Harvard innovation lab : Michael J Skok : Startup Secrets : Value PropositionHi @mjskok

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STARTUP SECRETS

MICHAEL J SKOK

An insider’s guide to unfair competitive advantage

Hi Harvard innovation lab

Building a Compelling Value Proposition

twitter: @mjskok mjskok.com

North Bridge Venture Partners

Case Example: uTest

Harvard innovation lab : Michael J Skok : Startup Secrets : Value PropositionHi @mjskok

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Value Proposition Template

• For (target customers) • Who are dissatisfied with (the current

alternative) • Our product is a (new product) • That provides (key problem-solving

capability)• Unlike (the product alternative)

Harvard innovation lab : Michael J Skok : Startup Secrets : Value PropositionHi @mjskok

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uTest

• For companies with web or mobile apps

• Who are dissatisfied with apps that work as expected in the QA lab, but not in the hands of end users

• Our in-the-wild testing

• Enables them to test their apps under real-world conditions

• Unlike outsourced testing, which merely moves the QA lab to a cheaper part of the world, but doesn’t actually improve app quality

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Harvard innovation lab : Michael J Skok : Startup Secrets : Value PropositionHi @mjskok

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Gain/Pain ratio• Revenue • Cost savings• Time• People• Competitive advantage• Reputation• Etc..

• Inertia• Switching costs?• Default = do

nothing• Alternatives?• Good enough =

good enough!• RISK on a startup

• Find (See)• Try• Buy• Implement• Deploy• Own – eg TCO

Inertia,RISK

Gain

Pain

>10

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Before & After

Before: Test In The Lab & Hope

Testing inside the lab is vital. But today’s web & mobile apps require a new approach to augment lab testing: in-the-wild testing

After: Test Where Your Users Are

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• Gain from uTest:– Scale infinitely and immediately

- From 3 testers, to 30, to 300, and back to 0– Lower total cost of testing

- EG: SMBs - unlimited testing for ½ the cost of one FTE– Test under real-world conditions

- Live testers, real devices, imperfect conditions… in-the-wild

• Pain from uTest:– More testing reports, creating more work

- Takes time to re-produce, vet and rate 50+ bugs– More collaboration, creating more oversight

- Coordination between in-house & crowd testers

• Goal: – Maximize in-the-wild testing, while minimizing overhead

uTest: Gain vs. Pain

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• Tough to quantify precisely, but here’s what we’ve learned

Gain vs. Pain Ratio

Gain Pain

Cost Savings: 10X

Lower Escape Rate by 75%

Make Testing Mirror User Base

Launch Confidence

Higher Quality Apps

vs.Increased Overhead

5:1 on cost basis

20:1 on cost + value basis

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• Test latest version of Google Chrome across 300 highest trafficked URLs on the web

Traditional Outsourcing vs. uTest

Testers 8 Testers 30

Hours / Tester 40 Hours / Tester 10

# of Days 5 # of Days 2

# of URLs Tested 300 # of URLs Tested 300

# of Discovered Issues

19 # of Discovered Issues

129

Price $15,000 Price $10,000

Price-per-Issue $789 Price-per-Issue $78

Sample Customer ROI

Harvard innovation lab : Michael J Skok : Startup Secrets : Value PropositionHi @mjskok

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START UP SECRETS

MICHAEL J SKOK

An insider’s guide to unfair competitive advantage

Hi Harvard innovation lab

Building a Compelling Value Proposition

mjskok.com twitter: @mjskok

North Bridge Venture Partners

Case Example: uTest