So your startup is funded. Now what? If you’re ready to transition from an MVP to a full-scale launch, how can you meet near-term objectives and ensure the company is meeting investor expectations? The simple answer is to do everything you can to maximize each dollar and minimize risk by making smart product decisions from the start.
How startups fail to create long-term growth and achieve product success
The not-so-simple answer is a bit more complex. Every early-stage startup leader is trying to make the best decisions for their company, but many end up taking too long and allocating funds to the wrong place. A CB Insights study found that 38% of failed startups ran out of cash and/or were unable to raise new capital; while 14% reported that they couldn’t find the right team.
When a company spends time and resources trying to recruit the right expertise for their team, they’re also diminishing the resources they can allocate to product development and delaying the path to revenue. According to Geekwire, the average monthly burn rate for start-ups starts at $75,000 for seed round companies but quickly grows to $400,000 for Series A startups.
How Arcweb helps startups maximize the impact of their investments
During our 10 years of experience helping companies succeed post-investment, we’ve learned that there are no universal laws or systems for startup success. There are, however, broad and proven methods to choose from that should be applied based on the nature of the product.
From pre-seed stage digital wellness startups to IoT leaders who went on to be acquired by a leading global tech company, we’ve prescribed the right business models and developed digital experiences that check all the boxes. Our experts have even helped clients conserve funds by testing the market fit of a proposed feature before development, ultimately saving 77% of its projected budget. No process looks exactly the same, but the outcomes are consistent: data-backed, marketable products that are delivered on time and on budget.
Recently funded companies come to Arcweb to bring their products to market because we understand that venture capital and private equity-backed startups are high stakes. Here are 3 factors you need in a product development partner to ensure success:
1) Speed
Innovation needs time and due diligence to mature into an actionable business plan, but there’s a defined window. Startup leaders must assume other actors are solving similar problems or entering the same niche market. Investors like to see quick turnarounds or, at the very least, witness a cadence that stays true to the original timeline. Not to mention the tech employment market is extremely tight. Plainly, time is of the essence.
Rather than immediately take on the hassle and frustration of recruiting quality talent while under time pressures to deliver, you can accelerate your company’s growth by tapping a ready-made, expert team of software engineers. With time-to-market a key consideration, Arcweb teams are ready to get your product development underway—helping you skip over the forming, storming, and norming stages and go straight to performing from Day 1.
2) Expertise
In this climate, finding the right talent for a specialized industry is difficult and time-consuming. In the CBInsights Report, one CTO of a fallen tech startup noted:
“I knew that investors would need to see strong, consistent growth before our Series A, but I didn’t expect that engineers would need to see it to even join before Series A.”
Finding tech specialists who have industry-specific knowledge is one challenge, pairing that talent with individuals who have the business smarts to mobilize those skills is another. Arcweb’s full-service development team has a breadth of experience that covers the entire product lifecycle; from someone’s bright idea all the way through to a mature and scaled market leader. Uniquely, our cross-functional teams consist of award-winning leaders and industry-specific subject-matter experts who are skilled in:
- Digital Transformation
- User Experience (UX) design
- System Architecture
- Full-stack Software Development
Last year, our deep understanding of digital health product strategy and patient experience allowed us to jump feet-first into a digital therapeutics engagement. The result was an integrated digital experience that included a marketing website, a mobile app, and an e-commerce platform that we launched within 10 months. Whatever the challenge or stage, we are known for fielding teams in a modern, scalable, and secure environment with the proper expertise for our customers.
3) Leadership
Finding a team is one thing, but trusting that team to determine the fate of your venture is another. Make no mistake, the product development and business strategy team you start will likely make or break your startup. Our team has a proven process to absorb the critical essence of the problem space, rapidly iterate on potential solutions, and ultimately bring your product to market.
In an automation project with a digital medical supply company, the client recognized the value in our delivery team’s software architecture expertise, and an initial pilot project evolved into a full-service strategy engagement. We were able to meet a tight deadline and perform over 19 complex integrations to develop a custom information architecture that resonated with the end-user.
We make it a point to engage company leadership to establish priorities and confirm buy-in on the approach, but as soon as the path is chosen, we take ownership and execute on the vision.
Take the next step
Building a startup is one of the most rigorous business undertakings you can take on, but If you’re this far in your journey you’ve survived half the battle. After making your mark and proving the validity of your business plan to investors, it’s time to take the next step.
We’ve worked successfully with industry-leading partners and have a wide breadth of technology expertise, from hardened cloud infrastructure to government-compliant integrations. With vast experience in product development strategy and endless digital transformations, we have held ourselves to the highest of standards—and our customers would tell you the same.
Check out our work to see the types of businesses we have worked with in the past and get in touch with our team to find out if you could be an Arcweb partner in the near future.
