Building & Testing Your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Details
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is doing the smallest possible thing in order to learn. You'll make the least amount of effort to get the maximum amount of validated customer learning.
Before actually building a product, test your solution with a demo or MVP first. The MVP makes sure people want what you’re selling before you make large investments of time, energy, ego and money. Because it’s next to impossible to be sure that your idea is good until you bring it into the marketplace, you don’t want to waste time trying to fine-tune a product that is destined to be wrong.
At this event, learn how to decide what your MVP should be, how to build and test it, common objections, and the learnings that will help you move to the next step.
Networking from 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Program starts at 7:00 pm
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Peter Corbett (https://twitter.com/corbett3000), founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs (http://istrategylabs.com/), will discuss:
• How he split their 35 person company into two teams to compete for internal funding with the purpose of building a new MVP that they then took to market.
• How to innovate within an established company and create a culture of intrapreneurship
• Successes and Failures of their unique process
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Peter Corbett is the founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs – a digital agency that develops solutions to clients’ challenges and brings them to life in the online and offline world. He’s widely known for his marketing acumen coupled with a deep technical background, and a focus on community building. His client work includes brands like Disney, ESPN, ABC, NPR, PBS, GE, Microsoft, NASDAQ, Intel, GEICO, American Eagle Outfitters, Pinkberry, Honest Tea, Coca-Cola, Crate & Barrel/CB2, Chase, Rosetta Stone, The US Army, Deloitte, McKinsey, Volkswagen, Audi, Ford, Hilton, Double Tree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Marriott, Sweetgreen and more.
A tireless champion of innovation, and disruptors everywhere – Peter has become a globally sought after speaker and mentor. His network extends deeply across the US, into Finland, Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, India and beyond. He remains a definitive connector and leader among Washington DC’s creative and technology community having spent years as a grassroots organizer driven to build a healthy ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the nation’s capital.
He has mentored half a dozen startup accelerator classes, advised hundreds of early stage tech companies, founded the massive DC Tech Meetup, and created the 12,000+ person DCWEEK festival.
Obidi Orakwusi (http://twitter.com/gymsupreme), founder of GymSupreme (http://gymsupreme.com) will talk about:
• How product development for the Mega Bar began and the many iterations of the physical prototype
• How to measure and learn when you are dealing with intellectual property that you are scared to expose
• Why you should build different MVPs for different stages to serve your needs, including testing the product, assessing interest and finding product/market fit
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Obidi Orakwusi is the Founder, Product Designer, and Creative Director at the fitness technology start-up, Gym Supreme. He designed Gym Supreme's first product called the Mega Bar and led the application and acquisition process of three patents and two trademarks. He is also a graduate of the first Fearless Founders Program at the University Of Maryland, College Park.
Jeff Moore (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrymoore), CTO of Linked Senior (http://www.linkedsenior.com/), will talk about:
• Selling on a vision - and a French accent; why it doesn't work
• How running out of cash forced our first pivot
• Going from "I forgot what your product does the minute you walked in" to “We can't fre**ing live without you"
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Jeff Moore is the CTO of Linked Senior, a DC startup dedicated to improving the lives of seniors living in nursing homes. Linked Senior currently serves over 26,000 residents/patients in 32 states. Jeff joined Linked Senior in April 2014 and has already released two new products. He is currently busy working on integrations with electronic health record providers for the company's new product initiatives. Jeff has over 16 years of experience building web related applications and working in startup environments. He has extensive experience building both enterprise and consumer based software in various roles. A native of Boston, he's smart because he went to Brown but sucks at Mario Kart (at least he does in the eyes of his 5-year old son.
Tenaj Ferguson (http://twitter.com/ladyepicure), Chief Epicurean and Founder of Lady Epicure Gourmet (http://www.ladyepicuregourmet.com/) will discuss:
• How to know when you're on to something- testing and innovating within a seemingly saturated/common space
• How to ask the right questions and use the feedback of potential customers to enhance your MVP
• MVP = Iterative development process-Harnessing the best qualities from your MVP for your feature product
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Tenaj Ferguson is the Chief Epicurean and Co-Founder of Lady Epicure Gourmet Treats- a frozen treat company specializing in all natural, exotic and curious ice pops. Tenaj has backgrounds in nutrition and fitness and is focused on youth and women’s wellness and obesity prevention. She previously worked as a coordinator and later Mid-Atlantic Team Lead for Dr. Mehmet Oz’s health non-profit, HealthCorps.
Born and raised on the island of Nassau, Bahamas, Tenaj grew up around plentiful natural resources, tropical flavors and a culinary expert for a mother. A health conscience fitness instructor and wellness coach to many, Tenaj and her sister Tajh birthed the concept of Lady Epicure Gourmet Treats to highlight the exotic flavors they so loved and to promote the global and cultural flavors they’d been exposed to. As Tajh is a med school student in Miami, FL, Tenaj works tirelessly as the face of the start-up to execute the vision to make Lady Epicure a global brand, prominent both in the US and in the Caribbean where they are from.
Tenaj can be found experimenting with inspired flavor pairings for her pops and making plans to create and manufacture other products that promote Caribbean resources. Tenaj was bit by the entrepreneurial bug after an Innovation Friday pitch that led her to be among the first Dingman Center Fearless Founders Cohort at The University of Maryland, College Park.