LSM-Bangalore workshop: Simply Amazing!!

This is my first article on therodinhoods.wpengine.com. I have tried to capture most of the things that I learnt in the article below. Kept it short and simple. Happy reading 🙂

I won a ticket to this workshop through a contest organized for all Rodinhooders by Rohith.

Alright, here it goes..

65 entrepreneurial minds gathered at Microsoft’s R&D centre in Bangalore for a 3-day workshop organized by Lean Startup Machine.

Fact: 9 out of 10 businesses fail (or, majority of the businesses fail)

Why?: They do not go through a customer validation process

How to?: Start with a Javelin Experiment Board

What is it?: Read on.. 

(Source: Smashingmagazine. The above picture is for representation purpose only)

15 groups of maximum 5 members each were formed through an initial process. All the groups had to work on unique business ideas and take that idea through a customer validation process. The chart that you see above is called as the Javelin Experiment board and it was the starting point in this exercise. Here’s what we did:

• Defined various key customer segments for our business idea
• Listed down the problems they’re currently facing
• Highlighted some of the key assumptions which SHOULD hold true for the survival of our idea

We put up everything on the left-hand-side of the board.

Okay, I documented the above things on the board, now what?

So after getting done with the above step, all the groups were supposed to ‘Get out of the Building’ i.e. hit the streets of Bangalore and have conversations and talk to people falling in each of the target segments, taking one segment at a time and focusing only on that.

Extracting the required information from target customers is not so easy. How did we go about talking to them?

Keep following things in mind when asking questions:

• DO NOT, at any point during the conversation, talk about your idea, don’t even give a hint
• Talk about their daily life, and pain-points
• Always ask open-ended questions, avoid yes/no-type questions
• Avoid seeking opinions, look for facts
• Ask about their past experiences, because the answers are most likely to be true
• Focus purely on customer’s problems
• Capture their emotions, because emotions never lie
• MOST IMPORTANT: Keep this thing in mind – Talk to customers to LEARN and not to validate your business idea. The findings from interviews will validate or invalidate your idea, sure. But during an interview, don’t deliberately stress upon validating your idea.

 A GOOD customer interview usually results in:

• Permission to contact again
• Introduction to someone who can help
• Commitment to be a part of the trial run of the product
• Pre-purchase assurance

Apart from the above points, some of the groups even got an advance payment for a product that wasn’t even launched and was just on the Javelin Board! A good interview really helps, trust me. Talk to as many people under a segment as possible. Bigger the number, better the results.

Findings from the interview show that the customer segment that I thought would be my target doesn’t face the problems that I plan to resolve, what do I do now?

That’s not a problem – See this short video from the movie ‘3 Idiots’.

Otherwise, refer to the below transcript:

Millimeter: Pakde gaye toh?

Aamir: Pakde gaye toh school change, uniform change!

The above conversation in our case would be:

Customer segment invalid ho gaya toh?

Toh kya? Segment change, strategy change!

Yes, switch to the next customer segment that you have noted down and repeat the process until you find one, the business idea remains the same though. This is fun, trust me. You’ll get lots of insights into customer behaviour, habits, pain points and who knows, you might as well find some business ideas to address other problems!

 Following steps would follow once your target segment has been identified:

• Build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to test your product hypothesis, accelerate learning and get the product to early customers as soon as possible
• Build prototype, get feedback and pivot continuously till your end product seems perfect
• If you have your customers’ contact details, great, pick up the phone and give them a call (preferably to the initial 100 or 500 or as convenient and manageable). Thank them for using your product and invite suggestions from them. That’s how customer loyalty and trust will be built

During the course of 3 days, we all were on the streets of Bangalore for over 10 hours, going to various places where we thought majority of our target customers were based, speaking to them and harnessing valuable insights. All the teams presented their ideas to a panel of judges on the final day, the winning teams took away some really good prizes. Obviously, others did not win officially, but learnt enough to apply the above methodologies effectively for any future endeavours, and this is winning in itself. This whole exercise is quick, efficient and makes sure we have a focused approach to things. Chances of failure are reduced to a great extent and customers get a perfect solution to their problems.

By the way, Lean Startup Machine is coming to Mumbai next month. If you’re in Mumbai and available on 4th July till 6th July, I highly recommend that you attend. In fact, even if you’re not available, try adjusting your schedule and make yourself available.

Frankly speaking, I did not have much expectations apart from attending some sessions, learning few concepts and building a network of ‘entrepreneurial’ friends. But, believe me, it was one amazing experience that will always stay relevant and you will remember and thank everytime before launching your business. My sincere thanks to the organizers of LSM-Bangalore for putting up a great show and all the speakers for providing such amazing insights.

~Arvi Krishnaswamy of Levitum, in action with the participants

~ThiyagaRajan of Intuit, explaining on best practices for customer interview

~How our Javelin Board looked like, at the end of the workshop

~Our team, presenting the findings, lessons learnt, ideas to the judges and all other participants. I am on the extreme left. (Apologies for not-so-clear pictures)

I hope I did justice in summarizing the 3-day event in a way that it helps all my fellow Rodinhooders. If you have any questions, do let me know.

Email Id: gala.vishal910@gmail.com

Mobile no.: +91-8082425227

Cheers!

Vishal