Understanding the Problem

Before jumping into a design solution I had to prepare the field and do some research about the problem and also about the users.

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The problem

I had a few assumptions that I wanted to validate, some ideias were around my head and I had to think about it before starting anything.

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"Product professionals have complex problems to solve on a daily basis and they need a fast and easy way to give and receive mentorship".
"People need to find a mentor".
"People want to be a mentor".

"I want to find a mentor, how can I do it? If it was easy and affordable I would do it!"
"I want to become a mentor, I love to teach others. But how can do it? How can I start?"

Being more specific about the Product niche:
"Product professionals need to find mentors, so they can help them in their professional careers".
"Product professionals want to teach others, they want to become mentors".

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Possible solution

Creating a mentorship platform that connects mentors with other professionals in need of mentorships.

A few hypothesis:
• It can't be too complex, people don't want to waste their time
• It has to be affordable, people can't spend too much money on it
• Professionals should be reliable, at least have a few years of experience in their field
• It has to be flexible in terms of date and time, people might need a mentor anytime

Uncertainties

Of course, this is just an ideia, it seems a good one but I have a lot of questions around it that need to be validated.

• Do people really want to become mentors?
• Do product professionals want to teach others and become a mentor?
• Do product professionals have time to give mentorships?
• Would mentors give their time for free?
• How much a product professional would like to make giving mentorships?
• How much people would like to pay for mentorship?
• Are there enough people interested in paying for a mentorship?

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How to validate the idea?

The best way to validate an idea is to build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), but that's something tricky because you have to make sure that the main value of the solution will be delivered. You have to build something usable but be very careful to don't overdo your solution, it has to be fast and simple and especially cheap!

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1 - First MVP

So for this first MVP I created a simple landing page using webflow, the first version of it had the sole intent of getting the idea out and collecting user feedback. I used typeform with two different surveys, one addressing people wanting to become mentors and other for the ones interested in finding mentors. With that simple setup I was able to collect real users feedback and also measure the interest of people accessing the websites and spending time answering the survey. If the access was considerable it indicates users want the solution or at least are engaged, if users answer the survey they are likely to use it and also they give me data to better understand their needs. Also I started to build an e-mail list with both mentors and people interested in mentorship so I could contact them after the next version of the MVP was ready.

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2 - Second MVP

The next version was a little bit more elaborated, different of the first version, it actually delivers the value to the users in both sides, it's possible to view mentors, sign up as a mentor, and book a mentorship, so the whole process actually happens. The setup was also very simple, the same webflow site with another page listing the mentors and a calendly link to the mentors calendar so users could book the desired date and time for a mentorship.

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Results so far are great, we got a great number of mentors registered on the platform and we are receiving great feedbacks. I'm aware that this solution is not perfect and it has a lot of limitations and gaps, but the fact is that it's working and delivering value with so little and that's the built of building an MVP. Now next steps are validating data collected, getting more feedback, analysing other players and prioritise the next features and next iterations of the MVP so I can release a new version with improved setup and less gaps. It's also important to let the MVP running for a while so you can collect data, so you have a little time to learn from it and then move to the next phase.

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Discovery

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User Personas

In order to better understand users needs, common goals and characteristics I created user persona profiles for both mentors and students.

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There is more about the discovery process coming soon....

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Delivery

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Branding

Logo and Images

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Style Guide

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Mockups

For this main MVP version I created just a few screens for mobile and web. The website design was created in webflow using the CMS to register mentor information.

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Social Network Ads

I had to invite people to the website so I need to created a few images to share on the social networks. I created a few instagram stories and also used this same format on LinkedIn in a PDF format that shows it as a carousel.

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