"Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can."
– Paul Tournier

It is frequently said in startup circles that an idea is worth exactly nothing: what really matters is the execution. We were, however, approached by an investor group that had only one the former ready. They came up with one business opportunity, one idea, that they thought could be interesting to investigate and build a company around.

Without taking sides in the idea-or-execution debate, we have seen it many times that startups with a great idea but without a solution for execution are indeed in trouble. Hence, we wanted to build something future proof. Instead of creating a prototype and releasing it into the wild, our approach was to establish a feedback machine. A methodology to create an initial product, and keep improving the offering as long as the startup finds product-market fit.

The building blocks for the feedback machine are simple:

  1. Come up with a single idea to test
  2. Test that idea: establish the metrics, then add a measurable feature to the prototype, ask the users, or simply put out the product for sale.
  3. Gather data and draw conclusions: confirm or reject the initial assumptions
  4. Repeat as many times as needed

The prototype was ready within a month, the project managers started to generate ideas, collect feedback and acquire clients. The feedback machine was grinding ideas for long months, until one day the startup started to show signs of reaching product-market fit. By the time one of the project managers was ready to take on the CEO hat. Since the more expensive research & development phase was already over, we could transfer the ongoing development and maintenance works to cheaper outsource partners.

With the established best practices and documentation already in place, finding partners and handing over the technology took less than a month. From start to finish, creating a brand new tech startup and putting it onto its on two feet, the complete journey took just about a year.

We don't share names in these case studies – while we are proud of our clients and their stories, we respect their privacy and business. For references, please get in touch with us directly.