Hello and welcome to another newsletter. A big thank you to all of you for your overwhelming response to the first issue.
Now that the difference between a startup and a small business is established, many undertakings must keep in mind and prepare if someone has a startup idea. One of them is - Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
A major reason why startups fail is that they design their initial product based on assumptions. Entrepreneurs fall into the trap of assuming their product will solve a problem better than any existing solution on the market. They also assume that people care enough about the problem to pay for a solution. When these assumptions are wrong, the startup never gets off the ground. [1]
🧠 For these reasons, it makes sense to create minimum viable products (MVPs). This allows companies to test their ideas to see how users react.
Minimum viable product
A minimum viable product, or MVP, is a product with enough features to attract early-adopter customers and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle. In industries such as software, the MVP can help the product team receive user feedback as quickly as possible to iterate and improve the product.
Why MVP?
Eric Ries, who introduced the concept of the minimum viable product as part of his Lean Startup methodology, describes the purpose of an MVP this way: It is the version of a new product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least amount of effort. [2]
Examples
📦 Dropbox: Starting as a demo video MVP, Dropbox explained the benefits of storing data in one place. The feedback from users helped the then-startup receive the funds it needed to develop its offering.
📚 Amazon: Most people know that Amazon began as an online bookstore. Though, you may be unaware that Jeff Bezos started by buying books from distributors and shipping them to customers every time his online store received an order.
🏨 Airbnb: Beginning with the founders’ own apartment, Airbnb gave people the option to list a room for short-term rental to earn extra income. It became clear that travellers were willing to stay in someone else’s home to save money on accommodation, and the platform grew from there.
💀 Facebook: Upon its release, Facebook was just a basic social media tool to connect with friends. Profiles were as basic as could be, and members were all students at Harvard University. The idea proved popular enough to be worth expanding, and the platform gradually added more complex features.
Tool: Lean Canvas Template
A Lean Canvas is a more effective tool for determining your business model, monetization strategy, and channels to reach your customers and better understand how your business will operate.
Weekly Roundup
🇮🇳 India has 50,000 recognised startups; 45% have women entrepreneurs: India has over 50,000 startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), with at least 45 per cent of them having women entrepreneurs.
With the launch of the Startup India initiative, recognised startups have now spread across 623 districts within at least 10,000 started getting added to the recognised list in the last six months. [1]
💻 Google, Springboard to launch ‘Startup Sprint’: 91springboard, a co-working community, has partnered with Google for Startups (GfS) to launch ‘Startup Sprint’ – a virtual program that provides an opportunity to various startups and entrepreneurs across India to scale up and expand their businesses online by helping them learn modern digital business tools. [2]
🎤 India is among the top markets for Clubhouse within weeks of launch: India features among the top markets for Clubhouse within weeks of launching the voice-based social networking app in the country.[3]
🛡️ TikTok just permitted itself to collect biometric data on US users: A change to TikTok’s U.S. privacy policy on Wednesday introduced a new section that says the social video app “may collect biometric identifiers and biometric information” from its users’ content. This includes things like “faceprints and voiceprints,” the policy explained. [7]
💵 Funding Galore: From Delhivery To Urban Company -
Delhivery raised the highest funding of about $277 million.
Urban Company raised $67 million in a second round.
Bicycle-sharing startup MYBYK gets USD 1 mn funding from investors. [4]
Bengaluru-based logistics startup Locus raises $50 mn in Series C funding [5]
This week 36 Indian startups raised funding, of which 25 received a total sum of about $554 million. [6]
That’s all for this week!
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