Slides from my session at Emerce Etravel... Modern markets are noisy. In our rush to launch products we tend to forget that customers don’t buy what they don’t understand. From working with hundreds of startups there are 5 lessons I learned to build the right product features within their target market. We’ll discuss positioning, founders blindess, designing fast UX and how to use all this to grow your product.

1. @jeroentjepkema
Emerce eTravel, 21 June 2016
Grow Better Products, Faster

3. Slides: bit.ly/MW-ETR16

4. Survival of the fittest

5. It is not the strongest of the species that
survives, nor the most intelligent that
survives.
It is the one that is most adaptable to change to
their environment.
- Charles Darwin

6. The Innovator’s Dilemma

7. It’s difficult to break patterns when
market needs are driven by
feedback from the
“best” current customer

8. YOU ARE
HERE

9. YOU ARE
HERE
LOCAL
MAXIMUM
OPTIMIZATION
(CRO)
OF CURRENT
METRICS/

10. NEW GLOBAL
MAXIMUM
YOU ARE
HERE
NEXT INNOVATION
=
SURVIVAL

11. EVERYBODY HATES
GOING DOWNHILL
YOU ARE
HERE
NEW GLOBAL
MAXIMUM
NEXT INNOVATION
=
SURVIVAL

12. Most companies die because they
fail to listen and adopt to new
business models fast...

13. Another way to look at it

14. Don’t sell what you can make. Make what you
can sell.
Kevin Costner is a lousy entrepreneur.

15. It’s no longer about if you can build it,
it’s about if anyone will care (for your result)

16. The Innovation Dilemma
the Kodak moment

21. The problem is framing
The problem is framing...

22. a.k.a. founders blindness

23. Why is this important?

24. “”Zero moment of Truth:
That moment when you grab your laptop, mobile
phone or other device and start learning about a
product/service you’re thinking about trying.
It’s a moment where consumers make choices that
affect the success and failure of nearly every brand
in the world...

25. How to find your next business idea?

26. How to find your next business idea?
Start with the customer journey

27. Consider your Monday morning routine?
Wake up What happens here?
First
coffee
break

28. Booking a holiday, the start of an emotional roller coaster...

29. ShareOrientation Search Selection Booking Planning Departure Holiday Arrival Share
Experience
Booking a holiday, the start of an emotional roller coaster...
This is where the
next trip starts
+
-

30. 5 lessons to
Grow Better Products, Faster

31. Lesson 1:
Experiments everywhere...

32. The core of lean is iteration...

33. Data Ideas
Product
Measure
Learn
Build
Lean = Iteration

34. The faster you can iterate, the
faster you can find the right product
& market...

35. Data Ideas
Product
Measure
Learn
Build
1 iteration = 1 Experiment
Rapid MVP experiment framework

36. Data Ideas
Product
Measure
Learn
Build
1 iteration = 1 Experiment
Rapid MVP experiment framework
Experiment Backlog
Be Creative
Teamwork
Customer Validation
Data Driven
Positioning Framework

37. Data Ideas
Product
Measure
Learn
Build
1 iteration = 1 Experiment
Rapid MVP experiment framework
Experiment Backlog
Be Creative
Teamwork
Customer Validation
Data Driven
Positioning Framework
Product
Best Customer
Core Values
Customer Care
On Boarding
Channel activation
Success? Implement
into core product

38. Data Ideas
Product
Measure
Learn
Build
1 iteration = 1 Experiment
Rapid MVP experiment framework
Experiment Backlog
Be Creative
Teamwork
Customer Validation
Data Driven
Positioning Framework
Product
Best Customer
Core Values
Customer Care
On Boarding
Channel activation
Success? Implement
into core product
Failure? Store data,
rinse & repeat
experiment

39. Lean Analytics cycle

40. ‣Buying
‣Signing up
‣Sharing
‣Etc
‣Brainstorming
‣Stolen from others
‣User feedback
‣Etc
One Metric That Matters:
Choose the KPI you want to improve
that represents the most fundamental
business risk
Did the KPI move past the
line in the send
Talk to customers and
draw a new line
Try again
Measure the effect the
change had on the KPI
Implement the best
experiment
Design A/B
experiments
Make changes to the
business that target this
commonality
Find an attribute the ‘best
customers’ share that’s
correlated with your KPI
What do these ‘best
customers’ have in
common?
Figure out how to improve that KPI?
Have a good idea you
want to try?
Draw a
line in the sand
Identify your ‘best
customers’
Pivot or give up?
Without data With data
Cautious testFounders call!
Yes!

