--- title: Design your Product description: Test your key startup assumptions and develop your minimum viable business product. 🛠️ --- # Design your Product ##### “Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop is at the core of the Lean Startup model.” - Eric Ries, The Lean Startup Let’s identify your key startup assumptions and test them to reduce your risk and that of potential investors. 🔑 Next, let's then define the product features for your Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP) and rapidly iterate based on feedback from your customers. 🔄 ### Test your key startup assumptions --- ##### Before running an experiment, it's key to answer the following questions: - Who is your target market? - What is the service or feature you're testing? - How do you measure it? Consider using a landing page to validate your value proposition before developing a product. Buffer had tremendous success with their landing page test before launching their product. Check out our highlights of '[Testing your hypothesis](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJYZJmSoMhDaW8y2lZ3biaECNaOh-rwwg)' by Dan Thiffault, Head of Product and Engineering at Tern. Play Video What makes a good hypothesis test? Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault, Head of Product and Engineering at Tern, discusses the components of a good hypothesis test. × Play Video How did Dropbox and Zappos validate their startup ideas? Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault discusses how Dropbox and Zappos validated their solutions before building a product. Dropbox created a 3-minute video showing how their product works and shared it with 10,000 customers who had initially signed up on their landing page. Zappos took pictures of shoes at retailers and shared it on their website to validate their business model. × Play Video Groupon’s concierge MVP Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault discusses Groupon’s concierge MVP (minimum viable product). Groupon used a website form to get interest from users for events and when they had enough interest for a particular event, they would manually email a groupon to everyone. × Play Video When should you run tests to validate your startup idea? Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault discusses when you should run tests to validate your startup idea. Dan suggests using these testing strategies from the time you select your target market to developing an MVP to even after you’re running a successful business to keep learning from your customer. × Play Video How did Buffer validate their value proposition? Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault discusses how Buffer used landing pages to validate their value proposition before developing a product. The idea behind Buffer was to create a way to queue up tweets without scheduling each tweet individually. × Play Video Wolfgang von Kempelen’s concierge MVP Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault discusses Wolfgang von Kempelen’s chess concierge MVP (minimum viable product) in 1770. Dan suggests using a concierge MVP prior to investing significant time and resources in solving a complex problem. × Play Video Which product feature to build next? Apply Tripadvisor's 404 tests Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault discusses how Tripadvisor applied 404 tests to decide which product feature to build next. 404 is the code you get back from the web-browser when you click on a link to a page that doesn’t exist. Tripadvisor had feature options as links on their webpage before actually building the most popular features. × Play Video When should you use surveys vs. landing page tests? Dan Thiffault Dan Thiffault suggests using surveys before using landing page tests to learn more about your target market and validate your hypothesis. × ### Develop your Minimum Viable Business Product (MVBP) --- ##### The 3 conditions of a minimum viable business product are that the customer... - gets value form the product - pays for the product - starts a feedback loop to help you iterate on the product Consider using a landing page to validate your value proposition before developing a product. Buffer had tremendous success with their landing page test before launching their product. Check out our highlights on '[Product Design Life-Cycle](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJYZJmSoMhDZb5QlOWD6F998kaVyG6mpB)' by Adoniram Sides, Senior Product Manager at Upserve. Play Video What are the stages of a product design life-cycle? Adoniram Sides Adoniram Sides, Senior Product Manager at Upserve, discusses the product design life-cycle using IDEO and Lean Startup philosophies. Adoniram summarizes the stages of a product design life-cycle as follows: • Develop a ‘How might we? (HMW)’ • Make observations centered around work-arounds or adaptations • Draw actionable insights starting with ‘Some people might’ • Design and test a solution • Iterate × Play Video Recommendations on product design learning resources Adoniram Sides Adoniram Sides, Senior Product Manager at Upserve, recommends the following resources to learn about product design: • Gamestorming – A book to help you learn about all aspects of the product design life-cycle. • Don’t make me think – Critical usability book on making things very low friction. • [https://www.producthunt.com/ ](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa3pfUmdHV2I1aXVhYUF3bGxkeWRsVHM5M0tsUXxBQ3Jtc0tscDlFRFJqSTltaUFyQVdzNEpEdWpVNWRLazBJWWtBM2IyenV2WmtKSXZUMkZpSEg0RmVEa0wwaG1XSDd0V1BjMHpaZUZIVWVUZTg2LU9Ud2F4QWFrLWhxV0tJaWZUUm0yZWFDVUlYRGNSd1NRVlVHdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.producthunt.com%2F&v=HQUIyJBjMjI)– A curation of the best new products. × ## Recommended Books & Blogs [![Disciplined Entrepreneurship (Chapters: 22-24)](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/41jCiw96BJL._SY498_BO1204203200_%20(1)-1.jpg) Disciplined Entrepreneurship (Chapters: 22-24) Bill Aulet ](https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284/) [![Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook (Chapters: 22-24)](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/disciplined-entrepreneurship-workbook-comp.jpg) Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook (Chapters: 22-24) Bill Aulet ](https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Workbook-Bill-Aulet/dp/1119365791/) [![The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/the-lean-startup.jpg) The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses Eric Ries ](https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898) [![Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/game-storming.jpg) Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo ](https://www.amazon.com/Gamestorming-Playbook-Innovators-Rulebreakers-Changemakers/dp/0596804172) [![Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/dont-make-me-think.jpg) Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Steve Krug ](https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Think-Revisited-Usability/dp/0321965515/) ## [VerroBot Topics](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/?hsLang=en) [Identify your Startup Stage and Set Goals](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/identify-startup-stage-and-set-goals/?hsLang=en) [Build your Startup Team](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/build-startup-team/?hsLang=en) [Identify your Startup's Target Market](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/identify-startup-target-market/?hsLang=en) [Sprint to Design Solutions](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/sprint-design-solutions/?hsLang=en) [Define your Startup's Value Proposition](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/startup-value-proposition/?hsLang=en) [Design your Startup's Flywheel](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/design-startup-flywheel/?hsLang=en) [Design your Startup's Business Model](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/startup-business-model/?hsLang=en) [Define your Startup's Social Impact](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/startup-social-impact/?hsLang=en) [Design your Product](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/design-product/) [Design your Startup Pitch Deck](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/design-startup-pitch-deck/?hsLang=en)