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Soak up the Spring trip to Singapore – The Country of Green light on Innovation Technology

Post author By Tuan Nguyen
Post date April 4, 2023

In March, our team had the pleasure of traveling to Singapore to visit our clients and strategic partners.

It was truly an unforgettable trip!

We had a fantastic day, with plenty of sunshine, and we were thrilled to release two new SaaS products that were the result of our collaborative efforts with our clients and partners.

Apart from work, we also had an amazing time exploring the most modern and environmentally friendly city in the world. The city’s greenery and architecture were absolutely breathtaking, and we had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in its unique culture.

From the food to the people, everything about Singapore was just amazing, and we left with a newfound appreciation for the city-state.

As a team, we were really glad to have been able to deliver such great products that will help our clients go to market, get feedback, and gain traction for the next round of development.

Although there are still many ideas for products in the backlog, we enjoyed what we have so far, and we’re happy to have been able to innovate and create new software and business models for our clients. We strongly believe that these new products will help our clients succeed in their businesses.

We believe that by continuously improving our products and services, we can help our clients stay ahead of the competition and achieve their goals.

Looking ahead

We have more SaaS (Software as a Service) releases planned for this year, and we’re incredibly excited to continue collaborating with our clients and partners in creating innovative solutions that will help their businesses thrive in today’s ever-changing world.

Let’s meet at [email protected] to together we turn on the light for Green innovations. Follow our blogs to catch up on the latest innovative solutions trends!

Tags productdevelopment, saas product, software companies singapore, software development service, softwareoutsourcing, startup

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The most-asked questions regarding minimum viable product (MVP)

Post author By Thao Vu
Post date July 22, 2022

Do you know what successful products like Airbnb, Spotify, and Uber have in common? They were way different from what they look like today. That’s because these products all started with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) before evolving into their mature versions as we know today.

So, what is MVP? Why does it matter? How to build an MVP? What comes afterwards? Let’s discuss and figure out the answers in this article.

What is MVP?

Eric Ries, who coined the term, defined an MVP as the early version of a new product that allows a development team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.

As thus, a Minimum Viable Product version consists of just enough features to solve the ultimate problem for which the product is born.

The vehicle example below is a classic illustration of the general idea behind the minimum viable product. It’s important to keep in mind that MVP is not delivering an unfinished product (as in the upper illustration), which would confuse users “What am I supposed to do with a tire while what I ordered is a car?“; but rather a simple yet working product that is able to address the most important, basic customer need. For instance, looking at the lower example, the key customer need is moving from A to B faster. Then a skateboard could be the earliest MVP version that fulfills the customer need while allowing the development team to learn and get feedback. Throughout the evolution from the skateboard to the fancy roadster, all the versions of the products, either sketchy or sophisticated, must be functionable.

The MVP approach plays a critical role in agile development as it focuses on time to market first and makes improvements and adjustments later.

What are the main porposes and benefits of building MVP?

The use of MVP allows companies, especially startups, to avoid typical pitfalls and resolve critical challenges during the initial stage of product development.

The first and most common mistake is adding redundant features while losing focus on the questions that really matter. In this respect, MVP approach supports companies to clarify the core functionality of their product while allowing testing business concept with minimum costs and time. By offering the core set of features, rather than a feature-heavy product, companies can verify from very beginning if their product concept resonates with target customers while having opportunities to change product directions and strategies based on gained insights.

Secondly, another common problem with new products when entering market is limited customer understanding. The MVP approach aims to collect feedback from early adopters. These users will tell you which functions they appreciate the most and which should be pending till next releases. With an MVP, companies are empowered to be responsive to constantly changing needs of a fast-paced market, while quickly leveraging the latest technologies. Instagram could be a prime example in this regard, for having successfully leveraged customer intelligence from its MVP versions to change its business model from GPS feature to a photo-sharing application as we know today.

Thirdly, MVP helps increase the speed to market. In such a breakneck pace world today, if you’re not quick enough, there will probably be another company that can release an equally cool app before you. Therefore, by adopting the MVP approach, companies can save a lot of time possibly wasted on low-prioritized features or expensive bug fixes.

