story relevant to
the proposition?
X
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
Is problem
relevant? Is the
proposition
better vs.
alternatives?
THINK SEE
FEEL DO
PERSONAS
Do we
understand this
person? What
makes them
tick?

Venture
Design
Workshop I
Achieving
Customer
Relevance

AGENDA
Period! Deliverables!
Venture Design I: Achieving
Customer Relevance
Personas
Problem Scenarios-Alternatives-Value Propositions
Start Business Model Canvas
Storyboards
Customer Discovery
Venture Design II: Iterating to
Success
Venture Planning- focal hypotheses, experiments, and minimum
viable ‘product’
Venture Design III: Focusing &
Validating Venture Progress
Review of ﬁeld work, reﬁnements of approach, planning next
steps.
Venture Design IV: Engineering
Your Business Model!
Detailing your business model and remaining focal assumptions.
Venture Design V: Designing the
Right Product!
Pairing your learnings on personas & hypotheses with high
quality, actionable inputs (stories & wireframes) for product
development and product validation.

Personas
IT’S A PROCESS
Some techniques are more effective than others.
But they all require substantial, consistent exertion.

Foundation in
Design Thinking
VENTURE DESIGN

Foundation in
Design Thinking
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN

Foundation in
Design Thinking
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN

Foundation in
Design Thinking
User Stories &
Test Cases
Business Model
Canvas
ExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
Lean Startup-
Style Assumptions
VENTURE DESIGN

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
WHY IS DESIGN THINKING HARD?
Design Thinking
Now
Survival
Then

Empathy Creativity
DESIGN THINKING

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
DESIGN THINKING- APPLICATIONS

Entry1
Urinate as they go2
Edges preferred3
Speedy4
PB > cheese5
Empathy
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

Check & Repair
UV Validation
Relevant Placement
A Better Mouse Trap
Powered by Better Bait
Creativity
1
2
3
4
5
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

Foundation in
Design Thinking
DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
Personas Problem Scenarios
Alternatives
Your Value Propositions

DESIGN THINKING- PERSONAS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

NOT A GOOD PERSONA
• Women
• Age 28-45
• Has kids
• Socialize with other mom’s
• Online with Facebook
• 86% said they’d like to be more
organized
• 70% said they’d use an
application that organizes them

• Women
• Age 28-45
• Has kids
• Socialize with other mom’s
• Online with Facebook
• 86% said they’d like to be more
organized
• 70% said they’d use an
application that organizes them
NOT A GOOD PERSONA
Bullet points are almost
never vivid or detailed
Stock photo- not real
This is a huge
population- not exact
These responses are ‘fake
actionable’- survey responses
like this are unreliable

THE ART OF CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

A BETTER PERSONA
Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in accounting,
but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. She loves it.
But it’s not like having kids purged her creative, social instincts. She
wants to connect, she wants to learn, she wants to interact. Being a
mom is a job and she wants to do it well. That means corresponding
with other mom’s on child education and keeping track of what works.
She posts to Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other
moms’ items more often than that.
She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly…
Mary the Mom

A BETTER PERSONA
the use of a ﬁrst name helps
w/ vividness (a little)
these full sentences look like a
good start towards something
vivid and detailed
this is a real photo of a
relevant person taken with an
iPhone in the real world
Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in accounting,
but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. She loves it.
But it’s not like having kids purged her creative, social instincts. She
wants to connect, she wants to learn, she wants to interact. Being a
mom is a job and she wants to do it well. That means corresponding
with other mom’s on child education and keeping track of what works.
She posts to Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other
moms’ items more often than that.
She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly…
Mary the Mom

V
A
R
I
E
D
ivid The persona
should make
anyone who reads
it feel like they’ve
actually met this
person.
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

V
A
R
I
E
D
If the persona
doesn’t inform
how you sell stuff
and build stuff,
why bother?
ctionable
ivid
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

