Evidence strength
Relevant metrics: Awareness, Reach, Unique views, Time spent, Comments, Number of social shares
Validates: Desirability
How: Set up a blog to share the story of your product and the problem you are trying to solve and engage with users as they comment and share your content.
Why: The two-way communication from blogs gives an ideal platform to build momentum and gather customer feedback while building your minimum viable product. If you are able to create a following around your problem, you can consider it validated.
This experiment is part of the Validation Patterns printed card deck
A collection of 60 product experiments that will validate your idea in a matter of days, not months. They are regularly used by product builders at companies like Google, Facebook, Dropbox, and Amazon.
Get your deck!Building a community around your product
The personal storytelling format of a blog provide potential customers a better insight into what it is you do and what the underlying vision and story around your product is all about. A blog can be a great way to build a community and a following around your mission and the product that you are building.
Several startups started as a blog: Mattermark, GroupOn, and App.net – focusing on gaining initial proof of concept through rising readership until finally switching to being a real product.
Examples
App.net
App.net began in concept on its founders’ blog where ideas and challenges were frequently explained. In thsi way, they slowly gained support from a community of followers and supporters.
Mattermark
Lead enrichment software, Mattermark, started as a Blog MVP, analysing how startup companies had ventured after receiving capital.
Groupon
The first version of the daily deal site was built upon a branded WordPress blog, posting offers for gift certificates and vouchers every day manually. Using off-the-shelf software, they scripted auto-generated PDF coupons and email sendouts via Apple Mail.
Related plays
- 15 Ways to Test Your Minimum Viable Product by Christopher Bank
- Five Successful Startups That Started As Blogs by Ryan Hoover