đ Welcome
Welcome to the 32 new people joining this week.
Let me know what you think of this issue. Replying helps Google realize itâs not a spam. Just say âHi!â đ
đ ď¸ Tear Down E01
Okay, this is the first case study of âTear Downâ. This will show you how you should be looking at your early stage product (or MVP) and the importance of breaking down the problem.
Hope you enjoy and any feedback is always appreciated!
đ Case Study
Peer to Peer Learning Platform
Someone on Twitter asked for help with her product.
She was trying to build an app where kids could teach other kids the things they're good at, whether it is a hobby or homework.
Sounds cool, right? But even though they made a quick version of the app to test it out, the teenagers they showed it to weren't interested.
My friend was puzzled and was leaning into whether they should just build more features.
âI am sometimes struggling with the thought that one killer feature in a competitive domain might not be enough even for early adopters to feel the value.
So within a month we did an MVP with the ability to ask questions/share interests and answer with videos. We did the Customer Development prior to MVP, talked to teenagers- but at the end of the day it looked like they were not interested in the early product(MVP) at all.â
đ˝ď¸ The Tear Down
When I look at a new product or idea, I like to chop it up into little parts I call assumptions. Then I go straight for the biggest ones, the ones that could really make things go belly up. By checking these first, I reduce the chances of things going wrong and up my chances of winning big
Biggest assumptions first = Biggest chance of failure = Reducing the risk of failure = Increase chance of success
Alright, let's look at this puzzle piece by piece: Here are the assumptions I see in orders
Market - Who's gonna cough up the cash for this? Will students pay for this?
Problem - Is homework help really that big of a deal? Are kids struggling with questions?
Solution - Should the help come from buddies or teachers, tutors, or the internet? And why videos? đ¤Śââď¸ (where did this come from???)
Let's forget about who's gonna pay for now. I think you're more interested in the other stuff.
Assumptions with Problem
Now, let's dig into the 'Homework Help' thing:
Do kids really want help with their homework?
If yes, how many kids are raising their hands for help? Is it just the super studious ones?
And what do they mean by "help"? Do they want to really learn, or just copy the answers quickly?
You see where I'm going with this. There's a ton of guessing going on here. You need to find out the real answers before you start building anything. You can do this by chatting with kids, sending out surveys, or just watching how they do their homework.
Here's a golden rule: If someone isn't trying to solve their problem already, they probably won't start using a tool to solve it. In this case, if they're not asking for homework help now, they're not gonna download an app for it.
Assumptions with Solution
Let's say kids do want homework help. Now, we've got more questions to answer about the solution:
Why does the help need to be from a friend?
What about other options like teachers, online help, and so on? Googling?
What is up with Video format? Where is that from?
If there are kids who like getting help from friends,
We need to know how many kids really feel this way
We need to find out why they like help from friends better than other options
Why this is a Big Problem
Okay, picture this. Imagine a big pizza, and each slice represents a group of students. First, you have all students. Then, you have the students who really want help. The next slice is for the students who are putting in the work to get help. And the last little slice? That's for students who want help from their friends over their teachers or the internet.
Now, if you're looking at that last slice, it's not much of a pizza anymore, is it? This makes everything -- getting the word out, getting people to use it, making it grow, and even keeping your business going -- a lot tougher.
The Right Way
As mentioned in the beginning, you need to challenge your idea with all the assumptions you made and rank them
What is the biggest assumption that will make this a fail?
Then you need to prioritize to validate one after another.
Often, many of these assumptions DO NOT REQUIRE building an MVP. Not even a landing page.
In this case, all these questions can be answered by just talking to enough students and teachers first. A structured interview and surveys would have been enough.
Donât know any students or teachers in person? Find communities where they live and breathe in! There are bunch on Reddit, Facebook Communities, etc.
Here is a kicker.
The fastest way and the simplest way I would have used to validate this
Imagine this, what if you told students you're there to help with their homework? You give them your contact, like your phone number or email.
How many students do you think will actually reach out to you? And how often will they do it?
You only need to wait a week and you will know.
This is the simplest way to test your idea without having to build anything.
If you are interested more stories, here is the link to my previous Twitter post on how I became the product myself to validate my 3rd company idea (Later VC backed, Acquired)
đ Takeaway
I know, it's a lot to take in. But I hope you get what I'm trying to say.
Find out all the assumptions you are making and validate them first.
Do not jump to building things or even a landing page, yet.
Be creative and direct to the point to validate in the fastest and simplest way.
This is framework widely used in Techstars program to map out your assumptions and how to prioritize them. I think it is intuitive that I donât need to explain, but if you want me to go in details on this framework in next newsletter, please let me know!
So, there is now only one question to be asked.
What is your biggest assumption on your project? đ¤
Do not make the same mistakes I made over years. Fast track your growth by stealing from my learnings
đŤ Apply for a Tear Down
Want to be on the next Tear Down issue?
A free 30 minutes mentorship specifically for your business
đ Share with a friend
If you found value in reading this newsletter, please share it with your friend.
To view previous newsletter issues, check our library.
đ Come Say Hi
If you want to know more about me and stay closer, come visit my Twitter đ