30.5.2016 Mikael Vankalo

A Framework for evaluating the viability of business ideas for Web and Mobile products

Case Study 2: OPASCase Study 1: UnHidden

INTRODUCTION

✤ Portfolio thesis - 18months of lessons learned

✤ Combining interdisciplinary knowledge with two practical case studies

✤ Thesis subject narrowed down to: Evaluating the viability of business idea for Web / Mobile products

MOTIVATION

✤ To learn more about building a startup

✤ To examine how failure risk for web / mobile products could be decreased

✤ Experimenting if a business idea can be validated without building the whole product

“Up to 92% of Startups fail” - The Startup Genome Report

“42%% of Startups fail because of no market need” - CBInsights

METHODOLOGY

IDEAS

PRODUCTDATA

BUILD

MEASURE

LEARN

Minimize TOTAL time through the

loop

Knowledge base: PracticalProduct DevelopmentBusiness DevelopmentSoftware Development

Research methods: 2 Case StudiesExperimentsObservationInterviewsAnalytics

Project Management

THEORY FRAMEWORK

Business Model Canvas

Customer Development

Agile Engineering

Lean Web/Mobile Startup

Lean Canvas

OR UX

Overview of the business model

Used to validate market need and

business logic

Principles for Software

Development

Processes to design and

improve User Experience

ITERATIVE PROCESSES

LEAN PROCESS

Customer Development Define Problem, Solution &

Customer segments

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Initial Market Research

Create a first version of a Business ModelFounders Product Vision

Build MVP’s

Iterate & Pivot

Find Problem / Solution fit

B

M

L

Try to sell the manual solution first

IDEACase Study 1: UnHidden

BUSINESS MODELCase Study 1: UnHidden

Draft: PROBLEMSOLUTION

CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

BUILD

Choose interests Take geotagged photos Browse locations

Case Study 1: UnHidden

MEASURECase Study 1: UnHidden

Facebook groups

Dedicated forums

Meeting people face-to-face

LEARN

Invalidated!

Not enough market need = Not a real problem

MVP experiment = Did not manage to sell a single location

to any of the customer segments

8 Sign up’s - Conversion rate from landing page 1,4%

(avg.2,35%)

Priceless personal growth from the project

Fast invalidation of the idea (2 months)

Project cost = 10€ for the domain unhidden.co

Case Study 1: UnHidden

IDEACase Study 2: OPAS

An app to connect people with different skills for projects

RESEARCH

Setting up the stage Testing the problem

Introductions - tell briefly about the idea 2min

Rank the problems of the interviewee 2min

Collect customer segment info 1min Explore user worldview, workflow, needs 10min

Qualitative

USER Description of user

Problem rank

When?

Where?

User needs USE CASE Feature List

STUDENT 13

Independent learner,

Don’t like a public profile

1. Build network 2. Find skills 3. Meeting new people

When getting ideas

about a project

Experienced insight when learning new

topics

Contact a person who completed a

similar project

Get information from my other accounts like

LinkedIn.

Sample size: 26 HH students

Case Study 2: OPAS

No 50%

Yes 50%

No 30%

Yes 70%

No 20%

Yes 80%

Would like to create a personal online learning profile focused on skills

Willing to find new people to help with studies

Would like to connect with people online to build up network

Sample size: 52 HH students

Quantitative

Problem ranking

USER STORIESCase Study 2: OPAS

3 Most occurring Problems based on Qualitative Research turned into User Stories

BUILDCase Study 2: OPAS

Information Architecture

based on User Stories

MEASURECase Study 2: OPAS

Google analytics Hotjar analytics

USABILITY TESTING

ANALYTICS

LEARN

Partially validated!

Found a slight problem for a small segment in a very crowded

marketMVP experiment = Usability test Net Promoter Score 2,66

(1-10) Severe usability issues found

20 Sign up’s - Conversion rate from landing page 9,8%

(avg.2,35%)

Successful IT project together with 12 students

Generated a lead with an established HR company for

collaborationMonetisation still unclear, did

not manage to sell

Case Study 2: OPAS

CONCLUSIONS

Look for problems that you have yourself that you would love to solveSet up a process of learning from experimenting

Start with simple

Find a way how to test or sell the manual solution before automating

Define at least one root problem before building a solution

Most ideas fail and all require changes so failing fast is better than slow

Avoid premature scaling up

Aim of the process is to learn faster than your competition = right to win

BUSINESS IDEA

PRODUCT