透過市場驗證歷程增進新產品完整度之研究: 以 Voltset 新創公司為個案 - 政大學術集成

全文

(1)國立政治大學科技管理與智慧財產權研究所碩士學位論文. 透過市場驗證歷程增進新產品完整度之研究: 以 Voltset政新創公司為個案治. 大. Increasing new立product readiness through market. ‧ 國. 學. validation process: a study from the experience of Voltset. ‧. startup. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. 指導教授：溫肇東博士. i n Ch 研究生：王冠智撰 engchi U. v. 中華民國 105 年 4 月.

(2) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v.

(3) 國立政治大學博碩士論文全文上網授權書. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Page | 1. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.


(5) 論文口試委員會審定書國立政治大學科技管理與智慧財產研究所論文口試委員會審定書 ○ ○ ○ 撰之碩士學位論文論文中文題名. 立. 政治大論文英文題名. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Page | 2. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.


(7) Acknowledgements “Look around, what you needed the most is all around you. Go get it chief!” Good day. I am pleased to have this opportunity, to show my gratitude to those who has been giving me spaces to grow, courage to make mistakes, and support for me to move forward. This includes my instructor professor Wen, who introduced me to Denmark, and planted the seed for Voltset. To my two loving parents Danny and Viola. And to my brother Winston who has been supporting me mentally, physically and also financially to weather through the storms. To my dear girlfriend Spring who although was not officially in the Voltset team, had been contributing as much as the team members with heart and soul. To each of the Voltset team members, who. 政治大 supporting innovators; the future is possible because of your support. 立 They say a picture is worth a thousand words. To remember those who were impactful to my. shared the vision with me, and together tried everything to move Voltset forward. To the Voltset. ‧ 國. 學. life; I’d like to create a portrait wall for those who I deeply care about. And for the entrepreneurs who are about to read this thesis, I wish you luck, perfect timing, and a cohesive complementary. ‧. team.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Page | 3. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.


(9) 摘要打造一個好的產品是所有早期新創公司的核心，然而如何將產品從構想到販售並獲取顧客喜愛，則是一個需要理論與實務結合、不斷實驗的過程。在本論文中，作者將過去三年實際帶領產品-Voltset 從出生到成長的經驗紀錄下來並與理論相呼應，探討一個新產品如何透過不斷循環的迭代過程 (iteration process)增加其新產品完整度 (product readiness) 。這三年當中，作者歸納了 Voltset 從初期抽象構想的形成，獲得第一位付費的客戶，到後期在全球最大的群眾募資平台上進行全球市場驗證的過程。本論文主要會針對兩大部分做深度討論: 第一部分著重於探討如何在各種實際市場驗證測試中增加產品就緒度，並點出在目. 政治大產品的經驗，新產品第一次的迭代過程循環應該經由以下幾個步驟：產品目標市場願景、立. 前現有理論框架，如: 精實創業 (the Lean startup) 下可能與實際執行面不同之處。根據本. ‧ 國. 學. 產品本身定義、最小可行性產品構築、意見領袖背書、市場驗證、市場測試與學習。第二部分則是討論當在定義一個新產品的功能與特徵時，如何正確地選擇性聽取以及以什麼方. ‧. 式來聽取目標客戶的需求。根據打造 Voltset 產品的經驗，作者發現當潛在客戶聲音太廣泛時，應只聽取”已付費”客戶的意見，因為該族群的產生是藉由深入了解產品價值，並. Nat. sit. y. 經歷認同與付費過程而形成，因此會在產品的功能與特徵上的需求較聚焦。. al. n. 究能對於縮小理論與實務的鴻溝做出貢獻。. 關鍵字:. Ch. engchi. er. io. 本論文藉由親身實務經驗與理論的對話提供深度的產品迭代過程探討，作者期許這樣的研. i n U. v. 新產品完整度，市場驗證，客戶的聲音，新產品開發，群眾募資，精實創業. Page | 4.


(11) Abstract Product building is a core activity for any early-stage startup. However, there are still many gaps between literature to real world practice for successfully developing a product that is accepted by the market. In this thesis, the building experience of Voltset -- a one of the kind hardware and software integrated multimeter, is studied for its journey of product iteration process to increase product readiness. The cofounder of the startup as well as the author of this thesis, has reflected his firsthand experience with literature such as the Commercializing New Technologies and the Lean Startup to seek steps necessary to move the project from shaping an abstract concept, acquiring the first paying customer, and then campaigning a successful crowd funding project.. 政治大 product readiness through validation testing from the first business idea to receiving its first 立 group of paying customers. Based on the experience of Voltset and the Lean startup framework, The thesis focuses on answering two questions: First, what are the steps required to enhance. ‧ 國. 學. it suggests the first product iteration process should loop through the following stages: Product market vision, product definition, minimum viable product building, key opinion leader. ‧. endorsement, validation sell, measure, and learn. Second, when a product specification needs to be pinpointed, who and how to listen to the voice of targeted customers (VOC) is the state-of-art. y. Nat. sit. question for early-stage startups. Within the scope of this experience, it indicates to focus only. io. er. on paying customers since they understand the potential value of the new product and have similar needs compare to the wide range of feature request from the rest of potential buyers.. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. This thesis provides the insights of product iteration from first-hand experience, enriching the. engchi. knowledge gap between real product building and theoretic framework point of view.. Keywords: Product readiness, validation testing, voice of customer, new product development, crowd funding, lean startup.. Page | 5.


(13) Table of contents Acknowledgements. 3. Abstract. 5. Table of contents. 6. List of Tables. 9. List of Figures. 9. 1. 13. Introduction Research motivation. 1.2. What is Voltset. 1.3. Objective of the study. 1.4. Research questions. 1.5. Research scope. 1.6. Thesis structure. 立. 13 15 16. ‧ 國. ‧. 17. y. 18. sit. 18. Literature Review. 2.2. The Lean Startup. 2.3. Summary. n. al. er. Commercializing New Technologies. io. 2.1. 3. 16 17. Nat. 2. 政治大. 學. 1.1. Ch. engchi U. v ni. 22 25. Research design. 26. 3.1. Introduction. 26. 3.2. Operational parameter variable. 26. 3.3. Research framework. 27. 3.4. Autoethnography. 29. 3.5. Source of data. 32. 3.6. Key person behind Voltset. 32. Page | 6.

(14) 4. Cases. 35. 4.1. Introduction. 35. 4.2. Case 1 - The starting of the idea. 37. 4.3. Case 2 - Leap of faith, sense-making with potential customer. 39. 4.4. Case 3 - Meeting the innovators in Maker Faire. 44. 4.5. Case 4 - Crowd funding on Kickstarter. 54. 4.6. Summary. 67. Research Discussion & Findings. 68. 5 5.1 5.2. 政治大 Case 1 – The starting of 立the idea, before and after. Evidence of iteration process could bring higher product readiness. 68 70. Case 2 – Leap of faith, before and after. 5.4. Case 3 – Meeting the innovators in Maker Faire, before and after. 71. 5.5. Case 4 – Crowd funding on Kickstarter, before and after. 72. 5.6. Findings for the first question. 5.7. Findings for the second question. 5.8. Third question: insights found through the Voltset startup experience. 5.9. Summary. ‧ 國. 70. 73. y. sit. n. al. er. io. Conclusion. ‧. Nat. 6. 學. 5.3. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 77 79 87 88. 6.1. Answer to the first question. 88. 6.2. Answer to the second question. 90. 6.3. Answer to the third question. Insights found from this experience.. 91. 6.4. Suggestions after this case study for similar startups. 92. 6.5. Limitations and future suggestions of this research. 92. References. 93. 7 Page | 7.

