ROLE:

UX RESEARCH, DESIGN, PROJECT MANAGEMENT

COMPANY:

SKALEUP VENTURES INC

CASE STUDY: INCONSCIOUS

The following case study is a glimpse into the creation of a solution to the problems in the startup ecosystem. The initial platform was called GetVested, below I explain the process and why we pivoted to... INCONSCIOUS, a discovery tool for #conscioustech startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The latest video prototype of IN Conscious.

PROBLEM INSPIRATION

Only 2% of MENA startups were funded in 2017.
There is a copycat & risk-aversive investment landscape.
As in emerging markets everywhere, it's difficult for startups to get access to global resources and investment.

I started working on this project end of 2016 when it was just a very far off idea on a phone call. My role since has been to take these problems and turn the solutions into a prototype.

*Besides the final UI, and ideating with my cofounder, I created everything.

Startup persona implemented in the original structure of GetVested.

RESEARCH

At the discovery phase of the project, I conducted user semi-structured interviews with early stage startup founders, venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors in order to get a qualitative grasp of the problems they were facing. We were looking to understand our users better for our initial interviews. We wanted to find out "How might we reduce the time it takes for startups to get funding". And "How do investors currently find startups and would they invest in startups abroad?".

Other methods

Thematic analysis of interview data

Competitive analysis of other platforms

Pitch deck analyses

Personas (Startups & Investors)

Usability tests (at every level of fidelity)

Example of thematic analysis of interview data.

Highlights

VCs say it's difficult to find talent worth investing in.
Startups spend 30-40 hours a week customizing pitch decks.
Investors in Egypt spend up to four-weeks on due diligence. In a country like Egypt, due diligence is a bureaucratic mess.
Participants: 12 Startup founders and 8 Investors.

“What about a startup management tool? I want to know which startup I contacted and where we left off.”

— Investor

Problem for startups:

They spend too much time trying to get the attention of investors by sending cold emails, looking for referrals and customizing pitch decks. Too much time wasted at events.

Problem for investors:

They can’t find the startups they are actually looking for because there's a lack of awareness of who’s out there. And the startups they do find are not ready ( e.g. unprepared with documentation).

Original idea wireframe, above: the registration process for investors. This part of the flow was iterated on the most because of its critical position in a user flow.

Pre-pivot (GetVested): The registration chatbot that creates the first element of your profile, a timeline of your startup.

TEST & ITERATE

Based on the results from the research, we brainstormed and narrowed down the requirements for the platform based on user feedback, market fit and feasibility. I then wireframed the concepts (some seen above) then revisited the initial pool of participants. Below are some questions that we needed to answer as a result.

How might we encourage startups to register to another platform?

Registering on a new platform, can be a long and painful form-filling nightmare. Many founders mentioned the dread of having to fill-in their information YET AGAIN on a networking site. To inspire startups to tell us their story we used an interview type chatbot experience to (similar to Pitchbot.vc to start their registration in a painless way (see image above).

How might we instigate communication by investors to startups?

Offer rewards to investors for communicating, mentoring and following startups. The more information the investor has about a startup the more likely they are to invest. Communication breeds transparency which allows for trust.

At the cusp of development and our final round of investor interviews we realized we needed to address a major problem. Our results showed that in many cases, the investors are NOT the ones doing the initial filtration of startups...

it's MILLENNIAL ANALYSTS.

IMPLEMENTATION

At this point we had to redesign the platform with a newly added target group. So we went back to the drawing board and ultimately changed the name and the core product. Out with the dynamic pitch deck and in with engaging videos. This leads us to the current platform, highlighting video content in a social network format. Fast, digestible and millennial-friendly.