The last but not the least is economic benefits. An MVP could help prevent the product from becoming costly, over-complicated with sophisticated coding, UI effects and features. Besides, several businesses rely on investor buy-in to secure funding. In such cases, an MVP is an effective way to demonstrate the product’s potential to win the market before investors, without building a bunch right from beginning.

What comes after a minimum viable product?

By moving along with the project, companies may have several MVPs, each corrected based on customer insights. At the end of this process, companies should have accumulated enough MVPs. They thus manage to figure out the basic set of features that customers are ready to pay for. The version built on this basic set is called Minimal Marketable Product (MMP). An MMP should allow companies to launch their product early at a cost that is lower than which required for a full version. This is a bright strategy to make certain return on investment while further developing and upgrading.

After having MVP and MMP, which focus on fundamental elements, companies might start to develop a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP). It should be an abridged version of what you’re planning by offering not barely basic functionality but also some features that are unique and more enjoyable. An MLP should include attributes that create emotions and make users want to share. Emotion is hugely influential, especially in overcrowded markets, it can be a deciding factor.

What are the differences between MVP & prototype?

Prototype is a prior stage of an MVP. If MVP is a basic but working version, a prototype is the first draft with probably errors or bugs. It is, actually, an early attempt to visualize the working idea, including design and functionalities, to validate the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Prototypes don’t aim to be launched but just tested in a small scope with limited and selected users.

What are the main steps of building an MVP?

The process of MVP development generally includes 6 stages.

Step 1: Define problem and scope

Like any product development methodology, it always starts with determining target customers and their concrete problems that the future product wishes to solve. The “scope” here means the aspects of the problem that your product will focus on and which solutions could be feasible given your available resources.

Step 2: Conduct market research

Market research helps ensure that your product idea fulfills the needs of potential users. The more insights you have, the higher your chance of success is.

The market research phase also helps to learn about existing competitors and what they offer. Such learnings will help you to confirm your product’s differentiations – if they are strong enough to convince people to choose your product over other alternatives?

Step 3: Prototype potential solution

The design process is a crucial stage. You may need to look at your product from user perspective to create a smooth user experience. A product prototype allows you to simulate the user experience to make necessary changes before jumping into coding.

Fun fact: Steve Jobs avoided the stage of prototyping while building the Apple Lisa. As a result, this product was a catastrophe and unprofitable.

Step 3: Prototype potential solution

Fun fact: Steve Jobs avoided the stage of prototyping while building the Apple Lisa. As a result, this product was a catastrophe and unprofitable.

Step 4: Define a list of features

Feedback loop plays a vital role in MVP development, and you should start working on it right after showing the first prototype to your focus group. Based on collected feedback, you can have ideas to prioritize features for the next MVP release.

Step 5: Build and launch MVP

Once you have decided upon feature prioritization, it’s time to build your first MVP. Keep in mind that although an MVP needn’t to be a brilliant product, it still needs to be able to fulfill the key customer needs as defined in Step 1 and validated in Step 2. Also, it should be engaging, easy to use and straight to the point so that users can complete an expected user story in the most convenient way possible.

Step 6: Build, Measure, and Learn

Feedback collecting shouldn’t end when the MVP development starts. You should iterate again and again based on user feedback.

How to define features to include in an MVP?

There are varying methods to define features to be prioritized in MVP. Below we are going to introduce three of the most commonly used frameworks, including: MoSCOW, Story Mapping, and Kano.

MoSCoW

MoSCoW is a straightforward method of prioritizing features that categories features into 4 groups in order of priority.

Story Mapping

Similar to MoSCoW, Story Mapping also considers the feature prioritization but under each activity of User Journey. This method enables a broader perspective while addressing more granular features than the privious method.

The top most significant features that cover the entire user journey are designated as the Walking Skeleton and have to be included in the MVP.

