We were proud to publish a case study on a project we helped take from an idea to a validated action plan. Ryan Walsh, the founder of Grandstand, needed help starting a new kind of business. He wanted a partner that could help take his idea and turn it into a product strategy. That’s where thoughtbot came in.
We worked with Ryan to produce a full product vision. We built and tested a fully designed prototype of the Grandstand app and explored branding identities . After we finished, Ryan had the tools to begin pitching his business to investors. After our work together, he knew what his tech stack should look like, understood how users responded to the product, and had a clear vision for the Grandstand brand. We find so much fulfillment in helping entrepreneurs shape their path forward – and that’s not grandstanding.
The success owes a lot to thoughtbot’s Discovery Sprint, which establishes a basis for the project roadmap. The process begins with strategic discussions, including asking the founder Discovery Questions that create the foundation the overall strategy builds upon.
These include:
- Who are your competitors? How do we compare?
- What is your knowledge in the space? Do we have access to other Subject Matter Experts?
- What assumptions are we making about users, our product and/or the market?
Discovery Questions help align the team on assumptions and the potential differentiator unique to their business. thoughtbot then conducts stakeholder interviews and analyzes the market to better understand our ideas to suss out where the new product would be most impactful. The creation and testing of hypotheses drive us to identify the best product or service possible before substantial investment is spent building custom software.
If you have a product idea or are looking to grow your start-up, we would love to work together to plan the right Discovery sprint that gets you the resources and confidence you need for the next stage.
Interested in Grandstand? Check them out on Social Media ~ Facebook & Instagram @grandstand_app.
