According to Failory, 90% of startups fail. The reports state that 70% of all new companies go unsuccessful by the end of the 10th year, 50% by the end of the fifth year, 30% by the end of the second year, and 20% by the end of the first year.
Taking into account the above statistics, why entrepreneurs find it hard to build a startup? Despite their abilities, why do they collapse? Startups who are striving to bootstrap their way to success must know the reputation of a Project Discovery Phase. This article is intended to help you appreciate the importance of a project discovery phase to reduce costly mistakes, misunderstandings, and unnecessary functionalities that can cost you a failure.
Why do startups fail?
The past year proved to be quite unfortunate for many entrepreneurs, not all of them reached a happy ending. 553 startups flopped in the year 2019 and almost 90% of all tech-centric startups failed as per the Harvard Business School report.
The founders come up with brilliant ideas, they start their companies with a lot of urge to succeed, and they work incredibly hard to attain it. But they still die, they fail. There are a couple of major reasons behind it; mainly when they understate the significance of the project discovery phase.
Insights tell that projects perish chiefly due to budget overruns, timeline extensions, and unmet product expectations.
There are several business success storybooks available in the market ranging from The Power of Why to Business Adventures, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and many others for them to follow to broaden their perspective on how to commence a startup and turn it into a benchmark company. However, the key to success is starting your software project right!
Many entrepreneurs welcome the idea of the discovery phase of a software project but what is the project discovery phase and why do startups need it?
Why does the project discovery phase matter?
All software organizations have their way of leading a project discovery phase but what stays the same is ‘focus on identifying problems to solve’ and ‘constraints that might appear’.
The Product discovery phase is the initial footstep in delivering a digital project. It is the stage where you build an understanding of what the project is about, what problem it solves, who is the audience. The very phase where they start exploring the known and the unknown and those are the answers they want to discover.
The typical procedure is four to eight weeks long; the primary focus is to understand the target market and their individual needs. Because in the end, user’s needs often significantly affect the final results.
The intensive research period consists of a project team involved during the discovery phase of a software project and fundamental goals to achieve. They assemble essential data, work out on project architecture, estimate detail project cost, etc.
What is the ultimate way to perform a project discovery?
The discovery phase in software development is about interviewing users, observing users, field research, and detailed engagement for discussions with the stakeholders.
Once that part is complete, technology stacks are chosen to begin the development. Next, the platform architecture where they try to construct the storyline of what they found and present it back to the stakeholders. Those are either prototypes of the project idea or well-designed mockups.
Why should startups care about the discovery phase?
If startups think having a breakthrough idea, strict adherence to deadlines and a good marketing strategy is all it requires to hit the market; they are wrong.
When startups come up with a unique idea, it does not mean that they have measured all the possible technical risks and requirements. Saving the money and time would not advantage them instead this stage will help them better understand the customers to roll out products.
The project discovery phase advantages them to chase away doubts even before the development starts. The initiation stage provides a clear scope, a clear purpose, and projects them into the right direction. They can anticipate challenges to find the best solutions and give correct estimations to prospects.
Reasons and benefits of the project discovery phase
- Properly planned project budget
- Fewer expenses
- A better understanding of the scope
- Correct awareness of the product
- Target pain-points of potential customers
- Meet end-users need
- A matchless value proposition
- Competitor analysis and ways to outperform them
- Get a higher return on investment
- Successful outcome
- Increased customer retention and loyalty
Summary
What can happen if they skip discovery?
Multiple risks and obstacles may ascend during custom project development if the discovery phase in software development is completely overlooked.
vteams sees itself as a modern and agile transparent incorporation. Conducting a 360 review is a priority. You can work with a management team to build any software and think about what steps you need to understand the users.
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