The main principle of the Lean Start Up approach is to build a Minimum Viable Product, which means something that is not perfect but which embodies the main valuable feature for your target customers with the minimum developing effort. This is the key of testing your business idea without going bankrupt basically.
Put let’s go one step further, what is a MLP then? It’s the Minimun Loveable Product. Meaning? It’s something that can bring back the maximum amount of love from your audience with the minimum effort. Does it make any sense? It should and I’ll tell you why.
We are shifting from materialism to experientialism. As James Wallman wrote in his new book ‘Stuffocation‘ we are apparently sick of buying useless stuff. Owning the last trend product is not a real status symbol anymore (someone should tell Apple though..), what is important for us are the experiences we made. Where we went on holiday, which event we took part to, who we worked with define us. If you think about it that’s also the reason why Social Media have been so disruptive in changing our habits.
Looking at this phenomena from the Web Design prospective it can be easily seen how the User Experience gets more and more relevant. This is Functionality marrying Emotion. People remember and reiterate because they felt something, they loved.
Google came recently up with the concept of Material Design. In the released guide is included a list of Web and App design principles that make interaction and depth its strongholds.
This proves that Real and Virtual are more and more fading into each other, it’s what people ask and The Internet of Things – or I’d better say The Internet of Everything – is already there knocking at the door.
Considering that, a first MLP can be easily (or at least in an easier way) build online.
Building a physical prototype is not even needed, you can build a 3D model or just draw your product or service on a piece of paper, it is how you will tell the experience that counts. Yeah, I’m talking about Storytelling. Again.
Building a landing page, a website, able to illustrate your MLP and lead the potential early adopter through an emotional experience will tell you if it worths developing with the minimum waste of resources. Moreover, online one can reach thousands of people in a few days just with the word-of-mouth – especially if the experience you built “surprise and enlighten our users in equal measure”, as Google says – the equivalent of a huge and practically free ‘focus group’.
As an example, have you seen INCEPTION? Here comes a Website explaining everything you missed.
thoughtfromthemace 