The journey so far … DesignString 3.0

Like any young blood who has worked in the industry for a couple of years and is eager to test out new waters, I too started my venture, DesignString in 2014 merely out of passion. Passion for running a business on my own, passion for design and technology and passion for making it big. Little did I know that entrepreneurship involved a lot more than the glamour it is associated with. Doing what I am good at (Front-end design and development), I managed to get a few projects and was, fortunately, handsomely paid for them too. With more projects coming my way, I eventually added more hands and grew up to a team size of 30. But the absence of a well-thought business model started showing its effect and I was unable to sustain the growth beyond a certain point.

Some of the many challenges (in hindsight, I will call them opportunities) that presented themselves at that time:

Lack of focus & identity

We were a ‘design agency’ for some clients, for some a ‘development studio’, while others thought of us as a ‘design + tech’ shop. Accordingly, the projects that came our way varied from website design to mailers, from marketing banners to full-stack custom application development, from e-commerce portals to mobile apps, etc. We were unsure of our own identity and this showed in the kind of projects we attracted.

Lack of constant cashflow

As we were juggling with too many clients in various stages of growth, cashflow became a major hurdle. We had startups who were in the middle of funding or themselves in financial problems. Some of our clients were enthusiastic individuals trying to fund their venture via personal savings and earnings. Money became a constant problem so much so that for some months paying my teammates on time became a major issue.

Lack of clients’ business purpose

For a service-based organization, a client’s business purpose is very important. If you are associated with something big, you will be big. If your client is confused about their business purpose, so will you be. We had a tough time realizing this.

Lack of experience as a team

Our team comprised mainly of freshers and people with just a couple of years’ experience in the industry. As such we lacked the business expertise which only experience can bring. However, this has paid-off in the long run. We have been fortunate to have a relatively lower attrition rate since the very beginning. The people who believed in DesignString are spearheading the organization now. Needless to say, we had a difficult time with people who didn’t believe in us but got on board for some reason.

The lessons learnt in my journey so far:

During these 5 years, I have learnt many lessons as an entrepreneur. Sharing 3 key ones below:

Find the purpose behind the business

The business world is moving towards being purpose-driven — product with a purpose, service with a purpose. We at DesignString now stick to our core strengths — Design, Interaction design / UI / UX Design. We are taking a holistic approach to drive results through design.

Process matters!

The right process gives a method to the madness that entrepreneurship is about and ultimately helps in the realization of your business purpose. Today as we grow, we are getting more and more process-oriented. Sadly, many businesses still have not realized the importance of having the right process in place.

It’s about the people

It takes a village to run a business! And that village includes both your customers and your team. What your customers think and feel about your business is a crucial part of the game. As the business makes its purpose clear, like-minded people align automatically and bring a lot more to the table.

Our achievements so far …

• We have delivered projects even up to +$350K budget ( single project )
• We have helped multiple startups to put their initial product out and raise funds ( Angel )
• We have worked with industry experts to executives and parallelly learnt from them a lot
• We have built strong relationships, with whom we are still working and continue to work in future
• We have solid 10+ core team members, who believe in DesignString and ready to do whatever it takes to make it great
• We have huge experience around working with early, growing and mature businesses
• We have understood the digital product lifecycle better

The journey continues …. We call it DesignString 3.0