Validated Initial Hypotheses

Hello people! Thanks for taking the time read my blog. The weather here in the UK is lovely, but can be a bit too hot to work on my dissertation. I haven't done much since my last post, I've just been sending out the survey and researching about the details of my competitors. I TRIED to do some reading on the customer development, the Steve Blank's book, Startup Manual Guide but didn't really happen. It's just too hot to work, my brain hasn't been working properly. Every time I sit by my desk, I just feel like 'can't be bothered, I'll do it later'. lol. I'm not making excuses. lol.

Anyhow I have managed to validate some of my initial hypotheses though.

Hypothesis #1

Not everyone one knows about all the benefits of the food they eat

Hypothesis #2

Some eat certain healthy food for the sake of eating healthy but are not sure the exact benefits

For hypotheses 1 and 2 I asked people 'Do you know all the benefits of the raw and dry ingredients that you add to your meals?', they had an option of;

- No, but I know they are healthy

- Yes, somewhat

- Yes, I know them very well. 

No one picked the last answer. 7 out of 13 chose the first option and 6 out of 13 chose the second. Thus it shows that my first two hypotheses are true. Only 13 people answered this question because I deleted this question later as some people said the survey was too long. 

Hypothesis #3 

When following a recipe there’s always at least one ingredient they don’t have because it’s uncommon.

Hypothesis #4

They always end up buying the uncommon ingredient and will only use it for that particular recipe or not often.

Prior to the survey, I actually interviewed two people with slightly different questions. Hypothesis 3 and 4 were actually my very first hypotheses. I asked them what problems they have when following a recipe and both said having all the ingredients you need. There are ingredients or equipment you only need for that recipe and won't be using it again. Another thing, both of them loving cooking and baking. But I'm not sure if that will be my customer segment.

Hypothesis #5

find healthy products are more expensive than unhealthy food

Hypothesis #6

 7/10 people would like to have smaller sizes of food products 

In the survey I asked 'What annoys you or frustrates you the most when you're food shopping?', and quite a few people have mentioned healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food. Yes, bingo! Some people also mentioned about the size being too big if they are cooking for 1 to 2 people. Yes, bingo! So both hypothesis 5 and 6 have also been validated!!

That's 6 out of 14 hypothesis that has been validated, the rest I haven't tested them. That's my next step, I need to test all my initial hypotheses and then create new ones. I also need to define my segment and start building the MVP (minimal viable product). 

That's it for now. Update you later!!

My New Dissertation Idea aka Business Idea

Hi guys, in my previous post I mentioned that I've changed my dissertation topic to my own business idea. Why? What was wrong with the startup? Nothing really, I just had a eureka moment. However, it's not entirely original, it's a clone of another business but with different features.

Before changing it, I of course spoke to the head of department, Dave and my supervisor, Itxaso. Dave said its not too late but I probably won't be able to do lots of interviews. Itxaso loved my idea! That was a relief. Lol She told me not to waste my time on the startup and should do my own idea and carry on pursuing it after uni is over. I will as I've always wanted my own business.

You often hear people say turn your passion into a business. So based on my passion on healthy/well being and food I came up with an idea. It's a clone of Nutribox, Graze, Glossy box, Birch box and other product subscriptions business model. I haven't come up with a proper name yet, but our initial idea was 'Good Munch' but for the sake of SEO, my mentor Jack suggested the name should contain at least one key word that will inform people what the business is about in 3 seconds and appear in the top of the list in search engine. Anyway, I'll refer it to Good Munch in my blog posts for now.

So what exactly is it? I won't go into detail yet, hehe. You will know soon.

It's been about 2 weeks since I've changed the topic and so far I've sent out surveys, drawn canvases for Good Munch and the competitors and written out the initial hypotheses. A couple of people have said my survey is a bit too long, I cut some questions out. The reason it's long is because I'm doing it the short cut way, don't have the time to do face to face interviews. So I'm trying to get as much as I can from the surveys.

To encourage people to do the survey, I decided to give out 2 £20 amazon gift voucher. I will pick 2 winners at random on 22nd July. One of the voucher was given to me when I volunteered for TEDxUCL, lol. That's one voucher sorted lol. And guess what? I'm such a donut.  I forgot to add a field box for people to enter their email address or even a name for them to be entered for the prize draw. LOL. So I sent a message out on my Facebook telling them to give me their email address. But I've added it now. Here's one of the gift voucher.

