At NITM we’ve come across founders who truly understand their industries, in ways we admire and even get jealous of. These founders have such a depth of knowledge that they’re able to describe the exact niche and fit for their solution. We’re always sucked in by the passion, clarity, and focus and indulge ourselves in working closely with the founder, roadmapping, planning, prototyping, and helping them deliver their MVP. We have however seen a big problem in some cases: These founders spend so much time seeking perfection that they miss their opportunity and spend years trying to figure out what other little feature will make their product more viable. This is all before even putting their product in from other actual customers. 😡. You need to get in front of your customer as quickly as possible! 

Why is it important?

We recently embarked on some MVP research, as we do regularly, and decided to slow down a bit and apply the scientific methodology (https://hbr.org/2020/11/founders-apply-the-scientific-method-to-your-startup) to our process instead of the pure Lean Startup Methodology (https://theleanstartup.com/principles). For most familiar with the scientific process it will not come as a surprise that immediately testing your hypothesis can be the most efficient way to get your product to market. The feedback we got in our sample size was enough to derail our thoughts just enough to step back and think a bit more about what we wanted to do. We clearly have the skillset as a team, but need to manage that creative energy effectively.

Over the years we have come across knowledgeable and passionate founders. It feels really good to just shut up and listen to a knowledgeable founder and see the connections that only they could see. We helped those founders go through the planning and ideation process to bring their ideas to life. On various occasions, we have even said no to full build-outs of scalable technology as we wanted these founders to get in front of their end users first. What we found was that those who did not get in front of their end-user spent on average 50-75K more on development BEFORE they got their product out. What better reason to get in front of the people who would actually benefit or pay for your service than to save time and money!? (https://dksmith.com/startups/research-release-early-fail-fast). 

How does it help you?

Getting in front of your customers as early as possible not only saves you money but also saves you time. With the recent emergence of general use AI, that’s being plugged into almost anything, it’s even more critical that your solution get in front of your customers ASAP. The time it will take a competitor with deeper pockets to outcompete you has been accelerated to the point that you will most likely want to stealth launch after building a strong client base.

In short, getting in front of your customers as quickly as possible shows a dedication to the value of your solution/product by getting feedback from actual customers. It shows leadership and understanding as a founder and demonstrates the ability to listen and to not tie yourself too closely to the product, a skill that will allow you to adjust and make changes without taking things too personally. Finally, this sets you up for product-led growth (https://www.productled.org/foundations/what-is-product-led-growth) which is the most effective way to build a product that sells itself.

How can we help?

At NITM, we are focused on MVP development. This means ensuring that technology is used to effectively and efficiently achieve business goals. Some goals are straightforward some require extra steps and validation to get the first sale/user. Here are some strategies we employ with our clients:

1. Wireframe and prototyping to reduce the cost of product iteration and development. Combined with a well-thought-out and/or designed version of your product that can be changed easily, you can get in front of your customers in as little as a month to get feedback, buy-in, and commitments
2. Depending on what type of startup or business you are building, you may be more concerned with the value your secret sauce is able to do behind the scenes. As such you will want to go with the most basic front end that you can build, generally using a no/low code tool such as reTool, Airtable, Glide, …etc. We have strong experience with these tools and know how to deeply connect them with outside services through the APIs, webhooks, and data storage systems that will allow you to move quickly while spending the more important time on building a strong foundation
3. MVP development allows us to fully envision your solution from UX/UI to infrastructure and deployment. This means we can ensure that a well-designed, well-thought-out user experience and prototype are deployed in a scalable and stable way for your users. This is most effective for SaaS, API centric, Data-centric and AI-centric solutions

Of course in the real world, not everything is as cut and dry. We’re always ready to take a call and discuss what you need to get to market quickly.

References

• https://hbr.org/2020/11/founders-apply-the-scientific-method-to-your-startup
• https://theleanstartup.com/principles
• https://www.productled.org/foundations/what-is-product-led-growth

https://dksmith.com/startups/research-release-early-fail-fast