How Did We Develop a Techstars Portfolio Startup in the Middle of the War?
I would never have thought that in 2022, russia would start a full-scale war against Ukraine. Just as I could not have assumed that under these circumstances, we would be able to build one of our most successful cases. But that's exactly what happened.
Well, let's start from the beginning.
It all started when we met Stevens Bohnomme through LinkedIn in November 2021. He was an enthusiastic man who had a promising idea of creating a one-stop-shop helping freelancers network and collaborate easier. Stevens' primary request was to estimate how much time and money it would take to build such a CRM system that would combine the functionality of the 3 competitors.
Firstly, it seems to us quite a huge project with a rough estimation of 1.5 years to develop web and mobile solutions. However, as once upon I was a freelancer myself, coping with many boring tasks such as legal agreements, proposals, invoices, and additional negotiations with other specialists outside the freelance platforms, I understood that pain. That is why I saw the potential in Stevens' vision and wanted to help him analyze the idea to bring it to life as soon as possible.
To figure out and polish Stevens' ideas into a specification document with all acceptance criteria for the product, we introduced him to Olena Bochulia, CodeLions' Business analyst. After 2 weeks of the Discovery phase Stevens got such deliverables as a Pitch Deck for investors, a Clickable Figma prototype of the main features, a UI/UX and logo design, an Architectural diagram of the solution, and by default development quote from our tech team. Stevens was free to use these artifacts to get more quotes from other vendors, which he actually did but ultimately selected to work with us. And I am very happy and proud that CodeLions became his choice then.
Development, which was finally estimated as 7 months of work, began in January 2022. Our team took full responsibility for the tech side of the process, while Stevens focused on securing investments and pitching to investors using the clickable prototype. We had a detailed plan in place and expected to deliver the finished product earlier than anticipated due to the extensive documentation (over 120 pages) and preparation we had done.
As always, we had a BCP plan developed for the different scenarios that could impact platform delivery. However, nobody could be fully prepared for the russian invasion of Ukraine. CodeLions team had treated the project as their own and had gone above and beyond to ensure its success. So when we were faced with this challenge, it just one more time showed our unity, organization, and determination. CodeLions managed to push through and resume work after just 3 days and delivered the project still 3 months ahead of schedule. This dedication and commitment paid off when Stevens gained traction and sign-ups even before the main marketing campaign. That is how the story of Feedcoyote's success began.
What happened next? We received early feedback from the first customers, which allowed us to pivot the solution and enhance its features to meet the needs of our target market. Our team also proposed converting an existing website into a mobile application using a hybrid development stack, which enabled us to get the first version of the mobile app in just a few weeks and keep iterating on it.
However, Stevens was struggling to get approval from accelerators as a Solo non-tech Founder. That is when I stepped in to help him convince investors as a CTO and Team tech leader at Feedcoyote. After a few tries, we got accepted by Techstars, the top accelerator in the world. Right now, we are going through the program Techstars 23’ Atlanta powered by J.P. Morgan together, meeting a lot of open-minded Founders, Investors, and Mentors.
My Key Takeaways From This Case
- Finding the right Tech Partner with an effective and experienced team rather than building your own team from scratch would save you a lot of resources and give you an opportunity to focus on the business growth.
- The right team will treat the project as its own, care about its success, and be willing to work with it through any challenges.
- An effective team is one that consists of people who ask questions and think outside the box.
- Communication is a key to Startup success. Making sure that there are no gaps between team members’ project understanding is the main responsibility of the Leader. Remember that your Tech Partner should be open and transparent while the team should be responsive and available to provide updates on project progress.
- Experience and expertise really matter. The more projects and challenges the team has passed, the better and more effective it is. Such vendors will be able to provide qualitative guidance on the best technology solutions for your business needs.
- The earlier and cheaper feedback from the target market you receive, the more resources you will get to improve it. Do not try to build the best solution from the first shot. Maybe, there is simply no need for this.
I would never have thought that in 2022, russia would start a full-scale war against Ukraine. Just as I could not have assumed that under these circumstances, we would be able to build one of our most successful cases. But that's exactly what happened.