The more research I do the more competition I find lol. But they aren't exactly the same though. I've found out that there a lot of healthy food online subscription businesses. All aim to provide convenience, save money and time. I found most of them through some of my favourite fitness blogs. As well as finding my competitors, I also learnt that each blogger is a channel to bring customers to the business. 

Changed my dissertation topic

Hi everyone! Just another update on my dissertation progress. I have changed the topic of my dissertation, I am going to work on my own business idea. I will talk about that in the next post. This post will be a highlight of the last few weeks with Glow and probably the last time I will be blogging about them.

Glow
In the past few weeks, I've been going to the mentor and supervisor sessions every Wednesday evening as usual. I've been doing a lot of interviews and I've been travelling a lot, well just around London. The furthest I've been is Heathrow airport terminal 5. 

About 3 weeks ago, I decided to change the customer segment, well not change but narrow it down. The decision was based on the feedback from professional working women (most saying they will not use mobile beauticians). So I thought of women with young children and women who lives in the suburb. My assumption is that women with young children would have to go through a lot of hassle and stress when going to the salon because they got to dress the children, put them in the pram, pack bag, push the pram into the salon. When they are in the salon, the children will get restless, cry and scream, etc. You get the gist. Basically no peace and they can't relax. If a mobile beautician was to go to their house, at least the mum don't need to dress the children, etc. Women living in the suburbs probably don't have much options in terms of salons and beauticians. They probably have to travel a distance for certain treatments. So it would be convenient for them if a mobile beautician visited them. 

I asked my mentor's opinion and he thought they are good especially the latter. I told the founders but they weren't too keen on the latter and suggested women who travel a lot around the country. I told my mentor that they weren't too keen in women living in the suburbs, and he said to me "Keep an open and objective mind.  I think your segments are legit. The purpose of customer development is NOT to prove your hypothesis true (many founders do this).  It's to DISCOVER where your product fits in the market the best. "  

I have interviewed one mum and one women who travels a lot but not women who lives in suburb. Haven't got round doing it yet- well I won't be now, as I'm doing my own idea.From their feedback it seems mobile beauticians isn't a popular option at all. The mum said she wouldn't book a mobile beautician because she still wouldn't have peace. Her kids would still be running around. The women who travels a lot said she wouldn't need to book one while she is away because she will be getting her treatments done before her trip.

I've done about 17 interviews with professional working women, 1 mum and 1 women who travels a lot. 14/17 have said they won't book a mobile beautician as they like the salon experience. Therefore, according to the Lean Startup the founders should pivot because the problem is not big enough to be solved.

That's how I felt LOL.

Last week, I went to the supervisor session. I told her about my findings and she told me to tell the founders to abandon the whole idea of booking mobile beautician. (She wants me to tell them that!! See the facial expression on left) They should corporate with salons and get them to  integrate an express make over method in their menu. Glow will then create an app for women to book their appointment. Apparently there's an express make up service in Bank and its always packed at 5pm with professional working women.


On the same night, I emailed the founders and told them exactly what my supervisor said to me. I was a bit hesitant because I'm basically saying their idea sucks. Lol. Well, it's not a bad idea but maybe they haven't found their niche. One of the founders wanted to speak on the phone about it, so we did. She said she won't pivot because she wants some concrete evidence that shows this idea won't work. And they have spent a lot of money and time on the app (they've got mock ups), and it will be a waste if they abandon it now. They will release the app and if it doesn't work then it doesn't. Then they will pivot. The thing is, I thought she said she follows the Lean Startup and that is going against it really. Unless she meant they are going to release an MVP to test it then that makes sense. However, if 14/17 have said they won't book a mobile beautician then the founders are probably building something that customers don't need or want. It probably will end up being one of those apps that just sits in the screen and will be used once every 3 months or less often. Also, my supervisor is an investment analyst, she is good at identifying business opportunities so she may be right...

Nevertheless, I have learnt a lot from working with Glow. The interviews were good experience. I am more comfortable talking to people at different level and from different background- not that I was shy talking to strangers before but I am better at building rapport. I also learnt how to refine my question and prompt them. Also, I want to thank the founders for giving me the opportunity. I want to thank those who filled my survey and those who participated in the interviews. Many many thanks!

