MVP Experiment Plan Template (Riskiest Assumption Test)
Lean MVP experiment: risk-ranked assumptions, falsifiable hypothesis, MVP type, success and kill criteria, run plan, results, decision
Cara menggunakan: Use it when you want to test a startup's riskiest assumption before building. Fill the assumption ranking and write success and kill criteria before running anything. The main pitfall is measuring opinions instead of behaviour, or moving the goalposts after the data arrives.
Pratinjau
MVP Experiment Plan: [Product or idea]
A plan for testing a startup's riskiest assumption with the smallest possible product before building the full thing: the assumptions ranked by risk, the hypothesis in falsifiable form, the MVP type chosen, the metric and success and kill criteria fixed in advance, the run plan, results, and the persevere, pivot or stop decision. Structure aligned with the build-measure-learn loop and minimum viable product practice described in Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011). Replace every
[bracketed]value and every row marked Example. The example is fictional.
Document control
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Document ID | [EXP-NNN] |
| Version | [0.1] |
| Status | [Planned / Running / Concluded] |
| Owner | [@founder] |
| Reviewers | [@co-founder], [@advisor] |
| Last updated | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Classification | Internal |
| Related | startup/customer-discovery, business/lean-canvas |
Revision history
| Version | Date | Author | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | YYYY-MM-DD | [@founder] | Example: Criteria agreed before launch |
| 1.0 | YYYY-MM-DD | [@founder] | Example: Results and decision recorded |
1. Assumptions and riskiest assumption
| ID | Assumption | Type | Impact if wrong (1 to 5) | Evidence today (1 to 5, 5 = strong) | Risk = impact x (6 minus evidence) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASM-01 (Example) | Independent bicycle shops will pay monthly for stock forecasts | Desirability, viability | 5 | 1 | 25 |
| ASM-02 (Example) | Shop point-of-sale data can be exported weekly | Feasibility | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| ASM-03 (Example) | Shops can be reached at trade shows at low cost | Viability | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| ASM-04 (Example) | Forecasts beat the owner's own reorder habit | Desirability | 4 | 2 | 16 |
Riskiest assumption to test now: Example: ASM-01.
2. Hypothesis
We believe that [customer segment] will [observable behaviour] at [threshold] within [period], because [reason from discovery].
Example: "We believe that independent bicycle shops with 1 to 3 locations will pay a 150 USD pilot fee for six weeks of hand-made stock forecasts, with at least 6 of 12 invited shops paying within two weeks of the offer, because 9 of 15 discovery interviews named overstock of slow-moving parts as a top-three problem."
3. MVP type
| MVP type | Tests | Cost and speed | Chosen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page or fake door | Interest, message, channel | Very cheap, days | [ ] |
| Concierge (service by hand) | Willingness to pay, value delivered | Cheap, weeks, does not scale | Example: [x] |
| Wizard of Oz (looks automated, run by people) | Value and usability of the future product | Medium | [ ] |
| Pre-sale or letter of intent | Willingness to pay | Cheap | [ ] |
| Single-feature product | Retention on the core job | Higher, needs code | [ ] |
Example: Concierge MVP. A founder builds each shop's forecast in a spreadsheet from its exported sales data and sends a reorder list every Monday for six weeks. In parallel, a fake-door page tests the channel (ASM-03) as a separate experiment, EXP-002.
4. Metrics, success and kill criteria
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Primary metric | Example: Shops paying the 150 USD pilot fee, out of 12 invited |
| Success (persevere) | Example: 6 or more of 12 pay |
| Kill (stop or pivot) | Example: 2 or fewer pay |
| Inconclusive zone | Example: 3 to 5 pay: rerun with 12 more shops and a changed offer |
| Secondary metrics | Example: Shops acting on at least half of weekly reorder lists; pilot shops asking to continue after week 6 |
| Guardrail | Example: Founder time under 10 hours a week |
| Sample and duration | Example: 12 shops, offer open 2 weeks, pilot 6 weeks |
| Budget | Example: Founder time plus 300 USD for data cleaning tools |
5. Run plan
| Step | Action | Owner | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invite 12 shops from discovery list with the same written offer | [@ceo] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| 2 | Collect fees and sales exports | [@ceo] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| 3 | Send weekly forecasts for 6 weeks, log usage | [@cto] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| 4 | Exit interview with every shop | [@ceo] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| 5 | Results review against criteria | Both founders | YYYY-MM-DD |
6. Results
| Metric | Criterion | Result (Example) |
|---|---|---|
| Shops paying the pilot fee | 6 or more of 12 | 7 of 12 (58%) |
| Plausible range for the paying rate | Information only | About 32% to 81% (95% Wilson interval, n = 12) |
| Shops acting on at least half of reorder lists | Secondary | 5 of 7 |
| Asked to continue after week 6 | Secondary | 6 of 7 |
| Founder time | Under 10 hours a week | About 8 hours a week |
Example: Separate experiment EXP-002 (fake door): 36 of 400 visitors from trade-show follow-ups booked a demo (9%, about 6.6% to 12.2% at 95%).
7. Decision and next experiment
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Decision | Example: Persevere: success criterion met |
| What we learned | Example: Shops pay for the outcome; owners trust a list more than a dashboard |
| Next riskiest assumption | Example: ASM-04, forecasts beat the owner's reorder habit, tested with a 12-week accuracy comparison |
| Follow-on work | Example: Price test and automated data import, feeding the revenue assumptions in startup/financial-projections |
8. References
- Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (Crown Business, 2011): minimum viable product and the build-measure-learn loop. Publisher and book information: https://theleanstartup.com/book
- Related templates:
startup/customer-discovery,startup/pivot-memo,business/lean-canvas,business/value-proposition-canvas,product/ab-test-plan,product/opportunity-solution-tree.
Standard and licence note
Structure aligned with the minimum viable product and build-measure- learn practice described in Eric Ries's The Lean Startup (2011). The book is named and cited only; no text is copied and all wording here is original. Official text: the publisher's edition, purchase or licensed access via https://theleanstartup.com/book. The example company and its figures are fictional. Template licence: MIT.
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