<aside> ⌛ Suggested Time: Total Hours: 60-80 hours Full Time Founders: 2-4 weeks Part Time Founders: 4-6 weeks
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Now that you've identified a customer segment that fits our early adopter criteria and have deeper insight into how they're experiencing the problem, it's time to think more about the solution. You may have pitched a potential solution in your Pitch Test. In this lesson, we'll help you think of additional ways to solve your customer's pain point.
Rather than thinking about the solution as a single fixed product that you're building piece by piece, in the Lean Thinking methodology, we think of it more as a series of multiple products that enable us to learn quickly and continuously as we build.
For each version of the product, we will be going through a cyclical process of build-measure-learn. This process is also called product iteration. Another name for these early-stage products is the minimum viable product or MVP. An MVP **(coined by Eric Reis and Steve Blank) is a product with just enough features to please the early customer. You may also hear it referred to as a Minimal Marketable Feature Set. If you're still struggling to grasp the concept of Lean, here's a simplified example: Extra Material: Building Lean.
“In general, get the product, even if it's just a design prototype or hacked together spreadsheet, in front of your beta customers for feedback as soon as possible. They'll forgive you if you can take their feedback and iterate back a better version for them as fast as you can.” - Tracy Young, CEO & Co-Founder of PlanGrid
In the E-Book, our version of the initial MVP is called a pilot test. What we mean by a pilot test is a small scale trial with a small group of users. In doing a pilot test, we attempt to solve the customer's problem using some quickly-built solution. We interact directly with them to get immediate feedback about whether we're solving the right problem for them, if the value we're delivering with this solution is working for them, and if their problem is even solvable. We can figure these things out before spending significant time and money building a complete product or service.
Keep in mind, in this step; we're focusing more on the customer and delivering value through solving their problem, NOT the product features.