Problem

Initially, Elango started executing on his idea by learning how to code.

Even with an engineering background, he quickly discovered that building a software platform would require extensive experience and expertise, not just in programming but also in product strategy, UX/UI design, and growth marketing.

Elango and the Blockchain Water team decided that to move forward with the idea and achieve their target speed to market, they needed to find a development partner who plays the role of their CTO, whose role is not only to code but to also advice on how to strategically prioritize features and systematically test the core business model.

In his search, Elango found Lean Start Lab; we were recommended to him by his fellow entrepreneur who was also building a startup in the smart city movement.

After a series of meetings discussing the vision and detailing the strategy to execute on the vision, both the Blockchain Water team and our team knew the partnership was a good fit.

In an interview, Elango shared his thoughts on our team:

Solution

Strategy

Our process starts with getting to know the entrepreneur and scoping out their idea. When we first met with Elango, he had big plans.

In fact, his idea was one of the most ambitious our team has taken on. He wanted a prototype which he could use to demonstrate his idea to potential users and investors, but he also wanted a wide array of features as well.

Our team advised Elango to lean down on the feature list since it was not realistic to build too many features for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), especially given the time constraint and the budget constraint.

From there, we worked together to define the main use cases for the platform, with the focus the value it can create for the target users. This was how we created a leaner feature list that only covered the essentials.

We then estimated the effort for the features in the leaner feature list.

Since the goal of the project is to only design and build just enough to convey the main value proposition of the platform and is not to build a fully functional product, we prioritized the features which were quick and easy to build which also clearly demonstrate to the key stakeholders how Blockchain Water would solve a well-known industry problem.

Design

With the finalized feature list for the project, we moved to the Design phase.

We started out with a whiteboarding session to sketch out the user journey. Fortunately, in the case of Blockchain Water, Elango was the target user: an civil engineer working in the water industry.

This made crafting a solution for people like him much easier because we had an end user in the room to guide the UX design process.

Throughout the whiteboarding session, we asked Elango guiding questions to help us envision what the user interface would look like and how the users would interact with the screens we sketched.

Using what we had learned during the session, we went to work creating the clickable prototype for Blockchain Water.

With the clickable prototype, we clearly visualized the main user flows:

1. Inputting datasets on the interface to run a water simulation

2. Specifying criteria for the specific simulation the user would run

3. Viewing the results of the simulation

Not only did this help Elango better understand and explain what his app does, but the clickable prototype also acts as a guide for development. The clickable prototype clarifies the logic of the user interactions and the user flow, perfectly preparing us to move on to the next phase.

Results

With the prototype, Elango began to demo his product concept to target users and potential buyers to gather feedback.

Not only did the demos generate interest in Blockchain Water, it also helped guide the next iteration of the platform by hearing from our target audience what they like and don’t like as well as what’s important to add and what’s not.

Using the traction and validation they gained from the demos, Elango and his team pitched Blockchain Water to Digital Sandbox KC, an economic development group who grants early-stage startups with proof-of-concept funding to build early versions of their product.

The pitch was a success!

Even though Blockchain Water is a rather technical and industry-specific product, the prototype helped clarify the product concept to the judges quickly, which gave Elango and the judges more time to dive deeper into other important aspects of the startup such as the revenue model, go-to-market strategy, and financial projections.

With a firm grasp on how the product works, who it’s for, and how it creates value, the judges saw Blockchain Water as a scalable, high-growth technology startup, which is exactly the type of startup they look to fund.

Digital Sandbox announced Blockchain Water as 1 of the 3 grant winners of Q1 2019. Blockchain Water will receive $20,000 to fund the development of their MVP.

Summary

Within 3 months, here are what Blockchain Water and Lean Start Lab accomplished together:

• Lean feature list

• Feasibility research

• Definition of demo-able prototype

• Demos to target users and potential customers to gauge interest

• Definition of Minimum Viable Product

• Pitch to Digital Sandbox

• $20,000 in proof-of-concept funding for MVP development project