Wil Schroter’s Post

💡 “Trust the process—don’t rush the process.” I’ve been writing a book on visionary leadership…for 20 years. Earlier this month, I submitted the final manuscript to my publisher for review. God willing, it will be released by late 2024. ⏩ Fast forward to this morning. I came across the PoC, Prototype, MVP post and experienced a moment of complete clarity. This post made sense of the last two decades and my writing process finally made sense. I’d like to share with you what my book writing process looked like using the "PoC vs Prototype vs MVP" model. 💭 PoC stage (2003-2019) For years, I tinkered with vision development theory in my spare time. Each job, consulting gig, coaching engagement, and volunteer role allowed me to test a part of the theory. I had no idea what it would become—or if it would become anything at all. At the end of my last degree program, I searched for a comprehensive visionary leadership framework. It didn’t exist—at least not in the form I was expecting. So, I sensed it was time to build out the concept. 🏗 Prototype stage (2019-2022) This stage was fun. I continued to tinker with the theory—this time with an express purpose. I created the prototype of the book as part of a degree program at Regent University. It began as a literature review and I built the manuscript around it. Only three of my readers finished reading the early version of the manuscript! This was a clear sign there was more work to be done. I ran multiple focus groups and conducted visionary leader interviews. It took me 6 months to aggregate the themes and 18 months to integrate them back into the manuscript in a meaningful way. 💫 MVP stage (2022-2024) I submitted the manuscript and book proposal to Springer in May 2022. The manuscript was written like a literature review with a few examples thrown in. An editor of the Future of Business and Finance series responded with a desire to publish the manuscript…IF…I would make some changes. Having already worked with focus groups and beta readers, this critique came as no surprise. Two major tasks lay ahead. First, I had to add more case examples to illustrate my points. Second, my editor suggested evening out the academic language to appeal to more professionals. My beta readers and focus groups gave similar feedback. So I took their advice. When the book is released, most readers will see a finished product. I will view it as an MVP—knowing how much of the content was cut and pasted into a folder marked “2nd edition.” I recently talked with a young man in his early 20s with a dream to write a book. This is the advice I gave him: “It’s never too early to start!" 💨 #bookwriting #authors

PoC, Prototype, and MVPs.  Often used interchangeably but they are NOT the same. They represent different stages and aspects of product development. In essence, they answer these basic questions: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 (𝗣𝗢𝗖) – Can this work?  → Concept or theory. It’s a litmus test for your ideas → Not necessarily functional from a user’s perspective → Focuses on feasibility. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 – How will this work?  → Tangible version of the product.  → Used to test design, usability, and user interaction.  → Focuses on how the end product will look and function; may not have full features. 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝗩𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 (𝗠𝗩𝗣) – Will people use it?  → Base product with enough features to attract early adopters.  → Used to validate the product in the market.  → Core function is to get feedback to iterate. 42% of startups fail because there is no market need.  Among the three, an MVP is the only way to actually test this. Use the table as a guide! Thanks TechMagic and Ekonix. How’s your MVP going? If you’re looking to fundraise soon, we can help you grow without giving a penny of equity. Check us out at startups.com #Startups #Tech #MVP #Success #Startup #Technology

Great definitions and identification of the difference between PoC, Prototype and MVP. One point I would add that an MVP could take months to develop but it's a validation of an idea. Don't spend too much time and money to create an MVP. With that said, some projects I have worked on were very hard to create an MVP without due to the complexity of the idea and had to jump straight to Prototype.

As a pre-seed or late seed investor - you're investing in this process. You're not investing at a 4 million dollar valuation on a final product. If you want to invest in final products that's called series A, B, C, D or buying stocks at IPO. Every stage you pay at the current startups company's valuation. so late pre-seed or seed, or Series A could be at a 20 million to 100 million. That means you get way less equity. If you take early "long shots" you have to be an active investor willing to work on product, investors and customers. This is startup truth!

The concepts of PoC, Prototype and MVP tend get tangled often. Here is a good reference sheet

PoC, Prototype, and MVPs.  Often used interchangeably but they are NOT the same. They represent different stages and aspects of product development. In essence, they answer these basic questions: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 (𝗣𝗢𝗖) – Can this work?  → Concept or theory. It’s a litmus test for your ideas → Not necessarily functional from a user’s perspective → Focuses on feasibility. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 – How will this work?  → Tangible version of the product.  → Used to test design, usability, and user interaction.  → Focuses on how the end product will look and function; may not have full features. 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝗩𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 (𝗠𝗩𝗣) – Will people use it?  → Base product with enough features to attract early adopters.  → Used to validate the product in the market.  → Core function is to get feedback to iterate. 42% of startups fail because there is no market need.  Among the three, an MVP is the only way to actually test this. Use the table as a guide! Thanks TechMagic and Ekonix. How’s your MVP going? If you’re looking to fundraise soon, we can help you grow without giving a penny of equity. Check us out at startups.com #Startups #Tech #MVP #Success #Startup #Technology

This is a great explanation of PoC, prototype, and MVP.

PoC, Prototype, and MVPs.  Often used interchangeably but they are NOT the same. They represent different stages and aspects of product development. In essence, they answer these basic questions: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 (𝗣𝗢𝗖) – Can this work?  → Concept or theory. It’s a litmus test for your ideas → Not necessarily functional from a user’s perspective → Focuses on feasibility. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 – How will this work?  → Tangible version of the product.  → Used to test design, usability, and user interaction.  → Focuses on how the end product will look and function; may not have full features. 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝗩𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 (𝗠𝗩𝗣) – Will people use it?  → Base product with enough features to attract early adopters.  → Used to validate the product in the market.  → Core function is to get feedback to iterate. 42% of startups fail because there is no market need.  Among the three, an MVP is the only way to actually test this. Use the table as a guide! Thanks TechMagic and Ekonix. How’s your MVP going? If you’re looking to fundraise soon, we can help you grow without giving a penny of equity. Check us out at startups.com #Startups #Tech #MVP #Success #Startup #Technology

❓ Startup Founders, What's Your Main Challenge? Working closely with tech #startups, I've identified the top three obstacles they face during #product #development. 1. Startups often begin with #innovative ideas but struggle to align them with real-world market needs. The challenge is to adapt and refine their visions into practical #solutions that address real #problems without losing the core of innovation that makes them unique. 2. Capital is essential for growth and reaching customers. Many startups struggle to get #investors, and even when they do, handling money wisely is tough. Without enough #funds, even great #ideas can fail. 3. A startup's success depends a lot on its team. Finding and keeping skilled professionals who can handle a fast-changing and unsure work environment is hard. Also, keeping these employees when they can go to bigger, more stable companies is a constant #challenge that really affects a startup's ability to #grow and #innovate. 🌟 Interesting to hear from you and understand the key obstacles you, as a Startup Founders are facing. #StartupChallenges #TechCommunity #PainPoint #UX #BrandDevelopment #productdevelopment #marketfit #usercentric

💡 Market. Then Build. Founders, do this before building your product. In the world of startups, it's tempting to fall headfirst into building the next big thing. We get fired up by shiny ideas, crafting intricate features, and coding late into the night. But before the hammer hits the nail, let's pause and ask ourselves: are we building for a problem that actually exists in the market? So don't waste time for good, and do the following first: → Deeply understand your target audience: pain points, aspirations, struggles, etc. → Validate your idea before building the product: talk to customers, test prototype, and iterate based on feedback. → Build your product iteratively: start with a minimum viable product, not a feature-packed behemoth. #startups #marketresearch #mvp #customercentric #innovation #2024goals