Kano

Kano method maps the satisfaction against effort and money in order to classify features into four groups, as following:

Basic features: include features that customers usually take for granted. Those are minimum acceptance criteria for the product, the “price of entry” to the market. Any poor execution of basic features can lead to immediate dissatisfaction, while improved execution can result only in neutral satisfaction.
Neutral (Indifferent) features: are those that don’t add much value, and customers don’t care whether those features are present or absent. Their satisfaction level remains neutral under either circumstance. You certainly do not want to invest in their implementation.
Performance features: includes attributes that differentiate products from others and directly correlate to customer satisfaction.
Delighter features: are novel features that create unique selling points and encourage users to share with their surroundings.

How much resource does it take to build an MVP?

The development cost varies depending on different factors, like core functionality of the MVP, the developer’s location, the amount of features, MVP complexity, time constraints. However, in general, key influential factors can be classified into three groups: time, money and human resource.

Time: To make long story short, from our experience working with various startups at Enable Startup, we would say 3 to 5 months to build an MVP on average.

Money: Development cost for an average good-quality MVP depends largely on the country of the developer. Check below a rough estimate for different regions.

Human Resource: Depending on specific requirements of each project, the company can decide to build an internal developer team or outsource to external agencies or freelancers. Regarding team structure, fundamental expertise includes front-end/back-end development, UX-UI design, QA and product or project management. The number and seniority of each expertise depend on the complexity of the MVP and will contribute considerably to the ultimate cost.

What are famous success stories of adopting MVP approaches?

A number of well-known applications started small with MVPs first and adopted extensive but expensive features later on over the years.

Airbnb is a prime example of concierge MVPs. With no money to build a business at their early days, the founders of Airbnb decided to use their apartment to validate their idea of creating an online marketplace that offers short-term rental housing. This MVP was not as fancy as its current look, but rather a minimalist interface with photos and general info about their property. The two founders found several paying guests almost immediately. After launching the MVP, Airbnb continuously collected feedback and learned from customers to improve its products. Currently, Airbnb provides extensive features, such as Airbnb adventures which allow customers to connect with local guides and explore local culture.

Dropbox is also one of the best cases of leveraging MVP. It was firstly introduced by its founders in a demo video. This video went viral and now become one of the biggest cloud services in the world.

MVP is meant for start-ups, not established enterprises, isn’t it?

No, it is a misconception. Actually, large enterprises also use this approach quite often.

MVP approach is widely applied in the early stage of digital transformation, when organizations almost building their IT infrustructure from scratch. MVP development in this case is much similar to which happens in startups. The biggest difference is that unlike startup MVPs, enterprises often implement multiple MVPs that are different parts of an entire system.

It is also well leveraged to enhance mature products. Typically, the MVP method is useful when introducing a mobile app version of an existing web-based application. For example, in 2010, after their first three years in the market, Dropbox started trickling out their mobile app MVP instead of waiting until being ready to launch a full-feature product.

In addition, MVP can be effective in validating user perception toward future features or when considering the integration of new features with an established product, such as integrating payment gateways with an e-com website.

Bonus: HBR has four other tips for launching MVPs in big companies.

Rounding off

MVP is an approach that empowers startups to effiently discover their target users, without overspending resources. MVP does not have to be perfect, as Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, said: “If you are not embarrassed by your first product, you launched too late.”

Let’s meet at [email protected] to discuss further about MVPs and much more. We at Enable Startup have a lot of exciting lessons learned, yet-to-be-answered questions and hopefully, advice for your next sofware development projects!

Tags MVP, productdevelopment, startup

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Green innovations around the world and opportunities for Asian green tech startups

Post author By Khue Nguyen
Post date November 8, 2021

The concepts of green business and green tech startups in particular are not new in the US and especially Europe yet relatively nascent in Asian countries. Despite that disparity in current status quo, the awareness and consciousness of individuals and organizations about climate change and other environmental issues are growing globally, implying that eco-friendly technologies and business models would be a promising land that Asian startups and entrepreneurs should prepare to tap into.

This article will walk you through interesting insights into this emerging vertical.

Let’s get started!

1. What is green tech?

Definition of green tech

GREEN TECH (abbreviation of green technology) is an umbrella term that represents the category of technologies that serve the ultimate goal of reducing or reversing negative human impacts on the natural environment. The term green tech is often used interchangeably with “clean tech” or “environmental technology”.

