Week 2 - Ascend your Startup

 I really appreciated the “MVP” discussion in Ascend your Startup, though reviewing some other blogs from my peers, this seems to be a common thread.  With that in mind, I’ll touch on the applicability of the concept within the service-industry planning construct, rather than material-product marketing.  Even though most people would look at this from a direct product advertising perspective, my goals here are centered more around understanding potential customer opinions.

It’s absolutely critical to a successful business that the basic product hold enough features to attract early adopters and present a unique or novel option (to paraphrase Helen’s Yu’s words).  My thoughts here are related to my own considerations when designing my potential business.  While the book defines the salient characteristics pretty well, I’m more concerned with how well one can evaluate different ideas, align them with the business strategy and identify gaps in any assumptions we’ve made about consumer sentiments.

 

Image source.


I’m exploring ideas for a kind of adventure tourism product, where the base product is experience-focused.  The question which arises here is “How do we assess and appoint the MVP product” in a set of offerings?  Initially, I’d thought of using a flagship experience as the market capstone, relying on the one with all the “bells and whistles” to attract interest.  As I learn more through the readings here and market research, I’m realizing that the simple, basic events that would set my service apart from other current standards are the ones to focus on.  I’m spending the week considering this topic and outlining what my perspective is for auctioning, assessing and validating the plan before I even consider executing.  More to follow!


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