The biggest challenge is to convert a startup idea into a digitally viable business product, within limited financial resources, that can be scaled up as and when required.
‘Success in small selective, manageable and beneficial steps’ has been the mantra behind the rise of many startups across the globe; that carefully chose the deliverables of their products, service boundaries and financial management efficiency while introducing themselves to the world.
Converting an idea into an action box requires a huge set of people working behind closed doors, across departments, trying to make the user experience as efficient and simpler with every engagement. And it also requires huge financial resource to develop the idea into a functional product. Nearly all startups face financial challenges while developing their first prototype with regards to features, user interface and user experience especially, in the bootstrapped environment.
There is a lot to learn from the experience of many startup founders and young entrepreneurs who have built businesses out of their home garages and public libraries.
Minimum Viable Product.
Investments and Return on Investments are two aspects that determine the growth and sustainability of any business. But how do young entrepreneurs who have limited financial resources build products that can provide great user experience, has required functionality and compete with similar business models seamlessly.
One of the most efficient approach is to begin with the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) model. MVP allows entrepreneurs to build a cost effective digital platform with sufficient features that are user friendly and can be developed in-house. This model allows the business to cater its services seamlessly, albeit slightly restricted, but can also collect sufficient data/feedback for future development. Certain aspects of standardized software product implementation like vendor selection, PMO (project management office) can be implemented at later stages, depending on business requirements. Scalability through sustainability.
The ‘Need-Want’ challenge.
The biggest challenge while designing a new product, under restricted revenue, is to determine the ‘Need’ from the ‘Want’ features, that can substantially lower the financial implications, allow to allocate more resources and supports capabilities on required functions and backend development to improve an overall user experience.
The impact of UI.
The first user experience and how the app/website interacts with the users can be the biggest game changer for the business. Developers should stress on this critical aspect, of user experience, to build a glitch free product that is neither complicated nor incomplete, as every user is bound to correlate his present experience, on your platform, with his previous experience on other similar or related sites. Though, there is no standard way of creating a user interface but a minimalistic approach is often the best option in designing digital products. Using a flat design involving the use of two-dimensional elements like images, buttons, icons and illustrations are recommended as they look across different resolutions and sizes, and also enhances the visual harmony and usability of user interfaces.
Designing Back-end efficiency.
Equally challenging and more important is the backend functionalities for last mile delivery of user requirements while searching for information on products/services on your digital platform. From the required product/service search, ease of search, relevance of information retrieved and time lapse, all aspects of back-end functionalities will add up to the overall user experience.
Another important aspect of the software architecture is the database, where all the customer data is saved by the server. Data security and threats from cyber-attacks that can invade into user privacy has to be well protected while designing and implementing of the digital platform.
Methodology used to develop the product.
The approach is simply using the modern agile techniques, which are a crucial set of principles that a business needs to take into consideration while trying to accomplish its goals. The focus should be in building solutions that are based on personal experience, aspiration and multiple user feedback and keeping them simple, informative and open for changes.
Source: Business World
