如何做“設計盡職調(diào)查”——發(fā)掘投資機會的獨特視角

原文作者：Ekaterina Gianelli

譯者：李哲

關鍵詞：盡職調(diào)查，產(chǎn)品設計，VC

核心提示：在產(chǎn)品設計扮演重要角色的今天，如何應用“設計盡職調(diào)查”(Design Due Diligence)了解企業(yè)設計文化，進而篩選和評估潛在投資機會？

風投公司通常都會應用盡職調(diào)查來評估潛在的投資機會，決定是否投資一家公司以及對它進行估值。盡管技術、財政和法律盡職調(diào)查已經(jīng)被廣泛應用，但是設計盡職調(diào)查還未興起。許多人仍然在關注產(chǎn)品功能，而低估了設計的價值。

如今，設計師創(chuàng)造的價值超過以往任何時候。設計能力弱的公司難以吸引和維系用戶。

“設計盡職調(diào)查”旨在識別公司在設計思維采用上的風險和機遇，同時制定計劃以降低風險、進一步發(fā)展公司的設計文化。

作為設計盡職調(diào)查的一部分，這篇文章從設計的角度探討了成功公司的幾個關鍵要素，即市場環(huán)境、團隊、創(chuàng)業(yè)歷程和用戶體驗。其中的問題列表可以作為在評估潛在投資機會時的核對表。

1、 了解市場環(huán)境

許多創(chuàng)業(yè)公司失敗的原因是它們要解決的問題不夠大，所以要評估它們的機遇、了解市場發(fā)展趨勢、研究競爭環(huán)境。首先，創(chuàng)始人要有強烈的，和團隊、投資者和用戶進行有效信息傳達的愿景。而設計可以使這一愿景更清晰，把它變成有吸引力的服務。但是如果愿景不夠有說服力，設計也就失去了作用。

l? 創(chuàng)始人的愿景是什么？故事夠不夠有吸引力？

l? 他們能不能清楚地表達出來？

l? 支撐這一愿景的發(fā)展趨勢是什么？

l? 這一發(fā)展趨勢解決了用戶的哪些需求？

l? 這一趨勢為什么會出現(xiàn)？

l? 有沒有競爭解決方案？發(fā)展趨勢是怎么支撐這一方案的？

l? 設計怎么幫助公司實現(xiàn)這一愿景？

2、 了解創(chuàng)業(yè)團隊

人是任何行業(yè)的核心，他們的想法和執(zhí)行力決定了事業(yè)成功的潛力。因此，了解團隊和設計的關系十分關鍵。首先需要更深入地了解創(chuàng)始人，其次要看團隊中的設計師是否感到快樂、靈感充沛。設計團隊缺少權利感通常意味著公司在領導力和溝通方面面臨著挑戰(zhàn)。

l? 創(chuàng)始人的背景是什么？

l? 創(chuàng)始人的領導風格是什么？他們是否以身作則？

l? 他們是否能吸引市場中最優(yōu)秀的人才？

l? 他們是否了解設計的價值？執(zhí)行力如何？

l? 他們能否接受反饋和新想法？

l? 設計嵌入公司的深度如何？

l? 設計師如何參與產(chǎn)品開發(fā)？

l? 團隊的多元化程度如何？

l? 他們的愿景是否保持一致？

l? 他們的核心KPI是什么？是否受用戶滿意度的激勵？

3、 了解創(chuàng)業(yè)歷程、方式和工具

了解公司創(chuàng)立的歷程，有助于辨認公司是否以用戶為本、協(xié)作和靈活。創(chuàng)業(yè)公司不僅要有設計思維，還要擅長設計的執(zhí)行。

l? 團隊對用戶的了解程度如何？

l? 用戶如何參與產(chǎn)品開發(fā)？

l? 團隊是否在用服務設計方法和工具？

l? 公司如何進行用戶調(diào)查？如何評估用戶體驗？

l? 團隊如何做出決策？

l? 優(yōu)化的對象是什么？速度還是質(zhì)量？

4、 了解用戶和用戶體驗

許多創(chuàng)業(yè)公司過度專注于發(fā)展技術而不是用戶。創(chuàng)業(yè)團隊需要對用戶以及用戶的產(chǎn)品使用經(jīng)歷和使用體驗有深入的了解。

l? 潛在的用戶有哪些？精選的用戶群有沒有業(yè)務影響？

l? 用戶如何解決問題？如何做出購買決策？

l? 公司的故事能否說服消費者？

l? 公司的產(chǎn)品是什么？能否滿足用戶需求？

l? 如今的用戶體驗方式是什么？

l? 優(yōu)勢和劣勢分別是什么？有沒有可行的改善方案？

l? 團隊是否了解如何培養(yǎng)用戶的青睞？

總結

在篩選和評估潛在投資機會時，風投公司需要注意創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的四個核心要素——市場環(huán)境、團隊、歷程和用戶體驗。對四個方面都有深入理解的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，更有可能發(fā)揮設計的潛能，獲得成功。

設計盡職調(diào)查有助于深入了解設計在公司扮演的角色，以及一系列潛在的風險和機遇。在此基礎上，公司的設計文化才能進一步發(fā)展。

原文：

Design Due Diligence

Screening and evaluating early-stage investment opportunities from a design perspective.

To evaluate a potential investment opportunity, every VC firm typically runs due diligence?—?a process to determine whether or not to invest in the company and at which valuation. While technical, financial and legal stages of the due diligence process are already widely used in the industry, design due diligence hasn’t taken off yet. Many still focus on product functionality, and underestimate the value of design in the process of building a business.

