An Inside Look at How Startup Army Builds Companies

by Joey Flores on August 8, 2009

Yesterday we held a kickoff meeting with the first Startup Army client who fits perfectly the description of our “ideal client”.

The Client

Our client has a dream about starting an internet business that helps people and communities, and provides massive value for sponsors. They are starting with an idea, some capital, and us - their “crack team”, as they called it. They’ll need everything that Startup Army has to offer, from overall business strategy, to innovative product design, to scalable technology solutions, to organizational planning and building, and more. We will literally be building this awesome new business with them, from the ground up.

The Needs Assessment

The first thing that every member of Startup Army will do is research the market , so that we know exactly what we’re up against when we start trying to design an innovative product. We’ll see how others in the space are making money and apply as many intelligent revenue streams as we can to our model while respecting the brand vision of a company designed to help people. We’ll explore competitor brands, what we like about them, and what we don’t. By the time we’re done, we’ll know who the threats are and how we’ll create something better than them, and exactly how that innovative product will generate massive return for our clients.

Once that’s done, we’ll solidify the brand vision of the company, and create a high level design of product features and value propositions, so that we can do some light architectural planning. We’ll need to know which technologies we want to use prior to our detailed product design. We’ll get a sense of how we can use social networking integration to save development time and lay the groundwork for viral marketing.

When the needs assessment is over, we’ll know who we are, what we do, what technology supports us, how we plan to get the word out; and, by that time, it won’t matter if the competition hears about us loud and clear – we’ll already have a stronger product on its way.

Product Design

Once we have an intelligent understanding of the market and a clear vision for the business model and brand, we’ll spend hours with our client (who is already excitedly drawing wireframes in spare notepads) talking in significantly more detail about exciting product features that we think will make people love spending time on the website. We’ll look at the coolest features out there and ask how we can do it better. We’ll use proven best practices for making our product easy to use and engaging on the highest level. The beginnings of the site design will start to come out in the forms of wireframes and some basic branding elements. By the time we’re done, we’ll have a laundry list of innovating features and functionality that will make our client’s company an innovator from day one.

From there, we will describe in detail where and how these features play out on the website. We’ll wireframe the most important pages, create flow diagrams for understanding user interaction and the back-end technology that will support it, and ultimately create a blueprint for exactly what we’ll be rolling out on the day the site goes live. Throughout all of this, we’ll be doing light organizational planning for supporting this product and its users. We’ll recommend team members they’ll need, as well as our best estimate of administrative costs. This will help us during the Development stage, when we start helping source the right people to manage this groundbreaking startup.

Development

During development, we’ll knock out everything needed for a Beta launch, including true brand identity, full site design, development of all applications and a whole system for supporting the administration of the website, the company, the marketing and more. We’ll make sure our solutions are scalable, as affordable as a premium web property can be, and that our client’s system will interface well with other systems, not the least of which is Facebook and any other social media platforms that will be an integral part of their business.

Why This Is Perfect for Startup Army

By now you should see why this is an ideal client for Startup Army. Every leader of our company will be heavily involved in not just launching a website, but an entire business. John Shiple will get to flex his technology muscles and build a complex system that integrates with today’s leading social platforms. Serena Ehrlich will be leveraging her knowledge of those platforms and public relations to make sure that our launch is heard around the world. Jeff Shariat’s got his hands full managing far more than just a project, but the entire operations of a startup launch. Robert Yang will be integral in helping the client realize their dreams of this brand and how we present it to communities all over. Arian Ryan will help streamline the product and make sure that management of the product on the back end is intuitive and efficient. And, I will help make sure that the company’s revenue model is sound, that the product helps facilitate the earning potential of the company, and that we have an overall marketing strategy founded on strong principles and multi-channel capabilities.

Testing and Training

By the time the product is built and ready for testing, we will hopefully have some of the company’s leaders sourced and ready to start working. While John’s team bangs against the product and makes sure that it holds up, that it’s easy to use, and that it’s scalable, many of the Startup Army crew will be creating operational efficiency and training newly sourced members of the client’s team. We’ll fill them in on the company vision, on our progress to date, on the most pressing things needed for our launch, and much, much more.

Also during this phase, Serena Ehrlich will be working with our client to develop a story that truly inspires people and gets the press and communities excited about what we’re doing. They’ll be working on press releases, on our social media strategy, and starting to whisper to key people and influencers who can help get the word out when we launch.

Robert will be putting the final touches on the brand identity – business cards, sales and business development decks, and more. Arian and I will be making sure that all of the marketing reports and site analytics are in place and ready to go. And, Jeff will be just about ready to pass out from keeping all of this running smoothly.

Go Live

When all is said and done, Startup Army and the visionary clients who hired us will have built a company. And, when the development dust settles and everyone is in place, we will light up the product, announce it to the world, and hand the keys over to the new leaders of this innovative company. We will, of course, participate in the smooth operation and scaling of this business as much, and for as long, as the client needs. We’ll watch the growth, help with hurdles, and ultimately play a key role in scaling this business from internet startup, to massive public interest story. Our clients will see their vision realized and we will have a flagship company to point to when we talk about our company building capabilities.

That is what an ideal client means to us, and, today, we welcome the first of many.

Joey Flores
EVP of Marketing
StartupArmy.com – Bring in the heavy artillery

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