A client requested business consulting and solutions architecture services from me. We decided to have our first meeting in a casual setting – a coffeeshop in Pretoria. It was situated close to his target market, so that we could immerse ourselves in the environment.
We started off by chatting about the pain points he is trying to solve – statistics, analysis and buy-in from a big organisation that he would be targeting. The project was funded by the founders, and therefore bootstrapped.
Development was already on the way.
The dev team was doing an exceptional job. The latest cloud technology was used with great front end libraries to build out features. The minimum viable product was coming together.
The client was well connected with a big organisation. This would be their gateway to reaching their target market.
But something was missing.
What’s missing from your MVP?
// Have you shown this to the person that would be using this app?This simple question drained all the colour from my client’s face. They have been working hard for more than six months, and have never had this in front of the end consumer – the person that would actually use the app.
This is more common than you might think.
The single question – another case
A few years ago, I was working at a large investment firm. We were developing a complex new retirement product that was described as ‘revolutionary’ and ‘innovative’. The issue was that the team worked for more than six months to push out this new product.
I often wonder how much of their existing retirement business was cannibalised by this new product – and how this would be measured in such a big company.
I’m not against extending your product range or horizontal integration. But it should be done with due diligence and small, measureable steps. Especially if your startup doesn’t have large capital to spend.
What did I do for the client?
Getting the product in front of an end user was critical. And maybe we didn’t even need code for it right now. I opted to design the user interfaces on Figma, and link the pages with buttons so my client could show this to end consumers.
What do we learn from this?
Feedback received from users will shape the business.
It’s such a simple thing. Such a simple question. But when we’re heavily invested in our own business, we forget to ask the obvious questions.
How can I help you?
Yes I can code. But also I ask critical questions to save my clients money and empower them to make better business decisions and refine their offerings.
If you’re looking for a turn key software developer, feel free to schedule a free first consultation.