(15) 8. Appendix. 96. 8.1. Voltset Featured on Make front page.. 96. 8.2. Media Coverage from Make. 97. 8.3. Online Survey - Questionnaire (Full). 100. 8.4. Online Survey - Answers (shown partially). 102. 8.5. Initial Voltset Concept. 103. 8.6. Maker Faire 2013 Material. 104. 8.7. Maker Faire event pictures. 106. 8.8. Maker Demographics. 8.9. 政治大 Kickstarter backer study 立example. ‧ 國. 8.11 Kickstarter Media Management Example (part). ‧. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Page | 8. 109. 學. 8.10 Kickstarter Video Script. 108. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 110 117.


(17) List of Tables Table 2-1 the segmented view of the commercialization process (modified by this study) from Jolly, Vijay K. Commercializing new technologies: Getting from mind to market. Harvard Business Press, 1997. P.18 and p. 26. 22. Table 4-1 Case 1 - The starting of the idea. Source: From this study.. 37. Table 4-2 Smartphone ownership table. Source: (listed in the bottom of the figure). 42. Table 4-3 Case 3 meeting the innovators in World Maker Faire New York 2013 summary. 44. Table 4-4 Summary, crowd funding on Kickstarter. 54. Table 5-1 Table of different stakeholders and results in each case.. 69. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. List of Figures. ‧. Figure 1-1Image created to communicate effectively of the initial Voltset concept. Made in late 2012. Source: From this study.. 15. io. y. sit. study.. Nat. Figure 1-2 Promotional material in summer 2014 for Kickstarter campaign. Source: From this 15. al. er. Figure 1-3 Startup concept through product development to a better defined product. Source:. n. 16 iv n C U Harvard Business School Press, heng Figure 2-1Commercializing New Technologies, Vijayh c K.i Jolly, From this study.. 1997 p.4. 19. Figure 2-2 The Build-Measure-Learn cycle to validate business assumptions and to refine product offering through market testing. Source: The Lean Startup. 23. Figure 3-1Relationship between the keywords in product readiness through validation testing. Literature suggests the process can get key insights about who the buyer/users are, how do them use/like your product, and identify top opportunities to improve. Source: From this study.. 27. Figure 3-2 Case initial and ending criteria. Focused on: Stakeholder background/preference. Product specification. Engineering readiness. Source: From this study. Page | 9. 29.

(18) Figure 4-1 Major events for the Voltset journey with four cases marked in bold. Source: From this study.. 35. Figure 4-2 Research cases mapped against Jolly’s Commercializing New Technologies. Source: from this study.. 36. Figure 4-3 Website concept created in the early stage. "Awesome multimeter" shows a lack of specific sell point in the startup idea. Source: From this study.. 38. Figure 4-4 Case 2: leap-of-faith, sense-making with potential customer. Source: From this study. 39 Figure 4-5 LEFT: one of the first shape model for Voltset concept. Made with scrap PCB and headphone. RIGHT: Flyer created to emphasize on the portable value proposition. URL provided 41 政治大 Figure 4-6Voltset mini working model with smartphone. Can measure AC/DC accurately. The 立 for people to take home and to visit the website. Source: From this study.. mini-Voltset is very small as shown in the picture. Source: From this study.. 45. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 4-7Booth planning in Taipei before bringing it to Now York. Booth table design and the actual set up. A “play free win prize” game to the left. Two models in the middle for. ‧. demonstration. A couple old multimeter on the table for visitors to quickly understand what we are doing here.. Source: From this study.. Nat. y. 48. sit. Figure 4-8Booth design blueprint. The table is cut into two sections. Both were hands on activity. al. n. quick as possible. Source: From this study.. Ch. Figure 4-9 General survey hand out. Source: From this study.. er. io. to observe user behavior. The background board is designed to express the product concept as. v ni. 49. 50 U i e h and behavior study. Source: this study n g centry Figure 4-10 QR code with tracker for quick website (2013 Sep.). 50. Figure 4-11 Pre-order form. Paying customer survey. This would be given when someone paid for a pre-order at the faire as a receipt. Source: From this study.. 51. Figure 4-12 Top left is Voltset mini. (Functional model) Bottom right is Mega Voltset (nonfunctioning model) Source: From this study.. 51. Figure 4-13 Actual flow of visitors. Higher frequency is presented with thicker line. Source: From this study.. 53. Figure 4-14 Customer experience flow designed for Maker Faire 2013. Source: this study.. 53. Page | 10.

(19) Figure 4-15 Value proposition A/B test. This is what would be used from the Voltset team in a typical case. Source: From this study.. 57. Figure 4-16 the first picture your potential buyer would see when visiting Kickstarter. This makes the first impression and decides if they will click it or not. Source: From this study.. 59. Figure 4-17 Page layout for key components 1 Source: From this study.. 61. Figure 4-18 Page layout for key components section 2. Source: From this study.. 62. Figure 4-19 Page layout for key components. Source: From this study.. 63. Figure 4-20 Page layout for key components. Source: From this study.. 64. Figure 4-21 Kickstarter pledges per day - Voltset. Showing a strong start with close to 8000USD within the first 24 hours. Source: Kicktraq.com and from this study.. 政治大 backers within the first 24 hours. Source: Kicktraq.com and from this study. 立. 65. Figure 4-22 Kickstarter backers per day - Voltset. Showing a strong start with close to 70. Figure 4-23 Pledge amount vs. date vs. bigger public exposure. Source: From this study.. 學. ‧ 國. 66 67. Figure 5-1 Product readiness before and after. Source: From this study.. 70. Figure 5-2 Product readiness before and after for case 1. Source: From this study.. 70. ‧. Figure 5-3 Product readiness before and after for case 2. Source: From this study.. 70. Figure 5-4 Product readiness before and after for case 3. Source: From this study.. 71. y. Nat. sit. Figure 5-5 Product readiness before and after for case 4. Source: From this study.. 72. al. er. io. Figure 5-6 The Voltset experience suggests that opinion leader’s endorsement is gatekeeping what innovators would support or not for the first MVP cycle. Source: From this study.. 74. available for beta, pre-order. Source: from this study.. 76. n. i v (to the right) which was Figure 5-7 Picture showing mini-Voltset n C h(to the left), and mega-Voltset engchi U Figure 5-8 Finding of how potential buyers would act after 1.5 years of constantly pitching and selling Voltset (from late 2012 till April 2014). Source: from this study.. 77. Figure 5-9 Simon Sinek’s why, how, and what framework. Source: why-how-what.com. 80. Figure 5-10 suggested formula to think possible value creation and value capture. Source: this study.. 81. Figure 5-11 Three model concepts for Kickstarter backers to tell the Voltset team what to make. The result was each concept has pros and cons. Final design is a combination of the wandfeatures. Source: from this study. Page | 11. 84.

