Adrian Moise’s software company, Aequilibrium, designs digital products like e-commerce apps. The small Vancouver-based company, which has 20 employees, is competing for business with larger companies, so Moise said he’s learned over the years how to refine his elevator pitch.
“When we started we were positioning ourselves as a digital agency, and when somebody was asking us, ‘What do you do?’ we’d list a number of things that we were good at,” he said.
“We were talking in our terms, and it was difficult for a potential customer to say, ‘That sounds good; how does that solve my problem?’”
Moise’s team realized they had to start by finding out what the customer needed and then figure out a tailored solution to that customer’s particular problem.
“We figure out a connection between our services and their particular pain,” he said.
For instance, a financial institution approached Aequilibrium about creating a digital wallet, a project that would normally take several years and cost millions to develop.
“We stepped back with them and [asked,] ‘What is the problem your customers are experiencing?’” said Moise.
The company identified customer complaints about having to carry around too many loyalty cards and receipts, leading to what Moise called the “George Costanza fat wallet” problem, referring to the Seinfeld character.
Aequilibrium was able to design a cheaper product in just a few months that its client could use to test whether customers would go for the digital option, then add more features based on that customer feedback.
“We went to gold plating and everything you could think of to ‘What’s the core value proposition of this app?’”
On knowledge transfer | “We make it a priority to not only communicate the value proposition to everyone but also knowledge: getting knowledge from the team and distributing it among the team members. … During our weekly retrospective meeting, everyone takes a moment to think about what worked and what didn’t. That’s an opportunity for people to say, ‘That’s interesting because I’m facing a similar problem,’ or ‘Can we talk on the side about this? Because I might have a solution.’”
Has a work or life challenge taught you a key career lesson? Contact Jen St. Denis at [email protected]