Green Tech encompasses a wide range of scientific disciplines, including energy, atmospheric science, agriculture, material science, and hydrology.

Climate change, carbon neutrality, the depletion of natural resources and sustainable development are among the main themes that green tech is currently concerned with.

Main categories of prevalent green tech approaches

We can often classify different trends and major approaches of green tech companies and applications into these categories:

Energy Efficiency: Sciences and technologies that are applied to facilitate saving power at household level and in industrial workflows
Energy distribution and storage: Technologies that boost the performance of processing and storing energy from power systems before converting back to electricity that is ready to use.
Transportation: Innovations that help reducing or cutting gas emissions from transportation activities, ultimately contribute to decrease pollution rates. Green transport significantly relies on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy, hydroelectric, and biomass, among others.
Information and communication Technologies (ICT): This category stands for a set of initiatives that organizations undertake in order to reduce carbon emissions and their carbon footprint produced by their ICT systems. This type often includes dealing with people, processes, and technologies related to the environment. The ultimate goal is to use computing resources efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment.
Agriculture and Food: Enables climate-smart agriculture and food services. Green technology needs in agricultures fall in these subcategories: energy, water, farming techniques, plant breeding, and forestry. The goal of this concept is to use optimal technologies in order to increase productivity, improve resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce vulnerability to climate change and guarantee more regular access to safe, nutritious food in sufficient quantities.
Chemicals and Advanced materials: Focuses on technological know-hows that help reducing the the use of hazardous assets in chemical merchandise or materials.

2. Why does green tech matter?

An urgent call from the planet

It’s no secret that humans’ industrialization and consumerism have been causing alarming pollutions of air, soil, water, putting natural resources and many species on edge.

Remarkably, food waste and fast fashion make up a large source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to our atmosphere. Precisely, fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions and is responsible for 20% of total industrial water pollution worldwide. In addition, an estimated one-third of all the food produced in the world goes to waste, which could be enough to feed every undernourished person on the planet. Also, about 6%-8% of all human-caused GHG emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food.

an urgent call for green tech startups ideas

The fact that a lot of people have experienced natural disaster and extreme weather conditions due to humans’ long established capitalism calls for initiatives from individuals and organizations. In such context, green technology appears to be one of the most promising approaches.

New market opportunities

Globally, the market size for green technology and green business as a whole was valued at $8.79 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $48.36 billion by 2027, growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.3% from 2020 to 2027. This would mean more potential for entrepreneurs and startups who are conscious about the environment-related issues and wish to contribute to tackling them. The increasing eco-consciousness represents opportunities to pursue both environmental and economic goals without necessitating a trade-off in the pursuit of one for another.

Similar to the global trend and potential of green technology, Asia Pacific would exhibit a CAGR of 25.6% during 2020-2027, which is probably the highest growth rate comparing to other regions.

For ASEAN market in particular, a promising signal is that the Asian Development Bank also invested $20M into clean technology venture firms in Southeast Asia in 2011 with the ultimate goal of boosting the green development in the region. Additionally, to improve the renewable energy capacity and revive the pandemic-hit economies, ASEAN governments have laid out an aspirational five-year sustainability plan under the second phase of ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) (2021-2025). Under this, ASEAN energy ministers agreed to set a target of 23% share of renewable energy in total primary energy supply in the region and 35% in ASEAN installed power capacity by 2025.

All in all, these figures imply large opportunities for startups, or companies to grow and thrive on green tech and green business in general.

Next, let’s delve deeper into different innovative green tech ideas by category that have been developed and achieved certain success in the market.

3. Innovative green tech ideas out there and implications for Asian startups

Agriculture and Food

Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go is a free smartphone app that help stores and restaurants sell their surplus food through our free smartphone app. When browsing through the app, customers can choose a restaurant or store, order a “magic bag” of surplus goods at a reduced price, then collect it from the store during a pre-set collection window. Since its release in 2016, Too Good To go has created a solid user-base of 7.1 million users, helped saving 99.2 million meals all over the world, and attracted 1200 “waste warriors” fighting food waste together across 17 countries.