(20) Figure 5-12 Improved design after a product iteration process. Paying customers left messages saying this is a much better design compare to the previous three. Source: From this study.. 85. Figure 6-1 Cases suggests endorsement from opinion leader is required for the first product iteration process. Source: From this study.. 89. Figure 8-1 Voltset Featured on Make frontpage.. 96. Figure 8-2 Media coverage from Make. 97. Figure 8-3 Online survey for Maker Faire 2013 10 1. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Page | 12. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(21) 1 Introduction 1.1 Research motivation Tom Wang is the author, the researcher, as well as the co-founder of Voltset in this paper. Voltset is a multimeter module that could measure electricity and with the technology of smartphone, Voltset could output conditional suggestions to its users based on the working environment. (Wang & Larsen, 2013) In this paper, a startup is defined by Steve Blank’s definition, “A startup is a temporary organization used to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” (Blank, Search versus Execute, 2012). Steve’s definition suggests that a startup. 政治大 before. In the case of Voltset, research suggests that there has never been a smart, interactive 立. is an organization trying to create new value for customers by doing something different from. multimeter existed prior to the start of the Voltset product. So the product development. ‧ 國. 學. experience started from a brand new concept with very limited historical record to help shape its product concept.. ‧. The author’s experience suggests that all startup are different in some ways. But on the other. y. Nat. sit. hand, all startups must offer some sort of product or services for its stakeholders to buy or to. al. er. io. support. Since the phrase ‘new product’ suggests the product is unique in nature, a startup might. n. be hard to copy existing business models directly. Instead, the author suggests the startup needs. Ch. i n U. v. to grow the product or offering from the early ‘flash of an idea’ into a buyable product or. engchi. service. Numerous theories suggests that reaching product-market-fit takes understanding of the market, the user, and the product itself. Author suggests that, many of the business insights were unavailable to entrepreneurs at the early stage of the startup. Thus the author wish to look into the journey of product iteration process for a new business idea. Focus on how to increase the product readiness from the initial concept to finding its paying/supporting innovators as the product stakeholder on Kickstarter.. In the management or business academic field, quite a lot of theories were constructed to help managing a successful product. Theories such as the Lauterborn's four Cs from Marketing-Mix Page | 13.

(22) (Consumer needs wants, Cost, Convenience, Communication) (Borden, 1964)or Jerome McCarthy’s four Ps, Product, Place, Price, and Promotion) (McCarthy & William, 1964) were created trying to assist on running a successful business. However, from the experience of the author, the spark of a great business idea seldom comes with all the engineering knowledge necessary to create the product, nor does it come with all the detail about the market, the users, or the product itself.. The paper will be going through the initial stage of how the concept was generated for Voltset, to how the team was able to increase the product readiness through validation testing to define their business offering better and better. In other words, to fill in the blanks by finding answers for. 政治大 customers from more than forty countries; result suggests that Voltset has successfully increased 立 important business questions. With zero customers in case one and two, to receiving paying. its product readiness along the journey.. ‧ 國. 學. A note on what this research is not about. One should already have some idea what to pursuit.. ‧. The business topic could be hardware, software, service or a combination of these. This paper’s focus is not on how to find the initial idea. Methodologies such as the Design Thinking could be. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. running an early stage, hardware and software innovation startup.. sit. studied for coming up with the initial inspiration. This paper could be helpful to a person who is. Ch. i n U. v. In short, one would be going through numerous of iterations from all aspects such as customer. engchi. insight, engineering, process design and more before reaching a viable business. As an entrepreneur, the author of the paper hopes to make the road easier to go ahead for other entrepreneurs to create value into the society.. Page | 14.

(23) Figure 1-1Image created to communicate effectively of the initial Voltset concept. Made in late 2012. Source: From this study.. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大 Figure 1-2 Promotional material in summer 2014 for Kickstarter campaign. Source: From this study.. ‧ sit. y. Nat. 1.2 What is Voltset. al. er. io. Voltset is a startup that was cofounded by Tom Wang and Michael Larsen to create great tools to. v. n. empower individuals to do better things. (Wang & Larsen, 2013) The idea was first incubated. Ch. i n U. under Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship founded by Martin B. Justesen (AngelList, 2013). engchi. According to the founders, the startup had a clean record with no previous relations from any other companies or any other related projects before. Therefor the case could serve as a good foundation to build the study of product iteration on. The fact that Tom Wang had been one of the driving forces in the entire journey, including designing company strategy, product specification, and executing the business; the first person experience provides rich material for this study to take place.. The project founders Michael Larsen and Tom Wang met each other at the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship and started the entrepreneur journey together. Both founders wanted to do Page | 15.

(24) more with their hands to make new inventions or to fix gadgets that they already have. After searching on the internet, it appeared to have plenty of portable mechanical tools such as the Swiss army knife or convertible screwdriver tips available in the market but not much portable electrical tools. “Since anything that is powered needed a multimeter to be worked on, and most multimeter look like a brick which is big and heavy to bring, why don’t we make an extremely portable multimeter that also works with smartphones?” thought by the two entrepreneurs. (Wang & Larsen, 2013) The two founders named the project Voltset with the following value proposition. Voltset, a multimeter as small as a headset. They imagined to have the most commonly used electric tools all constructed so small that it is like the size of a headphone. That was the. 立. initial value proposition for extreme. makers and technicians. By following this paper, one would see how this idea. Product. Theories specification Increase product readiness through validation testing for refining a new product.. Figure 1-3 Startup concept through product development to a better defined product. Source: From this study.. ‧. io. al. sit. y. Nat. 1.3 Objective of the study. er. was evolved.. Defined. 學. ‧ 國. portability for on-the-go engineers,. Product 治政Concept 大 development Startup. n. iv n C hen business; it is inevitable to develop a product or a service.i Most g c h U entrepreneurs are filled with new Author’s experience suggests that all startup needs to have a product or service offering in their. product ideas; however, one of the problems is paving the road from concept to concrete product (or service). The majority of the focus of the paper would be presenting the path for developing Voltset’s product readiness including finding the right it (direction finding, lock-in design specification) to working on other product readiness factors such as engineering product readiness in different stages.. 1.4 Research questions The primary research question for this paper is: Page | 16.

(25) “How to build up product readiness through validation testing?” With highlights on the following sub-questions: ●. What steps are there from the first flash of the idea to its first customer?. ●. When building a product, who to listen, when to listen and how to listen?. ●. What insights were found from this experience?. 1.5 Research scope The data collected from the Voltset startup experience allowed the author to study from the conceptual stage up to the post-crowd funding stage. In order to focus, the research would. 政治大 making with potential customers; meeting the innovators in Maker Faire New York; and the last 立 case focused on crowd funding on Kickstarter. The study would present findings and evidence highlight on four major stages for the journey. The starting of the idea; Leap of Faith for sense. ‧ 國. 學. up to the post-crowd funding stage where most of the targeted iteration was done.. ‧. 1.6 Thesis structure. y. Nat. Chapter 1 - Introduction includes the motivation of the research, the background of the startup. io. sit. and thesis questions. After that, chapter 2 discuss about Jolly’s Commercializing New. al. er. Technologies model. Chapter 3 - Research design. An autoethnography type of research method. n. iv n C exploratory fashion shared with the firsth person experience U the Voltset case. Literature e n g c h i from. would be applied to extract insights from this experience. The research would be based on an. framework would be used here to describe/communicate the framework of the study. Cases are discussed in chapter 4 - One would find four major product validation cases for Voltset under this chapter. Cases are presented with a chronological order and is similar to a storytelling fashion for the experience of Voltset. The results are described in chapter 5. Dialogue between the actual field test and literature would be presented here. Insights found would be discussed in this section framed by different cases. And finally, chapter 6 concludes the entire study, summarize the intention of this study and the study finding.. Page | 17.