V
A
R
I
E
D
ctionable
ivid
eal Good personas
aren’t created in
cubicles. Go
where the persona
is and observe.
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

V
A
R
I
E
D
ctionable
ivid
eal
Make sure you
can identify and
target these
personas, or you
won’t be able to
ﬁnd a use for
them.
dentiﬁable
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

V
A
R
I
E
D
ctionable
ivid
eal
dentiﬁable
‘Everyone’ is not
your customer.
Make sure the
personas are
distinct so you can
apply relevant
focus.xact
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

V
A
R
I
E
D
ctionable
ivid
eal
dentiﬁable
xact
etailed
People are
complicated and
so good personas
are usually pretty
substantial. ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

TOOL: THINK-SEE-FEEL-DO
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
Think-See-Feel-Do
helps with:
- getting started
- being actionable
- being detailed
(some)

EXERCISE- PERSONA CREATION
Mary the Working Mom
Susan the Stay-at-Home Mom
Douglas the Dad
Nathan the Nanny
Ivan the Infant
…
List at least 3 personas
(4 min)
use 1 index card/
persona

A LITTLE GAME FOR BETTER PERSONA DISCOVERY
Day in the Life
we look at a few photos for a given persona
you make some guesses about them
there are no right answers BUT
there is a right process: observe and infer
OBJECTIVE: get a feel for what’s real; start to create something vivid
(not a full picture, just snippets)

OUR CAST
Sally the
Single Mom
Luke the Late
Miguel the
Trent the Techie
Umberto the
Undergrad
Bob the Baby

OUR CAST
Sally the
Single Mom

WAKE UP!

GEARING UP FOR THE DAY

AT WORK

AFTER WORK

PRE-BED

BED

GEAR

IF I HAD 3 EXTRA HOURS…

ABOUT SALLY THE SINGLE MOM…
What’s her favorite kind of music?
Band/composer?
Where did she buy their last pair of shoes?
What movie did she last see?
What did she drink with dinner last night?
If she had a dog, what kind?
What’s her favorite magazine?

OUR CAST
Miguel the

BREAKFAST & HEAD TO WORK

ABOUT MIGUEL THE MID-MILLENIAL…
What’s his favorite kind of music?
Band/composer?
Where did he buy their last pair of shoes?
What movie did he last see?
What did he drink with dinner last night?
If he had a dog, what kind?
What’s his favorite magazine?

OUR CAST
Umberto the
Undergrad

HEAD TO SCHOOL

AT SCHOOL

AFTER SCHOOL

ABOUT UMBERTO THE UNDERGRAD…
Band/composer?

OUR CAST
Luke the Late

BREAKFAST & HEAD TO SCHOOL

ABOUT LUKE THE LATE-MILLENIAL…
Band/composer?

OUR CAST
Trent the Techie

BREAKFAST

WORKING AT HOME

BREAKS

ABOUT TRENT THE TECHIE
Band/composer?

OUR CAST
Bob the Baby

TO THE OFFICE

AT THE OFFICE

WORK/PLAY

FITNESS

LEISURE

DINNER AT HOME

ABOUT BOB THE BABY BOOMER
Band/composer?

Mary the Working Mom (B, U)
Susan the Stay-at-Home Mom (B, U)
Douglas the Dad (U)
Nathan the Nanny (U)
Ivan the Infant (U)
…
Which are buyers? Users? Both?
Note with a ‘B’ and/or a ‘U’ on the Index Card
(1 min)

(2 min)
Can you think of 5 real examples for each?
Use the back of your index cards

Which have the most compelling need, desire?
If you could only pitch 1 persona type, which? Sort top to bottom
(1 min)

DISCOVERY & LEARNING: THINK-SEE-FEEL-DO
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
XPROBLEM SCENARIO
DISCOVERY & LEARNING: PROBLEM SCENARIOS

