Business Analyst in Startup

1. Michael Kramarenko, PhD, CSO
Business Analyst in Startup
Why? What? How?

2. Case study: “Vikings”
Problem: Slavic lands impoverishment
Visioner: Ragnar Lodbrok
Hypothesis: Rich lands on the West, a sea
way to the Westland
Technology: Solar compass invention
Political: Earl’s permission
Legal: Trophies are equally divided by the
team
Socio-Cultural: Warrior’s culture

3. Specific Context
● Industry landscape
● Uncertainty & Failures
● Startup’s lifecycle stages
● Stakeholders
○ CEO, Founders, Investors
○ Competitors, Partners, Regulation
● Hypothesis
○ Problem
○ Customer
○ Market size
● Constraints

4. Domestic IT landscape
● Disruptive technological innovations
● Startups:
○ New financing sources
○ High level of uncertainty
○ Constant readiness for pivoting
○ Domestic startups

5. Venture Investments Q4 2015

6. Domestic Startups

8. Failures Statistics

9. Typical Failure Causes
● Lack of Research
○ Problem
○ Customer
○ Market
● Lack of Development
○ Solution
○ Value
○ Business Model
● Lack of Validation
○ Problem
○ Solution
○ Market
● Greediness & Overconfidence

10. BA Goals
Support business to create new products and services under conditions of
extreme uncertainty:
● Attain a rational trade-off between the level of uncertainty and the level of
detailed elaboration of the product and business concept
● Facilitate decision making under conditions of incomplete and unverified
information
● Mitigate lack of analytical expertise

11. Specific BA Responsibilities
Area Responsibility
Idea development and validation Support
Assumptions and hypothesis formulation Support/Do
Assumptions and hypothesis validation approach Do
Problem statement Do
Market research and analysis approach Do
Business model development Support/Do
Barriers elaboration Do
MVP bounds Support/Do
Knowledge systematisation & Pivoting tracking Do

12. BA Approach
● Hypothesis
○ Personas
○ Problems
○ Value
● Validation instruments
○ Data analysis
○ User research
○ MVP
○ Metrics
● Validation process
● Result assessment
● Knowledge systematisation
● Next iteration planning

13. Personas
Name
Goals Needs
Age: Problems Expectations
Education: Alternatives Value proposition
Employment:
Marital status: Psychography Fears
Residence: Story
Personality:
Internet usage:

14. As A…. <role>
I Want… <goal/desire>
So That… <receive benefit>
User Story vs. Hypothesis-driven development
We believe <this capability>
Will result in <this outcome>
We will have confidence to proceed
when
<we see a measurable signal>

16. PROBLEMSOLUTION

17. Business Model Canvas
PRODUCT MARKET

18. Lean Canvas

19. P.E.S.T.L.E analysis
Factors Notices Potential impact Implications & importance
H - High
M - Medium
L - Low
U - Undetermined
Time frame:
6 month
1 year
2 years
Type:
Positive +
Negative -
Impact:
Increasing >
Decreasing >
Unchanged =
Political
Economic
Sociological
Technological
Legal
Environmental

20. Framework
Market
Research
Analysis
Validation
Board
Lean Canvas
Business Model
Canvas
Value
Proposition
Canvas
Value
Proposition
Product
Customer
Discovery
Experiment
Prototype
MVP
Stories
Personas Problems
Scale?
Why?
What?
Pivot?
What if?
How
much?
W
ho?
Who?
What?
P.E.S.T.L.E
Competitors
Market Size
Howm
uch?
Adapted Alex Cowan
Metrics
Data

21. Foundation

22. > Personas
> Problem statement
> Value Proposition
Canvas
> Lean Canvas or
Business Model Canvas
> Validation Board
> P.E.S.T.L.E & competitor
analysis
> MVP scope
Knowledge Gaining Process
> Idea
> Trends
> Hypothesis
>> Problem
>> Solution
>> Customer
>> Market
>> Business model
> Assumptions
> Barriers
> Partners
> Competitors
> Lessons learnt
Pivoting
Elaboration
Scale
Another
business

23. Mindset matters
Empathy
Passion
Creativity
Commitment
Passion
Commitment
Creativity
Empathy
Entrepreneur
Curiosity
Commitment
Speed

24. Summary
● Customer-centric lightweight framework
● Combination strategic, tactical and operational levels
● Effort and volume optimisations:
○ Stakeholders
○ Business analyst
● Refinement and planning support
● “Holistic view” for decision making
● Peer presentation support

25. Online Tools
● https://canvanizer.com/
● https://leanstack.com
● https://app.xtensio.com/
● https://board.tuzzit.com/
● https://realtimeboard.com/examples/value-proposition-canvas/
● https://realtimeboard.com/examples/pest-analysis/

26. Recommended & referenced books

27. Thank you!
Q&A