Table of contents
- Introduction to Startup Studios
- Benefits of Having a Startup Studio On Board
- Choosing the Ideal Startup Studio For Your Company
- A Case Study of a Startup Studio’s Operations
4.1. An Inside Look at Siya.tech
- Core Functions of Siya.tech
3.1. Refining a startup idea
3.2. MVP development
3.3. UI/UX design and building the final product
3.4. Full-stack development and DevOps for upscaling
- A brief look into applications developed by Siya.tech
4.1. Golfhubber
4.2. Onko
- Conclusion
Introduction to Startup Studios
Startup studios are companies that specialize in launching startups. They provide entrepreneurs with the necessary resources, which includes working as a technical co-founder, to help turn their ideas into successful businesses. The idea behind startup studios is to leverage the expertise of a team of experienced technologists to increase the success rate of businesses.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at what their role is, what the implications for going ahead with a startup studio are as well as taking a look at how they conduct their operations. So read on to learn more.
Benefits of Having a Startup Studio On Board
Choosing to have a startup studio or a technical co-founder can have many benefits besides the reduction in the time within which a startup can look to get investment or scale up. This can include getting access to various market insights that one would not ordinarily have. A startup studio gathers these insights while working with companies in their portfolio from a variety of industries.
Having access to such insights gives startups an edge over those that go forward in the traditional way. A startup studio has a framework for product development as well as scaling up for mass consumption.
Considering this, one of the main benefits that arises out of the decision to go with a startup studio is the efficient allocation of resources and time, which ultimately reduces the risk of the startup failing. The risk is hardly ever brought down to zero but depending on your choice of startup studios, it can be mitigated to a large extent.
Choosing the Ideal Startup Studio For Your Company
The answer to this question is not a universal one, as it depends on a variety of factors. The most important bit is to identify what the particular needs of your startup are – whether you require the technical infrastructure, or just the systematic approach for growing, or both.
The startup studio you are looking at should ideally have prior experience of working with a company that operates in a similar industry as yours. Having said that, they should also be open to tackle your specific requirements so as to create a tailor-made plan for your startup.
A Case Study of a Startup Studio’s Operations
In order to understand the fundamental workings of a startup studio and how such a company achieves its goals, let us take a deep dive into the functions fulfilled by Siya.tech. This way, we will be able to understand how a startup’s path to success can be broken down into smaller steps by a startup studio.
An Inside Look at Siya.tech
Siya.tech takes a unique approach from that of other startup studios. Many times companies that work as startup studios usually take more unilateral decisions for the overall growth of a startup.
Siya.tech, on the other hand, turns an entrepreneur’s vision into reality by checking for its feasibility and refining it to suit the needs of the industry they are entering. At no point in the startup’s development does the entrepreneur’s vision become a mere accessory to the whole project.
Further on, the process of developing and upscaling happens in coordination with the founders themselves. In this way, Siya.tech provides a bespoke tailored approach for each and every one of their clients.
Through our many successful projects undertaken ever since our conception in 2016, the company has built up expertise that serves our clients very well. This is the sentiment expressed by Director Hatim Siyawala when he aptly stated the following:
“We learnt the hard way.
So you can go the smart way.”
Core Functions of Siya.tech
Let us now assess the 4 core functions of Siya.tech in the building of their clients’ success. We will also reference some of our clients to explain how each of these functions were called to action in the successful development of these clients’ products.
- Refining a startup idea
Idea refinement involves working around an entrepreneur’s vision and sharpening the USP to suit the market requirements. This can also mean taking the necessary steps for contributing to what is called the brand identity.
The idea is validated by conducting market research, user surveys, and competitor analysis. They can help you determine whether there is a market for your product or service and whether it is feasible to build and scale.
A prime example of this is the role Siya.tech played in the development of the children’s secondhand marketplace, Kidsie.
- MVP development
We have already discussed the importance of MVP development from an investment point of view in one of our earlier blogs. However, development of the MVP comes only after defining what it should be and what features it should include.
The app pictured above, SafeAP allows aesthetic practitioners and their patients to come together on a platform for non-surgical treatments. Siya.tech helped develop the customer app as well as the app for practitioners, while identifying which features either of them should include, before adding more and more features as the apps gained traction.
Developing the MVP allowed us to test the founder’s idea with real users and get feedback that was used to improve the finished product.
- UI/UX design and building the final product
This aspect of Siya.tech’s function applies to almost all of their clients’ requirements. This involves designing the user interface of the app or website to create the best user experience possible.
This step doesn’t just start with coding, but with wireframing, where designers work in tandem with developers to create a rough outline of the application. Three basic stages of wireframing culminating in the final UI are depicted below.
Siya.tech uses a data-driven approach to design, incorporating user feedback and analytics to optimize the user experience.
The input received from the deployment of the MVP are also key here, as they dictate how the UI/UX is to be modified for the final product. One such app where this function of Siya.tech was fulfilled is Studeo, a video-format e-learning app.
