Vig: The slim and compact wallet ( we're funding!)

From scratch to Business Model

Vig project is a project formed by three people from different backgrounds with the main aim of producing functional products for final users. We decided to start up this initiative in a professional way with the creation of our first product.

How did we start off?

We had a lot of differents ideas. Having a lot of ideas is quite good, but it is not enough when you have to compete with a lot of good products everywhere. So, we decided to structure all our different initiatives, ideas and thoughts in a more productive way. We started by looking for how other people were doing projects and business nowadays. 

We realized that people were using methodology for developing businesses and products. In order to avoid non-efficient practices, we decided to learn more about this subject. We began reading books and watching videos about entrepreneur's methodology. We indicate below the manuals used:

• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
• Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers

The methodology chosen was the Lean Startup Methodology. 

We  wanted to use the Lean startup Methodology because we thought that it could be an agile methodology. Very soon afterwards, we realised that it is a agile methodology because it focuses on the business key aspects and it is not necessary to be an expert in economics. 

Lean startup methodology also helps to have a complete overview of a business model considering all the pieces that compose a whole business. This is a very key aspect when you create a business model. Sometimes, when you are trying to start working on a business idea it is easy to focus more in one aspect that in other. 

We also saw the we were able to produce a lot of business models without complex validation processes. This became an advantage because you get more options and points of view that they can suit much better with your business idea. 

Have a look to a Business Model Canvas Example.
We did a lot of these  models for the Vig Project.

In December 2012 we set off making Business Models during one month. Then, we went on to work fulltime on new product ideas in order to decide on the final one. 

In the beginning, it was rather difficult because we always wanted to produce things that pleased our personal taste rather than project economy. Nonetheless, quite soon we understood how to focus the Vig project in a more effective way: Our priority became to produce a good product and to look for a consumer willing to pay for it. The rest of items would be afterwards.

How did we start working on the product?

We collected products from different websites like Svpply and pinterest . On these websites you can create collections of products and share them with other users. Users can vote the products they like or want to buy and in this way you can see the most wanted products per category. This functionality provides extremely valuable information since it indicates what people want. Compiling and analysing all this information, we were able to put ourselves in other people's shoes in terms of product preferences. 

Svpply website

Once we had the list of diverse products we wanted to produce, we started making our forecasts of sales, costs and revenues. 

The initial list became shorter once we used the Business Model because we validated the economical viability. We rejected a lot of product ideas because they were quite expensive and difficult to produce .

We began to see this problem from another point of view and we thought of how to solve it or change it. 

We considered all the key aspect for producing a consumer product like: 

• First,  an attractive product to fall in love with. We think that we've got it. The concept we apply is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) 
• Find the way to produce the product (Manufacturing Process). Manufacturers need a minimum volume in order to be able to set up the production. To need a volume, you need sales. 
• Find a consumer target willing to pay for your product. About this specific aspect, we currently only have a hypothesis, which is yet to be validated.

Eventually, we found the solution to this issue on the crowdfunding websites, like kickstarter.com. On these websites, people pay for an initial proposal that will be a product or a service. They pay in advance for something that is only an idea or a project, and in this way you kill two birds with one stone: 

• First off is the product validation. If people are willing to pay for your product on the crowdfunding website, then it is likely to become a successful product.
• Secondly, it helps you achieve the minimum production volume, because you get the quantity of sales needed for starting off the manufacturing of your product.  

Seeing that was possible to start producing some products in this way, we decided to start off producing a slim and compact wallet made of plastic (100% recyclable) at an affordable price.  

In our next post we'll talk about the product.

Bibliography

1. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. Crown Publishing. 2011. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-307-88791-7.
2.  Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers; Editor: John Wiley & Sons Ltd; ISBN-10: 9780470876411;ISBN-13: 978-0470876411;ASIN: 0470876417
3. Business Model Canvas 

Introduction: Vig Wallet Blog

Prototype 1.0

Hi everyone, 

Today, we are glad to announce that we start off this blog in order to share with all of you the creation of our product. 

We are the Vig project, producers of the Vig Wallet, a wallet that currently doesn't exist, but It is in process of becoming. 

The aim of this project is to produce a slim and compact wallet that will be nice, attractive, recyclable and of course, affordable.  

Notice that we started working on this project in January of this year. However, it is now in June 2013, that we are starting to share what we are doing. 

The objective of going public is to share our experience as well as receiving your opinion.  In this way, we expect to hear other people's ideas and contributions about things that perhaps we didn't think about. We want to integrate the user's experience in all phases of the project.

We split up the project in four phases: 

• Initial idea: wallet features. Done.

• Design process: this is where we are now!

• Funding process: crowdfunding, next step.

• Manufacturing process, final objective.

We'll update this blog with the project's milestones, because we want to keep you informed.  

We look forward to hearing from you!

The Vig Project Team

Here we are!

Hi everyone,

We are working on the content of this website and we hope to start off soon.

Meanwhile, you can find us in twitter: https://twitter.com/vigwallet and facebook as "Vig Wallet".

Greetings!