Whether you are a 2-person startup or a big company with lots of customers, pulling customers into your innovation cycle is one of the most important things to do. But when is the right time? Should you show an idea on the back of a cocktail napkin? Or should you wait for something near finished so customers have a close-to-true experience? This presentation was given by Brian Gladstein from GYK Antler, at an Alpha Loft Lunch & Learn in November 2014. It's purpose is to help you understand when you should be engaging your target customers and showing off that prototype, and how to turn those meetings into valuable sessions that deliver insights and build relationships, without breaking the bank from a development and production perspective.

1. When’s The
Right Time To
Show Your
Prototype?
Brian Gladstein
@briangladstein
Image&©&1992&Smithsonian&Ins2tu2on&

2. @briangladstein
• EVP, Technology Marketing, GYKAntler
• Specialist in Advocate & Loyalty Marketing
• 2-time entrepreneur
• Lean Startup Challenge Boston
• Business Model Generation Meetup
• Startup Coach
• Launched dozens of products
• Stanford MBA, MIT Computer Science

3. So When’s The Right Time?

4. Sometimes It’s
Too Early To
Share An Idea

5. Prototype circa March 2008
Too early?

6. Sometimes It’s
Too Late

7. Prototype circa
August 2009
Too late?

8. The idea is
born
The concept
comes together
The kinks get
worked out
The prototype
gets useful
The Lifecycle of a Prototype

9. A prototype is not the
thing you are making.
It’s a vehicle to discover why
customers want to hire you.

10. Product-Focused
Customer-Focused

11. Some of The Wrong Reasons
• Need a pat on the back
• Want to amaze people
• Show off tech or design
• The “a-ha” moment

12. Don’t Think ‘When’…
• Prove you can build it
• Attract a team
• Attract investors
• Validate market
• Get beta customers
• Scope the project
• Vet out competition
• Solidify requirements
… Think ‘Why’

13. So When’s The Right Time?
When you are
far enough
along to take a
meaningful
action.

14. So When’s The Right Time?
When you are
far enough
along to take a
meaningful
action.
But not so far
that you can’t
start over.

15. “Remove any
feature, process, or
effort that does not
contribute directly to
the learning
you seek.”
Eric Ries
The Lean Startup

16. “Remove any
feature, process, or
effort that does not
contribute directly to
the learning
you seek.”
Eric Ries
The Lean Startup

17. Minimum
Viable
Product
(MVP)

20. Guerilla Fashion Show
@maki8383

24. Create prototypes to answer questions
Hypothesis
Prototype
Data
Desired answer
Question
Experiment

25. BEWARE…

26. Avoid perfectionism

27. Don’t over-simplify

28. Don’t over-engineer

29. Hear.
Really hear.

30. Keep users focused
on *your* goals

31. Dispose of properly
when its job is done

32. Guide To Effective Prototyping
Step 1: Create a hypothesis & develop an experiment
Step 2: Design the prototype to carry out the experiment
Step 3: Learn from the experiment
Step 4: Save only what you need and throw out the rest

33. THANK YOU!
Brian Gladstein
briang@gykantler.com
@briangladstein
@GYKAntler