Education

Startups raised only $16.3B in funding in Q1, and VC firms' risk aversion is higher than ever. When you tie that number to the mere 2.1% of venture capital funds going to women this year, we have no choice but to create our own opportunities with our grit and determination. 

And the only way to combat startups' economic plummet and increase our chances of survival and fundraising opportunities is to develop ideas validated by the masses and grow them sustainably. 

We tapped Nomiki Petrolla, Founder of PDS Lab, to dig into how to build your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and bring it to market. Before founding PDS Lab, Nomiki worked with early-stage startups and enterprise-level businesses for 15+ years building and designing software. Nomiki has created software that has been used by millions of customers and generated billions in revenue. Some previous brands she has built software from scratch include Crate & Barrel, Paypal, SAVVI AI, adidas, Willow Innovations, and FLO Living (a 10th House Council Member’s App!), just to name a few.

At PDS Lab, Nomiki helps close the gap between idea and MVP and has helped founders raise over $200M in funding. Here are her top tips for getting started:

Find the problem:

You are building a business to solve a need. Leverage your experiences, network, and surroundings to refine the problems needing attention. Do not build based on assumptions. I repeat, DO NOT ASSUME!

• Ask a friend to shadow them while they experience the problem you want to solve. It will give you invaluable data!
• When you experience a pain point, document and rate the pain you felt in that moment on a scale of 1-10 for future reference

Validate the problem:

To determine if the problem needs solving, conduct deep discovery with dozens of potential customers. High-quality data from 10 conversations can be more valuable than 100 survey responses, so prioritize conversations over forms.

• When "interviewing" potential customers for feedback and discovery, DO NOT mention your solution! Bringing up your solution can skew the data collected.

• Identify natural patterns in your conversations, extract high-value points, and prioritize them according to their impact and necessity to shape your solution.

Create a seamless experience:

Before creating a product, journey map the ideal customer experience and evaluate how to remove friction, delight the customer, and bring value to each step.

• Start small and use blocks to connect each part of the experience. Think big vision, but create small happy moments that accumulate to that overall goal 
• You don't need to be a designer to create magical experiences—leverage tools like Figma and Miro to get started for free.

Don't reinvent the wheel:

Before figuring out how to build the experience, do your research! Find the best-in-show products and draw inspiration from their experiences into your solution. 

• Take screenshots of other solutions and organize them in flows to cross-examine your product's unique experience and remove friction in high-impact areas. 
• But don't get caught up in what your competitors are doing. Learn from them and move on to focus on your solution!

Architect your MVP:

There are countless approaches to building a software solution, but speed is critical for building the MVP. While there's no one-size-fits-all solution, evaluate tools that can get you to market faster.

• Build smarter, not harder. Using tools that get you 80% of your needs is better than building custom! 
• You can slice an MVP one hundred ways; focus on what will move the needle but keep a purview on how to grow with the tech.

Bring your product to market:

Launch your MVP and find early customers to test your solution. Do the unscalable to build credibility, learn from your customers, iterate on your solution, and gain new buyers. 

• Market your product before it's live by discussing the pain points and rally customers behind your mission.
• Create fun marketing campaigns and communicate with your audience regularly to keep them invested in your progress!

Businesses built from a strong foundation will outlast the others and have more funding opportunities. Once you prove your solution is wanted and needed by customers, you'll be lightyears ahead. 

Learn more about Nomiki and how to turn your idea into an MVP. 

What's Next?

Become a part of a community of like-minded female founders. Inside The 10th House, you’ll find fellow founders, investors, and above all, a community.