This idea could be absolutely compatible to apply in Southeast Asian countries, given that more than 50% of the total waste in the region is food waste. Besides, consumers’ awareness of the issue is getting better, especially within Millennials and Gen Z.

Energy Efficiency

Verdigris Technologies

This is a cloud-based SaaS platform that leverages AI to help clients optimize their energy consumption. The solution makes use of smart sensors to track energy use in one particular building and then send data to the cloud. These data is aggregated on dedicated analytics dashboards, which display intuitively the energy use status of that building. With these insightful data in place, users can make smarter decisions to optimize energy consuming during peak hours, identify motor problems that could be using excess energy, detect equipment failures before they occur, etc. Leveraging AI, IoT technologies and data analysis, Verdigris Technologies has allowed their customers to reduce their energy spending by 20-50%. It was awarded the “Sustainability product of the year” in the Business Intelligence Group’s 2021 Sustainability Awards program.

Sensorflow

Sensorflow is a cleantech startup that focuses on hotel energy efficiency. The platform uses wireless sensors to collect real-time data from hotel rooms, thus automating room temperature according to guest behaviors. These data-driven adjustments have enabled hotels to save up to 30% in energy usage. Last year, they raised $2.7 million USD for business expansion throughout Southeast Asia and globally. By 2022, they hope to have 800,000 smart hotel rooms up and running around the world.

Energy distribution and storage

Third Wave Power

Third Wave Power‘s goal is to empower people around the world by creating portable power solutions. Their renewable energy is useful for fieldwork, emergency backup situations, and outdoor environment, to serve the needs of both rural-urban areas in ways that improve lives and increase productivity. Backed by IoT and solar technologies, their key products consist of solar charging solutions, solar home and outdoor lighting solutions, solar microgrid power, and UV-C solutions. In 2019, the company received a special Sustainability Award for its contribution in energy distribution.

Information & Communication Technology

Ecosia

Google is not necessarily the only option for people when searching for something online. Alternatively, they can turn their searches into something good for the planet by using the search engine Ecosia. Like other search engines, Ecosia’s income is generated by ads. The difference here is that the company spends that income on climate actions, including planting trees, investing in renewable energy, regenerative projects and pro-environmental grassroots movements.

So far, they have planted nearly 140 million trees in more than 30 countries around the globe and have helped conserving more than 500 native species with 60+ green projects. This was made possible by a user base of 15 million.

Transportation

Duckt

Duckt.app provides the infrastructure to help organizing public spaces, increase safety and security, provide a more sustainable charging solution, all whilst supporting micro-mobility innovations in urban communities. It helps turning cities’ available furniture into a smart charging network. Customers can use their MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) app as the best last-mile option to follow the DUCKT locations. Whereas, cities are provided with end-to-end transport solutions comprising plug and play universal as well as IoT charger.

This idea would be particularly potential for Asian countries, given that 80% of households in Indo, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam own motorcycles, which represents a major problem since conventional motorcycles is a major source of air pollution. To combat these problems, United Nations Environment Programme are encouraging drivers to trade in gas-guzzlers for electric motorbikes. This suggests large room for electric transportation and smart charging solutions to thrive. Additionally, since most of ASEAN countries are developing countries, their traffic infrastructure will be subjected to a lot of evolutions in the upcoming years, meaning large opportunities for smart and eco-friendly city solutions to tap into.

We’re thrilled to hear what you think about the topic as well as your green tech startup ideas.

Get in touch with us at [email protected]!

Tags consulting, digitaltransformation, ecommerce, green tech, green tech startups, partnership, productdevelopment, softwareoutsourcing, startup

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How startup failures can be predicted in Product Discovery stage

Post author By Tuan Nguyen
Post date November 1, 2021

startup mistakes at product discovery stage

If critical thinking and solution seeking are your nature, you might probably be able to come up with new ideas easily and frequently. It’s a gift but sometimes a curse, as between an idea and a successful product is such a long (and in 90% cases, sad) story! Indeed, many startups failed because they were so excited in their initial idea that they overestimated its potential, thus rushing into development without sufficient considerations, preparations, in other words inadequate product discovery.