(27) 2 Literature Review With the experience of founding Voltset, the author would like to explore deeper into understanding what happened along the way of the journey. There are plenty of literature related on new product development, product innovation, startup management and related topics. This chapter consists of mostly the Commercializing New Technologies by Jolly 1997 and the Lean Startup. Other related frameworks and methodologies such as the funnel analysis, and pretotyping would be mentioned and quoted in the research.. 2.1 Commercializing New Technologies 2.1.1 The nine sub-processes. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Jolly suggested there are five key sub-processes in technology commercialization (Jolly, 1997): imaging, incubating, demonstrating, promoting and sustaining. Each of the sub-processes involves different stakeholders who has different tasks to satisfy before the project could move. ‧. Imagine the Dual (Techno-Market) Insight. sit. Nat. nature. More detail about the five sub-processes are listed below:. y. forward. The problems or challenges could be of scientific, technological and/or business in. al. er. io. Commercialization is a process of value recognition meaning that all activity starts at the idea. n. iv n C attractive business opportunity. The innovator, h e norgthec founder i Uof the project must have a dual h vision that the new technology innovation can turn into a product offering value to end. stage itself. Under a technology-based product, this is when a technology gets combined with an. customers and create a commercial success.. Page | 18.

(28) Incubating to Define Commercializability The incubation sub process, is to define its commercial ability, expresses what is required substantively as well as the figuratively as the “defining moment” -- when considerably greater resources start to be devoted into the project. In the case of this paper, the incubating part is focused on finding out, and validate the design requirements of a product that is most suitable for the targeted buyers. Demonstrating Contextually in Products and Processes This sup-process is about demonstrating the technology in marketable products or processes. This is the stage associated with product development. Promoting Adoption. 立. 政治大. No matter how well conceived and demonstrated, very few inventions get an automatic reception. ‧ 國. 學. by the market once launched. According to Jolly (Jolly, 1997) “as many as 27.5 % of new product and process technologies were scuttled because of “uncontrollable” market factors. Another 26% failed because of limited sales potential and an inability to find buyers for. ‧. something that was apparently developed “in public interest. (Gupta & Wilemon, 1986)”. y. Nat. sit. Sustaining Commercialization. al. er. io. The key to keep a new technology based product profitable, is to make sure the product and/or. n. the technology enjoy a long presence on the market with decent long-term value.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 2-1Commercializing New Technologies, Vijay K. Jolly, Harvard Business School Press, 1997 p.4. Page | 19.

(29) For a technology based product to be successful, it requires to mobilize different stakeholders between the two sub stages. Jolly suggests that the sub processes are linked by intermediate stages with unique stakeholder with different interest to mobilize the process. Each process is independent to another and the successfulness score is more like adding up the total score from each sub-process. Bridging the sub-processes is about managing two things: creating enough value in a predecessor stage to make the technology worth taking further, and mobilizing the interests of the stakeholders to take it further. The former involves insights and problem solving abilities, the latter is fundamentally a selling exercise (Jolly, 1997) p13. The linking steps are (Jolly, 1997) p57:. 政治大 In this stage, the concept does not need a large amount of money, nor the approval of a large 立 Mobilizing interest and endorsement:. amount of buyers or people. It just need to get enough support to convent an insight into a. ‧ 國. 學. project worth pursuing.. ‧. Mobilizing resources for demonstration. This requires reaching out to a wide range of potential partners in a purposeful manner to build. y. Nat. al. er. io. sit. up the demonstration. Demonstrating a new technology requires context, capability, and capital.. n. Mobilizing market constituents. Ch. i n U. v. The key in this stage is to find out who the key influencers are and to work out a strategy for co-. engchi. opting them in the delivery of the technology and the creation of its demand. (Jolly, 1997) p 181. Mobilizing complementary assets for delivery and optimizing returns Profiting from certain technological innovations depends on the type of business formula adopted for delivering them. In order to increase the market share, inventors will have to find ways to commercialize as quickly and widely as possible. This means working with other external assets and sharing part of the profit with them.. Page | 20.

(30) 2.1.2 Characteristics of the overall process Jolly describes the characteristics of the five sub stages as follows (Jolly, 1997) p. 15: ●. They all represent segments of the innovation process, each requiring input from a variety of functions and external sources as well as different types of research;. ●. Each segment represents an independent sub process of value creation;. ●. Each sub process needs to contend with its own set of stakeholders:. ●. The sub-processes conform approximately to the nature of competition and specialization in technological innovation today; and. ●. The sub-processes offer a way to think about entry, exit, and alliances when it comes. 政治大. to bringing new technologies to market.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Page | 21. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(31) Table 2-1 the segmented view of the commercialization process (modified by this study) from Jolly, Vijay K. Commercializing new technologies: Getting from mind to market. Harvard Business Press, 1997. P.18 and p. 26 The segmented. imaging. incubating. demonstrating. promoting. sustaining. expected. Exciting, unique. Definition of idea’s. Incorporating the technology. getting product rapidly. Generating long-term. outcome. technology based idea. technical feasibility,. in attractive, market-ready. accepted by various. value and retaining a. linked to a market. commercial potential, and. products and/or processes. market constituents. lead in the market.. need. plan for taking it further.. competition. technical proof of. Preparing a business case. Launch of commercial. capturing a profitable. Adequate return on. points. principle, filing key. and plan for. version of product or process.. share of market. investments for what it. patent(s), preliminary. commercialization, crafting. quickly. cost to support.. vision for the. the technology or product. technology. platforms, testing with lead. view of sub processes. customers. 立. 政治大. providers of venture capital,. Potential customers, suppliers. customers, end-users,. Company. stakeholders. research partners,. development partners,. of complementary. opinion leaders, and. management, changing. potential users of. technologies, internal. market constituents. customer segments,. technology. colleagues in other functions. mobilized for delivery. business partners.. media. ‧ 國. Peers, colleagues,. 學. main. and business partners.. Seed or zero-stage. First-stage or startup. 2nd stage financing,. financing. financing.. ‧. Type of. 3rd stage and other. Traditional corporate. expansion-related. finance. Banks and. venture capitalists.. financing. Banks and. retained earnings.. support, family and. capitalists.. sit. n. al. 2.2 The Lean Startup. other commercial lending organizations. er. io. friends, special earlystage venture capitals. y. Government R&D support,. R&D support, venture. Nat. financing. Government. Government R&D. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Eric Ries defined a startup as follows: “A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.” (Ries, 2011) p.37. Page | 22.

(32) All startup needs to offer a product, and the product needs to be iterated many times to reach a sustainable business. Many of the mechanics, such as A/B testing, of how to iterate one’s product has been used throughout ages under various disciplines. Eric Ries organized these method and sorted them into executable steps and proposed the Lean Startup methodology in 2008. The methodology claims that startups can decrease the chance of a final failure by shortening product development cycle by using a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation to introduce many smaller tests and to use these tests to iterate product offering. (Ries, 2011) P.72. This is coined by Ries as validated learning. Ries’ over claim is that if startups. 政治大 services to meet the needs of early customers, 立 invest their time into iteratively building. they can reduce the market risks and sidestep. ‧ 國. 學. the need for large amounts of initial project funding and expensive product launches and. y. Nat. io. sit. Figure 2-2 The Build-Measure-Learn cycle to validate business assumptions and to refine product offering through market testing. Source: The Lean Startup. al. er. 2.2.1 Definition. ‧. failures. v. n. At the core, the methodology has the following keywords and definition:. Ch. engchi. i n U. Minimum viable product: A minimum viable product is the “version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort” (similar to a pilot experiment). (Minimum Viable Product: a guide, 2009) The goal of building an MVP is to start learning on customer behavior as fast as possible to validate business assumptions. At the starting point, the startup has a hypothesis of a product or a service which might have enough of value for customers to buy based on the founder’s believe. The team is to use ways to test and validate the assumption. The key is utilizing testing methods to increase the effectiveness of return on investment for resources put in. (manpower, or capital). Page | 23.

