MVB
- 1. Minimally Viable Business James Geshwiler Managing Director, CommonAngels james@commonangels.com October 2012
- 2. Great Products Aren’t Necessarily Successful, Lasting Businesses 2
- 3. Sometimes You’re Just the Ice Breaker Who Does all the Work for The Next Guy 3
- 4. How MVP Falls Short… Revenue: Media companies often can’t test at low volume CAC: Usually artificially low or high at launch Market: Early adopters may give false estimate of size Competition: Little indication from established players or new entrants Team: Concept ignores evolution of skills that may be critical for long-term success Finance: Even with positive market test, access to capital may be critical component to win, esp if making a market 4
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- 6. Enter MVB… A series of non-product research aimed at validating the probability of organizational success Revenue/CAC: investigate pricepoints, marketing at scale (eg., interviews with larger, established players) Competition: approach potential strategic partners early (if they’re going to steal the idea, better to know now….) Team: if there are identified key gaps that are too early to fill, seek to recruit talent as advisors or keep close a hand Finance: get high-quality, part-time CFO & speak with later stage sources of capital early to forecast requirements, social opportunity 6
- 7. If You’re Going to Fail, Fail Early… 7
- 8. Make a Dashboard Combining MVP & MVB Here’s an example for a SAAS company using channels that should expect viral marketing from using the product: Category 12/31/12 3/31/13 6/30/13 9/30/13 Target MRR Min MRR Total Partners Threshold Partners Referrals from End Users Cash 8
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