StartUp Founders: Outcome Driven Design


Hey Reader,

Time to Market is THE metric for your MVP; it's speed to revenue, feedback & market driven iterations. It demands ruthless prioritization and building backwards from a validated market outcome. This is Outcome Driven Design. (𝕏)

Even founders who have validated the problem and the market stumble because they can't stop adding features outside the core. Be relentless, focus on the outcome. If it's taking too long either you're building to much or you have lost your way. (𝕏)

TLDR; Founders who reverse-engineer from the outcome dramatically speed up time to market, build a product that solves the problem and get into traffic fast. This is the Outcome Driven Design workbook.

Powerful Banking. Designed For Founders.

​Mercury is banking designed for startups. Quick to setup. Simple to use. All the features. No monthly fees.
​
Join over 200,000 StartUps globally that choose Mercury to run their financial operations. Apply today.

Want to get in front of 140,000+ founders? Go here.

LAST WEEKS FRAMEWORK:

2.8 Minimum Viable Offering (MVO) aka Smoke Testing

LETS GET INTO IT:

Outcome Driven Design requires extraordinary discipline. The ability to resist the temptation to add features, no matter how appealing, if they don't serve the core outcome.

ODD is rooted in Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) theory. The thinking is that customers "hire" products to get a specific job done. Your MVP should be designed to be the perfect "employee" for that job.

The 5 pillars of thinking:

  • Objective: What is the critical job the company needs done?
  • Delivery: What must you deliver to achieve that objective?
  • Process: What processes must your platform execute in order to deliver?
  • Data: What data do you need to support these processes?
  • Onboarding: How do you integrate users and configurations into the system to start seeing value?

Build your MVP around these pillars, don't ignore the "but also" - The details that make your customer feel heard, engaged, and deliver value with the small touches and extra bits that make everything better - as long as they complement not complicate.

Build an MVP that is laser-focused on creating customer value. Avoid over-building, ensure your product is differentiated in the ways that matter most, and set yourself up to iterate based on market feedback.

​Outcome Driven Design Workbook​

If You're Still Here:

The other benefit of Outcome-Driven Design: Everyone is hyper aligned to exactly what needs to be built and why. This clarity filters across to everyone and everything you do and efficiency skyrockets.

So before you jump into building, anchor everything in the outcome and the most seamless process to deliver that outcome. Faster market entry, reduced cost, and genuine customer satisfaction feel like compelling arguments for you to take this seriously.

If you need help defining your customer's job-to-be-done, can't get the MVP out the door, feel free to grab time with me.

Now go make something people want.

-- James

​

Not A Subscriber?

Join 140k+ StartUp Founders reading my weekly newsletter offering tactical insights to start, scale, and fund their startup. Real advice from a 3x exited founder.

​


​

β€ͺ8424 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite A523, Los Angeles, CA 90069
​Unsubscribe Β· Preferences​

StartUp To ScaleUp

Where 140k+ founders read my weekly newsletter offering tactical insights to start, scale, and fund their startup. Real advice from a 3x exited founder.

Read more from StartUp To ScaleUp
How you operate, download the template

Hey Reader, Everyone talks about IQ & EQ, but what about how you instinctively take action and solve problems? Who you are at your core is not really trainable or changeable, but it’s often the hidden reason startups struggle to make progress in the early days. (𝕏) It’s the Conative Index and you care because founders often fight their natural tendencies, believing they need to act a certain β€œfounder” way (move fast & break things). And when that isn't who you really are, you end up battling...

NPC Mode

Hey Reader, Just like that, without realizing it, you go from founder to NPC. From having a clear vision, some moxie, and a bold idea, to being pushed into normalcy as the market never stops telling you that you're doing it wrong. (𝕏) NPC often happens in moments of desperation, where you stop (or are forced to stop) critically evaluating, questioning, investigating, and instead go with the flow, follow the popular, execute the so-called "right" advice. Just like the background characters in...

Price Evolution, Download the template

Hey Reader, There's a whisper we are seeing in SaaS, that improving productivity of your users, or automating functions normally done by users, leads to them buying fewer seats. The irony of building a fab product.... (𝕏) We are seeing the emergence of usage-based pricing expand beyond traditional models (like API & Platform) into new areas, along with the rise of outcome-based pricing. It's not universal, it's not absolute, but it's not not happening. If Salesforce is the bellwether for the...