- Ole Lehmann (The AI Solopreneur)
- Posts
- š How To Find Your Next Profitable Offer with the Lean Startup Model
š How To Find Your Next Profitable Offer with the Lean Startup Model
without burning through your savings
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Greet from the deep,
Ole here.
Today, the AI Solopreneur crossed $260,000 in revenue and weāre closing in on 25,000 subscribers.
Kinda crazyā¦
ā¦considering that I originally saw the AI Solopreneur as a 2-3 month test project.
Test project?!
Yes. It wouldnāt have existed unless there wouldāve been so much signal.
Which brings me to todayās topic:
How to use the Build-Measure-Learn method from Eric Riesā to find your next profitable business idea.
I will uncover:
A proven process for building a profitable product
Why Minimum-Viable-Products (MVPs) are so powerful
How to use the Build-Measure-Learn framework to build MVPs and profitable products
How to use the ā1-Hour No-Bucks Brainstorm Buzzerā to build an MVP and turn it into a profitable product
At the end of this newsletter, you will be able to test, build, and improve great products using these principles.
Ready yet?
Letās d-d-d-d-dive in! š¤æ
I just built the ultimate free course for how to streamline your business with AI.
The AI systems inside were key in helping me scale to $275K+ revenue within 6 months.
I called it the AI Business Operator.
A proven process for building a profitable product
āThe Lean Startupā is perhaps the most talked-about book of startup founders.
Back in 2018, I couldnāt scroll motivation-business-hustle Instagram once without getting the book recommended at least once.
Soā¦
I didnāt have the patience to read it.
But I read a summary. To learn the basics.
And hereās the idea:
A lean startup is a data-driven startup which focuses only on the necessary features for its users and cuts away everything else.
Itās kind of like Mustafaās GemĆ¼sekebap:
100% focus on the product features that matter (making a good Kebap), 0% time wasted on the stuff that doesnāt (e.g. fancy store).
(sorry for plugging this Kebap 2 editions in a row, but turns out itās a great analogy for several business models)
In either caseā¦
Because the resulting product is so lean, the profit margins are generally high.
In other words:
If you can create lean products, you can create profitable products.
You create lean products by:
1) Testing many mini-products (MVPs)
2) Getting rapid feedback on them
3) Adjusting the highest-signal product to fit your customersā needs
This may sound complicated, but thereās essentially 2 parts to this approach:
1) Building minimum-viable-products (MVP)
2) Testing several MVPs and doubling down on the winners.
Letās dig into both:
Why Minimum-Viable-Products (MVPs) are so powerful
A minimum-viable-product (MVP) is the most basic version of a product you want to build/sell.
MVPs are so powerful because they allow you to get feedback on a BIG product idea without having to build out the entire product.
For example, Dropboxās MVP was just a video demonstrating how the product would work:
They really focused only on the most basic features, and the design is ugly as f*ckā¦
ā¦yet this simple demo turned into a $8.82 billion company.
Think about MVPs as micro-testing Ideas:
Instead of launching a ādoneā product, test micro versions of the idea.
This allows you to test many ideas fast, double down on what works, and cut your losses early if your idea isnāt popular.
Examples:
If you're writing an e-book, release a single chapter first to see if thereās interest.
If youāre launching a newsletter, start by building a Twitter account. (this is what I did with the AI Solopreneur)
Donāt worry, Iāll show you how to use ChatGPT to build MVPs in a secondā¦
ā¦but before that, letās look at the other essential framework for building lean products:
How to use the Build-Measure-Learn framework to build MVPs and profitable products
The Build-Measure-Learn framework is a about start small, get feedback, refine, and repeat.
Instead of taking huge risks, you're making tiny bets based on real-world feedback.
It consists of 3 parts:
1) Build: Creating the MVP
2) Measure: Measuring the success of the product
3) Learn: Re-iterate your product based on the feedback from measurements
I love the framework as a mindset for building products, because it flips the goal from:
āletās building a great product on the first tryā (very hard)
to:
āletās build a product fast, test what people think about it, and improve it UNTIL itās greatā (easier)
The secret sauce behind building great products is to put them through this cycle as many times as possible, as fast as possible.
As a solopreneur, you have the great advantage of being the only builder of the product, so you can move faster than anyone else.
This is your competitive advantage.
Now, letās dive into how you can use ChatGPT to speed up the entire process of building profitable products:
How to use the ā1-Hour No-Bucks Brainstorm Buzzerā to build an MVP and turn it into a profitable product
Based on your lean product idea, this prompt gives you:
10 zero-cost ideas on how can you can construct a low-cost MVP for your idea
Ideas on how you can Measure success of the MVP
Ideas on how you can get customer feedback for this MVP
10 ideas you can test with my audience on how you can add more value to the core concept based on your audience
Here it is:
I need your help with startup advice.
I am working on an idea which involves [YOUR LEAN PRODUCT IDEA].
For context,[INSERT CONTEXT]
My audience consists of [AUDIENCE CONTEXT]
Now, please answer me the following things:
1) Come up with 10 ideas on how can I construct a low-cost MVP for this
Constraints:
- Costs $0 to build
- Takes less than 1 hours to build
- Can be built without code
2) Ideas on how I can Measure success of the MVP
Guiding questions:
- What's the OMTM (one metric that matters) of this MVP?
- How can I measure user engagement
- What outcomes could mark a successful vs unsuccessful test? (Draw a line in the sand)
3) Ideas on how I can get customer feedback for this MVP
4) Come up with 10 ideas I can test with my audience on how I can add more value to the core concept based on my audience
HOW TO USE THE [NAME] PROMPT:
Fill in the [YOUR LEAN PRODUCT IDEA] placeholder with your lean product idea
For example:
āProductivity coaching for overwhelmed solopreneursā
Fill in the [INSERT CONTEXT] placeholder with context about yourself and who you are. (If youāve done the AI Audience Accelerator, write /context to use your pre-written context)
Fill in the [AUDIENCE CONTEXT] placeholder with context about your audience. The more, the better. (If youāve done the AI Audience Accelerator, write /audience to use your pre-written context)
Example:
āMy audience consists of solopreneurs interested in AIā
Hereās an example of itās output:
Wrap up
WHAT YOU LEARNED TODAY
A proven process for building a profitable product
Why Minimum-Viable-Products (MVPs) are so powerful
How to use the Build-Measure-Learn framework to build MVPs and profitable products
How to use the ā3-Hour No-Bucks Brainstorm Buzzerā to build an MVP and turn it into a profitable product
This wouldnāt be an AIS Newsletter if it didnāt end on a random (food-based)
note from me.
Itās dragon fruit season right now in Cyprus and I got myself a whole bag of them.
I used to think dragon fruits are lame, but now Iām officially hooked.
Dragenfruits are beautiful and refreshing.
It now entered my Top 10 fruits a the #4 spot.
What do you think about it, smash that reply button.
Keep diving,
Ole
What should the next deep dive be about? |
What did you think about today's edition? |
P.S. Whenever you are ready, hereās how I can help you:
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Join 1500 students inside the AAA.
You will learn:
How to create a weekās worth of content in 1 hour
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