As we are currently validating a lot of our learning through Lean Startup Challenge, I want to capture some of my learnings, try-outs of pre-LSC time.

In April I applied at Masschallenge with the following idea/pitch in short:

A better EA Tool, SAAS offered with recommendation engine for IT Management improvements.

But this did not get the best ratings from Mentors, as not a lot of people understand EA and the problem/customer segment is a small & complicated market.

In August I founded SMART360°Biz with two things in mind:

1. Being the North-American Branch of iteraplan – EA consulting and iteraplan implementations
2. Getting a new product out

As the new product I bounced the following ideas off a couple people at Venture Café:

• Enterprise Architecture for Small to Medium Businesses (EA 4 SMB)
• Enterprise Architecture SAAS Tool with ongoing learning and SAAS integrations
• ÜberTool – Corporate Management Suite enabling EA, PPM, GRC, …
• CIO Dashboard
• Corporate Social Graph
• Green IT Manager

I got the feedback to focus and rather do something small, as we are bootstrapped. So an addon to one or more existing solutions or otherwise a smaller feature scope.

So we looked at EA 4 SMB (and did some prototyping through XWiki Applications) and CIO Dashboard:

But looking at market and effort both did not look too promising. So I thought with Lean Startup Challenge I’ll do another pivot and try the Enterprise Social Graph for this program. Maybe we got into the program, as the idea is out of the IT Silo and the mere cost cutting aspect of IT, but can also be seen as an enabler for revenue generation.

Let’s see if we pivot again in the near future 🙂

As always, feedback and help is appreciated!