For us, design due diligence is a process that aims at: a) identifying key risks and opportunities related to the adoption of design thinking in the company and b) developing a plan to mitigate these risks and develop design culture further.

Instead of just focusing on the look, feel and functionality of the product, we want to understand the company’s relationship to design. We believe that today more value is created by designers than ever before. Companies that struggle with design are more likely to have challenges attracting and retaining customers. We also want to understand the potential of design to increase the value of the business (and respectively our investment). Can we help the team improve by crystallising their vision? Or by involving more people in the design process? Or by introducing service design methods?

As part of design due diligence, we investigate the key elements of any successful company from a design perspective?—?1) the context, 2) the team, 3) the processes, and 4) the user experience?—?to be able to make a more informed and objective investment decision.

Design due diligence could be conducted at the earliest stages of the investment process (e.g. screening stage, follow up meetings), or later on in the discussion. The list of questions below serves as a checklist when evaluating the potential investment opportunities (some of them might be overlapping with tech or financial stages of the process).

This framework could be used by any member of a VC firm, not only designers. At the same time, it might be a good idea to get familiar with the methods and tools that service design has to offer. Ideally, you would also involve a designer in the process or add one to your team, as there are many ways a designer can help in evaluating potential investments.

1.Understanding the context

Many startups fail, because the problems they are solving aren’t big enough. That’s why we start with assessing the opportunity, understanding the market trends supporting it, and studying the competition.

We look for founders with a strong vision that they can communicate to their team, investors, and customers. Design can help them crystallise their vision and turn it into an attractive service, but if the vision isn’t compelling enough there is not much value design can add.

• What is the vision of the founders? Is the story attractive enough?
• Can they clearly communicate it?
• What are the trends supporting the vision?
• What are the needs of potential customers addressed by the trends? (e.g. entertainment, security, self-improvement, recognition)
• Why are these trends emerging now (and not earlier)?
• Are there competing solutions? How are they supported by the trends?
• How can design help the company achieve the vision?

Talk to: Industry experts to better understand the trends and dynamics in the sector, and to validate the opportunity.

Look at: Competitive landscape. You can turn to consumer trend canvas to better understand how market trends can support the vision of the founders.

2. Understanding the team

People are at the heart of any business. Their thinking and execution capabilities define the potential of the business to succeed. Therefore, it’s crucial for us to understand the team’s relationship to design. First, we want to get to know the founders better. What motivates them? Do they understand the value design can add? Are they able to attract a diverse team around them?

Then, we talk to designers in the team to find out if they feel happy and inspired. The lack of empowerment among the design team often indicates leadership and communication challenges in the company (as pointed out by Irene Au in her article about design team morale).

• What is the background of the founders?
• What is their leadership style? Do they lead by example?
• Can they attract the best talent available in the market?
• Do they understand the value of design? Have they been able to execute?
• Are they open for feedback and new ideas?
• How deep is design embedded in the company? (not at all, outsourced, employee level, management level, founders level, everyone)
• How involved are designers in product development? (executing based on founders’ requests, part of the product team, in charge of the product)
• How diverse is the team today?
• Are they aligned to a common vision?
• What are their key KPIs? Are they incentivized on customer satisfaction?

Talk to: a) Designers in the team to see if they happy and empowered. b) Get references on the founders to understand their leadership style.

Look at: Personnel incentive programs. You might also want to join some of their internal workshops or product planning meetings to see if there is a strong collaboration culture in the company.

3. Understanding the processes, methods and tools

The way things are run in the company can often tell us much more than the current version of the product. When we look at the processes established in the company, we want to understand if the company is customer-centric, collaborative and agile. We love seeing the companies that are not only good in design thinking, but also in design execution.

• How well does the team understand their customers?
• How are users involved in product development (not at all, asked for feedback, tracked online, observed, co-creating with the company)?
• Do they use any service design methods & tools?
• How does the company carries out user research? How do they evaluate user experience (field studies, surveys, user tracking, A/B testing)?
• How do they make decisions (based on their own opinion, based on customer feedback, data-driven)?
• What do they optimize for (speed, quality)?

Talk to: Design and product teams to understand how customer feedback and customer behaviour data is being used in product development. Do they know how to remove their assumptions using data?

Look at: Results of user studies, analytics, product/service prototypes. GV provides an awesome guide to design research that might be useful to evaluate the processes established in the company.

4. Understanding the users and user experience

Many startups pay too much attention to developing their own technology instead of focusing on their customers. It’s important for us to see that the team has a good understanding of the customers, their user journey and their current experience with the product.

• Who are the (potential) customers (personas, demographics, segments)? Can selected customer segments have high business impact?
• How do the customers solve the problem today? How do they make decision to purchase?
• Will the company be able to convince the customers with their story?
• What is the current offering of the company? Does it serve the need?
• What is the customer experience today? Is there an alignment?
• What are the areas of strength and weakness? Is there an actionable plan for improvement?
• Does the team know how to grow the number of engaged customers?

Talk to: Existing customers to understand their experience with the company. How could they be served better? Have they recommended the product to their network?

Look at: DAU/WAU/MAU, customer engagement, NPS, product roadmap, retention, cohort performance. You can use personas, customer journey, service blueprint, and The Love Index by Fjord to support your evaluation.

To sum up

When screening and evaluating potential investment opportunities, pay attention to the four key elements of any successful company?—?the context, the team, the processes, and finally the user experience. Either one of them will only tell you a part of the story. Startups that can demonstrate solid understanding of all the four areas can unlock the full potential of design to build a successful business.

Once the design due diligence process is complete, you will have a good understanding of the role of design in the company, and a list of potentials risks and opportunities. Based on this list, you could help the company develop the design culture further.

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