(33) Continuous deployment: Continuous deployment, coined by Timothy Fitz, is a process “whereby all code that is written for an application is immediately deployed into production.” The method results in a much shorter product cycle time.. Split testing (A/B testing): Is a commonly used methodology to perform controlled testing for user response. By presenting different versions of a product to customers at the same time, the observer can study the differences in behavior between the two groups and measure the impact of each version on an actionable metric. (Ries, 2011) p.126 Actionable metrics: Actionable metrics can lead to informed business decisions and subsequent action. (Ries, 2011) P.130 these metrics should accurately reflect the key drivers of a business.. 政治大 the result look good but actually serves no real value. 立. Actionable metrics is the opposite of the vanity metrics. Vanity metrics are numbers that make. ‧ 國. 學. Pivot: A pivot is a “structured course correction designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, strategy, and engine of growth.” (Ries, 2011) P.120. Steve Blank defines a. ‧. pivot as “changing (or even firing) the plan instead of the executive (the sales exec, marketing or even the CEO).” (Blank & B Dorf., The Startup Owner's Manual: A step-by-step Guide for. y. Nat. er. io. al. sit. Building a Great Company, 2012). n. Innovation accounting: Innovation accounting is a concept to measure progress, to improve. Ch. i n U. v. entrepreneurial outcomes and to hold innovators accountable by setting up milestones and to prioritize work. (Ries, 2011) p.18.. engchi. Build-measure-learn: Since all startup has an idea for a product or service, the fundamental activity is to turn that idea into actual products. If s startup runs out of resource before able to create a sustainable product, it dies. A company’s ability is determined by its ability to ideate, quickly build a minimum viable product of that idea, measure its effectiveness in the market, and learn from that testing process. The build- measure-learn loop is a learning cycle to validate business ideas. To emphasize speed as a critical ingredient to product development. This fast. Page | 24.

(34) iteration method allows teams to discover a feasible path towards product/market fit, and to continue refining the service or product being offered. Pre-totyping - Make sure you are building the right it before you build it right. Pre-totype it is a PDF created by Alberto Savoia back in the 2011. He suggested that he would very much love to write the proper book for pre-totyping but it would take months to complete and he had no indication that such a book would be worth writing. Far too many books fail in the market. Most of them fail not because they are poorly written or edited, but because there aren’t enough people interested in them. (Savoia, 2011) Reid Hoffman, founder of Linked in once said: “if you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”. 政治大 money building stuff that no one cares, or wants to spend money on, is a waste of time and 立. The PDF is all about mechanics and toolsets to find the right it to build. Spending time and. energy.. ‧ 國. 學. Savoia suggested several definitions for pre-totyping. His favorite one is “Make sure - as quickly and as cheaply as you can - that you are building the right it before you. ‧. build it right.” (Savoia, 2011). io. sit. y. Nat. 2.3 Summary. al. er. In this chapter, the author presented several literature that is related to product iteration and. n. iv n C U of this study to reflect on the Commercializing New Technology wereh introduced e n g caththei beginning commercializing a new business idea. Literature such as the nine sub-processes from the. experience of Voltset.. Page | 25.

(35) 3 Research design 3.1 Introduction Author’s experience suggests finding insights is difficult without having actual experience, therefore the research is in explorative in nature. The author found this design structure to suit the need for flexibility in analyzing the target firm, and limit the subjectivity that could otherwise have been pre-imposed on the research, and can allow for new knowledge of findings to emerge. This, however, also implies that the data results is not to a scientific significant level. Babbie support employing an explorative research design when investigating new topics or issues.. 政治大. (Babbie, 1989). Before the research goes on, aligning definition could be important.. 立. 3.2 Operational parameter variable. ‧ 國. 學. In order to keep readers in sync with the paper, the author suggested some keywords to help. ‧. define the parameter within this paper:. ● Product iteration (process): This paper assumes that a product idea is far from ready. have in the product offering.. io. sit. y. Nat. and requires the concept to go through iteration process to gain insight about what to. al. er. ● Product readiness: Refers to the amount of information is available for the startup to set. n. iv n C h e hypothesis Validation testing: When a business i U a paying buyer, the hypothesis n g c h receives. specification related to user, market, and the product. ●. is considered as valid through testing.. A product equipped with precise information knowing who its targeted customers are, and how exactly to offer customer focused value might have a higher product readiness compare to another product even if the latter one has already been in the market for years. Product readiness is not defined solely by engineering manufacturing of a product in this paper. The author suggests that, a validated concept means the concept has acquired paying customer who specifically buys the product/service due to this specific offering. The author suggests that, the validation process is the step of getting paying customer for a certain offering. Page | 26.

(36) 3.3 Research framework To answer the research question “How to build up product readiness through validation testing?” The author suggests to understand the suggested path and relationship between the key operation parameters as shown below.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Figure 3-1Relationship between the keywords in product readiness through validation testing. Literature suggests the process can get key insights about who the buyer/users are, how do them use/like your product, and identify top opportunities to improve. Source: From this study.. Ch. i n U. v. The figure illustrates the initial part of the product-market vision and how it goes into the Lean. engchi. Startup build-measure-learn iteration process (The circle in. Page | 27.

(37) 治政 Figure 3-1). Through validation testing better defined product大 could be constructed for the next 立that, this could yield a higher product readiness. iteration cycle. The author suggests ‧ 國. 學. According to the author, the primary objective of activities for Voltset startup is to gain insights. ‧. and increase product readiness in multiple discipline for the user, the market, and the product. Cases would be presented in a chronological order with a focus on the ‘before and after’. Nat. sit. y. condition respect to three major aspects. This research would be reflecting the case with the framework below to see how the product validation process was done and if the process. io. n. al. er. increased product readiness with evidence. Stakeholder background/preference, product. i n U. v. specification, and engineering readiness were the three criteria selected to evaluate for each case due to the following reason: . Ch. engchi. Stakeholder background/ preference: It is suggested by Jelly 1997 that, different types of stakeholders needs to be identified and satisfied at different stages of commercializing new technology. Thus the author suggest to identify the stakeholders in the beginning and in the end of each case of the development of Voltset.. . Product specification: McCarthy suggested the 4P theory: product, place, price and promotion in his book Basic Marketing: A managerial approach. (McCarthy E. J., 1978). The author of this study suggests finding out more information related to each category. Page | 28.

(38) would increase the overall product readiness. For instance, learning more about what should the product do for its stakeholder would help defining engineering design specification; finding out the market acceptable price range can directly impact on the engineering design thus effect the best suitable product quality and performance. So product specification is selected as one of the factors to compare between cases. . Engineering readiness: For Voltset startup, a product needs to be constructed from hardware and software point of view to deliver to its stakeholders in some cases. Thus the author suggests to consider engineering readiness as one of the three factors.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 3-2 Case initial and ending criteria. Focused on: Stakeholder background/preference. Product specification. Engineering readiness. Source: From this study.. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat 3.4 Autoethnography. n. iv n C Autoethnography is a new avant-garde qualitative method that challenges conventional h e n gresearch chi U writing and is becoming more established as a social research method owing to the fact it. continues to emerge and evolve in new ways (Wall, 2014). The term has been in use for 35 years, and was first introduced by David Hayano (Sarah, 2006). According to Andrew Sparks, Autoethnographies “are highly personalized accounts that draw upon the experience of the author/researcher for the purposes of extending sociological understanding”. In essence first hand personal experiences that have the ability to connect culturally and sociologically (Sparkes, 2013). Page | 29.