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
XWhat job(s) are you doing for
the customer?
What existing need or
behavior are you fulﬁlling?
PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
?
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
?
X
If they currently use
spreadsheets, watch them
use it and get a copy of it.
If they currently put notes on the
family fridge, ask about it,
photograph it.
ALTERNATIVE(S)
PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
!
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X

ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
X
Are they better enough than the
alternative(s)?
!
?
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
ALTERNATIVE(S)
PROBLEM SCENARIO

EXERCISE- VALUE PROPOSITIONS
Brainstorm Problem Scenario-
Alternative-Value Proposition
Trios.
YOUR VALUE
PROPOSITIONS!
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
Problem: Mary would like to be more
structured and consistent in her use of
allowances to teach the link between work
and ﬁnancial rewards.
Alternative: Track the completion of chores,
homework, etc. manually using paper, boards,
notes on her phone.
Value Proposition: Use our app to easily and
consistently implement best practices tailored
to your situation.
(7 min.)

EXERCISE- VALUE PROPOSITIONS
Prioritize your value propositions-
if you could only pitch one, which?
After that? Etc.
(2 min.)

THE BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
(Cost Structure)
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Revenue Streams)
(Customer
Relationships)
(Channels)
(Value
Propositions)
(Customer
Segments)
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

SEGMENT TO VALUE PROPOSITION MAPPING
Cost_1
Cost_2
Cost_3
Partner_1
Partner_2
Partner_3
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Resource_1
Resource_2
Resource_3
Revenue_1
Revenue_2
Revenue_3
Relationship_1
Relationship_2
Relationship_3
Channel_1
Channel_2
Channel_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Segment_1
Segment_2
Segment_3
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Value
Propositions
Customer
Segments
(Cost Structure)
(Key
Partners)
(Key
Activities)
(Key
Resources)
(Revenue Streams)
(Customer
Relationships)
(Channels)
(Value
Propositions)
(Customer
Segments)
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

CUSTOMER SEGMENTS VS. PERSONAS
≈
g
Customer
Segments
Personas
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

EXERCISE- MAPPING PERSONAS, VALUE PROP’S
1. List your prioritized personas
(Customer Segments block)
and Value Propositions
2. Map your personas to your
Value Propositions
Activity_1
Activity_2
Activity_3
Proposition_1
Proposition_2
Proposition_3
Persona_1
Persona_2
Persona_3
(3 min)

… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S) …
… where they’re currently using
certain ALTERNATIVE(S) …
… and I have a VALUE
PROPOSITION that’s better enough
than the alternatives to cause the
persona to act (purchase, use, etc.).
A certain PERSONA exists…
AND NOW THE PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS
!
?
X

EXERCISE: YOUR PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS
… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S) …
… where they’re currently using
certain ALTERNATIVE(S) …
… and I have a VALUE
PROPOSITION that’s better
enough than the alternatives to
cause the persona to act
(purchase, use, etc.).
A certain PERSONA exists…
‘HR and functional managers are in charge of
technical hires
and they struggle to effectively screen for
technical skill sets, making the hiring process
slower and more labor intensive and
producing worse outcomes than they should
reasonably expect.
Currently they implement a patchwork of
calling references and asking a few probing
questions.
By offering an easy, affordable, lightweight
technical quizzing solution, Enable Quiz can
acquire and retain these customer personas,
delivering material value.’ (4 min.)
Enable Quiz example:

PEER PRESENTATIONS PREP!
(4 min.)
For [target customer] who [statement of the need or opportunity], the
[product name] is a [product category] that [statement of key beneﬁt/
key reason to buy]. unlike [primary alternative], our product [statement
of primary differentiation].
For [hiring managers] who [need to evaluate technical talent], [Enable
Quiz] is a [talent assessment system] that [allows for quick and easy
assessment of topical understanding in key engineering topics]. Unlike
[formal certiﬁcations or ad hoc questions], our product [allows for
lightweight but consistent assessments of technical talent].
EXAMPLE

