Complete firstProblem Interview
The addressed problem has been validated through interviews, and the target segment and pain are clear.
Without: Without problem clarity, the service delivers nothing expected and the effort evaporates.
RunsheetProduct Discovery
Concierge MVP
ComplexityMedium
Time1-4 Wochen
Participants3-10 Kunden
FormatWorkshop + async
MaturityEstablished
01
Prerequisite
What needs to be finished first
02
Preparation
What needs to be ready before start
Materials
Manual service tools such as Excel, email templates, phone, booking tool; customer dossier template; effort tracker for time per order; simple contract template; communication channel with customers.
People / roles
A service lead who performs the work; a recruiter who brings in first customers; an observer who documents and recognizes patterns; a decision maker for iteration or stop decisions.
Pre-read
Outcome promised in one sentence; target segment with a concrete persona; price range; capacity for number of customers per week; minimum legal protection.
Time needed
1-4 weeks
Setup
Service description as a one-pager. Channel for customer orders, such as email, form, or phone. Effort tracker per customer. Weekly sync for service lead and observer.
03
Core question
The one question this method answers
Does the manually delivered service actually give customers the promised value, and which service elements can later be productized?
04
Flow
Marker: Phase
| Step | Duration | Action | Hint |
|---|---|---|---|
1Phase 1: Define the service | Setup, 2-3 days | Formulate the outcome precisely, for example "Sabine saves 10 hours per client transfer". Describe the service steps. Estimate effort per customer. Define price and success criteria. | If the outcome is not stated in one sentence, neither the service lead nor the customer knows what is being delivered. Clarify first. |
2Phase 2: Win first customers | 1 week | Recruit 3-5 customers from the target segment, ideally from earlier problem interviews. Clarify minimum contract terms, including confidentiality and liability. Organize appointment and handoff. | Relatives or friends are allowed if they truly belong to the target group. Otherwise the reactions are distorted. |
3Phase 3: Deliver the service | 1-2 weeks | Process orders sequentially or in parallel. Document every step: what was done, how long it took, what was difficult, and what had to be improvised. Collect customer feedback after delivery. | Improvised steps are the most interesting ones. They show what is missing in the script and what later needs automation or clearer structure. |
4Phase 4: Evaluate effort and value | 2-3 days | Sum the effort per customer and compare it with the price. Synthesize customer feedback. Assess repeat potential, such as whether they would book again or recommend it. Create a service blueprint. | If effort per customer is far above the price and cannot be reduced, the business model is unfair and scaling will fail. Better to see that now than after product development. |
5Phase 5: Productization implications | 1-2 days | Check each service step: what can be automated, what stays manual, what becomes self-service? Derive a roadmap for product build. Decide to continue, reshape, or stop. | Not everything has to be automated. Some services stay profitably high-touch, and that is a legitimate answer. |
05
Artifact
What comes out at the end
Form
Concierge MVP report with outcome definition, customer list, effort per customer, service blueprint with manual versus automatable actions, customer feedback, business case calculation, and productization roadmap.
Versioning / ownership
Create one report per iteration with date and service version. Multiple waves allow comparison as effort drops after script improvements. Pseudonymize the customer list in a GDPR-safe way.
Tool alternatives
- Notion database with one page per customer
- Airtable with linked records
- Google Sheets with effort tracker and pivot
- Markdown repo under docs/experiments/concierge-mvp/
concierge-mvp-working-template.md
Compact working template for Concierge MVP with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
Concierge MVP Working Template
Goal
Delivers the value of a solution manually and personally before product mechanics are built.
Context
When and for what do we use this method?
Input
Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?
Execution
Short notes along the runsheet.
Output artifacts
- Concierge Learnings:
- Service Blueprint:
- MVP Risks:
Assumptions and open questions
- ...
Decision / Next step
Owner, date, and success signal.
06
Example output
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
concierge-mvp-beispiel.md
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Concierge MVP — Client Transfer Service (15.05.-12.06.2026)
Outcome: Solo tax advisors like Sabine receive client data converted from the previous system into SKR04 and can review it within 3 working days, flat price EUR 350.
Customers: 4 tax advisors from problem interview waves, 2 of them returning.
Service steps (with effort and automability):
- Import from previous system (50 min, manual, hard to automate).
- SKR translation (90 min, partially scriptable, factor 5 possible).
- Manual review (40 min, manual, remains human).
- Review call with customer (45 min, manual, high value).
- Handover and documentation (25 min, automatable).
Effort per customer: average 4 h 10 min. Price EUR 350 -> EUR 84/h, before acquisition costs.
Customer feedback: 4 of 4 would book again, 3 of 4 would recommend it.
Quote from Sabine: "This saved me 18 hours in concrete terms. I would pay that price again immediately."
Productization: Build SKR translation as a tool, spike by 30.06., @ben; keep the review call manual. Continue the service as a premium tier or as a script-plus-coaching offer.
07
Pitfalls
Recognize symptoms and steer against them
Trap
Outcome is unclear
Symptom
The service lead does not know exactly what should be delivered in the end, and customers are disappointed.
What to do
Formulate the outcome as a testable statement. "Data migration" is an activity, "client is bookable in SKR04" is an outcome.
Trap
Effort is not tracked
Symptom
The report contains effort estimates from gut feeling, not from data.
What to do
Use a stopwatch per step. Time-tracking tool or simple spreadsheet. Estimates distort the business-case calculation.
Trap
Too many customers in parallel
Symptom
The service lead is overloaded, quality drops, and feedback becomes mixed.
What to do
Maximum 5 customers per wave. Prefer sequential waves with clear iteration over parallel chaos.
Trap
No business-case calculation
Symptom
The service is declared as good enough without an effort-price comparison.
What to do
Enforce Phase 4. Compare hourly rate and acquisition costs against the price. If it falls below market costs, scaling is not profitable.
Trap
Productization happens too early
Symptom
After three customers, a product script is written without checking whether patterns are stable.
What to do
Wait for at least 5-7 customers with documented effort before creating a productization roadmap.
08
Stop criteria
Done signals checkable in under a minute
The problem is not validated, so the concierge MVP would test a solution for an unknown problem.
No capacity for 1-4 weeks of manual work is available.
The outcome cannot be formulated in one sentence.
Minimum legal protection, such as liability and GDPR, is missing.
The service is not possible without a license for regulatory reasons, for example tax advice or health care.
Customers cannot be recruited from the target segment.
Finished the runsheet?
Go to the profile for purpose, similar methods, and sources or continue to the next method in the catalog.