We recently sat down with our CEO to get an update about U+ and how it has developed since its origins. Companies don’t always stay the same, and here you get a view into how to evolve while staying true to your original vision.
Why would you say this is an interesting time to interview you?
We recently experienced an especially introspective moment and thought we needed a fresh view on what we’re currently doing and how we should communicate it to our employees and our clients. We are now miles away from what we were up to in the very beginning.
And how would you define your company in the beginning?
In the beginning we were a collection of developers. We were a startup that was trying to find out who we were and where we belonged. We started building innovations for big corporations and also met startups that wanted us to build their websites and applications. Soon enough we realized that we didn’t necessarily want to build what these companies thought they wanted. They didn’t always have the experience to even know what they wanted. Instead of just taking their money, we helped advise them and build products together that users would actually use, while assisting with business plans and other pieces of the whole picture.
We became a startup that built startups. So, it’s rather self-reflexive, but the more we learned who we were, the more we could advise the companies we were helping.
That all sounds well and good. What were some difficulties you encountered?
We needed to plan better. We suddenly realized we had so much work that we were jammed up and needed to improve our processes and define our culture, which was until then determined simply by the small number of people in the company.
So it was a type of identity crisis?
I suppose you could say that. We had to realize and embrace our special position: we are not an incubator, we are not an accelerator. We are a startup studio that can also apply its lean process-oriented focus to helping corporations. We are the ski shop at the top of the mountain that supplies you with the gear to get you down the slope as smoothly as possible, ready for your next run.
And we had some success. We started to grow. Rapidly. Picture it as a kind of adolescence; a growth spurt with many pains.
After nine years and over 50 startups, we’ve grown up and are ready to accept mature life.
And you had to then redefine yourself again?
Yes, so we sat down and asked ourselves the basic questions: why, what, how, and how not. And more specifically: who do we want working on our teams? And who do we want our clients to be?
We discussed the U+ persona. We want to get more people who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and go the extra mile. Some of the best we have are ex-CEOs, so they know firsthand the crazy difficulties of building a startup. If mistakes are made, we work together as a team and solve them fearlessly. And we always learn.
Based on our new operating principles, we know exactly who we would like to work for and who we want on our teams and who is not a good fit. We now have the luxury of hiring people who are specifically great for the company. Going forward, we aim to hire hard and manage easy.
(You can read more about this process from our head of HR.)
Do you still serve the same client base?
Well, it’s not simply about finding startups or corporations. We have to find partners who will let us build products for end users — not clients who build it only for themselves and don’t respect the end user’s needs.
Do you feel you offer something different in this regard?
Yes. We can can develop high-quality digital products for corporations and startups, better, faster and for less money, all because of our hard-won experience. Where many companies just take your spec, which in the early phases you probably don’t have, and deliver your product with little understanding of your client or even testing along the way, we work with you on each phase; from prototyping, UX and design, testing, MVP, to massive scaling. Once again, we have a process that builds trust and understanding through gradual involvement. These also have to be projects that save time for the user, so people can focus on important things, like saving the planet and making the world a better place.
Is it hard to get the message across?
To stand out among your competition, especially in the US, you have to give people something for free and show them what you’re capable of. We recently created a free Startup Guide of our existing knowledge base, so people can see what we know and so those building startups can prevent themselves from making the same mistakes we did along the way.
And just as we evolve, the rest of the market of course does too. Clients increasingly push prices down and want things faster. We responded to the market by creating virtual assistants to help us out. We’re focusing more and more on AI to develop our products with a lean methodology more timely, efficiently, and error-free.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Know who you are as a company, what you can do for people, and keep your feet on the ground. See you next time.