(39) The method provides a wide range of possibilities. Stems from the possibilities inherent in personal research methods, in essence is an ideal qualitative method to accommodate the interface of author’s first-hand experience vis-à-vis the theory and practice disciplines in order to compare, contrast and draw conclusions (Wall, 2014). Autoethnography is also known as and interchangeable with terms “personal narrative”, “critical autobiography” “evocative narrative”, reflexive ethnography, ethnographic autobiography, autobiographical ethnography, personal sociology, and auto-anthropology basically it’s the same work done under different labels although Autoethnography remains the predominantly used term (Ellis & Arthur , 2000).. 政治大 The underlying values of Autoethnography emerge from post-modern thinking that challenges 立. convention and tradition and positivist ideas in scientific inquiry and it is based on the premise. ‧ 國. 學. that “Many ways of knowing and inquiring are legitimate and no one way should be privileged” It is not meant to be a critique or dismissal of convention but a challenge to it that there is room. ‧. for other ways of knowing and inquiring about things and these more critical alternative ways of knowing and inquiring are ways that are very helpful and supporting work that is normative,. y. Nat. sit. emancipatory, transformative in intentions behind knowledge production. Gives voice to those. al. er. io. with unique experiences that allow them to contribute to discussions on topics from a. n. considerably unique perspective of sociological interest, and challenges the traditionalist. Ch. “author-evacuated texts”. (Wall, 2014). engchi. i n U. v. A variety of data sources can be used in Autoethnography, essentially the first-hand experiences to collect and understand insights for qualitative analysis, these can be and are not limited to; Photographs, videos and artwork, artifacts, writing- Journals or diaries kept over time, selfobservational data, social maps that layout your position and others position in your social location and relationship within these realms, official documents, interviews with actors or participants related with the journey. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list, more types of sources can be used as long as that data source provides answers to the inquiry, then it is a legitimate source of data in Autoethnography (Wall, 2014). Page | 30.

(40) Data analysis in autoethnography can involve; creating a timeline of events connecting the present with the past and participants, identifying exceptional occurrences, contextualizing broadly and connecting them with academic theories, analyzing relationships between self and others, analyzing inclusion and omission, comparing relevant cases etc. (Chang, 2008).. Autoethnographers can vary in their emphasis on auto-(self), -ethno- (the cultural link), andgraphy (the application of a research process) depending on the context, autoethnographers can emphasize one of these over the other, can also balance all three of them or choose two of them that are important, however autoethnographers decide to emphasize different aspects of the. 政治大 interpreted very broadly. (Reed-Danahay, 1997) 立. possibilities, it can lead to different kinds of auto ethnographic texts where the word text can be. ‧ 國. 學. Autoethnographic work is characterized most broadly into two categories (Wall, 2014) :●. Evocative: Creative, narrative, confessional , therapeutic , unconventional sharing the. ●. ‧. experience. Analytic: much more conventional, descriptive, interpretive has a more realistic tone. y. Nat. sit. “accurate” in terms of presenting the facts and findings of the study and academic. n. al. er. io. approach in a more traditional manner.. Ch. i n U. v. Although it is important to note that in a lot of cases the work can fall in between the two, due to. engchi. the very nature of Autoethnography (Wall, 2014). Ultimately as a relatively young and nontraditional qualitative research method, it’s still a bit controversial in the eyes of some critics, while at the same time gaining traction as its proponents argue that the voice of an insider, the person with the experience can really have the true and authentic voice and they can speak on events and relationships in a way that just tells it potentially more factually and accurately than if it is inferred from other sources and should not be judged according to traditional criteria but rather the literary and information criteria and eventually it is the reader that determines the value of the information and if it is useful in terms of the context of analysis (Wall, 2014).. Page | 31.

(41) 3.5 Source of data The data collection is primarily based on first hand material that has been created and stored as a process since the inception of the Voltset project, and mainly located on Dropbox folders and Google drive. Text documents, logs, images, charts, spreadsheets and recordings are stored and saved, with timestamps and author, and serves as a very rich data source. These documents, charts, pictures and more were created over the three year experience from person who were involved in the Voltset project. It could be a website design concept, a picture that was taken at a certain time, a couple words that were written and shared with the team in the company project log. External data could come from third party stakeholder or from third party news reporter or. 治政 community provided history of conversations and events that大 were created for the Voltset project 立 stakeholders. between the Voltset team and active bloggers as supporting material. Online discussion boards such as the Kickstarter Voltset. ‧ 國. 學. 3.6 Key person behind Voltset. ‧. Author suggests that the team is a major component of the startup. Listed below are only a. y. Nat. couple key person who were actively contributing to the project Voltset and made a substantial. n. al. er. io. members.. sit. mark. There were many more others such as volunteers, contractors, or other short term. Ch. i n U. v. Co-Founder Tom Wang previously studied mechanical engineering at University of California,. engchi. Santa Barbara, after which he worked at Agilent Technologies as an R&D engineer. After a few years he decided to take his Masters of Business Administration, Technology and innovation Management at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Tom, mostly in charge of concept design, product specification, strategic planning, most of the on-the-ground execution work for exhibitions and the user experience design. His family and him were the majority initial funding provider before the successful Kickstarter campaign.. Co-Founder Michael Bruun-Larsen spent a couple of years in China for studies and work prior to starting his Bachelors of Science in international Business at Copenhagen Business School. Page | 32.

(42) Michael was in charge of operations, accounting, fundraising and business legal work, strategy planning and more.. Software Lead, Panos Karampis joined the project back in 2014 while he was finishing up his master degree from University of Copenhagen (DIKU) "We are developing a multimeter, but not a common multimeter one can find in the market. We are developing a complete and portable system, including hardware and software, which converts smartphones into a multimeter" (Copenhagen, 2015) Panos got involved in Voltset though the course Development Studio at the Department of Computer Science (DIKU). Here students are taught everything about the process of developing software products from idea to finished product. The course was organized in. 政治大 Copenhagen Business School (CBS). In this way, student entrepreneurs from CBS have had the 立 collaborations with the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship, an incubator center at the. chance to engage talented software developers from DIKU – this is how the two CBS students. ‧ 國. 學. Tom Wang and Michael Bruun-Larsen managed to commit Panos as a partner in Voltset. Partner Tom Wojda joined in 2014, as being a friend of Michael since 2008. As Tom Wojda had. ‧. knowledge and expertise in programming, especially low level programming on microprocessors, he was a source often sought out to answer technical questions prior to joining,. y. Nat. sit. and after he joined, he was a source of shaping and designing the product from an electrical and. n. al. er. io. programming point of view.. Ch. i n U. v. Chief Backend Officer Guiller Mø, joined March 2015, to assist on developing backend,. engchi. application and general programming challenges. Guillermo had related experience and was very interested in the iOT (the internet of things) side of the development. Knowing that Voltset would require heavy backend architect to work, he recommended himself and took the lead of the job. Ran Ma was the team’s Chief Marketing Officer for the period of Kickstarter campaign. Ran had a passion in technology especially in wearable and quantify-self related products. She was a very social person who had strong drive to achieve goals. She was in charge of the first hand. Page | 33.

(43) communication with supporters and paying customers, to answer any concern or questions about the project.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Page | 34. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.


