Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Don`t know if this will apply to anyone here but worth sharing...

Adaptive Path is probably the foremost user experience firm (UX) in the world, and helped pioneer UX as a discipline in its own right. They offer product development consultation & help, in exchange for equity, to a handful of startups every year. They`re partnered up with Sierra Ventures in San Francisco.

I imagine Adaptive Path is most inclined toward software and web companies, but they may not be... UX applies to pretty much everything.

More info here: http://adaptivepath.com/services/newventures.php

—paula

Paula, I think this type of company applies to a whole lot of situations. The particular company may focus on software, but the idea of the business, I think opens the door to other people doing something similar.

It comes down to the "customer journey" and "call to action" concept. Over and over, here in community Web critiques, we`re seeing a constant problem. It`s that new sites fail to take into account the "customer experience." Whether it`s a problem of the owner`s psychology, skill, or philosophy, people building these types of sites don`t seem to understand the "user experience" of the site.

Along the same lines, a whole lot of effort is taking place in the professional IT world regarding the gap between the technology people and the business. "The business" means the practical application of technology, how it costs money, and how it`ll make money. It`s partly about return on investment (ROI), but much more about, "why do we need this in the first place?"

I guess it was only a matter of time before a consulting company like this would come into existence. But if you carry forward the logic, it becomes an excellent opportunity for other companies along similar lines.

I think that this is a great company and their partnership with Sierra is great. Definatley opening doors. How is that idea coming pauls? I have been thinking about how you are doing with that.

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CraigL > you`re absolutely right, and I actually got turned on to the work happening in the IT/customer gap a couple years ago when I was doing my technical communications work in school. In fact I was just talking with Conan about his work related to human-computer interaction last week during our entrepreneurs` support group phone meeting.

If you`ve never read the book The Design of Everyday Things I highly recommend it. This is one of the few books I read at university that really impacted me... page after page my reaction was, "of course! of course!" Anyone building anything at all, whether websites or user manuals or products, would benefit from reading that book.

In fact, here`s another great essay from Adaptive Path: The Long Wow, about creating customer loyalty through excellent products. Includes a nice swipe at MBA-style solutions which is always fun ;-)

Erin> I just love Adaptive Path. What I love is that they`ve raised articulating the obvious to an art and a science, applied it to business, and then make their process accessible to everyone.

The idea is coming right along! I`ve been soliciting some mentoring/advising type help from a few qualified people I know and have hooked up with a SCORE guy who has extensive project management experience, which is enormously helpful. I`m also plugging away at milestone 1, which is a white paper that will be longer than my business plan by the time I`m done with it, and is the cornerstone of everything else... I think I told you about the white paper. But anyway I am quite happy to be making steady progress, even if I don`t have as much time to spend on it as I`d like right now.

How are things going with your project?

—paula

You know, I wish someone would redesign double-entry accounting. Talk about a crappy user experience.

—paula

I believe the IRS has a new system in mind to replace double-entry accounting. It`s supposedly a postcard they send you each year that says:
I read the "Long Wow" essay, and was reminded of the excellent line: "The key to dating lots of women is when you can fake sincerity. That`s the ticket!" LOL! Excellent essay, but it seems to me it`s redundant. Then again, with the death of common sense, maybe these sorts of concepts really do need to be written down.

I`m continually amazed at the number of things so many of us used to consider self-evident that are being written up as astonishing new ideas.