That's it for now! Thanks for reading. =)

Disso Progress: Interviews

Hi everyone.
I know I said I would try to write about my dissertation progress every week but failed to do so. Since my last post back in May, I have been doing interviews with end-users (professional women) and paying customers (beauticians).

These interviews are a lot harder than I thought, the hardest part is not interviewing them or finding someone to interview (I thought finding someone would be the hardest) but its arranging a time and day. I email them back and forth a few times and sometimes it can even take a few days to get a day and time arranged. I haven't really been looking for beauticians to interview, I've been focusing on end-users more and fortunately one of the founders is looking beauticians for me as she wants to do the interview with me too. That's good, founders should listen to the feedback themselves. So far we've only interviewed 1 beautician and I've interviewed 8 end-users, all of which are either the founder's colleagues/ friends, my friends, and my supervisor's friends. Some of these interviews were done in person but some were over the phone/skype.

In the first couple of weeks many of the interviewees suggested doing it on the phone as it was more convenient for them. My supervisor said I should suggest travelling to their work place so then maybe they would be more willing to meet. So I did and yes I was able to meet with the rest in person.

So far from the interviews with the end-users, most of them have said they don't use mobile beauticians and wouldn't use them unless they know them or recommended by someone. This is because of trust, inviting someone to your house is quite personal so you have to trust that person. Most said they go to salon for the experience and want to feel pampered but if they come to your house you don't have the experience. Some said they would only book a mobile beautician for a special occasion like hen party.

As well as doing interviews, I've also sent out some surveys to some Facebook friends. I don't really like this but I guess this is another way to get feedback. I don't like it because you can't prompt them and they may not understand the question. Some people have skipped most of the important questions which is really annoying. I'm not sure if its because they don't understand it or they can't think of any answers. Last time I checked, 7 people did the survey and 5 people skipped majority of the questions! Not good.

Anyways, I got another 2 interviews this week one with an end-user and another with a beauticians. Thanks for reading.

TEDxUCL 2013

Hi my lovely people! The title says it all. This is a post about TEDxUCL, my day and experience as a volunteer for the event. In my previous post, I mentioned that I'm a blogger for TEDxUCL and have been blogging the week prior the event. On the day I had to sat through all the talks and took notes for blogging. That was a good role because I know other volunteers who were in charge of catering couldn't stay and listen to all the talks.

My TEDxUCL tshirt

Reception 

Other Volunteers

Prior to the event, I was quite excited to be part of a TEDx event but on the day  I didn't have that excitement but it was still a good experience. My top 2 favourite talks were by  Julie Hall who spoke about The Rise of Micro Entrepreneur and Mark Brill's Emerging and Future Mobile. They were good in different ways. Julie Hall's talk to me was very motivating. She encourages people to start their own venture and if you're unemployed don't sweat just create your dream job! 'Don't wait to be chosen, choose yourself. Make a difference.' Those were the exact words Julie used at the end.

Schedule

Mark Brill was talking about mobile in 2045. The technology he showed us were really intriguing. I was really looking forward to Talhal Timol's tallk about the Return of a Bow Tie. The programme indicates he will be talking about the fashion industry which is of course something of my interest. But I was quite disappointed. Majority of his talk was about his business. I was expecting something like how to be creativity, how to differentiate yourself, etc. Anyway more about this if you read on.

A few of the speakers I knew. Charlie Jackson is my class mate. It's weird seeing him talking lol. Daniel Hulme and Blaine Landis have both taught me. In fact Jeff Skinner taught one of our lectures, he was covering Keith's lecture for a week. Met Timothy Barnes during E-challenge. And the MC, Ahmad Bahkiet is also my class mate. I know I'm name dropping a bit here =p lol.



As a volunteer, I got a certificate to prove I was part of it! Other goodies we received include; amazon gift voucher, polo T-shirt I was wearing during the event, key ring with TEDxUCL engraved on it and a bag.

Apparently this year the food was a lot better. Last year, there were complaints that the food (catered by UCL) was bland and boring. So this year they served sushi from Wasabi and sandwiches from Pret a Manger. For tea break, croissants and pain au chocolat from Paul's. The croissant were so big! I've never had anything from Paul's, I was told their hot chocolate are amazing. Unfortunately, there was no hot chocolate. lol. I of course had a bit of everything considering I love food.