41. Do AirBnB hosts get more business if
property is professionally
photographed?

42. Gut instinct (hypothesis)
Professional photography helps AirBnB’s business
Candidate solution (MVP)
20 field photographers posing as employees
Measure the results
Compare photographed listings to a control group
Make a decision
Launch photography as a new feature for all hosts

43. 5,000 shoots per month
by February 2012

44. “Those houses with
high revenue look
really nice.”
Maybe it’s the
camera?
“What do all the
frequently rented
houses have in
common?”
Camera model?
With data:
find a commonality
Without data: make a
good guess

45. Lesson 2:
Current markets & channels are noisy!

46. Markets are noisy.... But most of
all, users are skeptical and have
the ability to check everything

47. Enter positioning...

48. Positioning brings focus to your entire
organization, as it has to match
every interaction a user has with
both company, competitor and
product...

49. Position yourself:
What kind of market am I chasing?

50. New
Current
Current New
Market
Product category
Based on H. Igor Ansoff’s matrix

51. New
Current
Current New
Market
Product category
Dominate:
Go for market
leadership to ncrease
revenues, market
share and brand
differentiation.
Based on H. Igor Ansoff’s matrix

52. New
Current
Current New
Market
Dominate:
Go for market
leadership to
increase revenues,
market share and
brand differentiation.
Segment:
Wrap your product
around customers
understanding of
market. High reward,
less potential growth
Based on H. Igor Ansoff’s matrix
Product category

53. New
Current
Current New
Market
Segment:
Wrap your product
around customers
understanding of
market. High
rewards, less
potential growth
Reframe:
Beat leadership by
creating new
category from
existing one. Focus
on innovation
Based on H. Igor Ansoff’s matrix
Dominate:
Go for market
leadership to
increase revenues,
market share and
brand differentiation.
Product category

54. New
Current
Current New
Market
Segment:
Wrap your product
around customers
understanding of
market. High
rewards, less
potential growth
Reframe:
Beat leadership by
creating new
category from
existing one. Focus
on innovation
Create new:
Merge existing
categories to create
blue ocean.
Convince the world
for first mover
advantage
Based on H. Igor Ansoff’s matrix
Dominate:
Go for market
leadership to
increase revenues,
market share and
brand differentiation.
Product category

55. Dominate:
Go for market
leadership to
increase revenues,
market share and
brand differentiation.
New
Current
Current New
Market
Segment:
Wrap your product
around customers
understanding of
market. High
rewards, less
potential growth
Reframe:
Beat leadership by
creating new
category from
existing one. Focus
on innovation
Create new:
Merge existing
categories to create
blue ocean.
Convince the world
for first mover
advantage
Based on H. Igor Ansoff’s matrix
Mileage depends
on
com
petitive
landscape, your reach, finance, etc.

56. Positioning Canvas
(because all good things need one)

57. A positioning statement describes
your unique value for something that an
identified market segment
truly cares about
http://differentbetterbook.comSee:

58. What is it?
A short statement that describes what you
are/do
Target Segment
The specific target market you are
targeting in the short term (aka which are
the leads you’re most likely to close?)
Market Category
Describe the market that you’re competing in
Competitive Alternatives
If your customers don’t use you, what
products/services do they use?
Primary Differentiation
The one thing (yes, one!) that sets you
apart the most from competitive analysis?
Key benefit
The biggest benefit your target market
derives from your offering?
Positioning Canvas
http://differentbetterbook.comSee:

59. Why your experiments love positioning...

60. Your experiments, demystified.
Find
correlation
Test
causality
Rinse & Repeat for
optimum
Pick a metric
to change

61. Positioning. Your experiment umbrella:
(re-)Framing Product
Message
map
Market
Positioning
components
http://differentbetterbook.comSee:

62. Understand your product faster,
push your core message...

63. Run multiple experiments (on-brand vs. off-brand)

64. Lesson 3:
(Lean) Analytics is everything

65. Lean Growth engines

66. Problem/
Solution
Market
Fit
Growth
Lean Startup (Accelerator)
Customer
Journey
Pain/
Gain

67. Scale
Business
unit
Corporate
exit
Scale-up
Problem/
Solution
Market
Fit
Growth
Customer
Journey
Pain/
Gain
Lean Startup (Accelerator)

68. Scale
Business
unit
Corporate
exit
Scale-up
Pain/
Gain
Problem/
Solution
Growth
Customer
Journey
Best customer
Repeatable
revenue
“Growth
hack”
Market
Fit
Lean Startup (Accelerator)

