đź‘‹ Hey! It is Karin here.
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Imagine today is your sought-after launch. You spent the last months with your team, refining, deciding. All for this moment. Now you press the button.
Nothing happens.
It seems that nobody cares or not enough to want to see what you’ve been so eagerly preparing.
Sounds horrible.
And you feel miserable.
This happened to me, and believe me, you want to avoid it.
Ultimately, this is why I’m a strong advocate of prototyping. I see it as a way of:
- Avoiding becoming attached to your solution
- Ensuring you figure out distribution early in your journey
Both common mistakes in the entrepreneurial journey of early-stage founders.
If you want to dive into prototyping and you commit to building with your audience, let me share common mistakes or pitfalls in prototyping.
Pitfall #1: Rushing Without a Goal
A common mistake is starting without clarity on what you want to learn or discover.
Consider Segway Inc. You might have seen them in cities, used mostly by tourists on a tour.
In the early 2000s, they spent millions developing their unique self-balancing transporter, prototyping multiple versionswithout a clear goal. The team was driven by the excitement of the technology itself and by the technical feasibility of this innovation. When the Segway launched in 2001, it failed to meet expectations: it sold 30,000 units in six years instead of the forecasted 10,000 per week.
Be clear about your prototyping goals and what you want to learn.
Pitfall #2: Overcomplicating the Prototype
Almost as common as the previous mistake, this one is about losing focus and overcomplicating things.
Juicero was a Silicon Valley startup that raised and spent $120 million in venture capital to build a $600 juicer that squeezed proprietary packets of cut fruit, which—as it turned out—could be juiced by hand.
This is the paramount example of overcomplicating a product. Eventually, the team could have seen that their complex, internet-connected juicer was solving a non-existent problem. The problem was making juice, not squeezing a pre-packed fruit bag.
I believe along the way someone realized their complex, internet-connected juicer was solving a non-existent problem.They could have pivoted to a simpler, cost-effective solution that still delivered fresh juice.
Pitfall #3: Recruiting inappropriate users
My mom is my greatest fan. No matter what I do, she’ll rave about it and cheer me on. This is fantastic, but it means her feedback is likely a false positive.
I’m using it as an example of a case where your prototype users don’t align with your target users, and their feedback is inherently misaligned with your audience’s feedback.
To get valuable and actionable feedback and avoid wasting resources, ensure your prototype testers accurately represent your target users or market.
Pitfall #4: Ignoring technical feasibility
Theranos promised a revolutionary blood-testing device that could run hundreds of tests from a few drops of blood. The company raised $724 million based on this claim.
In addition to this, it exemplifies well a case of ignoring technical feasibility during prototyping.
Why?
Because the technology that Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes claimed to have simply wasn't feasible given the medical science of the time. The prototypes consistently failed to deliver the promised results, yet company leadership pushed forward and began offering tests to real patients.
Elizabeth Holmes is now in jail facing a sentence of 11 years due to fraud. The case is a dramatic illustration of wasted resources, damaged reputations, and, unfortunately, legal repercussions.
Pitfall #5: Prioritizing Aesthetics Over Functionality
The Snapchat Spectacles case, launched in 2016, exemplifies prioritizing aesthetics over functionality. They were chic and fashionable glasses that could take videos to upload directly to Snap.
The device looked stylish and trendy.
But it didn’t deliver on functionality: the glasses could only record 10-second clips, had limited battery life, and the transfer of videos to a smartphone was unreliable.
Despite initial hype, interest in the glasses waned as users found them less practical than expected. By late 2017, Snap had to write off nearly $40 million in unsold inventory.
Pitfall #1: Neglecting “Experience Fidelity”
Imagine being blind and "seeing" your child's smile for the first time. That's the power of experience fidelity in prototyping. (See last week's post for details)
It's not about perfect pixels or flawless functionality. It's about making people feel something real.
Consider Airbnb. Their CEO, Brian Chesky, borrowed Disney's storyboarding technique to map out the emotional journey of a stay. Result? They realized they needed an app to bridge online booking with offline experiences.
The lesson? Don't just build a prototype. Craft an experience. Use tools like storyboarding to reach those emotional peaks.You're not just making a product - you're creating meaningful moments.
Take aways
Prototyping is an essential tool in the journey of building a company, but it's not without its pitfalls. From rushing without clear goals to overcomplicating designs, ignoring technical feasibility, or neglecting the user experience, these mistakes can derail even the most promising projects.
The cases of Segway, Juicero, Theranos, and Snapchat Spectacles serve as cautionary tales, reminding us of the importance of purposeful, user-centered, focused, and realistic prototyping. By avoiding these common pitfalls, aspiring and existing founders can save time, resources, their reputation, and potentially their ventures.
Remember, the goal of prototyping isn't perfection—it's learning.
It's about validating assumptions, understanding user needs, and iterating towards a solution that truly resonates with your target audience (remember experience fidelity!). By keeping your prototypes focused, functional, and aligned with users' needs, you'll be on your way to creating products that work and make a meaningful impact.
Thanks for being here,
Karin
PS: Here are more ways to connect:
- Follow me on LinkedIn for insights during the week (free).
- Check my availability to do a keynote for your company or incubator.
- Let's do a 30 days sprint to get your first customers.
- Enroll in the OneMonthPM Membership, the value packed membership with all you need to become a full stack PM. You can find my Prototyping nano course in it.
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