Learning launch

Challenge

I am part of a startup which is focused on providing Ready to drink cold brew coffee for the large market of Indian consumers. The challenge we faced was to find out what exactly were the consumers looking for in terms of flavours and options of different sweeteners. We had very limited resources as it is a 4 man team. The target date for the launch of the product was 45 days. Before we make large investments in making our entry to the larger markets we had to test our products and accumulate as much learning as possible.

Selection

Our team had already created the product using various tools of design thinking and  to finalise on the product and how the market responds a final test launch would be required.

Application

For my first learning launch, I had listed down 60 users from coffee shops that would be interested in my product and the list of users on which the product would be tested. This would also become our first users We created a system in which we would distribute the bottles of cold brew coffee. In our first learning launch we got insight into consumers using various feedback forms and necessary data was collected on preferences and their consumption patterns. Once we got information on the following details the purpose of the first learning launch was complete. As most of the required data was collected in order to understand customer behaviour such as people's preference in the amount of sugar. Our second learning launch was to gain knowledge into how we would be able to achieve growth with the help of stocking the products on retail. The plan was to launch quick and learn fast and run experiments that are cheap at this stage of the start up.We were able to negotiate deals with small retail stores based on the user details we got and were able to learn from the operational challenges we could face as we go retail.

Insight

As we used learning launch as a tool to experiment our assumptions and ideas, we gained insight into user behaviour and peoples eating and beverage preferences. Not only were we able to rectify our biases going into this project but we were also able to quickly adapt to user feedback because the entire system was lean in order to maximise learning from the

launch. As we are a startup and agile and low cost experiments help us to give what people need rather than operate under assumptions that lead us to huge spends only to realise thats not what people want. The 2 learning launch helped first to develop the product and second to gain insights into operational challenges we will come across.

Approach

Considering we have used multiple design tools such as customer persona and understanding their problem. The best way to find out if our hypothesis is true was to try out the product in the actual market and how users interact and consume the product without the huge  overhead cost. We shall continue using the same model of operation and testing out products using learning launches.

Salman Kumar

