CTO On-demand service
Startups usually need access to technical or technological advice during their development. Finding an IT co-founder might provide a technical capability, but not necessarily one that can translate business needs into a IT product or service (e.g. mobile App or Web App). Using sub-contractors to implement a product or even a demo also requires knowledge to ensure they can deliver on their promises, and actually deliver what they promised.
“Taiko started out using an external sub-contractor and then took development internally during its initial phases. When we used UrbanZee’s CTO On-demand service we finally started to get more control over the process, and more clarity on what is possible and what is hard. This in turn helped us make better financial- and business decisions, which were critical for those early stages of developing Taiko.”
Patrik and Pia Edman, co-founders of Taiko —
One-time free 2 hour brainstorm and feedback session
This service product is ideal if you just want some early feedback on some business ideas from a technological perspective. The workshop will result in a short report on recommendations.
Four day product planning service package to get ready for investor discussions
This service package connects your business goals to a product plan. The product plan is build up from work-packages with estimates on time and money, and explain what capability this unlocks for your business and how it impacts your business (e.g. Capability of a the operational team increased from handling 10 customers with manual effort, to a more automated approach capable of handling 50 customers with the same team.)
Two week demo development service, to get early feedback from investors and potential customer
The basic service product is designed to fit info an innovation voucher (see below). A more enhanced version of this service product, expands the scope of the service to include a demo that follows product design and more views/screens in the demo.
Other capabilities provided within the CTO on Demand service
The CTO on Demand service sits on the intersection of technology and business, and besides the above productised services, we also provide you custom projects on the following capabilities:
- Expert professional feedback and advice on your business concepts from an IT perspective
- Technical strategies on how to best implement a minimal product or demo so you can test your concepts
- Planning and budgeting of software development projects
- Planning and budgeting infrastructure and deployment projects (e.g. cloud deployments)
- Leading internal teams of coders
- Managing software development sub-contractors
Functional demo using a Business Finland innovation voucher
The innovation voucher is one possible step in the startup journey, and nowadays a company can get more than one if it’s related to some new service. We collaborate with your company to build a demo that showcases your core business concepts, and help you understand what else might be possible from a technological perspective. This approach helps you further evolve your own business concepts and plan the next phases.
“The process UrbanZee used in their demo development, helped us to refine our business model and even discover a business model that we had not considered before. The demo itself supported our story towards potential investors, who understood the concept right away, and were impressed by its clarity.”
Kalle Koskela, CEO of Grail Group Oy —
The resulting functional demo supports your story, that can be used towards potential investors, and gather early feedback from future customers.
Product market readiness and fit analysis
The innovation voucher is also suitable for developing a technical and business roadmap for a product that is currently being build around your business idea. When building a startup by starting from product development, the critical question becomes which features are critical and competitive in the market. Which minimal features can be build first to maximise learning what works for your customers and what does not? This question does not necessarily have a straightforward answer, as some technologies might require significant resources.
Our approach is to analyse your current product and business idea, through the lens of a customer. We build a set of distinct user journeys based on market and competition research, and use such these to understand how your product would be used, so the workflow for end-users can be optimised. We consider the resources available, and find creative means to get early feedback from potential customers.
“Our product was becoming feature complete, but lacked proper mapping to user processes. UrbanZee not only helped us identify several more types of customers and how to create value for them, but also provided a unique way to combine the existing features, that might help us become more competitive. “
Barun Bashyal, CEO of Resimator Oy
The end result of our market readiness analysis includes a roadmap that can be used in future funding rounds to help guide product development. Our hybrid approach of combining a Technology and Business lens to your product development, might potentially also identifies additional innovative approaches to your business idea and product.
Other uses of the innovation voucher
Within the Innovation voucher we can also provide:
- Functional demo showing your core business concepts (1 – 3 views/screens)
- Initial conceptual model of the inner workings of your future tech
- Understand what more might be possible when the technology is well designed
- Technical roadmap to start implementing an actual solution