pretotyping

Making BBQ better

Leslie Barry ·

** Making BBQ better **

    GE's FirstBuild is taking innovation to new heights with their new indoor smoker - check it out!           ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌            

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                                                    Spotted in the wild:                                                      

                     

                       **                                                           FirstBuild’s Arden Indoor Pellet                              Smoker and Indiegogo                                                         **                         

                     

                     

                     

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                **                                                        Thanks toDavid Brand, the brilliant author of                                                                                     Testing Business Ideas                                                                                     , for spotting this and sharing it on Twitter.                                                       **                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   [                         ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                            [                                                          FirstBuild                                                         ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                        , owned by GE Appliances (a Haier company), is testing demand for an indoor BBQ smoker using                             [                                                            I                                                           ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                       [                                                           ndiegogo                                                         ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                           .                                                         It is a YouTube pretotype, best used for products that are complex or a big investment to bring to market. In this case, they                                                                                     have                                                                                     built something, but I suspect the video and results are simulated to test product demand — a perfectly valid strategy.                                                                                                          

                     

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                            *                            Want your in the wildfeatured next month (and an Amazon gift card to boot)?                             *[*                                                            Hop on over to our Slack channel!                                                           *](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)*                           *                                                                              

                     

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                **                           What’s working well? What could be better?                           **                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                         

                                                  The branding on this is not prominent, and I like that. Too often, we believe that branding is our competitive advantage when testing products. It’s not — it just helps you scale. What they’re testing here is problem-solution fit, asking: a) does anyone care? And b) are we solving a problem well enough for anyone to show interestin our product?                                                    

                     

                     

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                **                           What are the takeaways?                           **                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                     

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  •                                                     If you have a complex product or service idea, the                                                           [                                                              YouTube pretotype                                                             ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                             is                                                          an effective way to simulate the end product and test demand from customers.                                                      
  •                                                     Start small — you probably don’t have a GE sized budget, so place the pretotype in a channel that makes sense. Ask yourself: where would your potential early adopters be looking for a solution to the problem you’re solving? Go there.                                                      
  •                                                     Don’t ask for money immediately. You’ll notice in this pretotype they don’t give an indication of price. For starters, get emails.                                                      
                      **                          **                                                                                   In the field                                                        **                                                           Want to start experimenting in your business,but you’re not sure where to start? Then let’s find out...                                                         **                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   [                         ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                         

                      **                          **                                                      One thing                                                                                  Lastly, here's a great quote from                            [                                                           James Clear                                                         ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                           to take you into the week ahead.                                                    

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   [                         ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    [                        ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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                                                                            Until next month, happy innovating!                                                                              

                     

                     **                           **                           **                             Leslie                            **                           **                         **                          

                     

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                     

                      **                           Can't get enough of innovation?                           **                         

                     **                           **                           **                             There's plenty more where this came from...                            **                           **                         **                          

                     

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                     **                              **                                                             **                               Join our pretotyping Slack community                               **                                                              Our community is full of innovators from around the world –                                [                                                                   join us                                                                 ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                               to ask questions, share ideas, and learn from the best.                                                                                          

                         

                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                              [                                  ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                          **                                Learn pretotyping – online!                                **                                                            

                         

                                                          As we start looking towards the year ahead, there's no better time to become a Certified Pretotyper and raise your innovation game. The first module is yours, completely free –                                [                                                                   sign up here                                                                 ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                               today!                                                            

                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                              [                                  ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Pretotyping vs. Prototyping                                                                                                                               When discussing the concept of pretotyping with someone new, we often get asked the question: "Wait... don't you mean 'prototyping'?" We get that it can be confusing, and so we'd like to clear it up.                                 [                                                                    Read more                                                                   ](https://www.exponentially.com/blog/making-bbq-better#)                                .                                                                                                                          

                         

                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

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