New Businesses: How we launch new products and scale up
Over two years ago I joined BeeTech, an infrastructure provider for cross border payments. In the beginning I was the only person in the Strategic Partnerships & Business Development area, business grew and today I lead an amazing team of seven rock stars.
Each one of the team members has a special set of skills that allow us to stay ahead of the game and launch new and disruptive products — I feel privileged and honored to work by and learn from them everyday. In order to develop new businesses we work close to the Product team. Alex Wright is my partner in crime, he is the Product Manager in charge of making our crazy ideas come true.
Alex is specialized in payments and since the beginning we have worked closely. I am always amazed by how brilliant Alex is, he is one of the most curious people I have ever met, and his curiosity also makes him an extremely fast learner. We always have crazy discussions about the future of the company, about the payment market and how to launch new businesses. Alex gets me. He gets that I want to change the world and that I am non apologetic when expressing my ideas. We are definitely a good team.
New Businesses
The decision of which direction to take, how to scale a product or launch new ones is never easy. It takes a lot to identify a new opportunity and that is why we always have an eye on what is happening on the market and put ourselves in a position of constant learning.
It takes a lot to identify a new opportunity
When we identify an opportunity we always go through a few steps. The first one is to research the market, understand the potential impacts, map possible competitors and analyze potential partners needed.This discovery process, done by the Strategic Partnerships team, provides us with the initial information we need to move forward.
Once we have gathered all this information we always check the legal impacts of what we are proposing and have a validation of ways we can put that project together. Needless to say, we work very closely with the legal and compliance teams. In such a regulated environment as the financial services one, understanding the legislation is essential to safeguard the product, the company and the customers.
A very important part of the process is validating the product market fit. Are we actually solving the client’s problem? This validation step is imperative to understand what the client thinks and how they feel about that product. For that, we hold workshops and deep dive interviews, in which we hear from potential clients and try to better understand their needs and pains. Once we identify clients actually need this product and there is a market to be addressed, we move forward with the project.
We then liaise with the tech team and understand the best architecture for that project. We always have to keep in mind that both the product’s architecture and commercialization should be agnostic. We cannot develop a new product with a specific use case in mind, that could mean future changes would be a burden and, as a lean startup, we cannot afford that.
Having the right partners is essential to make sure the product will be agnostic. We always look for partners that will allow us to offer new services to our clients, and that will also allow us to develop that product further, explore new use cases and adapt to future market needs. Finding the perfect partner is extremely important for the future of the company. Thus, the Strategic Partnerships team must understand in depth the goals of the company, what are the implications of this product and how it can help us achieve our goals.
I could say new businesses always feel a bit like a puzzle. You have this idea of what the final picture will be like, and it is your job to search and find for the right pieces that will, in the end, form the picture you see in your head.
Launching a New Product
Launching a new product always comes with high expectations. You have worked so hard to put all those pieces together, projected the impact on the market and the potential revenue and now it is time to make it come true. To prove all that hard work is going to be paid off.
This is a crucial time. Making sure the Business Development team has a deep understanding of the product and can find the right customers for it requires a lot of effort. The bizdev team needs to be in sync with both the product and the operational teams and communication should feel effortless — having such different teams so aligned on a common goal often seems like magic.
And so it finally begins. The meetings with potential clients, the NDAs exchanged, agreements signed, integrations completed, we go live with a partner and there it is. What you have been working on for so long is finally on the market and people can feel the impact of a product you helped put together. You help bring value to a market that for so many years had just a handful of players who believed more in making money than in helping improve citizens’ lives.
At BeeTech we believe every new product should change people’s lives and allow them to become global citizens. And that is only possible with the use of technology in order to provide faster, cheaper and more escalable products. That is the experience we seek to provide.
Open Payments
We have just launched a new product, an API for inbound transactions to Brazil. The product is so rich and has the potential to change the market. So many teams have been working hard to make this new business a success and I feel honored and proud to be part of it all. It is only the beginning of this new product, a lot still needs to be done, but I know it is going to be a real game changer for us, our clients and for the market.
I decided to write this text because I believe in magic. I believe in the power of teamwork and the amazing things that can come from it, and this new product sure shows that. It all started with Alex and I, then our teams got involved, and then the whole company. We are ready to cause an impact, to change the world, and to start it all over again with new ideas for products that will shape the payments industry.
Our hive is growing and you can be part of this journey too, check out our career opportunities:
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