69. Scale
Business
unit
Corporate
exit
Scale-up
Pain/
Gain
Problem/
Solution
Growth
Customer
Journey
Best customer
Repeatable
revenue
Empathy Stickiness Virality Revenue Scale
(Lean) Analytics
stages
“Growth
hack”
Market
Fit
Lean Startup (Accelerator)

70. Knowing what to optimize, when?
Putting a line in the sand

71. Why is Nigerian spam so badly
written?

72. Aunshul Rege of Rutgers University, USA in 2009
1000 emails
1-2 responses
1 fool and their money, parted.
Bad language (0.1% conversion)
Gullible (70% conversion)
1000 emails
100 responses
1 fool and their money, parted.
Good language (10% conversion)
Not-gullible (.07% conversion)

73. Nigerian spammers
have really learned to understand their
target market and ‘best customers’

74. correlation vs. causation

75. Correlated
Two variables that are
related (but may be
dependent on
something else.)
Causal
An independent
variable that directly
impacts a dependent
one.

76. 1
10
100
1000
10000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Relationship between Ice cream and drownings?
Ice cream consumption Drownings

77. Correlated
Two variables that are
related (but may be
dependent on
something else.)
Causal
An independent
variable that directly
impacts a dependent
one.
Ice cream &
drowning.
Summertime &
drowning.

78. A leading, causal, connection is
the analytics superpower...

79. ‣ A Facebook user reaching 7 friends within 10 days of signing up
(Chamath Palihapitiya)
‣ A Dropbox user who puts at least one file in one folder on one
device (ChenLi Wang)
‣ Twitter user following a certain number of people, and a certain
percentage of those people following the user back (Josh
Elman)
‣ A LinkedIn user getting to X connections in Y days (Elliot
Schmukler)
Some examples
(From the 2012 Growth Hacking conference. http://growthhackersconference.com/)

80. One Metrics That Matters

81. In a startup, focus is hard to
achieve.

82. That’s why we pick one metric at at
time...

83. Picking your One Metric That Matters:
It answers the most important questions for your stage
It puts focus into the entire company
It forces you to put a line in the sand
It inspires a culture of experimentation

84. Lesson 4:
Always build a Frictionless Product!

85. Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

86. “You’re more likely to miss stuff just
because it takes a long time to scroll
down the page”
~ User 56A on the MeetHue.com website
Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

87. Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

88. “Your getting blamed for 3d
parties that are not your fault”
Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

89. Function vs. Feature

90. Source: Fogg Behavior Model, Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University
trigger
(SUCCESS!)
trigger
(FAIL!)
ability
motivation

91. Click away slidePerformance tolerance?

92. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Bouncerate per pagetype/session
Bouncerate(%)
Page load time (sec.)
Median Campaign Product search
Data collected by MeasureWorks at various e-commerce websites using real user monitoring, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-VEUrum

93. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Bouncerate(%)
Page load time (sec.)
Median Campaign Product search
Bouncerate per pagetype/session
Data collected by MeasureWorks at various e-commerce websites using real user monitoring, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-VEUrum

94. Queuing for iPhone6 launch - London 2014
Purpose vs. Context

95. Online users often lack context for delays...

96. ...and see no other option than to click away

97. Designing Frictionless Experience

98. the WAITING experience
Source: Jakob Nielsen
Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

99. 0 0,5
Visual
confirmation
the WAITING experience
Source: Jakob Nielsen
Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

100. 0 0,5 1,5
Visual
confirmation
Understand
Navigation
the WAITING experience
Source: Jakob Nielsen
Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

101. 0 0,5 1,5 3
Visual
confirmation
Understand
Navigation
Relevant
Content?
the WAITING experience
Source: Jakob Nielsen
Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

102. 0 0,5 1,5 3 10
Visual
confirmation
Understand
Navigation
Relevant
Content?
Bye
Bye!
the WAITING experience
Source: Jakob Nielsen
Presented by MeasureWorks & Philips at ShoppingToday 2013, reference: http://bit.ly/MW-ST2013

103. Build for Information Processing

104. Request
(Zero Moment of Truth)

105. Reply (<250ms)
(Skeleton = Perceived value)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LueoZaifVE

106. Orientation (<1000ms)
(Rendering = Orientation)

107. Decision (<3000ms)
(Convert into actions)

108. Don’t stop with one page: Flow state

109. Provide relevant content to support task
completion...

110. ...deliver it fast, focus on perception!

