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Tales of mystery and adventure from the start up world

uxaustralia
August 28, 2014

Tales of mystery and adventure from the start up world

Startups are peculiar and how UX fits in (if indeed, at all…) is nebulous. Hilary will share her insights and approaches, failures and successes when working in this strange frontier.

by Hilary Cinis, from UX Australia 2014

uxaustralia

August 28, 2014
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  1. A story about designer hubris Hilary Cinis
 
 Principal UX

    and UX Manager, NICTA @hi1z My adventures in Australian Startup Land
  2. What is a Startup? “A startup is a company working

    to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed” 
 ~ Neil Blumenthal, cofounder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.
  3. What is a Startup? “… a huckster and a hacker”

    
 ~ Startup founder, CeBIT 2014 University educated Have a degree Aged 35 - 45 Andrew Stead Aaron McNeilly Male
  4. Ignored customers No market need, offering is too niche, not

    fit for purpose Bad marketing, competitors are more aggressive Ran out of cash, team runs out of steam No business model, no scalability, gaps in the strategy (devil in the detail) Bad timing No passion, loss of perspective, poor leadership, no focus Failure to pivot, market shifts Poor product, concepts instead of products Bad or wrong advice George Deeb, Forbes Steve Tobak, Invisor Costing ChubbyBrain Oliver Milman, Startsmart Hilary Cinis, NICTA Reasons for Failure (no particular order)
  5. Watched pitches at Tech23, iATP 22 founder interviews Followed blogs

    and articles 3 VC and early start interviews Read Eric Ries and Steve Blank Optimistic picture of
 an optimistic designer Read Startup Genome Report Commercialisation attempts at NICTA
  6. Propositions and Customers A lot of propositions were unclear There

    was very little information about customers 
 ~ Pitches at Tech23 ~ Interviews at Tech23, CeBIT 2014 and Incubators/Accelerators 2013 - 14 Insight
  7. 
 UX is assumed just like the business plan is


    (customer evaluation doesn’t come up) VC/Angels Insight
  8. Subject Matter Experts “I had been working in company/industry/position
 for

    five/six/seven years and can do it better” 
 ~ Pitches at Tech23 ~ Interviews at Tech23, CeBIT 2014 and Incubators/Accelerators 2013 - 14 Insight
  9. Build first “Yep, here’s our demo. 
 Tech guy is

    coding on it, right now” ! “What do you think of my site design” ! ~ Interviews at Tech23, CeBIT 2014
 ~ Incubators/Accelerators 2013 - 14 Insight
  10. Building is how they express themselves Lean Startup is a

    culture they cannot deviate from They are learning to run a business Its a race Contraints
  11. Coaching course - quick intro to UX basics - proposition

    creation - writing user stories - when to talk to customers - needs evaluation - setting benchmarks for testing - fitting it into the BCM - time boxed focus of usable assets
  12. Changed it from “UX” 
 to “Product” Presentation x2 Internal,

    Incubators 2013 - 14 Total Participants 70 Workshop 1 x2 UI review request UI review request UI review request 1 UI review 1 No Show Feedback survey - ignored Workshop 2 x2 Workshop 3 x2 Submission - ignored time to quit Coaching course
  13. Changed it from “UX” 
 to “Product” Presentation x2 Workshop

    1 x2 Workshop 4 UI review request UI review request UI review request 1 UI review 1 No Show Accelerated UX Framework requested Feedback survey - ignored Workshop 2 x2 Workshop 3 x2 Submission - ignored Internal, Incubators 2013 - 14 Total Participants 70 Coaching course
  14. What I’ve observed Connections are highly valued Sales and marketing

    activities over product design They are chasing a dream Some are doing UX organically Insight
  15. What I’ve observed UX is directly related to business maturity

    UX is directly related to startup offering type Luck and timing are really significant It is improving, but… Insight
  16. How to help Teach them how to gather and evaluate


    quality feedback Support their drive to market while doing UX too Recommend a UX design book or course re customer insights Be immersed for a period of time Be a conduit