Article · 9 min read

How Assumptions Mapping Can Focus Your Teams On Running Experiments That Matter

David J. Bland · Strategyzer (David J. Bland) Free Intermediate

This is a concrete workshop method for exactly the ranking step in our answer. You list every desirability, viability, and feasibility assumption, then plot each one by how important it is and how much evidence you have. The top-right corner (high stakes, low evidence) is the single assumption your MVP should attack first.

  • Split assumptions into desirability, viability, and feasibility
  • Rank each by importance against how much evidence you actually have
  • Test the high-stakes, low-evidence assumptions before anything else
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The question it answers

  1. How do I decide the single riskiest assumption my MVP should test instead of trying to prove the whole idea at once?

Read with it

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  3. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
  4. Video · ~13 min How to Plan an MVP Michael Seibel (YC)
  5. Video · ~20 min How To Talk To Users | Startup School Gustaf Alstromer
  6. The Test Card is a one-page worksheet that forces a vague market-size belief into four fields: what we believe, how we will... Strategyzer Template · one-page worksheet Test Card Strategyzer (Alexander Osterwalder)
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