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Paper Prototypes

You should have several ideas from your brainstorming session. Now, take one idea each (can be a group of ideas that were similar), and spend 5 minutes building a paper prototype.

How to build a paper prototype

It's literally using a piece of paper and a sharpie to draw what you think the solution is.

No one expects it to be pretty, don't worry! Add as much detail as you can to get across how it might look and work.

Let's make something!

You should have a bunch of cards on your board representing what you need to do to build and test your MVP. Let's get to work!

If you have any questions, reach out for help in the Gitter Chat.

This is how to pitch.

1. The Hook

Pull the audience in. Keep it short, 30 seconds or a minute.
Tell a story, or make us laugh. But make sure it's convincing us that your problem is worth solving.

2. Sell the Solution

The hook should have us on the edge of our seats, because we're rooting for you. We want you to succeed, we want this problem to be solved.

So tell us how you solved it, and for who. Convince us that it's not just you who thinks this solution is awesome, show us your validation.

3. What's next?

What are your next steps?
Where are you going to take it?
If you've sold us on it, we'll want to help you. Tell us how to help.

Pick a solution

Which of the paper prototypes is your team most excited about? Pick one or two of them, and put a sticky for it in Box 4 of your lean canvas.

Remember to ask yourself: Does this solution solve the problem (Box 1) for your customer (Box 2)?

Define a testable Minimum Viable Product

What is an MVP? It's the smallest increment that you can build that will help you learn the fastest.

From your paper prototype and lean canvas, what's the riskiest assumption you're making? If you were building a device that would automatically pour beer for you, the riskiest assumption might be technical - how do you know how much volume of beer to pour? If you were building AirBnB, the riskiest assumption wouldn't be tech, but instead would be trust - will users rent out a bedroom in their house to a stranger?

Take your riskiest assumption and figure out the smallest increment you need to build to test that assumption.

Now, take that increment and create cards on your board to represent what your team needs to get done in the next Sprint to build that iteration. Also think about what it will take to test your MVP - it's not just about building something, it's about building something you can use to learn from as fast as possible.

Don't think you can get it done in 2 hours? Try to make the MVP smaller.

This backlog of work can be used in your pitch too, to answer "What's next?"

Should you Pivot or Persevere?

What feedback did you get from the feedback lab?

If the feedback confirmed that you're solving the right problem, for the right people, in the right way, awesome! Let's move forward.

If you got feedback that makes you want to rethink your problem, customer segment, or solution, now's the time. Update your lean canvas, and consider going back to the brainstorming and paper prototyping phase to take another shot at it.

Keep iterating until you get feedback that tells you to push on!

Form a team of 2 to 5 people

Gather with at least one other person to create a team around an idea or a problem that's interesting to you.

Spend a few minutes asking these questions:

• What's our shared vision?
  • Talk about what goal you want to accomplish as a team.
• What's in it for me?
  • Talk about each individual's motivation - what do you as an individual want to learn or accomplish?
• What talents do we bring to the table?
  • Share a bit of your experience and skills
• Set working agreements
  • What agreements do you as a team want to make this weekend go well?
  • Suggestions:
    • Show Up On Time: Agree on when you'll get here on Saturday (or at least show up at all!)
    • "Art of the Possible" - no idea is stupid, let's consider everything
    • Be Present - when you're here, you're here, be intentional with your time.

That's it! Now you have a clear goal for your team to accomplish and you know why each of you are here.

Test your Guesses

By now you should have:

• Boxes 1-4 filled out on your lean canvas
• a paper prototype of a solution

So far we've made a bunch of guesses. What problems we think exist, what customers we think have that problem, and what solution we think would solve it.

Before moving on, we need to test those assumptions with some potential customers.

At 10am we'll have a feedback panel to help you do this. Bring your lean canvas and your paper prototype!

For extra credit, try to find people who fit your customer segment and talk to them. Call your friends, find people on twitter, even pick up the phone and call businesses. The more people you can talk to the better!

What's your Unique Value Proposition?

Fill in Box 3, the "Unique Value Proposition."

What is a UVP? It's the promise you're making to your customer that's compelling enough for them to jump on board.

Ask yourself "If I solve this problem (Box 1) [by doing this] for you (customer from Box 2), is that compelling?". Whatever the [by doing this] is the Unique Value Proposition you're proposing.

Don't forget to fill out the High Level Concept, that's a clear way to describe what you are. For Uber this would be "Order a taxi with your phone."

In short, you want to make Conan doing this.

Brainstorm Solutions

1. Using a timer, take 5 minutes to write down as many rough ideas on sticky notes as you can.
2. Go around as a team and put your stickie notes on a wall as you say what you wrote.
3. Group similar ideas together

Awesome! Move on to the next card, Paper Prototypes.

Who's your customer?

Fill in Box 2 on your lean canvas.

Ask yourself:

• Who do I think this problem (from Box #1) is most painful for?
• Who do I think my "early adopter" will be?

Be specific. Instead of saying "Teenagers", maybe "Girls who are in a public high school from a middle income family who has a cell phone."

Find a problem that's worth solving

Grab a lean canvas, if you don't have one already:

Then, use stickie notes to fill in Box 1, "Problem" (nothing else!).

How to write a problem statement:

Choose one of these two formats, and write your problem on a stickie.

• I believe [type of people] experience [type of problem] when doing [type of task]
• I believe [type of people] experience [type of problem] because of [limit or constraint]

You can have more than problem statement, but no more than 3.