Product ideas & first versions

Make the idea useful before making it bigger.

For founders with a real user problem and a product they want to test. Find the smallest complete experience that can answer the next important question.

Find your first step

What should the first person be able to do?

A first product version is a way to test a useful task. It is not a smaller copy of every feature you can imagine. The right first step depends on what you already know about the people and their problem.

Start with the situation.

Who encounters the problem, when does it happen and what do they do today? Customer conversations and observed work can challenge the premise before development starts.

Name the deciding assumption.

Does someone understand the task? Can they finish it? Will they return or pay? These are different questions. Choose the one your next experiment needs to answer.

Choose a fitting artifact.

A clickable prototype can test understanding. A manual service can test the value of an outcome. A working first version can test actual use. Describe each honestly; a prototype is not a live product.

Keep the next decision open.

Agree the learning signal and the point at which you will continue, change or stop. Budget, ownership and operating needs are part of the scope. This route does not offer or promise investment.

Make the first step concrete.

A specific person and observed problem
Today’s alternative
One important assumption to test
A useful outcome and a clear review point

Three steps to something useful.

01
Show us the task
Who needs to do what? Bring the workflow or idea you have today.
02
Choose the first scope
Compare the options. Agree the useful result, budget and responsibilities.
03
Put it into use
Build the agreed route, try it with real users and plan the handover.