In this article, I’ll walk you through some common mistakes and respective lessons learned in retrospect of more than 20 startup projects that I’ve had the chance to work with. This would not intend to be a comprehensive list, but rather a personal pick from my first-hand experience.

And it’ll be focusing on the very early stage of Product Discovery.

Let’s get started!

1. Wrong timing

product discovery - wrong timing in feature release

Many product features or product ideas as a whole are just awesome except that they are released too early or too late.

Talking about timing, I think there are 2 levels that startup founders have to be conscious of and figure out during product discovery: Startup timing and Feature Release timing.

The first level depends on both objective factors (mostly about product-market fit) and subjective readiness in terms of human, financial, expertise and network resources.

In this part I’d like to go into more details about the second level – Feature Release timing, since it is what I have more solid experience with.

This is a fact: A majority of products thrive because they always focus on the right features at the right time, rather than having a bunch of best-in-class features at once.

Such a right timing and focus are particularly crucial in the early stages because startups have not yet had abundant resources then.

Now, how to know when is the right time to focus on what?

In my past consulting projects, I always try to have founders asked themselves these kinds of questions:

Which stage is your product at: Proof of Concept, Minimal Viable Product or Official Version 1.0?
How many users are you targeting at the present stage? Is this feature noticeable and helpful for them at this level? Let’s say you are building a P2P marketplace for secondhand clothes. At the very beginning when you have only 50 users, is it necessary to elaborate too much the feeds or recommendation features?
At the present stage, what kinds of features are most effective to convey your product’s core user goals without complicating user perception and experience?
What would be the opportunity costs of developing this feature at this time?

There exist a number of prioritization frameworks that are really helpful in this decision making. It will take an entire post (or more) to properly analyse them, but below is a quick review:

MoSCoW (acronym of Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Won’t Have this time): suitable for small-sized product projects that have relatively simple interdependences between sub-teams.
Kano: based on the effect of a feature to customer perception (To include: Basic, Excitement, Performance; To avoid: Indifferent, Dissatisfaction). This framework is especially relevant when it comes to limited resources or when a wow feature is in need.
Walking Skeleton: This method is particularly for PoC and MVP , in which you map out all desired features corresponding to each step in your user flow, in the order of high to low priority, then pick only the minimum combination of features that cover the user flow.
RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence and Effort): This is one of the most comprehensive approach. However it’s more relevant in the later stages of product development rather than for MVP.

2. Inadequate Prototyping

Just in case you are not familiar with technical terms, it’s worth distinguishing prototypes and MVPs. There are 2 most important differences:

Prototypes are much sketchier than MVPs and should take you very little time and effort to build;
Prototypes are meant to test different ideas or approaches in order to pick the best one to go, then MVPs are built upon that chosen idea.

Now, back to the mistake I’m talking about.

While prototyping is a compulsory step in large product organizations, many startups omit it.

In most of the cases, the reason is that the non-tech founders do not know about such technique, and their tech team is not strong enough to give advice.

In other cases, the founders are aware of the prototyping step, but underestimate its importance. By one way or another, I think the root cause is that founders are a bit overconfident about their initial idea and rush to turn it into their dream product with all the beautiful UI and features.

This is a costly confidence though. Prototypes take you only 1 or maximum 2 weeks to finish with very little resources needed. Production-quality products, even MVPs, require at least 2-3 months and thousands of dollars to delivery.

More dangerously, after months and dollars poured into this product idea, startup founders often feel that they have gone too far to draw back. In such cases, failure is just the matter of time.

Remember, you should never rely solely on your gut-feeling when it comes to product idea. The obvious reason is that you don’t build it for yourself but for others. Self-reference criterion should be the 1st trap you have to be aware of not only at the product discovery stage but also during the entire development cycle.

I sum up below 3 key takeaways about prototyping that you should keep in mind so that hopefully you will never overlook it:

Conducting a series of experiments using prototypes will help you test user goals, user usability, technical feasibility and business viability – the 4 factors that make or break your success, in a quickest and most inexpensive way possible.
A strong prototype is sometimes just enough for you to present to investors, co-founder candidates or attract talented team members.
You should not hesitate to kill your ideas as soon as they are proven to be problematic during the experiments. Remember, to make one big thing you have to have courage to let go a lot of things along the way. Also, the earlier you admit you’re wrong, the more time you can save.

product discovery - inadequate prototyping mistake

3. User persona is not articulated and validated

As you may noticed in the previous part, “user” appears twice among the 4 success criteria of a product. “Do users need the product?” & “Will they love to use it?” are two crucial questions that you should keep in mind not only at the product discovery stage but throughout your entire product development.