(45) 4 Cases 4.1 Introduction In this section, one would find the background, the setup, and the intended goal to achieve by performing certain tests intended for product iteration process. The cases are selected by the author from the three year Voltset startup journey. The cases are to describe the four major time period for Voltset startup while trying to make progress from one stage to another. One could find the initial stage of the startup, the activity experienced for attempting to increase product readiness, and the outcome from the specific experience in case 2, case 3, and case 4.. 政治大 These tests were performed with open and hard to control environments. Results were often not 立 as what the Voltset team expected, but the result always provided the Voltset team important. ‧ 國. 學. factors about how to move forward. (Wang & Larsen, Voltset Company Cloud, 2014). ‧. 4.1.1 History of Voltset. y. Nat. sit. Author suggests that many events happened during the three year startup journey. It was not. er. al. n. the following cases.. io. possible to list out all events and discuss its effect on the startup. A timeline is presented here for. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 4-1 Major events for the Voltset journey with four cases marked in bold. Source: From this study.. Page | 35.

(46) To map out the relationship between different stages according to Commercializing New Technology as the x-axis against the Voltset product iteration event cases would look like the following illustration.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. Figure 4-2 Research cases mapped against Jolly’s Commercializing New Technologies. Source: from this study.. Page | 36. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(47) 4.2 Case 1 - The starting of the idea Table 4-1 Case 1 - The starting of the idea. Source: From this study.. Background Founders needed a very portable multimeter that worked with smartphone. Assumption The market needed a tiny smart multimeter. What to validate Could the cofounders buy something like this now?. 政治大. Stakeholder Michael and Tom, the two co-founders of Voltset. Prefer to find a background/ startup project in their interest and could turn into a profitable preference business.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Setup. Engineering Google search for similar, ideal products to purchase. readiness. Result in validation There was no similar product in the market. Voltset project started.. ‧ sit. n. al. er. io. Page | 37. y. Nat. Product Readiness Readiness: 0. At conceptual stage. (specification). Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(48) The idea for the project was conceived by Tom Wang and Michael Bruun-Larsen in November 2012 mostly started during a Friday night in the coworking office. The project was based on an idea for a product, which was the brainchild of a brainstorming session, where the two founders contemplated ideas for powerful solutions that could enhance human capabilities in one form or the other.. Author suggests that, in the current era, smartphones are increasingly becoming an extension to the author’s lives,. 政治大 However, the founders tried to look at the limitations of 立 becoming the most used tool to do a variety of tasks.. 學. ‧ 國. the current tool, and looking at it with this in mind, it. became easy to create a list of things a smartphone cannot do today, such as measuring electricity.. ‧. Nat. y. The idea of measuring electricity with the phone, started to. Figure 4-3 Website concept created in the early stage. "Awesome multimeter" shows a lack of specific sell point in the startup idea. Source: From this study.. sit. make a lot of sense, as the smartphone has very. al. er. io. sophisticated hardware with many sensors, together with an operating system that can be. n. modified with custom applications, all in a small form factor that is convenient to bring around.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Once the preliminary market research indicated that there were no other mobile connected or integrated electricity measurement instruments on the market, the two founders decided to start the development of this product and solution.. Page | 38.

(49) 4.3 Case 2 - Leap of faith, sense-making with potential customer Figure 4-4 Case 2: leap-of-faith, sense-making with potential customer. Source: From this study.. Background Building up for the 1st build-measure-learn process Assumption Engineering students could be company’s first targeted audience. (customer) What to validate Could Voltset become a business? Size of module. Stakeholder Danish Institute of Technology University engineering students. Who used background/ smartphones and were willing to try new things out. Students would need to preference buy a multimeter thus it should be easy to sell them one.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Setup. Flyers, concept mockups, no working software, no working hardware. Very Engineering low engineering readiness. readiness. ‧. Result in 0 buyer. Received many “what to build” comments from potential validation customers.. Nat. y. sit. al. n. 4.2.1 Background info:. er. io. Product Readiness: 0. Many directions for product specification. readiness (specification). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. At day one, the team was set to make a new electrical measuring module that was portable and uses the smartphone as a display. The key design features came out from the founder’s mind for what was most likely to be the perfect product. Some of the key design features/assumptions are listed below: ●. Compactness and portability was the key selling factor.. ●. Voltset would have two major components, the meter module that has two test probes coming out and a smartphone that was going to receive information and display the information to users.. Page | 39.

(50) ●. By linking the meter module with a smartphone, the design can utilize the massive computing power of the smartphone to do post calculation.. ●. Regular multimeter’s small LCD display could be replaced with a much bigger display from the smartphone, making it easier to read since the numbers were going to be bigger.. ●. The dialing knob control would be replaced by the touch screen for better experience. (unsure what would make the design better yet since the team do not know how Voltset would be used exactly). ●. By keeping the hardware module simple, the design could be updated anytime through software even after the item was shipped to the customer.. ●. App add-on could increase the capability of the device, but the Voltset team did not know. 政治大. what to make for the add-on yet so the team needed to go out to find answers.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. sells.. 學. 4.2.2 Goal to achieve - verify less volume meter has enough value to drive. The team first needed to validate if the concept of Voltset had any value by finding out if people. sit. y. Nat. would want to pay and what feature made them wanted to pay. Since compactness and integration with the phone was our most important offering, the Voltset team needed to verify. io. al. er. how big was still considered as compact for potential customers (the current stakeholders) and. n. iv n C mockup models, tell the audience about h theeconcept of Voltset n g c h i U and do a concept demo to see if how much the stakeholders were willing to pay. The flow of the validation test was to present. they would be interested to participate in making the product together or would be interested to sign up for email list or to financially support the project. Another assumption was that the smaller the meter, the more expensive it might cause to manufacture.. 4.2.3 Who were the intended stakeholders (pre-test assumptions) Firstly the Voltset team thought university students from engineering schools must be learning these in school either in class or through hands on laboratory work. All college students owns a Page | 40.

(51) smartphone and not necessary all had a multimeter. Author suggests that the logical way was that since all students would need to buy a multimeter, and they already have a phone, it should be easy to sell them the concept and to see their reaction.. 4.2.4 How was the test setup? To get the idea across easily, the Voltset team constructed the following: ●. Flyer: Designed to be passed out to anyone who the Voltset team could meet and was interested in the concept of Voltset. The graphic consists of a young man holding on a smartphone with a small meter module that is plugged into the headphone jack. The. 政治大 Pictures and illustrations were found or purchased online to create the flyer. 立. module itself is drawn to be very small, highlighted with yellow and a smiley face.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. i n U. v. Figure 4-5 LEFT: one of the first shape model for Voltset concept. Made with scrap PCB and headphone. RIGHT: Flyer created to emphasize on the portable value proposition. URL provided for people to take home and to visit the website. Source: From this study.. Page | 41. engchi.

(52) ●. Voltset module concept models: To represent the idea, salvaged PCB boards and headsets were used and modified to make models to represent the shape and how the concept should function in hand. To express the concept of. Table 4-2 Smartphone ownership table. Source: (listed in the bottom of the figure). multimeter effectively, an electric gage picture was downloaded into a phone to represent the meter display. A couple similar setup were made under the same manner but with different sizes of PCB board. Author suggests that, the purpose was to let potential user grasper the idea of Voltset as soon as possible and tell the Voltset team what. 政治大 A website: The team registered a very basic site at 立 size was good.. ●. ‘www.voltset.com’. The purpose was so that once. ‧ 國. 學. someone wants to connect to the project team, they could find the URL at the bottom of the. ‧. flyer.. y. Nat. er. io. al. sit. 4.2.5 How was the test carried out?. v. n. Initial assumption was that people with an age of 18~34 would have lower resistance to expend. Ch. i n U. their smartphone with new features. Multimeters were used in labs and most mechanical and. engchi. electrical students needed one while they learn. The logical way was to go to engineering schools (age 18~26) with the models the Voltset team constructed to test for feedback on what was an acceptable size for the stakeholders. The team went to Danish Technology University where they could find some engineering students. Test subjects were selected randomly within the campus (who ever the Voltset team felt convenient to talk to).. When the Voltset team located a test subject, the Voltset team would tell the student about the concept of an extremely portable multimeter that works with a smartphone. Than the Voltset Page | 42.

