How Prototyping and-or Beta Improves Success

I left my last post on the note of importance of prototyping.  I would argue “prototyping” was always important but thanks technology advances such as Cloud Computing & Web 2.0 have made it accessible. The Lean Startup Movement promotes the idea of betas and early prototypes.

1.       Software, especially Web-based, is easy to prototype, and no-brainer to implement as a part of company or product evolution. Aza Raskin, creative lead for Firefox, posted an excellent slide deck on the advantages of prototyping.

2.       Consumers have embraced the concept of Beta, products introduced with minimal but most important features: Google has made the concept of a product in “Beta” very popular and acceptable.

3.       Investors, Bloggers have endorsed the idea of “prototyping” – finding customers early on, as an example, Vivek Wadhwa recently wrote about “looking before you leap” and talked about a startup that has been experimenting & prototyping for 14 months.

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