Unlocking the power of design in the African startup-ecosystem.
Startups are in the business of solving problems with innovative solutions, which is by definition design. It is therefore critical for startups to adopt a design-thinking approach to solving problems in the most nascent stages of their business. In an ideal world, having a product-design unicorn as part of the founding team would greatly benefit startups. The fact for African startups is that this is not always possible, as product-design unicorns are either hard to find or don’t actually exist. But, there is hope — startup teams can still benefit from using the problem-solving approaches that the design industry has refined over the years. The question that comes to mind after having said all this is, “why is it so important to adopt a design-thinking approach at this early stage of a startup’s life? More importantly, why are we still talking about design-thinking in 2020 — surely everyone has already taken an online course? To answer this question I’ll start with a quick weather forecast.
It’s raining innovation in the African continent and startups are sprouting everywhere.
The main idea is to have design-thinking as an available decision-making tool for startup teams, and the second part is to help startup teams set up processes and frameworks that will allow design-thinking to succeed and scale. Why? I dream of an Africa where every startup is founded on the solid foundation of customer-centricity (I had my fist up for that one). The reality is that this may not be such a ridiculous dream after all as the survival of most businesses is starting to rely heavily on their level of customer-centricity.
I reflect on my own experience with helping build a successful and fast-growing startup in proptech to draw both inspiration and strategic insights on how design-thinking can help startups succeed. Behind this rosey backdrop of how successful startups win, is a great deal of value that came out of all the failed products that I helped break. Because I’m such a nice guy, I will protect the integrity of these products under the umbrella name of ‘digital financial products’.
I recently started a new product design role with a venture development company, Founders Factory Africa. Our goals are big, audacious and aligned. We are building and scaling 140 startups across Africa in the next 5 years. That is 140 potential customer-centric companies and founding teams across the continent — you can imagine how happy this makes me.
In preparation for this role (which is obviously very challenging), I did some reading about what it means to be a designer at a Venture Capital company. I quickly started noticing some challenges in practice when applying the same kind of thinking to the African context. The maturity of design in African early-stage startups is behind western markets, which most of my reading relied on as a source of information. In response to bridging this gap, FFA has an approach that I find intriguing and innovative. Co-building, which in essence means giving startups hands-on support to bridge a skills deficit gap as a form of hedging… you know what, simply explained, ‘teach a man to fish’. In my first few weeks, product designers have already demonstrated massive potential for adding value to our startups, their founding teams and Founders Factory Africa. A few weeks in and I can already gloat about some small successes!
Building rapport with startup teams
Founders Factory Africa’s venture scale programme is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for startups — they benefit from hands-on support in all aspects required to build and scale a startup. For the purpose of this article, I want to zoom into the role of the product designer and how they build trust and add value to startups. Even before entry into FFA’s venture scale programme, startups start benefiting from the product design talent. Initial engagements with product designers are quite intimate. Side-by-side, we help startup teams refine their decks ensuring they tell a compelling story and crystallise their value proposition. ‘Oh, so you’re a glorified deck polisher?’ Yes, but wait it gets interesting. This engagement also gives us a window to understanding the business, to start diagnosing possible gaps and identifying opportunities for growth. For the most part, this is where we start to build rapport with the founding teams. We need to build trust quickly with the founding team if we are to help them in a meaningful way. Design adds exceptional value and should contribute as a source of deal flow, and frankly we are not there yet. Here’s how I think we can get there!
Highlighting the value of design
In most cases, startups walk into our doors with no expectation for product design beyond the humdrum making ‘things look pretty’ capability we have become well known for. On the bright side, this is a great conversation starter. “Can I help make your pitch deck prettier?” usually ends in a session about enhancing content, structure and key messaging which is used to clarify the value proposition. The aim is to demonstrate the impact that design can have on a startup pitch as a first move. After startups have taken their new shiny decks for a spin with our investor committee, we move from the wet fish shake to bear hugs. My hypothesis is that all startups (including those that don’t enter the Venture Scale programme) continue using these new decks, and probably do better. I am yet to find proof, but trust me, avid article reader — I’ll make sure you’re the first to know.
Founding teams would benefit from understanding the value of design-thinking early on, this would help to ensure that they set up the necessary environment that enables design-thinking to have the most valuable impact on their business.
What are startups founders most interested in and how will design-thinking help them get it?
