Test a startup's business model quickly is very important, as doing it minimizing risks and investments. In this talk I will discuss some experiments we did (that used open source tools, Microsoft Azure and Lean Startup methodologies) to validate our business hypothesis.

1. with OpenSource Software and Azure
MVP & startup
Francesco Fullone
ff@ideato.it / @fullo

2. I’m here because
I’m a OSS evangelist
I’m a PHP advocate
I’m a pragmatic entrepreneur
I was

3. Agenda
• Chapter 1 - Lean Startup & MVP
• Chapter 2 - Open Source
• Chapter 3 - Why Azure
• Chapter 4 - First hand experiences

4. Chapter 1

5. MV…what?
“The minimum viable product is
that version of a new product
which allows a team to collect the
maximum amount of validated
learning about customers with the
least effort”
by Eric Ries

6. It’s evolution, baby

7. Or like this

8. Reasons behind
Be able to test hypothesis with
minimal resources
Accelerate learning
Reduce wasted engineering time
Reach the customers ASAP

9. Test your hypothesis
• Interviews
• Landing Page
• Surveys
• Crowdfunding

10. Reduce wasted time
• Concierge
(Sir, how may I help thou?)
• Mage of OZ
(it’s you, but hidden behind
the curtains)
• Piecemeal
(someone else API ftw!)
engineering mostly.

11. A lot of MVPs
• Products
• Services
• Features

12. Pirate Metrics
Acquisition
Activation
Retention
Referral
Revenue

13. High-fidelity MVPs
You (may)
have to code
something

14. Chapter 2

15. Why OSS?
•it’s cheap (as for price)
•ready to be deployed
•a lot of ready-to-use resources
•available in the language you love

16. It’s not a new idea
Github, Wallmart, Facebook, Apple,
Google, Microsoft have relied on
OOS to accomplish new projects.

17. MVPs - ready to use
WordPress, Drupal or any other
CMSes with a rich interface and
big enough community could
be a valid solution for you.

18. MVPs - for hardcore devs
PHP Frameworks such as Symfony,
Laravel, etc with RAD tools
NODE.JS Frameworks and platforms to
rapid prototype like Eskimo/Igloo,
ExpressJS, etc.

19. But the most
important
reason is…

20. It lets you
concentrate on
important stuff:
“learning things”

21. Chapter 3
Why ?

22. Ready to deploy solution
Azure Website
one click install
of dozen applications
and stacks
Worker Roles
do not care about scaling
up, you’ll get a real SaaS
environment

23. Build & Manage complex stacks
•MongoDb
•MySQL
•Redis
•etc…
a lot of choices
with worker roles, one click install to deploy

24. Virtual Machines
do not forget the
old fashioned VM or
the new fancy
technologies

25. The ready to be used stuffto validate your MVP ideas

26. Git Deploy
deploy-from-branch feature

27. A/B Testing
an easy way to do feature tests on deployed instances

28. A/B testing on Azure
1. Create a new Azure Website and select a Standard hosting plan
2.Create a new Deployment Slot for each additional version of your site you want to
deploy (up to 5)
3.Build two or more different versions of your website using the language and tools
of your choice
4.Deploy the “primary” version of your site to your “primary” Azure Website, and
then deploy each additional version to a different named Deployment Slot
5.Use the Azure Portal to configure the Testing in Production feature, specifying
which percentage of users should go to the primary site and each deployment slot
when they browse to your site’s URL
6.Use Application Insights to measure the effectiveness of each version of the site.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tomholl/archive/2014/11/10/a-b-testing-with-azure-websites.aspx
a crash course

29. Application Insights
Get metrics and performances of
a real production environment
https://github.com/Microsoft/AppInsights-PHP
It’s opensource!

30. ??
!?

31. Chapter 4
first-hand experiences

32. single static page MVP
Web role
MVP passed!

33. Node.JS worker role
Linux VM
MongoDB worker role
dismissed

34. Linux VM
Lamp stack
15k users

35. Screenfony
Azure website
WordPress + WooCommerce
pivoting

36. ??
!?

37. www.ideato.it
info@ideato.it
@ideato
Ideatohelping startups since 2008 to turn ideas in real business