Co-founder of Spook Studio and The Happy Startup School, Carlos is a product innovation hacker living in Brighton. A lapsed physicist with a problem–solving mindset, Carlos showed us all how we can validate any ideas we have to ensure we create real value and not more stuff.

1. From lightbulb to launch
thehappystartupschool

5. 9/10STARTUPS
FAIL!

6. THEOLDTOOLS
AREN’TFITFOR
THEJOB
STARTUPSARE
NOTBIG
BUSINESSES
FOUNDERSTHINK
THEYHAVEALL
THEANSWERS
BIGBANG
RELEASE=
HIGHRISK
AFEAROF
FAILURESTIFLES
PROGRESS

7. MASTERNEW
TECHNIQUES&
TOOLS
EMBRACE
UNCERTAINTY,
SPOTOPP’S
ENGAGE
CUSTOMERS
THROUGHOUT
LEARNHOWTO
TESTYOUR
IDEASQUICKLY
DEVELOPA
FAIL&LEARN
MINDSET

8. keyprinciplesof
leanstartup

9. 5MINS
“LIFE’STOOSHORTTOBUILDSOMETHINGNOBODYWANTS”

10. findaproblemworth
solving

11. testyourassumptions

12. focuson
customerneeds

13. getcontinuousfeedback

14. morefacts,
lessintuition

15. lessdocumenting
moredoing

16. rightaction
righttime

17. Traditional product development

18. Lean/agile development

19. Lean startup

20. “BUILDAREMARKABLEPRODUCT”
SETHGODIN

21. Design thinking/customer experience:
• Happier, passionate customers
• Positive PR = free marketing
• Less customer support requests
• Stronger brand
• Long-term business value
• Greater ROI the earlier it’s brought on
board

22. PAINKILLER VITAMIN

23. PAINKILLER VITAMIN
Solve my problem Make me feel better

24. “YOURPRODUCTISNOTTHEPRODUCT”

25. visualiseyourbusinessmodel

30. workshop
time

31. EXERCISE1.3RISKIESTASSUMPTIONS
10MINS

32. EXERCISE2.WHOWILLBEMYRAVINGFANS?
10MINS

33. CUSTOMERDEVELOPMENTMATRIX
SCOREFROM1-3
CUSTOMERSEGMENT CUSTOMERSEGMENT CUSTOMERSEGMENT CUSTOMERSEGMENT
LEVELOFPAIN
EASEOFACCESS
WILLTHEYPAY?
TOTAL

34. LISTEN,DON’TTALK.
PROBLEMS,NOT
SOLUTIONS.

38. EXERCISE3:TESTYOURIDEAFOR<£50
10MINS

39. 1. Focus on problems worth solving
2. Learn often, fail fast and get out of the
building!
3. Fake it before you make it.
4. Engage customers throughout
5. Start small, then scale up.
6. Keep iterating.
7. Don’t lose sight of the purpose & vision.
8. Minimum viable product/service
9. Keep testing and measuring.

40. @welovelean
@kungfucarlos