"Before you write any code, make sure you have a failing test." This was a revolutionary idea, when it was first pitched in the late 90’s. Many successful entrepreneurs have been practicing a similar approach – "Before you build a product/service, make sure you have paying customers." In this talk, Naresh Jain shares his approach of finding effective MVPs to validate his Educational Product. Recently Naresh's article title "Sell before you build" was published by InfoQ http://www.infoq.com/articles/sell-before-you-build

1. MVP Hacks!
Safe-fail Experimentation
!
Maximise your validated learning for minimum investment!
Naresh Jain
naresh@agilefaqs.com
@nashjain
http://nareshjain.com

2. 2
Src:
Jeff
Pa,on

3. 3
Src:
Jeff
Pa,on

4. BML Cycle
Src:
Lean
Startup

5. MVP - Minimal Viable Product?
"Version of a new product which
allows a team to collect the maximum
amount of validated learning about
customers with the least effort."
The goal of an MVP is to test fundamental
business hypotheses (leap-of-faith assumptions)
and to help entrepreneurs begin the learning
process as quickly as possible.

6. 6

7. 7
h,p://vimeo.com/24749599
Ignite: Lean Startup - Paul Howe, Founder & CEO of NeedFeed
"How $40 Saved Us 9 Months and $2MM"

10. 10
h,p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great

12. http://agilejobs.in

13. Commercial Break!

14. Copyright
© 2012,

15. Mumbai

19. Tech Talks!

22. Edventure Labs
Revolutionizing Brain Development

23. In advanced mental calculation competitions, 15 triple-digit numbers are displayed in 2 sec.
The participants can perform arithmetic operations on these numbers completely in their
head.
In advanced mental calculation competitions, 15 triple-digit numbers
are displayed in 2 seconds. The participants can perform arithmetic
operations on these numbers completely in their head.

24. Participants can also remember the
exact sequence of up to 20 numbers.

25. Kids can listen to 3 columns of numbers read out
and add up each column individually in parallel

26. Vision
✓ Every kid can calculate faster than a calculator. Kids don't
have to be born genius to do this.
✓ To empower a generation of kids who are not afraid of
numbers and who excel in Mathematics & Analytical skills

27. My kid learns at a different pace relative to other kids. I need a
customizable, adaptive learning solution suitable to my kid.
Parent's Value Hypothesis
Learning mental arithmetic at an early age, will help kid's
overall brain development ( fast mental calculation, improved
concentration & memory skills , enhanced reading & listening
skills, left & right brain development , better retention power,
enhanced visualization)
Learning is directly proportional to the feedback provided during
the learning process. Hence I want a very high teacher to student
ratio.

28. Parent's Value Hypothesis...
With all the distractions today, my kid has very low patience for
boring teaching techniques. Teaching technique has to be
activity based (interactive) & gamified to make it addictive.
I'm keen to compare & base-line my kid's thinking ability and
memory (.i.e. overall brain power) with other kids.
Its a pain to drop & pick-up kids from classes. Would prefer
something available at the comfort of my home.

29. Student's Value Hypothesis
I learn more when learning is fun. I want edutainment!
Watching videos or animations gets boring. I want to learn by actively doing things.
Don't assume I'm stupid and need to be spoon-fed.
Give me something challenging with intelligent guidance.
I'm curious and I like to figure out things on my own.
If I can't, give me hints and instant feedback, it helps me learn faster.
I want to learn new concepts in the context of solving real problems. It
helps me retain the knowledge better.
I enjoy helping other kids when they get stuck.
It helps me learn better and gain more confidence in myself.

30. Growth Hypothesis
Parents love to show-off their kid's newly acquired skills. During this
process they would recommend our product to other parents.
Schools encourage their students to excel in various extra-curricular
activities. They would promote our product to their students.
Online publishing and education companies would like to offer more
complementary Tech-Ed products/services to their customers. They would
find out product attractive and would partner with us to offer this product
as part of their service offering.
Tablets have become commodity business. Tablet manufactures
will be keen to bundle-up our app with their tablets.
Billions of Apps have been sold via the App stores. Its a great place
for users to discover and buy our product.

31. Our Journey
or should I say, our hacks!

32. Traditional abacus
✓ No pin-pointed feedback & delayed feedback cycles reducing the
quality & speed of learning
✓ Not self-paced, nor adaptive. All or nothing approach.

