Our first high-level step when considering the creation of a new startup is to “design” it. Design typically involves a broad cross-section of considerations not least the product idea’s current business model and state, gap analysis to determine meaningful modifications which could move the business model to a better future state; CX and UX analysis, UI prototyping; determining market-fit, competitor analysis; pricing, and financial analysis. This helps us determine if architecting the startup product is worthwhile.

STARTUP EXAMPLE: Marketing/CX platform. Our desire to create referral marketing stemmed from our own issues when working on subscription-based ecommerce projects. Most advertising is dominated by Meta, Google, and so forth; while most referral marketing SaaS was fairly expensive. We perceived a “gap” and potential market opportunity to design a unified platform with two initial SaaS products – (1) allowing merchants to create referral coupons with rewards, and (2) automate payouts to influencers.