Challenge

I am a digital product designer with a strong background in product  development working at a venture builder. We are engaged in looking for  unmet customer needs/innovation potential in the markets we explore and  need to quickly validate our ﬁndings and test our assumptions in order to, in  the end, come up with solid business cases for further investment.

Of course, each exploration project requires time, people and money. None of  which can be wasted and success is rare. Thus, acceleration of the process and  minimizing the need for these scarce resources are essential. In this context,  the challenge is clear: Quickly come up with and iteratively test key  assumptions and product ideas with real customers to be able to learn and  adapt as early as possible.

Selection

We are working in a strict lean approach, as described by Eric Reis in his best- selling book „The Lean Startup“ (http://theleanstartup.com/principles) which at  its core uses a methodology called „build-measure-learn feedback loop“. Quick  iteration is the main principle. So, in terms of generating and testing ideas the  „Learning Launch“ was the preferred method.

What we test in the end is also called a „prototype“ (or in some deﬁnitions even  Minimal Viable Product) and can take many forms. Its main purpose is to create  just enough value for the user to adopt it so we can gain real-life insights and  enable us to test key assumptions without having to build the complete  product with all its features right from the beginning.

Application

In the ﬁrst stage we looked at the data and insights we gathered through all the  diﬀerent research methods. In this case the market segment we were focussing  on had a lot of innovation potential and we were able to identify an opportunity  worth exploring. So the next stages were:

1. Generating ideas how to address the customer need, also known as the  ideation phase

2. Clearly articulate respective assumptions in terms of relevant value  propositions and

3. Designing and building a (rapid) prototype to test with real-life customers

In order to accomplish that quickly, we added a tool to the mix that enables us  to do just that. It’s called the design sprint, developed by Jake Knapp at Google  Ventures (https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/introduction/overview).

Since we are looking for product ideas in the digital space and need to quickly  determine which qualify as business opportunities, we chose to test the value  propositions we came up with by creating diﬀerent landing pages. These  minimal websites were designed to look like the products we oﬀered were  already launched and well-established. We generated traﬃc to these landing  pages via Facebook Ads and each one just provided one speciﬁc function we  wanted to test in the market. In reality it was all nuts and bolts and most of the  „automated“ services were provided manually in the background.

Insight

The „Learning Launch“ method proved to be the right choice for our purpose.  We very quickly gained valuable insights and even created some traction in the  market. Of course some assumptions did not stand the test and all of them  needed reﬁning to one degree or another but in general this was yet another  proof of the power of design thinking methods.

Although we faced some challenges with setting up, advertising for and  tracking of our landing pages, quick iteration with real-life customer insights is  invaluable in a fast-paced environment like ours.

Approach

What  we did not anticipate early enough, was the challenge to generate traﬃc  through advertising on facebook. On the one hand it can be very costly, on the  other hand the ad itself plays a major role. Its design and wording can be  decisive in whether a customer clicks the ad or not and designing the right ads  can be very time-consuming in itself.