(53) team showed the person concept models and asked for opinions. Author suggested from the experience that most people seems to be interested about the project but was not excited about it. When the Voltset team presented multiple concepts, the team were not able to get much feedback on how big of a size is acceptable for the Voltset module to be.. Shortly after the Voltset team started the testing, the team found that not everyone was familiar with what a multimeter was. Approximately 2/3 knew what a multimeter was but did not use one often. The Voltset team furthermore asked if the size or the weight of current multimeters were the key factors why they do not want to bring it with them. 9/10 expressed yes and would be interested in the smaller version. However, none of the test subjects were interested in buying. 政治大. one at such an early stage and were not interested to sign up as a team member. The Voltset team. 立. were able to pass out about 20 flyers.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Page | 43. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(54) 4.4 Case 3 - Meeting the innovators in Maker Faire Table 4-3 Case 3 meeting the innovators in World Maker Faire New York 2013 summary Source: From this study.. Background Grouped ‘wanted’ features into two products. Students were not motivated to buy because school offers free multimeter. Assumption Makers uses multimeters to innovate, author suggested the makers could be described as innovators in Diffusion of Innovation. What to validate Can Voltset turn into a business? Validate size, price and user preferences.. 政治大. Stakeholder Makers @ World Maker Faire NY 2013 Sep. Prefer new technology background/ and would support as a beta tester. preference. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Setup. Engineering Working software for mini-Voltset for live demonstration. Megareadiness Voltset PCB non-functioning model. E-commerce website. Booth in Maker Faire.. ‧. Result in validation Make Magazine front page. (endorsement) 30 unit preorders. 2 mini@$40, 28 MEGA@$50. Refined pitch line: “World’s smartest multimeter”. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Product readiness Who: Potential buyer: 30~50 year old guys. (specification) What: Mega-Voltset is right way to go! Readiness: 2.. 4.3.1 Background info:. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. After a year of work to construct the Voltset module, the Voltset team decided to go to Maker Faire New York to test for market feedback. The team was still trying to get their first paying stakeholder who would actually buy and would have a use for Voltset. Till this point, the project had received a recognitions from business plan competition and had being accepted into accelerator programs.. Page | 44.

(55) At that point the Voltset team had a software development team for writing the Android application. A functioning electrical module that can measure AC/DC with a size of a thumb (50mm X 20mm X 15mm, similar to a USB drive), and a contracted electrical R&D team from Taichung, Taiwan was designing another electrical module that had a lot more functions. The later one had a size approximately to 85mm X 55mm X 15mm. The Voltset team named the small, thumb sized module, the Voltset mini and the one with more features with larger size the mega-Voltset. Both concepts fits under the Voltset team’s original idea of making a compact multimeter that could be used to do projects anywhere one goes. When it comes to the detail of what to be implemented, the author suggests that there were just too many options that the team could do. As time passed by, after a year, the Voltset team were not sure if the project was a pure. 政治大 possible to turn it into a business. The team was at the intersection of pivot or persevere since the 立 hobby project or a business project. The Voltset team needed to validate if the concept was. author suggested the business concept had never been validated. (Ries, 2011). ‧ 國. 學. During this event, there were multiple tests set up to collect data. Most of the activities were. ‧. derived from Lean Startup, pre-totyping, and based on the believe that the team would be able to find innovators in Maker Faire since this is where most of the talented innovators demonstrate. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. their results and gets connected with other creative makers. (Media, 2016) Many data suggests. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 4-6Voltset mini working model with smartphone. Can measure AC/DC accurately. The mini-Voltset is very small as shown in the picture. Source: From this study. Page | 45.

(56) that this group of people are not the normal consumers since products in the official event store, the Maker Shed, has things that are usually not recognized as a final product with the ‘raw’ PCB or wire showing. Author suggests that, the set up for this validation test was extensive and also required a lot of manpower as well as upfront cost (air ticket, accommodation and such). So even though the team had a strong believe in what they do, they knew the result of this test would be very significant.. 4.3.2 Goal to achieve ●. Test if Voltset is a hobby project or has the potential to turn into a business by getting paying customers for pre-orders.. ● ●. Find out if Mini-Voltset or mega-Voltset was more welcomed by stakeholders.. 學. ‧ 國. ●. 政治大 Refine pitch by doing A/B testing. 立. Test of value proposition: “Voltset, the world’s smallest and smartest multimeter”. 4.3.3 Who were the intended stakeholders? (Pre-test assumptions). ‧. After testing for a year with minimal results (not able to acquire paying customers), the Voltset. y. Nat. team had to reconsider its business strategy. The team assumption was that the makers and the. sit. tinkerers were going to be excited about Voltset, and these kind of person had the highest. al. er. io. tolerance for innovative products (they were mostly innovators themselves). The Voltset team. v. n. should go to the place where the makers hangout the most. After some search, the team was able. Ch. i n U. to find information about registration for Maker Faire and signed up for the World Maker Faire. engchi. 2013 thinking that was the biggest Maker Faire annually and hoping to find first paying stakeholders.. 4.3.4 How was the test setup? In short, the end goal was to present the mini Voltset and mega-Voltset to generate pre-orders. So strictly only paying customers were count as a validated data. Since the Voltset team was not confident about whether if the team would get any order or not, there were plenty of trackers trying to make this trip count. Both online and offline. Page | 46.

(57) After a year of work, the Voltset team were able to put together the following for the validation process: ●. An application that worked with the mini-Voltset to demonstrate how the module could work with smartphone. The application shown connectivity from the module, could read live data and display the correct value on the phone screen. A couple of expansion features were also included into the application to test customer feedback: ○ Smart box: Voltset application would compare live reading with its data base to provide useful information. For instance, a common AA battery with 1.45volt would show 1.45 V in the application and also a green illustration of the battery to. 政治大 battery was still good to be used. 立. show user that despite that the battery clams to have a 1.5V normal voltage, the ○ Calculator box: build in calculator to do simple calculation. This was not. ‧ 國. 學. functional and was illustrated with a picture in the application. The picture popped out at the proper location when the feature was selected.. ‧. ○ Life charting: This was to test the need for graphing live data. When user engage this function by tapping onto the icon, an illustration of the setup was presented.. y. Nat. sit. ○ Excel logging: This is to test out logging ability. When user engage this function,. al. er. io. a pre- defined Excel process flow would be called out. User would be given. n. instruction to perform three different tests. After the test, user could display the. Ch. i n U. v. test result in a newly created excel sheet and view it from the phone.. engchi. ○ Hacker box: This section was created for users to create or download project specific add-on. The page contained three hyperlinks, ‘Upload add-on’, ‘Download add-on’, and ‘Download SDK’. The page was constructed as a clickable website format. Links could lead to the project landing page instead to download pages (which did not exist) ● An introduction game was designed to encourage hands on experience with the module. A couple of mixed batteries and a power extension cord were placed on the table. The users were supposed to use Voltset to measure the battery voltage, through the information window in the application, the user got to know if the battery had enough Page | 47.