I have recently been working with a couple of start-up businesses who are going through a first phase of testing.

This is an interesting, scary, exiting, exhausting time for start-up entrepreneurs as they grapple to come to terms with how the market actually responds to their proposition.

Here’s a check list of learnings and out-takes I have picked up

– Keep the focus on usability and service – back end technical efficiency can follow later

– Test early and test as much as possible

– Don’t start testing unless you have enough resource to implement the learnings very quickly

– Don’t let technology be a barrier – simulate technology to understand its likely effectiveness

– Minimise the barriers to customers exploring your product or service even if this makes their overall experience seem more onerous in the longer term

– Being all over any customer response at all is essential

– Be agile

That’s it for now, but I’m sure I will find more things to add to the list in the next few weeks.

Are you working in the start-up arena?  If you’re interested to talk more about these issues then drop me a line – norman.comfort@getcomfortable.co.uk

startups