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Startup Thinking

Concept Validation

Product prototyping with working software to validate desirability, viability and feasibility

Some clients that we’ve worked with
Cisco
Toronto Star
Inspiren
Michael Dila, NSIN
Michael Dila
Platform Director, National Security Innovation Network

The Normative team helped us understand the power of design to engage our target customers, create products based on their needs and deliver a differentiated customer experience

An overhead view of a beach meeting the ocean

Why we do it

Very few companies support clients through concept validation because it’s the most complicated stage of the innovation process. Stakes are high. Lessons must be learned quickly and integrated into prototypes to move efficiently to pilot. We focus on validation with top clients because it’s the most critical stage to get right.

What we do

TECHNICAL VALIDATION

Validate technology of a future product through technical prototyping

PRICE TESTING

Evaluate and validate product feature and pricing hypotheses through a range of direct and indirect testing approaches

USABILITY TESTING

Carry out qualitative and quantitative testing of a product user experience to determine its effectiveness and efficiency in delivering against the product’s value proposition

PRO FORMA FINANCIAL MODELING

Develop a forward-looking model of the total costs of transitioning a product concept into a functional, revenue-generating product over a predetermined period of time

FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT

Integrate technical, user experience and infrastructure development work to create a working prototype of the product concept for use in testing, validation and market planning activities

PILOT PLANNING

Research, model, and plan activities and costs of bringing an MVP to a specific market for testing product-market fit at scale

MVP REQUIREMENTS

Identify the requirements, activities and costs of transitioning a pilot product into a market-facing minimum viable product

What you get

FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE

A working prototype of the product to support different forms of concept validation work

VALIDATION REPORT

A report detailing the outcomes, insights, recommendations and requirements of technical, market, pricing, user experience and other inputs

PRO FORMA FINANCIAL MODEL

A spreadsheet-based financial model to support budgeting and capital requirements

PILOT AND MVP PLAN

A plan for building, launching and validating a working product against a customer and market hypothesis over a set period of time

Start generating the evidence you need to achieve product-market fit