Are you on the right track?
We have a clear path for start ups and brands
What is a Discovery Audit?
In short it’s a deep dive into your product development potential vs your current trajectory. A short body of work which has the sole aim of optimising or course correcting, to get closer to your brands potential.
Think of it as a shake down into your teams current findings and conclusions. FLYNN offer this analysis with a view to establishing a brief and specification for new product development work which we can carry out. But for those who sit on the board, challenge your firm to be better, better by design.
FLYNN has a well-established and proven approach to collaboration with established brands. We will work with you to gain a full understanding of your ecosystem. We analyse your business from the outside, review your internal findings, its performance, public perception, and pinpoint opportunities for product development with new vigour and new energy.
Massive Impact
The bigger the brand, the less objective the brand can be, sometimes even more disconnected from its users by organisational scale. You are doing amazing right? How about your leading competitor–what if they are looking objectively using design thinking?
As an external consultancy FLYNN offer large global brands a unique perspective that can be invaluable during product development and industrial design projects. Our position external to the organisation provides greater objectivity and freedom from institutional biases. Large organisations suffer with poor objectivity and cultural lens’s often how they navigate is what the competition are doing, instead of first principles development which would otherwise be obvious to a start up for example.
Whether you’re a global corporation looking for a new product to add to your line up, or you’re an established company seeking to re-invent your design identity and reposition yourself in the market, we have the capabilities to help
Re-imagine what is possible, bake in market traction.”
Process flow
hear about your needs
hear about your goals
break down the problem
step outside the problem
course correct
offer new roadmap
Find a date that suits you
What is a Product Design for startup workshop?
We set up the workshop over a decade ago to as we noticed startups needed specific support. The product can only ever be as good as it’s brief. A bit like a fish can not outgrow its tank. If you are new to product development, then why should you be doing arguably the most critical phase of product development unsupported.
The PDS workshop is an easy way for you to engage in consultancy insight into why and how you plan to develop a product.
This pays dividends downstream. It is about optimising your project for success. Which is never more critical than when you are a product based start up. The project success, IS the business. Sessions are 1:1 confidential sessions, helping you be objective about the problem you are solving. Critiquing your solution / thinking such you set off on the right course.
Top 5 avoidable mistakes startup’s make
- The venture failed to understand that the product must exhibit a particular D.N.A in order to succeed and thrive. This is firstly a lack of understanding the market is an environment. Your product needs to be tweaked in such a way it thrives in that environment.
- The venture did not focus on ROI in the design stage. Selecting the right consultancy is key to bake in market traction, effectively returning an investment in design, development and manufacture.
- The venture became solution focused too early. They effectively selected a premature, under developed, untested solution. Working with us in a workshop helps us understand together, should you be looking for better design solutions to take to market. This takes a lot of objectivity, which on the whole is difficult when your pushing your own solution as a start up. Ultimately the market decides, so benefit from our insight via a workshop.
- The venture selected a design direction which had an uncompensated level of technical risk. They ended up spending their seed funding on the yellow brick road to nowhere. Selecting a design direction with foreknowledge of technical risk is paramount.
- The venture adopted a premature solution and invested in its protection potential too early in the product development process. Time and again we see companies who feel they need to continue down a path they know is not optimal, simply because that’s what they protected via patenting early on. The best time to patent varies, but arguably best to have a well considered solution on the table that means protection resembles the product which needs to go to market.
Process flow
learn about your start position
Drill down into the problem
Assess your solution together
Assess the market / competitors
Discuss manufacture implications
update your brief and specification
offer new roadmap
Find a date that suits you
Investing in a tuned up product development process for your start up or brand can make all the difference.
FAQs
The power of a prototype can not be overstated. This allows you to test if a mechanism or principle will work. The lessons learned will go into the next interpretation. This is the fundamental basis of development. Our approach is to do this swiftly, iterating fast.
As a philosophy this is about doing good things, with the least negative impact on ecosystems. Brands can't do this alone, they need the market to "buy in". Design thinking allows us to develop products sustainably which gain that market traction. Even better working on green tech innovation, this actively contributes better business while reducing environmental impact.
We are big believers on looking at things from a unique perspective. Scoping to include Design Research can be a complete game changer. Critically it is about being better informed on the decisions brands make when setting out their product specification's and briefs. It is foundational work essentially. Base your project on real intel rather than assumptions, be that user tastes and behaviour's or how a technology can be improved. The benefits are vast.
FLYNN’s Discovery Audit offers an insightful evaluation of your current product development approach. Our process involves a thorough analysis to understand your product's position in the market and its alignment with customer needs. We aim to provide clear, actionable insights that can help steer your product design towards more innovative and effective solutions. This audit is not just about reviewing; it's about uncovering opportunities for growth and improvement, ensuring that your product strategy is on the right track for success.
The Discovery Audit is specially designed for established brands, while our Workshops are oriented towards Start-Ups and new businesses. This distinction ensures a customized approach to comprehensively understand your business from an objective standpoint. Our focus is on providing insights that yield long-term benefits. By engaging with your team proactively, we move beyond pre-existing assumptions. Our goal is to reveal a development roadmap that is finely tuned for commercial success, aligning closely with your unique business objectives and market dynamics
One of the primary risks of early patenting is that your innovation may not have reached its full potential or may not represent the best possible solution. At FLYNN, we recommend a thorough development and maturation of your innovation to ensure it's a viable and market-optimized design solution. Premature patenting can lead to a scenario where your patent does not accurately reflect your final market product. It's common for companies to become fixated on their initial concept solely because it's patented, rather than evaluating if it’s the most effective design for market engagement and commercial success. By partnering with FLYNN, you not only refine your innovation but also create valuable intellectual property, which can then be the basis for a more strategic and relevant patent application.
If you are a start up in new territory, be advised that a product can't be better than its brief. like a goldfish can't outgrow its bowl. This means if you are working on "what to design" and "how to solve the problem" unaided without experience your not off to the best start. You do not need to go it alone, you need a company like FLYNN which want to work with you proactively, so you do better in business. Working with FLYNN is a gamechanger for start ups, in no small part due to the impact of our workshop.
When preparing a comprehensive proposal for you, a key consideration is ensuring the strategic alignment of your project. To accurately estimate costs, our initial step involves a detailed discussion to ascertain whether your current direction aligns with your desired outcomes. A proactive evaluation of your Request for Quotation (RFQ) is essential to determine its effectiveness in meeting your objectives and to assess its optimization. Consequently, conducting a Workshop or Discovery Audit is an invaluable initial phase to establish a solid foundation for your project. This approach enables us to provide you with a precise and tailored quote. Additionally, we offer specific incentives for projects in certain sectors, such as medical and green technology, which could significantly reduce your market entry costs.
Develop your product with our award-winning team
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