UX where UX is needed - Fast and right in line with the most startup-pertinent & strategic needs
Challenge
Startups are more and more becoming aware of the impact of UX. (Recently popularized in book form by Eric Ries' Lean Startup). In many cases, you do not succeed unless you are capturing the right user experience. We are seeing UX firms working with VCs, becoming service partners, and even incubating startups (e.g., Threadflip) -- We're doing all three!
Approach
Startup success through user experience can occur with great design, well thought out feature workflows, making sure you are meeting the users' real needs, and validating early-stage products. Through office hours, workshops, advice, and larger (yet still nimble) engagements, we do our best to provide the most needed UX support and push startups along a path of continued UX success. We've even been cited as part of the reason some startups got new rounds of funding, which is quite humbling to be recognized as such, but we really just try to enable startups to succeed themselves, with wherever we can help make a difference.
There are myths of User Experience that need to be broken to get started with startup UX. So startups out there (and really any size company), AVOID THESE!!
- UX is only design -- UX is, 1) understanding your users, 2) yes some design, and also 3) validating what you built. But that is only the very core fundamentals. UX is more of a process to be fully baked into your overall development and business processes to fully realize the potential of truly delivering outstanding user experience.
- The "Genius" designer -- Steve Jobs was not a designer. He was an great orchestrator, who cared a lot about design. Jonathan Ive is a designer (hint, Apple's main designer, if you didn't know). Here's bigger hints: Apple has dozens of UX professionals throughout the company, and a comprehensive company culture brought up across two decades to integrate design thinking into all aspects of the business. Build a process. Invest in UX. But don't fall for the myth that you have to find a genius designer. They don't exist. You'll waste your time and money trying, and ultimately miss other facets of UX that could likely help you more.
- Only UX professionals can do UX -- We could lie about this to benefit ourselves. But, have you talked to a user? Then you've done UX. The mechanics really aren't that hard. The challenge and skill is in knowing how to interpret the information and what to do with it. Professionals take years to master their craft, but you can get useful information on day 1. We can help guide you, but get out there and do it!
- UX is expensive -- It can be. If you have big products and big challenges and big dreams, then you better be prepared to invest in UX. But that's invest into your process, your way of thinking, and start with the small things like just talking to your users. As your UX emphasis grows, you can, and should, invest in more UX. But UX can adapt to your needs as efficiently or ambitiously as necessary.
