# Minimum Viable Products for Internet of Things Applications: Common Pitfalls and Practices
## 3 Research Methodology
### Case Description  
Our case description, from Case A to Case H, is summarized in Table 2. Our sample consists of start-ups in Norway, Finland and Pakistan. Seven start-ups were characterized as being in early stages and one start-up in a later stage, as described below. * Case A is a start-up in an aquaculture domain founded in late 2016. At the time of the investigation, Case A was finalizing their first prototype--an environmental tracking and monitoring solution for fish farming. The targeted users were small-to-medium farms in South-East Asian countries. The company had received seed funding under the South Korean government's incubator program. Team A includes a CEO (business developer), four software developers and one hardware engineer. * Case B is an Internet of Things start-up founded in early 2016. It offered an enhanced device that is integrated into a network of cameras. Started by three students from NTNU, Norway, the company now has ten employees, five of whom work on product development. The start-up acquired seed funding from several Norwegian funding schemes. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Id** & **Product** & **Year** & **\# ppl.** & **Country** & **Current Stage** \\ \hline
**Case A** & Fish farm tracking system & 2016 & 6 & Norway & Early stage \\ \hline
**Case B** & Networks of connected camera & 2016 & 10 & Norway & Early stage \\ \hline
**Case C** & Under water drone & 2013 & 4 & Finland & Early stage \\ \hline
**Case D** & Tracking devices for shipment & 2013 & 85 & Finland & Later stage \\ \hline
**Case E** & Muscle operation measure & 2011 & 20 & Finland & Early stage \\ \hline
**Case F** & Smart home solution & 2015 & 8 & Pakistan & Early stage \\ \hline
**Case G** & Smart wheelchair & 2016 & 3 & Pakistan & Early stage \\ \hline
**Case H** & Smart home devices & 2016 & 5 & Pakistan & Early stage \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Case demographics. * Case C is a hardware company founded in 2013. The product is an underwater drone that can be used for fishing and aquaculture research. The product consists of a camera and a web-based controller. The business model is B2C; at the time of this study, its focus was on marketing to individual fishers and researchers. The company had four members of staff; the CTO is also a mechanical engineer. The CEO and the head of marketing took care of purchasing of components, subsystems, PCs and accessories as needed. * Case D is a start-up founded in 2013. The company started as a mobile app development with 20 employees. This team is a spin-off from an international enterprise. At the time of this study, they had 85 members of staff who mainly worked to develop Internet of Things solutions. The company started with a first product that provided tracking devices for expensive shipments. Employing a B2B model, Case D had revenue of c.a. 8 million Euro in 2014. * Case E is a grown start-up founded in 2011. Developed from work that formed the basis of a master's thesis, the company provides equipment for measuring muscle operation under normal training conditions. The CEO is a muscle specialist who possesses domain knowledge. The company has sold their products to several hospitals and gyms. * Case F is a start-up developing an intelligent home automation system that allows users to control electric appliances remotely, using an Android app over either GSM or Wi-Fi. Started in 2015 by a team of five college students, after one year they had eight full-time members of staff. The company was in a pre-start-up phase at the time of this study with regard to their financial situation and business development. * Case G is a hardware start-up that offers an eye-tracking-based control system for smart wheelchairs. The product adopts Electroencephalogram signal processing and Internet of Things technologies. The wheelchair can be controlled and moved by looking at a screen. The business model is B2C, with a focus on the general public, disabled students, elderly people and so forth.