Ok moving on to something less positive. During the day, everyone (volunteers, guest and speakers) is encouraged to tweet with the #TEDxUCL. I of course tweeted, even if they didn't tell us to tweet I would have done so anyway. When the event ended  a couple of the organisers told me that they received complaints from a couple of speakers about a couple of my tweets. I'll tell you exactly what I tweeted.

"Is Mark Ronan giving a history lesson? Interesting....#tedxucl"

"Talhal Timol's talk isn't a TED talk its a pitch!'

"Good "pitch" @velscvoir @ttvelsvoir." (That's also for Talhal Timol)

Mark Ronan was speaking a lot about  history and I just couldn't grasp the essence. I felt like I was in a history lesson and so I tweeted my thoughts. Talhal Timol's talk as I mentioned earlier was basically about his business, more like a pitch. He just ended with a sentence about how important appearance is. I was actually really looking forward to Timol's talk because its about fashion But was disappointed. So I tweeted my thoughts again. (I did tweet some positive tweets about other speakers because I did like them)

The president of Enterprise Society told me to delete those tweets. Ok so I did out of respect. But thinking back he had no right to tell me to do that. Ok fine, those weren't entirely positive comments about them but:

1. I was tweeting from my PERSONAL twitter account. So I can tweet whatever I want.

2. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. People either like what the speakers said or they don't. Those were my own opinion.

3. I did not use any negative words, nor did I saying anything explicitly insulting. (I admit I was being sarcastic)

4. I was not the only one who tweeted criticism. Some were more harsh than me.

Yes, I was a volunteer so shouldn't have tweeted something like that which is what put me in the disadvantage. But as mentioned, I was tweeting from my personal account. What if I was a guest and I tweeted that? Are the organisers going to find me and demand me to delete them? I mean how did the speakers know I wasn't a guest, or did they?

Anyhow I tweeted with an apology (not tagging the speakers) after. Fair enough the President was probably really stressed as this is a big event and then receiving complaints probably freaked him out. But still he had no right to delete them and I did not appreciate the way he spoke to me. I'm not going to mention about that, its enough.  This is my PERSONAL blog.

Thanks for reading.

Volunteering for TEDxUCL

Hiya readers, my university (UCL) is organising a TED event, TEDxUCL. It will be taking place this Sunday, 2nd June at the university. Unfortunately if you are thinking of buying a ticket for this event, it is sold out now.

I have volunteered to write blog post for them. Please check them out! =)

TEDxUCL is back: http://tedxucl.org/ted-x-ucl-is-back/

What Will Our Speakers be Speaking about?: http://tedxucl.org/what-will-the-speakers-be-speaking-about/

Another Sneak Peak: http://tedxucl.org/another-sneak-peak/

Student Speakers: http://tedxucl.org/student-speakers/

Dissertation take off!

Hey bloggers, readers, colleagues, friends, and everyone else.
I am going to try and blog at least once a week on the progress of my dissertation. In fact Itxaso did recommend blogging to keep track of the progress. In my previous post I mentioned that I'm working with a beauty startup called Glow for my dissertation and because they haven't conducted the customer development I will help them do that for my dissertation.

I am actually quite excited because all the theory and tools I've learnt from this course I can apply them.  So I will try to apply every single step and tools; customer development process, lean startup (build-measure-learn, canvases, etc. However, I won't be posting the canvases every week because I don't think the girls would like me exposing their business strategy or structure on the internet like this lol. I will mention some results of the hypotheses, what I've been up to and what I've learnt.

To start off this dissertation I will be using Ash Maurya's Lean Canvas to distill the essence of Glow onto one page. I chose the Lean Canvas instead of the Business Model Canvas because Ash Maurya adjusted his canvas for startups before product/market fit which is the case of Glow. This step of mapping out the hypotheses onto a canvas is also the first step of customer  that Steve Blank's ruled out in his 'The Startup Owner's Manual', except he mentions using the Business Model Canvas.

After mapping it all out, I will be discussing it with my mentor. Then I guess the next step is to write out a script, using the Ash Maury's guidelines, for interviewing potential customers. And yes, I will get 'outside the building' as Steve Blank strongly emphasizes. Okie dokes, that's it for now. I'll be back! Thanks for reading.