Startups often begin with minimal product versions to test and validate their product ideas as early as possible. Therefore, the first versions of the product need to be able to communicate the product idea to users in order to receive meaningful feedback. However, if user experience (UX) of the product is poor, users tend to concentrate on the disturbing user interface instead of the actual product idea. Thus, we suggest that startups should have a UX strategy from the beginning in order to understand their goals related to UX at different stages of product maturity. To this end, we conducted an interview study with eight Finland-based startups and 13 participants. Our results contribute towards understanding both needs for early UX design in startups as well as the restrictions for UX work that the scarce resources of startups induce. This work contributes to creating a UX strategy model for startups.

Laura Hokkanen, Kati Kuusinen, Kaisa Väänänen (Tampere University of Technology): Early Product Design in Startups: Towards a UX Strategy

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-26844-6_16