The 50 Shades of Scaling for Startups

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Scalinghi! We all have such great ideas, so many bright decisions, but why more of them don’t work in real life? Something is going wrong when you kick off own startup… Mark Turrell, our valuable client, the experienced founder and author of the book “Scaling: Small Smart Moves for Outsized Results” told us why. He shared his own tips and tricks on Webinar which we held previous week. Also we invited Eugene Tooz, our Senior PM at Seductive for discussing how to scale your mobile startup. So, you might be wondering…

For everybody who likes to read — Presentation P.1, Presentation P.2

Who likes to watch

We prepared the short resume of the Webinar

Statistic shows that number of mobile app downloads is more than 149.3bn. in 2016, and there are 2.8 mln apps available on Google Play Store in March 2017. The latest data from Yahoo’s Flurry analytics shows that 90 percent of consumer’s mobile time is spent in apps. It’s an App world. So what do you need to do with your startup for getting mlns downloads, for scaling your app or business idea?

Here is the 5 Main Steps to Scale at Seductive team and we are sure that you should follow them:

1. IDEA

As we had said, there are a lot of great startup ideas in the world. But if you do not check the idea, who knows how it will work. How you can be sure that your hypothesis will bring you results in real life. When the customers come to us, we prefer to define the proof of concept why their apps will be downloaded by users, based on the own analysis and expertises.

2. DISCOVERY PHASE

Try to get a sample of your product idea. For example we visualize customer’s ideas by using BPMN diagrams and based on outputs provide the interactive prototype. It allows to specify the brief, try out our collaboration and demo it to colleagues, customers, and investors. Such approach enables all parties to stay on the same page. In the end, client will get a detailed product specification plan with the interactive wireframe that can be precisely estimated.

3. FIXED PRICE

You should make transparent conditions for users. We use Scrum framework, have some meetings for sprint start, demo, retrospective and so on. On average it takes about 3–4 sprints to launch an MVP on AppStore or Google Play.

4. MARKET FEEDBACK

Recently, we have developed the useful Ambiotex app. Gathering and analyzing statistics are crucial for fitness tracker app. The statistics screen reflect the personal performance with all calories burned due to device on the T-shirt, that communicates with App via Bluetooth. It’s really important for users and has allowed us to get boom on market.

5. DEDICATED TEAM

You should take care of team which works on your product. We provide product updates on same sprint basis, sometimes for next few years. If customer has an app, built by other development company, we can also take it on our support and further development.

Eugene Tooz, our Senior BA Seductive

“The main rule of scaling your startup is аlways keep in touch with users. Be sure that with your decision customers feels like a winner. Only after that launch the development”

When are you ready to scale? Main Theses by Mark Turrell

1. FEEDBACK FROM CUSTOMERS/ USERS

• Work out your customer persona before you start to guide development.
• Look for qualitative input NOT.
• Look for moments of inspiration for features.
• Store feedback in a common place — Trello.
• Listen to people saying ‘No’ — but don’t always believe them!

2. KEEP MOVING THE PRODUCT ALONG

• It’s all about execution.
• Deadlines.
• Milestones.
• Accountability.
• Good communication.
• Knowledge sharing.

3. NARROW VISION COMBINES WITH THE BIG PICTURE

• Divide up big picture into shorter term goals.
• Need big vision to inspire.
• Need short term to deliver and prove credibility.

Mark Turrell, CEO Vork & Orcasci, author of business books

“My recommendation: Be open minded, be flexible — but stick to the goal. And then you will be ready to Scale…”