It’s time to reflect

As with any product or startup, an entrepreneur should always seek to get insight from his clients about what is and what isn’t working. What areas of the product provide the most value to the customers and then relate all that back into the business strategy. Let’s reflect on positioning:

Yesterday proved to be one of those days. We were talking deeply over perhaps one too many beers with one of our clients about the service and value we offer. Then it dawned on me. We’re there. We’ve finally got our sweet spot, and now it’s time to grow.

For those of you who have been with us from the beginning you may remember some of our changes and iterations. From starting out as an agency, then pivoting to a design and development shop, to then slashing development work internally altogether, and then seeing the work we did was more about product consulting and execution, we lastly settled on building digital solutions – all this, from reflection and feedback, in approximately 12 months.

Where to go from here

While I feel we’re there, the question still lingers. do we reposition ourselves again? Do we change the way we talk about ourselves? Perhaps a bit, but based on client feedback, response to services and the work we do, I think this is it. At least for a while. You see, what we do is craft digital solutions, or in less marketing-esque speak, we are a product development consultancy. As they frame it quite perfectly, I’ll borrow from McKinsey’s book.

Responding to the digital challenge requires more than a sense of urgency and a new app. Effective digital strategy is based on facts, robust economics, astute business judgment and a pragmatic approach to the technology itself.

This is exactly what we do, not just design websites or iPhone apps. We vet and support digital businesses; we use market research data to understand whether the strategic decisions make sense, and when they do, then and only then do we begin production process.It’s a rigorous process, one that is always focused on a client’s objectives. A process where we deep dive into user stories, which we then turn into information architecture, then revise until each interaction has a purpose, and where that purpose is accomplishing whatever objectives were previously outlined. Be it growth, increased retention, new market entry, or an entirely new product from the get go.

Our secret sauce is the process, this is what serves as the architecture for each product, the tool that gets a business to where it needs to be. Though, like all complex tools, it too needs a set of instructions to use, which is why we provide our clients with strategic guidance and help them execute. We will never leave you out to dry. As my partner Valerie puts it, it’s design with reason.