As
Presenter
As
Audience
1) What is this? (Use positioning
statement)
2) Who is the persona? What kind of shoes
do they wear?
3) What problem scenario(s) are you
looking at? What alternatives does the
persona use now?
4) What’s your value proposition?
5) What’s your product hypothesis?
6) What do you need to learn more about?
- Focus on the process; avoid editorial
- Ask a lot of questions
- Think about it like an investor
EXERCISE: PEER PRESENTATION
(5 min./ each)

STORYBOARDING: ORIGINS
copyright Fred Moore & Disney Pictures
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF

Personas
STORYBOARDING EXAMPLE

Copyright 2014 Cowan PublishingCopyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
ENABLE QUIZ: EXAMPLE PROBLEM SCENARIOS
X
Helen the HR Manager
“It’s hard for me to screen on
technical skill sets and I end up
sending Frank unqualiﬁed
recruits.”
Frank the Functional Manager
“I have limited time and I don’t
want to be a jerk. It’s hard to
screen for all the relevant
technical skill sets.”
PERSONA
PROBLEM
SCENARIO
- Call references
- Take their word for it
- A few probing questions
- Take their word for it?ALTERNATIVE(S)
!VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
New ability for meaningful
screening of technical
candidates, increasing % of
successful hires and lowering
Frank’s workload on recruiting.
Less time doing interviews, and
better hires sooner.

STORYBOARDING A PROBLEM SCENARIO
AFTER
BEFORE
BEFORE
(using the
Alternative)
AFTER
(with the Value
Proposition)

EXERCISE: BEFORE AND AFTER BOARDS
Using the squares, create a before and then after
storyboard- 3 panels each
BEFORE
(using the
Alternative)
AFTER
(with the Value
Proposition) (10 min.)

DESIGN THINKING- USING PERSONAS
Foundation in
Design Thinking
Personas Problem Scenarios
Alternatives
Your Value Propositions
SELLING
STUFF
Who’s buying?
Where?
Why?
Who are we
selling to?
Where do we
reach them?
With what
proposition?
MAKING
STUFFWhat does the
user actually do?
What does the
user (most) want?

PERSONAS- DISCOVERY & VALIDATION
MVP
Tell me about yourself.
What do you do? How often?
How does it make you feel?
Interviews
AdWords, etc. + Landing
Page Tests
Real-Time Analytics
& Recording
Minimum Viable
Product
What language, propositions resonate?
What is the customer prepared to do?
What do users actually do?
Do customers like it? Buy it? Use it?
Tell others about it?

X
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
What?
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
/
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
Tell me…?
BY THE NUMBERS
PERSONAS
Who?
USER
STORIES &
PROTOTYPES
How?
Scale?
Pivot?
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
& ASSUMPTIONS
What if?
!

4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
VALUE
HYPOTHESIS
CUSTOMER CREATION
HYPOTHESIS

PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
Does this person exist?
Can you identify them?
Do you understand them really well?
What do they think-see-feel-do in your area?

PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘Everyone is my customer!’
Possibly true at some point, but
you need to nail early adopters
to get traction.

PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘There are a few customers to
focus on- I’m not sure which
one’.
Pick the one with the most
compelling need and choose.
Or guess. But don’t diffuse your
focus.

PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘I can’t ﬁnd anyone to interview’
Then I would step back. This
almost certainly means you’ll
have trouble with the next steps
as well.

PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘I think I get this persona, but I’m not
sure about the whole think-see-feel-do
thing.’
Think-see-feel-do is not the only
way to go but it’s pretty good.
Solid personas are the stitch in
time that saves 9.

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
Have you identiﬁed a discrete problem/need?
How important is it to the target persona(s)?
What alternatives do they use today? How?

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘During customer discovery interviews, the
subjects consistently mentioned our problem
scenario’
Excellent! That’s a good
preliminary validation you’re on
the right track.

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We did a questionnaire and >80% of
subjects said they wish [our problem
area] was better.’
Don’t trust questionnaires,
especially with leading
questions. Focus on face-to-
face.

