Hey all! Several months ago we launched "DesignCue: a global network of app and web designers." Today, we're taking one step further in helping founders build a startup. With a network of talent product managers and designers, 0-to-startup provides a first-time founder with an actionable plan, branding, app prototyping, marketing material, and a plan for development all for $15k in 30 days. We've brought in some really talented folks who have helped fledgeling startups and big companies build business.
This is a fascinating idea to find non-tech founders (I suspect tech founders will want to bootstrap most of this work, for better or worse) and get the idea rolling...
The main question I have for @prestonattebery is simple: what's next? Is the outcome of the projects get it to a stage where the founder can seek funding? Is it additional investment to get into MVP? Is it to get to customer development with the prototypes? I left the site hungry for understanding the outcome of the $15k investment - which should be more than a product development plan - but an actual product outcome, which may be a MVP, or at least a customer development/market verification via prototypes.
Very exciting idea though, and good luck starting the 16th!
@cancom10 Good question! The answer and outcome is very nuanced. We don't do MVPs or full products. We don't code, we only do the thinking and design before a product is built. This is an extremely valuable step but often overlooked in startup culture. Tech authorities like Y Combinator preach building first and failing fast. But, for someone who doesn't code, rushing into dev can kill your startup. Once you engage a dev or dev team, you're out at least a few thousand dollars. A project like ours allows us to focus the founder's idea, validate it with years of experience, and produce the fundamental brand design to make their idea real. From here, they can move directly into development with a validated plan and a headstart on design. This will not only save you cost with the dev shop, but will prevent needless pivot after pivot. Why fail fast when you can get it right the first time and build from there?
You mentioned in a couple of answers here that the idea and design will be validated: I would like to know how the validation takes place? Will there be user testing covered with the plan? How are the ideas validated within the 30 days?
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Congrats on the taking the next step @prestonattebery! Any criteria you guys use for selecting the companies you get involved with? And have you played around with the idea of equity compensation?
@masonlevy Not open to equity for this one, but the selection process is pretty subjective. It needs to be a product idea, but aside from that we need to be sure of adding real value by rallying behind the founder and their idea to make it a reality!
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Getting a product right in 30 days? How do you ensure that? That's impossible. There is only 1 party which will benefit from this - which is you. definitely not the client!
I would be interested to learn more about the success rate of outsourcing this kind of work. Additionally, I'm curious as to what you offer these companies-in-a-box after day 30. It's a terribly costly approach in the long run for your customers, since they are, for the most part, not going to be developers to begin with. In the wise words of Zappos CEO Tony Tsieh, "Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them."
@rueter We've seen great success in past projects with our outsourced model. More info here: www.designcue.io / Secondly, we understand its a considerable amount of money. However, we believe our approach can save founders thousands of dollars as they use our assets to validate their idea.
For a product plan, branding, marketing, wireframes, prototypes, and plan for development, we think $15k is reasonable!
Gigster is charging $30k for a basic product. If you brought them our assets after 30 days, you'd have huge savings as all they'll need to do is code it. The decisions and features have already been tested and decided.
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I appreciate the energy here, but many of these services aren't worth spending on until after an idea is proven out. Curious about how these services were curated, I am.
@kkdub Perhaps. No service can guarantee success but every business is the same in many ways. For instance, every company needs a logo. Every product needs time spent thinking through the problem and then the solution. If you don't code, yet you go straight to a dev shop and say "build me this," chances are, if you're a first-time founder, that your first product will be a flop. Through 0-to-startup, founders will be able to validate their idea (in part) with product managers who have 10 years of product experience. We believe this collaboration is extremely valuable.
On top of that, founders will get a complete branding package, marketing materials for launch, and working prototypes todo in-person user testing or pitching to investors. Its not everything, but its a jump start!
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