33. Our Hypothesis
✓ We believe that
✓ providing instant feedback to the kids will achieve a
better learning experience
✓ allowing kids to go at their own pace will be faster
and will achieve better satisfaction for the kids

34. Electronic Abacus - 3D Model
✓ Will kids really be able to use
this?
✓ Will we be able to really give
actionable feedback?
✓ Will this help?

35. 1st MVP - iPad App

36. How do we teach the kid how to use
the Abacus?
Using Animation Video to Teach

37. How to keep the kids engaged?
Embedded Animation Video on iPad App

39. 3 4 65 7 8 091 2
Topic

40. 3 4 65 7 8 091 2
3 4 65 7 8 091 2
Topic - Practice
2 + 4 = ?
Right Answer
You’ve finished your
Practice session

41. Topic - Game
2
3
23

42. 3 4 65 7 8 091 2
Topic - Game
Ready for a Test?

43. Do we really need the theory class?
Simulation & Self-Discovery Based Learning

44. 44
h,ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu9MRXY2Qw
MVP to Test the effectiveness of using
Simulations or Inline Instructions to Teach Kids

45. How to make this viral?
Gamification & Sense of Purpose

46. Storyline-Sense of Purpose

47. Activity Based Learning

48. Dashboard

49. Different types of questions to
exercise different parts of the brain

50. Individual Question
Scoring and Feedback

51. The reward system is tied to duration
and consistency of practice
Coins earned during the
practice sessions can be
used to redeem food for
your pet character or for
other practice games.

52. We measure and track each student's thinking ability
and enhanced memory power

53. Practice via Challenges
@ end of each lesson

54. Peer-to-Peer
1
2

55. But the Market was not ready...
This is awesome!
But my kid is not a born geniusto learn this!
Is this global phenomenon?
I don’t want to be the only crazy mother...
Is this real? Feels like sci-fi. Tablet based solution? We don’t think the
market is ready. This is too futuristic. Can you give me this on a CD for
windows desktop?

56. 56
h,p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oYGxd4Vk3o
Abacus Rush - Fun iPad game to learn Counting using Abacus

57. 57

58. 58

59. App vs. Platform
User Views Admin
User Interaction
Scoring Redeemin
P2PConstructivis
Reports
Adaptive Learning
Metrics Course Management
User Management
Analytics
Multi-Player
Educational Platform
Audio Animatio Persistenc Packing Deployme
Core Platform - Tablet Specific

60. Finally light at the end of the tunnel
Adaptive Learning Practice Platform

61. Edventure Labs Framework
Teacher Student
Curriculum mapped
with everyday class
!
Learning Activities
!
Embedded, Adaptive,
Continuous
Assessment through
games
Data
base of
Student
Data
!
!
Continuous
capture and
storing of
data
Cognitive
Model/Data
Analysis
Real
Xme
data
capture
of
student
acXons,
soluXons,
and
exploraXons
online
ConXnuous
data
feedIntelligent
feedback
to
system
Intelligent
feedback
to
student
Data
on
Student
Progress
Adap.ve
Learning

62. For
each
ques.on
we
capture
the
following
data,
which
helps
us
refine
our
content
and
also
provide
detailed,
pinpointed
feedback
to
the
student.
!
• Loca.on
(la.tude,
longitude)
• Address
(reverse
geo-­‐coding
of
the
loca.on)
• Adap.ve
status
• Ac.vated
.me
• Ra.ng
(step
ra.ng,
.me
ra.ng)
• Number
of
touch
interac.on
• Number
of
retries
• Number
of
.mes
hint
used
• Result
Status
(op.mal,
subop.mal,
wrong)
• Start
.me
• End
.me
• Wrong
answer
count
Data Capture & Analysis

63. Teacher/Parent Reports
!
• Time
spent
on
each
ques.on
• Exact
mistakes
made
• Number
of
.mes
a
same
mistake
was
made
• Over-­‐all
prac.ce
.me
• Ranking
• Percentage
• Over
all
class
performance
• Class
performance
in
a
par.cular
concept

64. Vision Strategy
Achieved
Via
Hypothesis
Based On
Safe-Fail
Experiments
Safe-Fail
Experiments
Safe-Fail
Experiments
Validated
Via Validate
d
Validate
d
Validate
d
To
Obtain
Tweak
Improve
Moral of the Story!

65. Vision-Strategy-Product Pyramid
Pivot
Refine/Optimize
Golden Circle (Simon Simonek)
HOWWHY
HOW
WHAT
Vision
Strategy
Product
RarelyChanges

67. Naresh Jain
naresh@agilefaqs.com
@nashjain
http://nareshjain.com
Thank you! Questions?