The development of new products involves several concepts: MVP, rapid prototyping, proof of concept, alpha tests, beta tests, etc. This process is very similar to modeling a startup, many methodologies have been inspired or adapted from product development.
Steve Blank himself, the father of modern entrepreneurship, uses terms and processes inspired by product design and development methodologies. One such example is NASA's TLRs (Technology Readiness Levels).
One important thing - and that many startups do not develop in the best way - are the early stages of product development, such as rapid prototyping, proof of concept and alpha testing. This is usually due to the anxiety to start programming since many founders are developers.
The Two Diamonds and Rapid Prototyping
Like startups, products always start with an idea. Generally, the first activity of someone with a business idea is to try to represent it visually. The best way to visualize the development of a product is the “Two Diamonds” methodology.
Each diamond represents a phase, a cycle. In each cycle, there is a moment of divergence, to explore all possibilities, and of convergence, in which all acquired knowledge is transformed into insight. A problem, a desire or an opportunity is discovered and something capable of solving it is created.
Problem Discovery
The first phase (the research) starts from a general problem and explores the possibilities. Brainstorming, customer discovery, face-to-face, and online interviews, forms, etc. The main objective is to understand the problem in-depth, to diverge and explore the problem to the fullest.
The second phase (the insight) is focused on transforming all this learning, to synthesize this general problem in some key points to conclude the first cycle: to deeply understand the problem. The first cycle is concluded: the problem discovery.
Some interesting tips for discovering the problem: try to empathize and form a profile of the possible user. What are the users’ main characteristics? What are their goals or tastes? How is their routine? What problem do you propose to solve for them and why is this important?
Solution Discovery
The third phase (ideation) is the attempt to solve this problem. Again, they diverge looking for efficient and innovative solutions to the problem discovered. The search for ways to solve the problem must encompass common and “unorthodox” solutions.
The fourth phase (prototyping) summarizes all ideas in specific solutions to complete the second cycle. Finally, it becomes a product, features, hypotheses to be tested by the user.
For finding the solution, there are some very important points as well: start with simple and practical ideas, but make room for ideas “out of the box” - it's amazing how they can become good solutions after a refinement.
Start by doing two ideation sessions on different days. The human brain thinks of great solutions during sleep, so give the participants a night's sleep and be surprised by the result.
Also, think about 3 main problems and develop a feature for each problem. This helps to prioritize what are the most important things to develop and understand how to show the greatest value to the customer faster and cheaper.
Last - and not least: TEST and MEASURE the result of the prototype. The reason for making a prototype and having a proof of concept and understanding if your user sees value in what he proposed. Without testing with a possible user that fits that profile idealized in problem discovery, the prototype is useless. Without metrics, to understand what the reaction of this possible user is, the prototype is useless.
Why do you have to prototype?
Some entrepreneurs may find that time to discover the problem is a waste of time. However, when done correctly, it saves time - and money - significantly. This was Snapchat's main mistake in its redesign - even its CEO admitted that they should have done more testing - and it was too expensive to fix.
The old maxim of “making mistakes quickly and cheaply” is even faster and cheaper with a good investment of time in discovering the problem and solution.
How we do it at HAG
At HAG, we understand that prototyping is essential, and we encourage all startups to invest time in understanding the problem and prototyping solutions quickly.
For a long time, we looked for a facilitator for this process and we finally found it: MarvelApp. All startups in our portfolio receive a 50% discount in the first year for all packages.
We have a powerful tool to help our startups from ideation to the measurement of results on a robust and simple to use platform. If you want to know more about them, click here.