Synature has landed six-figure investment along with its first licensing deal – with MyTravel – after taking part in Designing Demand.
Background
Synature, formerly known as Customiser, was founded in 2001 to develop a new way of searching for content – and people – on the web. It combines technology with psychological profiling to connect web users both with each other and with products and services, based on like-mindedness.
Problem
Founder Andrew Fraser soon discovered that turning his fledgling technology into a compelling business proposition was more challenging than he anticipated. In common with many technology start-ups, the business underestimated the time it would take to win investment and customers.
Fraser explains:
‘We thought the technology spoke for itself. But we realised that potential partners, customers and
investors wouldn’t be able to visualise how it would work in practice.’
Response
In 2004 the business joined Designing Demand, and through the initial workshop and subsequent work with Design Associate John Boult, of consultancy Product First, Fraser discovered how design could make the journey to market much faster.
Customiser’s initial target had been large online retailers, a ‘tough nut to crack’, admits Fraser. The design work encouraged him to think more broadly about potential applications. ‘John and his team helped us in three main ways. They looked at how design could help with testing and implementing the technology, presenting it in terms of how it could fit into would-be clients’ businesses, and visualising what it could look like online. Very quickly, we had several design concepts that related to real-world applications.’ Those visualisations helped to sell the value proposition on offer to potential investors.
Focusing on product design subsequently led to important beta-testing tie-ups with two very different sites, E-Consultancy, an online marketing advice portal, and Lunarstorm, a social networking site. For the second of these, Customiser developed Lunarcube, which matches site users with others with a similar psychological profile. Fraser says this played a vital role in winning the MyTravel deal in late 2006 by giving the business a live demonstration of the technology at work:
‘It’s a good example of how design can speak for itself,’ he says.
Tags: designing demand, innovate, synatire
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