In this respect, a mistake that I often see is that startup teams assume their user persona without validating with thorough user research. In some cases, this step is done even more roughly, that users are defined as a broad group that is almost impossible to figure a realistic person out of it.

It is therefore tremendously important to define your target users as early and specific as possible, then conduct continuous user research and establish feedback loop with them. During your customer discovery efforts, some of the most common pitfalls that you should try to avoid are talking to the wrong people or talking too much about dream solutions without examining the problems sufficiently.

For products that are supposed to be used by a company’s employees in digital transformation projects, this task is relatively obvious and convenient. It becomes much more challenging though when it comes to products for public users. In either case, you have to know exactly who they are and try to communicate with them as much as possible.

4. Founder/ investor-centric instead of user-centric

As a successive outcome of the mistake mentioned above, when you do not work properly on user persona, it will be likely that your resulted product is meaningful for no one except founders or investors.

While many teams have to cut down on product backlog because of limited resources, I know a few cases in which founders are encountered with such a pressure of planning new features frequently so that their developers have something to do. This is especially popular in projects that are funded by external investors.

If this is your case, I believe it’s much wiser to spend your money on user research and usability testing right from product discovery stage, given that a lot of bootstrapping startups can’t do this step properly just because they can’t afford.

Some fundamental tasks you should take in this regard:

Recruit users and set up a robust feedback loop with them right from the product discovery stage
Try to collect and process user data to a unified system so that you have quantitative clues for decision making later on
Always define and stick to concrete user goals in your every release.

Bottom line

You might have known but I’d like to remind a fact: Market and Product Discovery is the very phase that is done very seriously in most of the large product organizations, but often side stepped in early stage startups. I believe this is one of the biggest reasons why 90% (maybe more) startups fail.

Let me wrap up this series in 3 phrases:

timing-is-everything
test-before-scale
user-centric

product development partner for startups

We’re thrilled to know what you think and discuss with you about product development and startup stories. Get in touch with us at [email protected]!

Tags digitaltransformation, predicting startup failures, product discovery stage, productdevelopment, softwareoutsourcing, startup, startup stories, test-before-scale, timing-is-everything, user-centric, wrong timing development

It was truly an unforgettable trip!

Looking ahead

In this post

What is MVP?

What are the main porposes and benefits of building MVP?

What comes after a minimum viable product?

What are the differences between MVP & prototype?

What are the main steps of building an MVP?

Step 1: Define problem and scope

Step 2: Conduct market research

Step 3: Prototype potential solution

Step 3: Prototype potential solution

Step 4: Define a list of features

Step 5: Build and launch MVP

Step 6: Build, Measure, and Learn

How to define features to include in an MVP?

MoSCoW

Story Mapping

Kano

How much resource does it take to build an MVP?

What are famous success stories of adopting MVP approaches?

MVP is meant for start-ups, not established enterprises, isn’t it?

Rounding off

In this post

1. What is green tech?

Definition of green tech

Main categories of prevalent green tech approaches

2. Why does green tech matter?

An urgent call from the planet

New market opportunities

3. Innovative green tech ideas out there and implications for Asian startups

Agriculture and Food

Too Good To Go

Energy Efficiency

Verdigris Technologies

Sensorflow

Energy distribution and storage

Third Wave Power

Information & Communication Technology

Ecosia

Transportation

Duckt

In this post

Let’s get started!

1. Wrong timing

This is a fact: A majority of products thrive because they always focus on the right features at the right time, rather than having a bunch of best-in-class features at once.

2. Inadequate Prototyping

3. User persona is not articulated and validated

4. Founder/ investor-centric instead of user-centric

Bottom line

In this post

Innovate like a Startup

Head Office

Sales Partners