MVPverse — The curious case of early evangelists…
Let’s start with a scenario
You have a brilliant idea that you just can’t sleep on and have to do something about it. Your message your friend/co-conspirator and things fall in their places and you start working on your MVP plan.
But wait a sec, you have the Idea, probably have a feel of the product/market gap, and also think you know the users who might buy the product. Since you know who the users might be, and you want to validate your idea, naturally you got to the users, right? Kinda right...
Going and finding a generic user is good but it can be futile as user needs are always tactical, what you want is someone who can give you a strategic outlook and work with you to develop the product.
Enter EARLY EVANGELISTS, the idea was popularised by Guy Kawasaki of Apple, you can read all about product evangelism here — The Art of Evangelism by Guy Kawasaki.
The idea is simple: Derived from a Greek word that means, roughly, “to proclaim good news,” evangelism is explaining to the world how your product or service can improve people’s lives.
Why does early evangelism important in MVP development?
Early evangelists are the ones who just do not jump on your product train at the start but will work with you to make it better. They will be your bouncing board and in most cases will have a background in the technology, think industry boards in fancy unicorns. Early evangelists do this because of a genuine belief in the product or service and are not paid for their praises.
It is easy to say that MVP failure is a good outcome, but I say why fail when you can bring in the right set of people and make it a mild success, so build upon mildly successful releases to greater success.
How do you find your Early Evangelists?
- Look for the closest in your circle, peers are the best place to start. As they know you, so rest assured you will get candid feedback, but not too emotionally invested to back you up regardless.
- Your past or present customers/users that you have already served. If you have this set, they will become the best early evangelists, as you might have fostered trust with them and hopefully have delivered well in past.
- Possibly in academia, your favourite professors or students from your university.
How do they differ from early adopters?
The main difference between early adopters and evangelists is that while early adopters may be the first to try your product, they are not necessarily going to become fans of your product or spread positive word-of-mouth as a brand evangelist does.
So maybe there is a degree of hit and try to find those early evangelists from your early adopters.