- Full-stack development and DevOps for upscaling
Siya.tech features a team of full stack developers who are adept at HTML, CSS and Javascript for not only developing the front end of the products, but also Python, .NET and C/C++ for maintaining security, scalability, request-response time and performance of the applications long after they have been released to the public.
How Siya.tech does this is by adopting the DevOps method (Software Development and IT Operations) to perform frequent but incremental updates to the applications it develops. This helps in getting rid of bugs quickly and easily. A simple illustration of this methodology is shown below.
Many of Siya.tech’s clients are currently scaling up, including those pictured above, which means they have to maintain their usability despite the increasing number of devices they are to be used on. Having a technically sound team under the leadership of CTO Abdeali Siyawala is therefore an absolute must for a startup studio like Siya.tech.
A brief look into applications developed by Siya.tech
As we have seen, Siya.tech has clients with a variety of needs that operate in various industries. However, the following Siya.tech clients represent the achievements of the rapidly growing startup studio.
- Golfhubber
Golfhubber is an application that aims to be a one of a kind golfing community and score update platform. It brings together golfing clubs, their professionals, and amateurs together on a shared application. It also brings live score updates and stats from golf tournaments around the world.
Siya.tech was involved in the design of the UI/UX and development of this app which was followed by a successful launch into the market. Today, Golfhubber is the fastest growing golf app in the United Kingdom.
The success of Golfhubber relies on the expertise and collaboration of the development team, as well as a deep understanding of the needs and preferences of the target audience.
- Onko
Onko is an app that helps cancer patients recover faster and in a healthy way by allowing them to connect with registered health professionals via video call and chat, and provides them with a whole host of updated and accurate information from the world of medical care to maintain a healthy recovery trajectory.
Siya.tech’s team of experienced developers likely utilized the latest programming languages, frameworks, and tools to build a scalable and reliable app that can handle a growing user base. Since the app is going through the process of scaling up to be used by more users.
Siya.tech also provides ongoing support and maintenance to ensure the app remains up-to-date on both Google and Apple’s platforms and responsive to user feedback.
A lot more goes into creating a product that is both true to the entrepreneur’s vision and is fully functional and profitable. Although we have discussed the formation of brand identity in the context of idea refinement, establishment of the brand identity starts long before any development starts of the final product.
Having open lines of communication between the entrepreneur and the CTO, or the startup studio team is therefore vital for maintaining the identity of the product throughout the various stages of development. Siya.tech achieves this emphatically as testified by their many clients, as we will see in the following section.
Conclusion
The rise in the number of startups prompted tech companies to use their resources for assisting less technically skilled but ambitious entrepreneurs bring their vision into fruition. Involving a startup studio can be the critical difference between achieving the goals in the company’s growth trajectory within a specified timeline, and not growing at a rate fast enough to get funded and upscale further.
Besides saving valuable time, a startup studio will also provide a company with all the tech resources in one place. Where a traditional startup’s founder may have to go around recruiting the right people and infrastructure for testing the idea feasibility and full-stack development, a startup studio such as Siya.tech can do it all, while the entrepreneurs retain much of the control of the business side of things.
We also learnt about some of the ways in which Siya.tech goes about the completion of its project. Based on the growth numbers in the startup studio industry, it appears that the use of such companies is here to stay and the success of many startups can continue to be attributed to startup studios like Siya.tech.
FAQs
Q1. What does a startup studio do?
A startup studio is a business that helps entrepreneurs and their startups refine their ideas to be used as a basis for a product that can find its use in the market. Besides idea refinement, they also help in MVP development and upscaling through DevOps. They do so with the aim of helping the startup receive funding or get a significant user base.
Q2. What is MVP development?
MVP development is the process of creating a primitive version of a product that helps gather data about how the final product should interact with users, and make the changes that will make the final product fit for use by the general population. An MVP allows all this to happen without spending too many resources or much money.
Q3. What is DevOps?
DevOps combines the words “development” and “operations”, and is a relatively modern philosophy of making applications function and evolve on a large scale through workflow automation, and by making incremental changes and continuously collecting feedback to enable smooth delivery of the application’s objective despite changing market requirements.
Q4. What is the difference between a startup studio and an incubator?
A business incubator is an organization that helps startups develop their businesses by providing a range of services that include technological help as well as capital financing, whereas startup studios mainly only help with the creation of the product so as to get to a stage where the company can get funded. Startup studios charge a fee for their services instead of buying equity of the company they are servicing.
Q5. Who is Siya.tech?
Siya.tech is a startup studio based in London, UK and was formed in 2016 by brothers Hatim and Abdeali Siyawala. They offer their services by helping startups refine their ideas to fit the market needs, as well as providing services that include development of an MVP and the final product. They also provide a tailored approach for each of their clients and also help in upscaling once the initial stage of MVP deployment succeeds.
