Basic steps to map the client's problem to an ideal solution (for Startups)

As a startup are you struggling to provide elegant tech solutions to clients on time & on budget?

?Then it is worth reading below to understand some basic Tips to follow;

In the IT industry medium to higher scaled companies are grown enough to have experienced departments/units to handle customer requirements & negotiations to capture and deliver matching and sustainable solutions. This something every company gain when they mature as a company in the industry & the doamin.

But most of the tech startups fail on this topic due to the lack of experience. This makes it worse when the client of the startup is also a startup. Startups don't luxury to onboard high skilled & experienced individuals to handle these considering the financials.

But there are basic tips that startups can follow to overcome this problem.

• Understand the client's problem

Most of the clients of the startups are also new & mostly a startup itself. So they may not have good experience in communicating the requirements in a precise way. In most cases rather than describing the problem, clients tend to detail the requirement & solution as they think. But some of their suggestions may not provide an overall & sustainable solution which will only get realize in later stage which will result rework & wastages.

As the technical service provider, it is the startups' responsibility to understand the client's problem properly. By understanding the actual problem it provides a golden opportunity to provide a more elegant solution. Time spent on this will come as a profit later. So whenever you receive a new project/requirement understand the problem first. By paying some extra focus on this you can gain this without onboarding highly paid individuals as mature companies do. 

Never consider putting effort to learn the problem is a waste of time & effort!!

• Finalize the Solution

Obviously, there will be multiple solutions to the same problem. All of them may address the problem but will have variations in the effort, cost, difficulty, maintainability, future improvements, etc... A common mistake most startups follow is that to start development without finalizing most matching solution to the client.

So again it is the startup's responsibility is to pick the ideal solution evaluating all solutions. It is important to get the client's feedback on the above factors when selecting the best solution. Simply because service provider's selection may not be inline with customer's selection. So, always make sure your solution provides a matching solution to the client's problem.

If possible get client's sign-off for the solution before proceeding. It will ensure the alignment of the work client required & service provider provides.

• Estimate

Again in the startup culture, it has a high trend to move with the development without doing proper estimating. This does no good than harm to your company profile in all aspects. 

So once the solution is finalized do a proper estimation and do the budgeting. Makesure to create a high level breakdown of the tasks to complete the solution. This will ensure you only focus on the required stuff in the required order. (Will cover Estimation tips is a seperate article)

• Agree on the Delivery Schedule with the client

Well, most of the projects which startups engage in are really urgent ones. One of the reasons startups get proejcts is for faster and low cost delivery. So agreeing on a proper delivery schedule is ultra important to make sure for a sucessful delivery. Hence pay attention to your client's priorities and set the delivery schedule according. It is true that 90% of clients say everything is a priority thing for them, but the truth is that client has a priority order on everything. So use the opportunity to negotiate with the client and agree on multiple deliverables to meet client expectations. 

None of the above are high complex topics that need to have a lot of experience to handle. Yes, it is completely true that with the experience you can manage them more professionally and in handy. But that doesn't mean startups cannot achieve it.

What only required is the focus on the final outcome and follow the basics!!!