To make rapid progress towards the MVP, the team avoids coding the product in the first instance. Instead, it iterates on how the product will solve the defined problem by conducting user research with the co-builders.
User research differs from exploratory research in that the OSS product team validates product features and functions, rather than conceptual elements. During testing, the OSS UX designer uses paper mock-ups or visualization software such as Figma to validate the screens and the SaaS workflow. User research ensures that the product is intuitive, ergonomic, and fits seamlessly into the operator's daily life.
Although design is generally associated with aesthetics, UX design goes much further. Good UX design ensures that the product requires little training to be used successfully; and adds value for users.
With a quality UX design, the OSS team avoids creating an industrial SaaS with a poor user experience or incomplete functionality.
Iterations, user research, and co-construction collaboration have a common objective: to strengthen the product's value proposition. Coding begins as soon as the user research and co-builders validate the product's main functionalities and features.
Comprising 2 to 3 people (including the startup's CTO), the OSS technical team builds a lightweight MVP in less than a month. This rapid pace is made possible by the expertise of the technical team (which has already carried out this process with other OSS Ventures startups) and the technological building blocks. Having a working product in the hands of users allows the OSS product team to make further progress in its testing and refine the value proposition of industrial SaaS.
Ensuring the long-term health of the industrial start-up
To ensure that the traction lasts, OSS Ventures is creating the final two stages of its process to ensure that our industrial startups :