Category Archives: Developing Your Product

Methods of Working with Remote Developers

When you first start to plan the development of your Minimum Viable Product, one of the main issues to deal with is finding the right people to do your product development. Product development is usually done by a team of which one of the major components besides UEX designers are software developers or programming coders.

This article will deal with the complex issue of finding the right coders and how to manage the development process all while keeping in mind your timetable and budget constraints.

Methods of working with remote developers

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Why Non-Disclosure Agreements Don’t Always Work

Consistently I am asked to sign a NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) usually sent to me by entrepreneurs before I review or listen to a new startup offering. Although there is a lot that has already been written about on this subject, I often refuse to sign them outright, and would like to add my thoughts as to why.

Why Non-Disclosure Agreements Don’t Always Work

Why Non-Disclosure Agreements Don’t Always Work

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Why defining your target audience is important

This article discusses the importance of defining your target audience or Personas as they might be referred to by UEX and Product managers.
using <a aria-describedby=tt href=https://jumpstartcto.com/glossary/personas/ class=personas to help define your target audience and better anticipate the user requirements that will need to be developed into your Minimum Viable Product." width="600" height="350" srcset="" data-srcset="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/target_audience01.jpg 600w, https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/target_audience01-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/>
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Approaches to finding testers for your MVP, The iPhone App

Providing support for your Minimum Viable Product testers (sometimes known as Alpha version users) is an ongoing process that requires preparation and considerable time and effort in order to receive the kinds of feedback that you are after.

Recently I have come across several complexities when working with Minimum Viable Product testers. Here I describe two ventures; each with a different model for using Minimum Viable Product testers, and consequently chosen because of different users’ needs and approach for each. Here I share my experiences and lessons learned from dealing with both types in this two-part article

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How to jumpstart your vision

Right now I am busy helping to bootstrap a new startup that has a unique idea and niche market aimed for middle-aged women. In this article, I would like to share the process we are going though and how we are in the early stages of forming our team and approaching seed investors.
Approaching seed investors is easy when you prepare your <a aria-describedby=tt href=https://jumpstartcto.com/glossary/wireframes/ class=wireframes and requirements documents in advance. Once you select the right team to develop your Minimum Viable Product, potential investors will come to you." width="600" height="350" srcset="" data-srcset="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/focus-groups3.jpg 600w, https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/focus-groups3-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/>
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Developing your MVP Mobile App

When developing your Minimum Viable Product mobile App, the first thing you need to define is the limits of how far you want to go. You need to decide how far you want to enhance the user experience in juxtaposition with the need to develop the essential functionality required to test it as a Minimum Viable Product. Sometimes keeping a balance between the two needs is challenging

Minimum Viable Product App" src="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/plugins/a3-lazy-load/assets/images/lazy_placeholder.gif" data-lazy-type="image" data-src="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/honey01_option1.jpg" alt="Developing your Mobile Minimum Viable Product App" width="600" height="350"/>

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Online Education Resources for Startups

In this article, I would like to share some online education resources that you can use to help you in the early stages of developing your invention or idea as an entrepreneur.

These online educational resources includes videos, podcasts, recorded interviews and articles that often times are mostly free allowing you to easily prepare for yourself a self training plan on almost any subject, giving you the opportunity to listen to some of the most experienced entrepreneurs or lecturers explaining their views and experiences as well as giving their sales pitch.
Online resources for inventors and entrepreneurs to learn from others about their experiences with start-ups
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Preparing a Social Media Marketing Strategy for your MVP

Social media marketing has revolutionized the way young startups gather and interact with their target audiences and consequently it has influenced the way that we gather potential new customers. Social Media marketing is a good way to test your Minimum Viable Product assumptions and gather user requirements. It may also help when searching for a monetization model, and nonetheless aids in finding users for the beta release of your Minimum Viable Product.

There are four keys to utilizing the power of Social Media. First is understanding the different methods and possibilities available when using social media. Second, prepare a plan for what is needed and expected from using the social media. Third, design and test the methods you plan to use to achieve your goals. Finally, execute your strategies while continuously adjusting your techniques and method, depending on the results you get.

Getting the right strategy for managing your social media marketing is key to a well designed and tested MPV.
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Creating your Application Taxonomy

Taxonomies systems for naming and organizing things into groups that share similar characteristics. Initially emerging from Biology and Library Sciences, we increasingly tend to use Taxonomies for describing the outcome structure of buildings, or for labeling the navigation system of a given application.

