Pre-Exercise: Think for a Moment

1. Pre-Exercise: Think for a Moment • If you wanted to create a service to help families reduce the cost of putting food on the table, what could you do? • How would you test if your idea makes sense?

2. Ideation: Prototyping and Assessment Grow What Works and Save Time and Effort

3. Creation is messy. Test it first. • Our own narrative of Creation is full of prototypes. • Even the Creator, in omnipotence, tested out creation first. • Before creating Humans, the creator made animals; before animals, fish and birds. • And before moving on, the key is to see: Is it good? Prototyping helps make sure you get the outcome you want while wasting the least resources.

4. Prototypes help pivoting • Before man and woman were created, there was Human. • Human was the minimum set of activities the Creator needed to undertake to test the model. • And after assessment, it was found to be Good. • Human worked, but missed something, so the Creator pivoted, and separated the two to Man and Woman. Prototyping and assessment go hand-in-hand. You can’t do one without the other.

5. What is a Prototype? A prototype is the smallest feasible application of your ventures’ intended activities to create a product that presents value to your chosen target market. People don’t buy products, they buy the opportunity to experience what the product has to offer; a prototype simulates the experience without developing the full product.

6. How do you build a prototype? • Every venture can be prototyped. • Key question: what is the key driver of value to my target customer. • Next key question: what is the best way for me to test if the activity I am proposing will really provide value. • Then, gather a sample of your target market, and test. • Make sure to speak with them before (to set a baseline) and after, to learn if your assumptions of value creation were true.

7. Example Prototype: Food on the Table • Service proposed would provide consumers a way to save money by matching their menus with coupons • Product would be FOTT webservice to push coupons and menu options to consumers • Prototyped by collecting coupons by hand from local groceries and finding menu options for them, and selling them to local customers • Through test, learned how the FOTT service could be automated and grown Credit to Eric Ries for the introduction to this brilliant venture

8. Workshop: Imagine a Prototype • In groups of three, first describe your core activity that produces value • Chose one venture in the group to prototype first • Imagine ways to test whether the venture actually provides value • Write down all of the assumptions (of activities, customer, product offering) you make along the way • If you have time, do it for another venture

9. How can you test your assumptions? • Assessment is never easy, so build in time for it. • Two main ways to assess: Quantitative and Qualitative. • Before starting, determine how you measure. These are your metrics. • Always set a baseline for assessment with a pre-experience Intake survey, and see difference with an Exit survey. • Test for core assumptions – but don’t ask too many questions or you’ll lose your market. Always Assess! Cycle through: Plan, Intake, Act, Exit, Assess, Pivot, Plan, Intake, Act…etc

10. Power of Quantitative Measures As much as possible, use quantitative metrics – they will help assess whether the needle really moved

11. Workshop: Build in an Assessment • In groups of three, review how your prototype works • Chose one venture in the group to build an assessment plan for the prototype • What are you assessing? Self-interview for qualitative indicators, and pick three possible metrics • Describe what actions you’ll take to know whether your venture is hitting its mark • If you have time, repeat with another venture.

12. Let’s see some of this in action TED Marshmallow Tower

13. Prototypes Always Lead to Good • Sometimes you try things and they don’t work out. Like Noah’s generation. But one learns, and tries again. • Key is not to fail too big; think small. • Even the One who knows Everything needs to test and test again. Don’t be embarrassed to try and fail. • Pay attention to your metrics. They will be your best teachers. • The key to a successful venture is an openness to learning.