111. Good Design
+
Fast Delivery
=
Great User Experience

112. Page Load Time: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/page-load-time/fploionmjgeclbkemipmkogoaohcdbig
Webpagetest: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webpagetest/jhbepelanbbipbinkkjcadbjjinjmiec
Page Analytics: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/page-analytics-by-google/fnbdnhhicmebfgdgglcdacdapkcihcoh
Resources: https://github.com/micmro/performance-bookmarklet
Ghostery: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ghostery/mlomiejdfkolichcflejclcbmpeaniij
Build With: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/builtwith-technology-prof/dapjbgnjinbpoindlpdmhochffioedbn
Responsive Design: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/responsive-web-design-tes/objclahbaimlfnbjdeobicmmlnbhamkg
Clear Cache: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clear-cache/cppjkneekbjaeellbfkmgnhonkkjfpdn
SPOF: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/spof-o-matic/plikhggfbplemddobondkeogomgoodeg
Browser Plugins:

113. Best deal:
Get 1, pay for 2
Lesson 5:
Sales = Funding
Lesson 5:
Build to be bought...

114. 4 business outcomes

115. Failure
Lifestyle
M&A
IPO
Company shuts down or asset sale where there
is a loss for all involved
Business provides a critical mass and profitability
to provide income for exec team and employees
Business is bought and incorporated into a larger
entity at some profit to investors
Initial Public Offering

116. Failure
Company shuts down or asset sale where there
is a loss for all involved
Lifestyle
Business provides a critical mass and profitability
to provide income for exec team and employees
M&A
Business is bought and incorporated into a larger
entity at some profit to investors
IPO Initial Public Offering
90% at
$10-20M
average

117. 10x dilemma...

118. Company
A
Company
B
Company
C
Company
D
Company
E
Company
F
Company
G
Company
H
Company
I
Company
J
Investor X’s portfolio

119. Company
A
Company
B
Company
C
Company
D
Company
E
Company
F
Company
G
Company
H
Company
I
Company
J
Investor X’s portfolio

120. Company
A
Company
B
Company
C
Company
D
Company
E
Company
F
Company
G
Company
H
Company
I
Company
J
Investor X’s portfolio

121. Company
A
Company
B
Company
C
Company
D
Company
E
Company
F
Company
G
Company
H
Company
I
Company
J
Investor X’s portfolio

122. 10x dilemma:
‣If a VC want 20% profit per year;
‣And only 20% of investment provide returns;
‣The average return of these 20% needs to be
10x or higher

123. Managing expectations...
‣You get a $2M investment
‣The VC gets 20% on a $10M valuation
‣To get 10x, the VC needs a $20M return
‣At 20% ownership this means that the company
needs to sell for $100M
‣But... the average M&A size is more like $10-20M

124. Stacking the cards...

125. Get the right funding
for the stage you’re at...

126. Product
Business
model
Revenue
model
TeamStage
SaaS
Mobile App
2 sided market
Media
User Generated
content
eCommerce
Empathy
Stickiness
Virality
Revenue
Scale
Hustler
Coder
Analyst
Designer
IP
Freemium
Subscription
Services
Ads
Data
Market
segment
Core Value
Metrics
Vision
Best Customer
Product/Funding card deck
Platform

127. Product
Business
model
Revenue
model
TeamStage
SaaS
Mobile App
2 sided market
Media
User Generated
content
eCommerce
Empathy
Stickiness
Virality
Revenue
Scale
Hustler
Coder
Analyst
Designer
IP
Freemium
Subscription
Services
Ads
Data
Market
segment
Core Value
Metrics
Vision
Best Customer
Product/Funding card deck
Platform

128. Product
Business
model
Revenue
model
TeamStage
SaaS
Mobile App
2 sided market
Media
User Generated
content
eCommerce
Empathy
Stickiness
Virality
Revenue
Scale
Hustler
Coder
Analyst
Designer
IP
Freemium
Subscription
Services
Ads
Data
Market
segment
Core Value
Metrics
Vision
Best Customer
Product/Funding card deck
Platform

129. Like analytics is core to growth
of your business,
your exit strategy is healthy for the
outcome of your business (and VC’s)

130. Holy Growth, Batman...

131. Analytics is your oxygen. Pick one metric at a time
Optimize for a frictionless product
Experiment! Rinse, repeat to find causation
2
3
4
1 Build your positioning statement
Grow Better Products demystified
Build for an exit strategy (for better funding)5

132. Remember, Speed is everything

133. Something to read...

135. Thanks! More questions?
M: jtjepkema@measureworks.nl
T: @jeroentjepkema
W: www.measureworks.nl
View slides: bit.ly/MW-ETR16
Or, talk to us in the demo alley!