For me to answer this question I will need to speak a language startups understand — ‘raising’. Turning ‘design-speak’ to tangible value or should I say ‘raising-speak’ is only the first and easy part of the supposed solution. As I set out on my journey, here are my initial thoughts on how this can be done. Side note: now switching to ‘raising-speak’.
Good design will help you raise money
Some progress has already been made at this point and a clear value proposition and killer deck will surely improve your chances at raising funding. Even if this is not the next move for the startup, we rest assured knowing we have transferred the storytelling wizardry from our talented team. The basis for the assertion made on that last statement is our playbook that we’ve dubbed, ‘The founder’s guide to a winning pitch’ which we share with our startups to ensure our collective expertise is available on demand.
Design will help scale your startup
Design-thinking as a diagnostic tool can unlock hidden value that can help startups scale as I’ve seen in my previous life. By considering all the conditions of the problem, startups can crystallise customer pain-points and uncover hidden opportunities. My role as a product designer is to equip startups with the tools they need to find the strategic insights that will help unlock business value. Simply put, I help startups identify which levers they need to pull in order to unlock business value.
Design will help increase market share
Designing products and services that are more useful to more people is a great way to capture a bigger market. Designing for accessibility can be often seen as a charitable act for the permanently disabled or elderly. I would argue that designing for accessibility is designing for scalability and a bigger market, some of which are currently unserviced. Moreover, this approach increases the chance of discovering these unserviced customer segments.
Design as a tool for saving money
Prototyping and testing is a great tool for making sure that money is being spent on the right things. I like to define this as the art of being as wrong as possible, as early as possible and as cheaply as possible. Most importantly, this helps to quickly identify potential waste which is important for a cash strapped early-stage startup.
Design will help your start-up to be defensible
Startups are burning quicker through the time available to deliver value in a unique way, this time is becoming shorter as technology becomes easier to replicate. Superior customer experience and a strong brand will determine who has a competitive advantage as the market becomes crowded with similar products and services.
Self-solving problems
Design-centered companies equip people closest to customers with the tools required to gather information about said customers. More importantly, the ability to distil insights into meaningful solutions or highlight problems that other teams can help solve. This creates a customer obsessed team and a superior customer experience that is self-healing and continuously improving.
Overflow of great ideas
Design-thinking democratises idea generation, allowing a flow of ideas informed by the customer’s needs to originate from everywhere in the business. It unlocks the creative power of the entire company.
Reducing stakeholder friction
The value of design-thinking lies in its ability to constantly remind us who we are trying to help with our solutions and work outwards from that starting point. It also encourages frequentative engagement and participation with everyone who’s key to making experiences meaningful, productive and profitable. This fosters a culture of empathy for everyone, including stakeholders. Having everyone involved in the process of building and scaling the business reduces friction and creates a unified vision.
Design-thinking makes hiring easy
Having empathy drive decisions in a business means everyone is considered, including employees. Design-centered companies treat hiring and culture with the same empathy that they use with their customers, and is an essential ingredient for attracting talent into an organisation. Having a clear and unified vision also ensures that your company speaks to the right people that want to be part of that vision.
Enabling informed risk taking
The designer’s toolbox has an arsenal of research tools that can be used to uncover insights, which can in most cases aid a startup in risk reduction. I would need to write another article on this topic, but I’m sure someone already has. The point I’m making here is simple. Look before you cross the street.
Sustainable companies are the new sexy and you want in
Design can enable sustainable and responsible innovation, which has real-world positive impact and differentiates a brand. This can be done by considering the impact of the experiences we create in all aspects across its lifespan. You’ll soon be on your way to becoming a B-Corp.
Enough raising-speak, some final thoughts
The role of a product designer at a venture development company is an interesting one to say the least. Wielding the power to inject a culture for design to thrive in business from the very beginning is both exciting and scary. I believe there’s no higher design title you can hold that is more prestigious, than the opportunity to play a role in creating the future you want to see.
It’s late and I’ve run out of coffee, but before I go, here are some stats on the successes I have had so far.
A total of 3 bear hugs, 2 very firm handshakes, 2 selfies, 1 Whatsapp contact and I’m sitting at 100% for founder happiness. Not doing bad at all. Leave a comment below, tell me what you think. This is only the beginning of my journey. I’m confident the future will be full of learning which I will of course share.
