Agile, Lean, MVP are some of the software development technologies that separates the amateurs from the professionals, the newbies from the veterans. Startups looking to make their million dollar ideas into real products that actually makes that much money (and keep on making it!) need to plan their development strategy right. From doing market research for the scope and reach of their product to deciding how to go about scaling and adding features in an efficient manner, is a lot of work.
Most startups wilt before they realize their full potential either due to lack of funds or mentoring and that’s where incubators swoop in to reinforce the intrepid entrepreneur with resources galore! Curious Minds is one such up and coming technology incubators that can provide the proper resources for your startup to actually start up and stay up!
The Curious Case of Curious Minds
Founded by Jonathan and David Gonen, Curious Minds (CM) has an enviable in-house team of full stack developers as well as off-shore resources which can be scaled up on a project-by-project basis. Their recruits come from some of the finest technical and business institution like USC, UCLA, Pepperdine, and LMU. And with a track record of building successful companies (see TeleSign, RingADoc, ShowKit, Brand Reporter, TSN), they have the numbers to back up their claim of providing extensive support to their clients.
Taming the Market
Over the years, the CM model has evolved. The current process relies heavily on market research to validate ideas prior to tech development and then scaling up the ideas with the most traction.
“We spend 3-6 months researching a market, getting to know the problems, frustrations and pain points that might provide an opportunity to introduce a software solution that people actually want to buy”, explains Brad Seraphin, CMO, who has over 10 years of experience in building Venture Capital backed software startups in Southern California. “It begins by validating, through an in-depth process of market research, that the problems a startup aims to solve are REAL and not just problems that they THINK are real”.
Looking Ahead
CM is actively building a brand in Southern California and currently incubating five startups, with the bandwidth to add an additional five to the mix.
Brad is particular about building relationship with Venture Capitalists and bases his company’s credibility on the fact that they only take on a client once they have a Minimum Viable Product. “While we have plenty of funding to continue our work, it’s always nice to see market validation”.
You can apply for your startup to be taken into consideration for incubation at Curious Minds by following this link:
https://angel.co/curious-minds-lean-lab-2015/apply