Chapter Two: Steer - Navigating Hope's Business Journey
In the last chapter, we introduced Hope, who started her bracelet business but quickly discovered a bigger opportunity to help people find the perfect gifts for special occasions. Now, let's see how she navigates her business journey with the Lean Startup's "Steer" phase!
Launching the MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
Hope knows she can't start with a massive catalog of gifts and a fully functional app right away. Instead, she decides to begin by offering a small selection of handmade bracelets and a few items she can resell, like soaps and greeting cards. This smaller version of her business idea is her Minimum Viable Product (MVP), the quickest way to test if her concept will work.
Here’s Hope’s Plan:
Create Samples: Hope makes a handful of bracelets and buys a few soaps and birthday cards to complete her product lineup.
Sell at the School Fair: She sets up a small booth and gathers feedback from classmates, teachers, and parents. She asks them to fill out a simple form about what other gifts they would like to see.
Track Results: She notes which items sell the most and what suggestions people offer for new products.
Learning and Pivoting
After the fair, Hope gathers her notes and discovers some valuable insights:
Popular Bracelets: Her bright, colorful bracelets were a big hit, especially the ones with unique charms.
Greeting Cards Demand: Many people asked for funny birthday cards, suggesting this could be an area for expansion.
Soap Preferences: The scented soaps sold quickly, but only a few specific scents were popular.
From this feedback, Hope decides to:
Keep Creating Bracelets: She doubles down on charm bracelets while experimenting with different color combinations.
Expand Cards: She’ll create a new line of funny greeting cards and try to offer customizable messages.
Adjust Soap Selection: Focus on the best-selling scents.
However, Hope realizes her big idea for an app is still too ambitious to launch immediately. She pivots by creating a basic email list instead, where people can sign up to receive reminders about upcoming holidays or events. She’ll expand this into an app when she learns more about her customers.
Building the Build-Measure-Learn Loop
With her MVP out there and valuable feedback collected, Hope is now in the groove of what the Lean Startup calls the Build-Measure-Learn loop:
Build: Create new product variations and continue developing her gift reminder system.
Measure: Track which products sell well and listen closely to customer feedback.
Learn: Use this data to refine her product line, adjust marketing strategies, and bring new ideas to life.
Next Up: Chapter Three - Leap into New Opportunities
Hope’s bracelet business is taking off, and her gift ideas are starting to catch on. But she’s just getting started! In the next chapter, we'll follow Hope as she takes her biggest leap yet—turning all her insights and customer feedback into a bold new plan. Stay tuned to see how she prepares for her next big step!
