How to go from an MVP to a scalable product?

This was the question we asked ourselves in preparation for the talk we shared together with Scentmate™ by Firmenich at the Retail & Logistics Forum of the Digital Enterprise Show 2022 in Málaga. 

To answer this question we had a special guest, Alfonso Álvarez Prieto General Manager & Founder Scentmate™ by Firmenich, who shared the stage with José Enrique Rodríguez Huerta, Managing Director of Codurance Spain. 

Codurance client, Firmenich, has recently presented with great success a new idea: an AI-enabled scent recommendation engine and e-commerce platform for essential oils. It certainly takes a lot of technological development to drive this proposal, with such a strong component of innovation, with which the Swiss multinational seeks to increase its revenues, focusing on offering this solution to SMEs, who needed a service suited to their needs.

Codurance is partnering with Firmenich in this project, providing our expertise in:

• Manage and provide stability to legacy code applying best engineering practices.
• Platform upgrade from the MVP version minimizing risks and threats.
• Creation of an internal team structure (methodology and training) adapted to the needs of the project.
• Improvement of the automatic fragrance recommendation system.
• Improved user flows, building a more personalized and faster UX.

Example of an objective achieved in the first step of the project: reduce the delivery time of samples to customers from 4 to 6 weeks to 48 to 72 hours.

How does an MVP become a scalable product?

The first issue that became clear is that the objective of the MPV must be to mitigate risks as much as possible so that when the transition to the new real business model is made, it is as stable and scalable as possible. This process is a challenging moment, involving many factors of high technical complexity, but above all it is the human component that will be decisive for the transition from MPV to a real scalable product to be truly successful. 

The two ideas that Álvarez Prieto emphasized most throughout the conversation were: the importance of cultivating a team culture focused on growth and the ability of partners to align themselves with that culture in order to turn an idea into a real product that will make the business grow. 

Talking about teams, we came up with the idea of how difficult it is to attract talent in such a competitive environment, and that the best approach to overcome this challenge is to offer a project that has a clear purpose and objectives that connect with the values of the people in the team. Álvarez Prieto pointed out the importance of having partners aligned with the same purpose, so that it is practically impossible to differentiate which members of the team are in-house and which are outsourcing. This is one of the keys of Codurance's support as a technology partner to contribute to the success of this transition from MPV to scalable product. 

Three fundamental pillars that are making this transition possible were highlighted: 

People: integrated teams with a certain culture, values and a common and aligned philosophy in the way of conceiving the project are the ones that make it successful. 

Partners: you need allies to help you on such a journey; look for those partners capable of understanding your business, of contributing to the culture that guides the project and, of course, who have the technical skills you need. All three are equally important. 

Purpose: without it, it is practically impossible to keep pushing a project forward. 

We are proud to say that our work with Scentmate™ by Firmenich has been an exciting project, which began just over a year ago and continues to grow and reap success.

Thanks Alfonso for your testimony and your collaboration.