1. SCRUMDAY
PORTUGAL
CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 2016
Things to Consider to Ensure a Successful
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Tom Friend
Business Agility Consultant
Interna6onal Ins6tute for Learning
PMI-ACP, CSP, PSM & Airline Transport Pilot

2. Corporate IT
• Agile Scrum Coach - Instructor
• 12+ Years Agile Scrum Experience
• 25+ Year IT Application Dev
Military / Aviation
• US Naval Aviator & Air Force Pilot
• Air War College / Honors Graduate
• Squadron Commander
TOM FRIEND, PMI-ACP, CSP, PSM, ATP

3. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. MVP case studies: (Dropbox, Airbnb, Twitter)
2. Define what a MVPs actually looks like.
3. Discuss the 4 Stages and 9 steps of the Lean Canvas.
4. Reflect on why MVPs fail using the Lean Canvas Risks.
5. Review patterns for MPV Validation.
6. How to launch a MVP and get is out the door.

4. DROPBOX – EXPLAINER VIDEO
Source: Dropbox

5. AIRBNB – CONCIERGE MVP
Source: AirBed And Breakfast Takes Pad Crashing To A Whole New Level

6. TWITTER - PROTOTYPE
Source: Famous First Landing Pages

7. MVP DEFINED
§ “The minimum viable product (MVP) is a strategy used
for fast and quanAtaAve market tesAng of a product or
product feature.”
§ The term was coined by Frank Robinson and
popularized by Eric Ries for web applicaAons in his
Lean Startup Methods.

8. WELL, WHAT DOES ERIC SAY?
Eric Ries, cofounder/CTO of
IMVU and MVP proponent,
defines an MVP as a version of
a new product that allows for
the most learning possible for
the least amount of effort.

9. BUILD - MEASURE - LEARN
Source: Build Measure Learn

10. LEAN CANVAS STAGES
1. First make sure you have a problem worth
solving.
2. Then define the smallest possible soluAon
(MVP).
3. Build and validate your MVP at small scale
(demonstrate UVP).
4. Then verify it at large scale.

11. STEPS IN THE LEAN CANVAS

12. LEAN CANVAS AND RISKS
Source: The 10x Product Launch

13. PRODUCT RISK
GETTING THE PRODUCT RIGHT
• First make sure you have a problem worth solving.
• Then define the smallest possible soluAon (MVP).
• Build and validate your MVP at small scale
(demonstrate UVP).
• Then verify it at large scale.

14. BUILDING A PATH TO CUSTOMERS
• First idenAfy who has the pain.
• Then narrow down to early adopters who really
want your product now.
• It’s okay to start with outbound channels.
• But gradually build/develop scalable inbound
channels – the earlier the beer.
CUSTOMER RISK

15. MARKET RISK
BUILDING A VIABLE BUSINESS
§ IdenAfy compeAAon through exisAng
alternaAves and pick a price for your soluAon.
§ Test pricing first by measuring what customers
say (verbal commitments).
§ Then by what they do.
§ OpAmize your cost structure to make the
business model work.

16. M IN MVP: MINIMALISM
§ Seize your unfair advantage quickly
§ Focus on the assumpAons to avoid scope creep
§ Stay true to your product DNA
§ Keep it simple and experimental

17. AFFORDABLE AND APPEALING?
Start by understanding the difference between
these 2 quesAons:
§ Ques6on A: How can we build the simplest
technically feasible product?
§ Ques6on B: How can we build the simplest
product to resonate with early adopters?

18. SEIZE THE ADVANTAGE QUICKLY
According to Matchist.com cofounder, Stella Fayman,
in a piece on MVPs for KISS-Metrics, balance these 3
quesAons to stay on track:
§ Are resources dedicated to simplifying the MVP?
§ Are the assumpAons focused just on the core value?
§ Is my Ameline as lean as possible?

19. KEEP IT SIMPLE AND EXPERIMENTAL
MVPs succeed by tesAng if there’s market
demand for an alternaAve without obsessing over
features.
Limit your scope to tesAng just the core value of
your product, you give yourself room to fail
without breaking the bank.

20. THE CUPCAKE MODEL
“The MVP is one of the most referenced and least understood concepts in
modern product development"
Source: the cake model of product planning

21. TASTY TREAT !
Source: the cake model of product planning

22. THE V IN MVP: VIABILITY
Establishing and Sustaining Viability
Understanding Product vs. Business Viability
§ Determining Product Viability
§ Determining Business Viability
Have a method for the qualitaAve madness
Give your product a life of its own

23. MVP VS VIABLE PRODUCT
Source: Don’t Let The Minimum Win Over Viable, HBR Blog

24. Source: Don’t Let The Minimum Win Over Viable, HBR Blog
CONTINUAL VALIDATION

25. P IN MVP: PRODUCT & QUALITY
How to think about quality when building your next product
Source: Moz, “7 unlikely recommendations for startups & entrepreneurs”

26. THE 8 DIMENSIONS OF PRODUCT QUALITY

27. 5 MVP TECHNIQUES FOR
TESTING YOUR HYPOTHESIS
1. Customer Interviews
2. Landing Pages
3. A/B Tests
4. Paper Prototypes
5. Pre-Order Pages

28. 1. CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS
Source: Driving Corporate Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Customer Development

29. 2. LANDING PAGES
Source: Idea to Paying Customers in 7 Weeks - How We Did It

30. 3. A/B TESTS
Source: The Ultimate Guide to A/B Testing

31. 4. PAPER PROTOTYPES
Source: Caryn Vainio, Winnie Chang, Adrian Kosmaczewski

32. 5. PRE-ORDER PAGES
Source: Oculus Rift

33. MVP LAUNCH: GETTING IT OUT THE DOOR
• Don’t get bogged down by unnecessary details
and overhead when building MVPs.
• Gather and validate assumpAons
• Go out and build it!
• Test your hypotheses in the Market

34. PARTING THOUGHT
Frank Lloyd Wright probably
said it beNer than anyone:
§ “You can use an eraser on
the draQing table or a
sledge hammer on the
construc6on site.”

35. QUESTIONS ?
www.TomFriend.com

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