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘I am in this business/I am one of these personas and I
know I have this problem- and I’m sure it exists for
most others like me.’
Good start but approach
discovery like you know nothing.

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘Our product doesn’t really address a problem,
exactly, so this isn’t relevant for us.’
There are no new problems or
habits. Make sure you know
what you’re after.

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘Our product is so fundamentally novel that
there are no current alternatives.’
(see previous)

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We’ve mapped out the alternative and observed
or key personas in action with them.’
Excellent! You’re ready to
synthesize, tune and test your
value proposition!

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
How much better than the best alternative is your
product?
How obvious is that to the customer?

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘Over 80% of the people we asked said they’d buy
our product!’
Can’t trust it- Yellow Walkman
data

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We did a concierge test and [got paid, got asked
by the customer when they could buy our
product].’
Excellent! You’re on the fast
track of iterating to a successful
outcome. Time to look at an
actual MVP.

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We ﬁnished our concierge test. They liked it but as
a result it was a long way to conclusive.’
Now that you know how, could
you get paid for the next one?
Try other test and then if
negative, consider pivot.

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We made a bunch of pre-release sales, but
they’re non-binding.’
That’s OK (as long as you made
the agreement with a real
decision maker). You’ve got a
reasonably good validation of
value hypothesis.

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We couldn’t make any pre-release sales.’
Why not? No interest? That’s
bad. Need to sell real product
(and that’s really why), consider
what’s behind that.

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We found a few AdWord-landing page combinations
that had better than expected click through and
conversion rates to email sign-up’s.’
Excellent! That’s a good
validation of your value
hypothesis and you’re gotten a
jump start on your Customer
Creation Hypotheses.

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
‘We tried a few things with AdWords and landing
pages, but the results weren’t great.’
What happens when you try the
same thing out in the real
world? Search is a good way to
connect with existing demand
but not necessarily learn about
its fundamentals.

CUSTOMER CREATION HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
How will you get the customer’s: attention, interest,
desire, action, onboarding, retention?
How will you know if it’s working?

CUSTOMER CREATION HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
Most of these results are pretty
deﬁnitive.

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
MVP
Nascent
Product-Market
Fit(?) Scale
PIVOTAL
ASSUMPTIONS
PRODUCT
ORG.
PARTNERS,
CHANNELS
Founders
N/A
Probably too
soon
Test, revise,
test...
MVP
Customer dev.
team
Probably too
soon
Validated- now
tactical
Focus: efﬁciency,
extension
Full functional
organization
Yeah, maybe?
Validated- now
tactical
What would a
startup do??
Scalable
organization
Yeah, deﬁnitely!

RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
“Homework”
1. Draft a working set of personas
Pick the most important buyers and/or users. More is not necessarily better- you can always add
more (re-segment) later. Finish think-see-feel-do. Find a photo.
2. Draft a working set of problem scenario-alternative-value proposition trios.
3. Finish a working product hypothesis and positioning statement.
GOOGLE DOC TEMPLATE FOR ABOVE:
http://bit.ly/venturetemplate
4. Finish a working interview guide to validate your persona and problem hypotheses and
complete a few customer interviews.

RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
Follow-On Workshops
1. For Creating Strong Personas
Day in the Life Workshop: http://bit.ly/daynthelife
2. For Structuring Your Product Value Propositions into Testable Assumptions
Venture Design II: Iterating to Success: http://bit.ly/vdesignII
3. For Designing a Proﬁtable Business Model
Venture Design IV: Engineering Your Business Model: http://bit.ly/vdesignIV
4. For Linking the Above to an Effective Product Development Program
Venture Design V: Designing the Right Product: http://bit.ly/vdesignV

acowan@alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF
www.alexandercowan.com/venture-design
bit.ly/vdesignI
www.alexandercowan.com/startup-sprints

Venture Design Crash Course: UVA iLab (June-2014; Wed. AM Session)

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