Creating a product’s set of taxonomies is part of the User Experience and Information Architecture process. It is therefore an important aspect of communicating the product offering to the target audience in a way that will help them understand the product’s functionality, while at the same time, minimizing the amount of time they spend in order to get their bearings and find what options they need to control within the product

taxonomy.jpg">taxonomy" src="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/plugins/a3-lazy-load/assets/images/lazy_placeholder.gif" data-lazy-type="image" data-src="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/product_taxonomy.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="350" srcset="" data-srcset="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/product_taxonomy.jpg 600w, https://jumpstartcto.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/product_taxonomy-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/>
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User Testing Made Easy

In this article I share a recent experience of a user testing session that was conducted. I believe that this experience shows how much easier things become when user testing is performed. Not only does it yield data about your Minimal Viable Product (Minimum Viable Product)?" href="http://jumpstartcto.com/what-is-a-minimal-viable-product-Minimum Viable Product/">Minimum Viable Product, it is also important to meet regularly with real users to gather user requirements during the initial stages of the development of your product – before it is offered to the market – for these reasons.
Users can test your invention before it heads to the marketplace. Sometimes multiple rounds of testing is required in order for your <a aria-describedby=tt href=https://jumpstartcto.com/glossary/target-audience/ class=target audience to understand your offering. Meeting with a sample of potential users provides an opportunity to collect data on user requirements for future releases of versions of your product." width="600" height="350" srcset="" data-srcset="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/User-Testing-made-easy.jpg 600w, https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/User-Testing-made-easy-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/>
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Wire Framing Your Minimal Viable Product

Wire-frames are useful in the preparation of mock-ups and are also helpful in the process of developing your Minimum Viable Product. Wireframes are the output of choice for interaction designers and product managers, because it allows them to easily and quickly draw a page schematic or screen blueprint that represents the skeletal framework of the application or any part of it. Wireframes enable developers to envision not only how the product works but also gives them the opportunity to explain any perceived user flows at the design stage.

minimal viable product" src="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/plugins/a3-lazy-load/assets/images/lazy_placeholder.gif" data-lazy-type="image" data-src="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/wireframing-your-minimal-viable-product1.jpg" alt="Wires are useful tools that help you take your idea and express it in a way that designers and developers can interpret. In order to develop an idea into an invention, you need to have the right equipment to communicate with" width="600" height="350" srcset="" data-srcset="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/wireframing-your-minimal-viable-product1.jpg 600w, https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/wireframing-your-minimal-viable-product1-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/>

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Cross Platform Applications and Responsive Design

This article discusses one of the more important trends in current application design and development, cross platform application, which impacts your product’s ability to reach different types of audiences that use various devices. When developing your Minimal Viable Product (Minimum Viable Product)?" href="http://jumpstartcto.com/what-is-a-minimal-viable-product-Minimum Viable Product/">Minimal Viable Product (Minimum Viable Product), cross platform application support immediately becomes a big challenge to the problem of reaching your target audience.

How to implement <a aria-describedby=tt href=https://jumpstartcto.com/glossary/cross-platform/ class=cross platform application in products with built-in responsive design features." width="600" height="350" srcset="" data-srcset="https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/responsive-design2.jpg 600w, https://d2haskyseezqzi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/responsive-design2-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"/>

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The Continuing Process of Gathering & Analyzing Users Requirements

Gathering User Requirements involves a process that uses several different methods and sources to find and collect data. This can be comprised of information from interviews, questionnaires , A/B testing and focus groups that will then, in turn, be analyzed along with KPI)" href="http://jumpstartcto.com/defining-your-startup-key-performance-indicator-kpi/">your Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).

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A common mistake people make is that they tend to treat themselves as one of the users. Like a horses with blinders, we often myopically base what we think the requirements list is, solely on one’s own selfish needs and not on the real and objective needs of the users. The correct way is to first adhere to the process of gathering User Requirements before deciding on what you think those requirements ought to be.

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Using an Interface Designer and a Visual Designer to Help You Build Your Product

A <a aria-describedby=tt href=https://jumpstartcto.com/glossary/minimal-viable-product/ class=Minimal Viable Product Minimum Viable Product is designed using an interface designer, a Visual designer, and a Chief Technology Officer that bridges between the two."/>
All successful Minimal Viable Product (Minimum Viable Product)?" href="http://jumpstartcto.com/what-is-a-minimal-viable-product-Minimum Viable Product/">products have, as their most important component, a well developed User Interface. Because it is very important that your product is launched with an easy to learn user interface, your team needs to have both an excellent User Interface expert and a great Visual Designer. JumpstartCTO explains how to use an Interface Designer and a Visual Designer to help you build your product.

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Defining your Startup Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

KPI’s and the Human Body

It is easy to understand what a Key Performance Indicator is by way of metaphor, because what the term KPI stands for, comes from our interactions with the human body. The most common KPI that is monitored in Western society is found by studying a person’s health condition, specifically by taking the body’s internal temperature. This is one of the most important indicators that can instantly tell us if someone may be sick or not. A gradual change in temperature or a quick fluctuation can indicate that the human body is recovering or fighting infection. There are several other indicators but only few of them are as important as the body temperature.  Body temperature therefore defines by metaphor what is known as the Key Performance Indicator.  In the study of Chinese medicine, there are other important KPIs which are measured to determine the human body’s condition. Demographically, the KPI is determined by a wide range of considerations, from the standards of measurement for the conditions of the prospective study, and from the background of the subject to the setting of the testing environment. These are all factors that contribute to determining the meaning of the KPIs we observe.

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