The question
Our technical cofounder is gone, and so is access to our software. How do we get back to selling?
Founder · leadership development company
Back to market
A leadership development company lost its technical cofounder, and with him access to the software and systems that ran its back office. Two carefully chosen agencies, an MVP built for revenue and a rebuilt customer journey got it selling again.
Context
A leadership development company that combines DNA, neuroscience and behavioural assessments to help individuals and organisations understand their potential. When its technical cofounder left, the company lost access to its software, its credentials and the systems that ran the back office.
What we did
- Mapped what was lost and what the business needed in order to sell again.
- Reviewed a dozen international agencies and proposals, and selected two.
- Put going to market first: an MVP of the app, scoped for revenue rather than completeness.
- Redesigned and rebuilt the website.
- Rebuilt the full customer journey: online purchase, swab kit shipment and collection, through to user accounts created and ready to use.
What changed
- Systems
- Before: No access to the software or back office
- After: App MVP, website and back office rebuilt
- Customer journey
- Before: Broken between purchase and results
- After: Purchase, swab kit and account, end to end
- Vendors
- Before: A dozen agency proposals
- After: Two agencies, each with a clear scope
The company went back to market with a working app, a new website and a customer journey that runs end to end, in a fraction of the time and budget of a full rebuild.
Lessons
- The company, not any one person, must own every account, credential and code repository. Check that today.
- When rebuilding under pressure, scope for revenue first: the smallest product customers will pay for.
- Choosing the agency is the real decision. Compare proposals on how they will work with you, not only on price.