Concept to creation: building ProcessPlot

After four months of building ProcessPlot, I want to share our (me, Liisa Schneemann & Jaan Elken ) initial steps - to reflect on the progress before I forget all the details, and perhaps offer something useful for people who are on a similar path.

For over a year, I thought about starting my own venture. Here's how we ended up with ProcessPlot:

• Startup Wise Guys: Last September, I joined the Founder's Club program at Startup Wise Guys. We developed an idea for an AI-powered sales coaching tool to help salespeople practice calls. But none of the team could fully commit due to other priorities. If you’re in sales and want a tool like this, check out a competitor: PitchMonster
• Exploring circularity: The next idea came from a friend (an industry expert) who proposed building a circularity tool for assessing materials and construction processes during modeling, aiming to reduce work in designing circular products. However, validation interviews showed low interest; circularity is seen more as a "vitamin" than a "painkiller" in most manufacturing organizations. For those in manufacturing, take a look at Makersite
• Consulting: After collaborating on the circularity idea, Liisa and I wanted to start something of our own but lacked a strong product idea. We thought about offering consulting services while we figured things out. The experience with the circularity project made us realize we needed to focus on a problem we had personally encountered?

Why ProcessPlot?

Process management stood out as one of the potential consulting services. Aligning with Jim Collins' "hedgehog concept," we focused on what we're great at and passionate about (and something that the market may value). Process management was a natural fit for our skills and experience, solving problems we've seen firsthand in fast-growing B2B organizations.

In previous roles, I built and improved business processes. Like many people in SMEs, I relied on tools like Miro, Confluence, and Google Docs. While versatile, these tools aren't designed for process management, leading to issues:

• Scattered information: Everyone maps processes in their own way, making them difficult to access and follow, introducing mistakes in tasks and handovers
• Unclear ownership: Lacking defined roles (no RACI mapping) causes delays and accountability issues
• Inefficient workflows: Informal communication bypasses documentation, making tracking and improvement difficult
• Overreliance on Individuals: Knowledge stored in people’s heads rather than on paper creates problems, especially during restructurings or when people leave

ProcessPlot is designed for people in SMEs who aren't process experts but need to manage processes. The platform guides users step-by-step to set up processes correctly, ensuring a solid foundation for managing projects. As projects are completed, we capture data, enabling analysis, improvement, and eventually automation. It bridges the gap between process design and real-world execution, helping teams work more efficiently.

Team formation

When Liisa and I started ProcessPlot, we needed a technical cofounder. We explored Y Combinator's cofounder matching platform but ultimately turned to Jaan, our mutual friend. I had once missed out on a referral bonus when he joined a company I worked for because I didn’t know he was looking around. Coincidentally, he said he had been thinking about building something on his own as well.

Cofounding with friends carries risks, like straining or ruining the relationship. However, we’ve known each other for 15+ years without major conflicts, so the risk is likely lower than cofounding with a stranger.

Defining our values and work approach

Once we had our concept, we put our values and operating principles on paper:

• Simplicity: Prioritize clarity and efficiency
• Change: Regularly validate approaches and adapt as needed
• Eliminate debt: Focus on cleaning up organizational debt & unnecessary product features to avoid feature creep
• Decide fast: A bad decision is preferred over no decision
• Openness: Maintain transparency about results and challenges with future employees (including financial performance)
• Work-life balance: Balance intense effort with long-term sustainability

As cofounders in our mid-30s with families, we recognized the need for realistic work schedules. Fifteen years ago, we might have sustained 16-hour workdays, but now we focus on areas where our expertise yields the greatest output.

Building: validation, mockups, MVP

To make sure the problem wasn't just a statistical anomaly based on our own experiences, we conducted two rounds of validation interviews with potential users.

First, we interviewed 11 product managers and product owners. We hypothesized that product people are bombarded with questions when processes aren't properly mapped because they own the product in question. These interviews confirmed the problem but directed us to people in commercial roles.

Next, we interviewed 17 people in commercial roles (business development, customer success, customer onboarding). Almost all confirmed the "process problem" in their organizations.

Meanwhile, we created mock-ups using Uizard. However, these designs combined too many features, diluting focus and exceeding an MVP's scope. I also mistakenly showed mock-ups during validation interviews when I should have asked more questions about the problem itself.

We then refined the mock-ups to focus on the process mapping feature. We were ready to build this functionality and start MVP validation interviews. Working with Elevator Startups helped us realize we needed to provide an MVP of the platform's end-to-end value as simply as possible.

Today, we are ready with the MVP's process mapping. The project management functionality is in the works, and analytics will follow. Here’s what the mapping functionality currently looks like (click for bigger view):

Challenges

The biggest challenges so far from my perspective have been:

• Imposter syndrome: Even when things appear to be going well, I have a feeling of uncertainty, as if an axe is hanging over our heads. Stepping out of my comfort zone brings self-doubt and the temptation to second-guess myself. I try to stay grounded by focusing on feedback from validation interviews and initial sales calls
• People problems vs. tool problems: Some organizations have "people problems," where individuals hoard knowledge to protect their roles. These aren't issues we aim to solve; lack of tooling won't fix them so we need to be mindful of this in customer validation
• Solution validation and size of the pain: We know the problem exists, but unanswered questions remain: (1) Is our solution the right one to address the tooling problem? (2) Is the problem significant enough for organizations to pay for our solution?
• Accepting imperfections: Adapting to a scenario where we have gone from fully functioning organizations to almost nothing functioning (yet) has required quite a bit of mental adjustment
• Diverting focus to non-critical activities: I’ve spent time on validating long-term needs, partnerships, potential tool integrations, blog content, investor decks, and budgeting. I should have focused more on tasks critical at this stage: market validation, business development, MVP readiness

Resources

Being the “salesperson” in our team of 3, these tools and resources have been invaluable to me

• SPIN Framework: Ensures the problem is significant enough for the customer (we can't afford a long sales cycle or adding features to the MVP).
• ChatGPT: I’m a late bloomer, just 6 weeks ago getting around to using ChatGPT. A hand injury left me temporarily with one hand, and I started using ChatGPT for cleaning up speech to text. It's best as a clerk, coach, and colleague rather than expecting it to create magic
• Other tools: Confluence, Trello, HubSpot, Hunter.io, Google Docs, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting and deal management
• Books: The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick (validating customer problems); Impossible to Inevitable by Ross & Lemkin (getting sales going); Monetizing Innovation by C. M. Schmidt (insights on pricing and feature prioritization)

What's next?

Our immediate priority is completing the MVP and securing our first paying customers. If our work resonates with you, please reach out - whether for feedback, shared experiences, or process challenges you're facing. If you're interested in becoming one of our first customers, let's connect. We'd be thrilled to collaborate and help solve your process management challenges.