Saving time and money, building value
One of the first questions people ask about the founding story of Vizer is: How did you build the app without an engineering background?
I went to school for business and worked in legal research. My co-founder, Dylan, went to school for English and worked in finance. Simply put, neither of us were technical.
In an early-stage startup with a non-technical founding team, you often see one of two things: a) the addition of a technical co-founder (and/or) b) early investment to hire engineering talent.
We were open to both of these routes, but they weren’t open to us.
At the time, Vizer was still an idea — and a complex one at that.
We wanted to build a multi-sided ecosystem that would facilitate massive impact. To work, it would need buy-in from many stakeholders, and at this point in our story we had none.
Although many engineering partners found the vision compelling, they were concerned about viability, at least until we could prove early traction.
We were spinning our wheels for months looking for a solution and coming up empty. Then finally, I walked in the door of a development agency who offered pivotal advice.
“Sam, I want to help you, but I don’t see a path to getting this built today anywhere within your budget. Why don’t you check out two tools. They’re called Sketch and InVision. They will allow you to build a clickable prototype to at least start the process” the lead engineer said. “A clickable-what?” I asked. He explained, “this won’t be a functional app. But, it will help you show people what you have in mind so you can recruit early support and save engineering dollars.”
It was like a lightbulb. Finally — a plan that aligned with our budget and I could get started on right away.
Was It Easy? Not At All.
Learning how to design a user interface took way longer than I would like to admit. For anyone reading this, my key advice is to watch the YouTube tutorials before you start using the tool.
But in the end, we did it.
Several months later, we imported the design into Invision and had Version 1 of Vizer clickable on our iPhones.
Did It Actually Track Exercise? Also No.
It was only a visual aid, but it removed the friction of trying to communicate a new concept. Now that we could help people see it, all that remained was for them to believe it.
We recruited our first 10 business partners before writing a single line of code, and this gave us the market confidence to move forward with hiring our first engineer.
We launched on the App Store shortly thereafter, and our hard-fought labor of love was ready to roam free in the world.
What We Learned
There is a reason people hire for experience when crafting a user interface design. Although beautiful — many of my stylistic choices were non-obvious. In prioritizing aesthetic, I sacrificed usability. We found ourselves needing to go back to the drawing board more often than not. But this time around, we had tools and experience. Designing in Sketch was easier. We turned around updated prototypes faster. I would take my phone to campus events and ask my friends to let me watch them run through it. We caught issues quicker. We made smarter improvements. We did our diligence before building it into the product. When you are figuring out something for the first time it’s easy to get lost in the sheer size of it. We learned to make micro-investments of our time and resources into solving immediate problems. This created positive momentum carrying us in the direction of where we wanted to go.
Not A New Lesson, But a True Lesson
Rapid prototyping is not a novel idea. Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet, talked about the process of rapid prototyping with his apprentice, Antonio.
“Draw Antonio, draw Antonio, draw and don’t waste time.” — Michelangelo
In his directive to draw and not waste time, Michelangelo communicates the urgency of putting pencil to paper. Prototyping is the most clarifying and constructive action we can do. Designing helps you understand and create, and every time you do it, you get a little bit better at both.
Studies of the Virgin and Child (detail; c. 1522–24), Michelangelo. Pen and brown ink, with copies in red chalk by Antonio Mini. © The Trustees of the British Museum
At Vizer, all new team members learn basic Figma skills to develop agency in the idea lifecycle. Having an idea is a beautiful experience, but the secret lies in helping people see it. When you use visual aids to support your communication, it is much easier to build enthusiasm, bring everyone onto the same page, and rally support.
4 Ways You Can Leverage Rapid Prototyping and Design Thinking In Your Business and Life:
1. Find Your Tool
We chose digital design because we are a tech company — but that doesn’t mean that is the choice for everyone. Whether you use a pen and paper, animation, Play-Doh etc. your goal is to take what is in your head and communicate it. This helps train your mind’s eye. By connecting your artistic and rational brain, you can leverage the full capacity of your creativity.
Like an instrument, the more you practice, the more effortless playing becomes. Before you know it, your design tool of choice will become an extension of your thought process. This will help you plan and share your ideas.
2. Share Your Design
Collaboration makes ideas better.
We are all limited by our own perception and knowledge. But when you invite in other opinions, you achieve the shared reach of your collective experience.
It is important to approach these conversations from a place of recieving. When hearing feedback on your product or idea, be open to all feedback.
Once you’ve collected the information available, you can leverage your internal sense of judgement. This will help inform which components you want to integrate moving forward. It will also shine a light on which don’t resonate with your broader vision.
3. Sharpen Your Toolkit
There are a wealth of resources available on the internet. Don’t make the mistake of trying to figure it all out on your own.
Knowing the shortcuts (looking at you design libraries) can save you a ton of time on the backend. If something feels too challenging to build, someone has likely had that problem before. There is often a better way to go about it.
When in doubt — ask Google.
4. Thank and Release
Prototypes should be working models. They are living, breathing entities that can grow into something incredible.
They also can be completely in the wrong direction. But even if a prototype doesn’t turn into the answer, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good use of time.
Every creation helps further develop your skillset and this combination of skills is what supports your eventual goal.
If you spend a lot of time on something but it’s not the right direction, thank it for the lesson and on to the next.
Commentaires