How to acquire early adopters and establish a small-scale laboratory

When you conduct your first tests in a real-world laboratory, your strategies should aim to accelerate the build-measure-learn cycle. As mentioned, since the focus is on learning, not production, much of this early work will be impractical on a larger scale.

The exact nature of the unscalable work will vary from situation to situation. However, the following three strategies will help you accelerate the feedback loop:

• Working within a narrow marketplace facilitates expansion and provides a miniature laboratory within which to work
• Manual recruitment of—and interaction with—your users will give you immediate, detailed information about your audience and your ideas
• At this early stage, perfecting the user experience with early adopters is often more effective, more efficient, and more economical than doing it later in the process

Unscalable work could mean performing tasks manually, doing work outside your comfort zone, or working...