Time
1999. Cloud software had not yet been established.
Role
As CEO of a small tech services company, I conceived and designed the software. Additionally, I managed engineers to execute on the plan. There was no product management in the company at that time.
Mission
Software-as-a-Service business model to help businesses collaborate and execute their own projects with a broad array of tools.
Feature Set
- Project Management
- Alerts
- Calendaring (With Free/Busy Scheduling)
- Mail Blast
- Contact Management
- File Storage
- Access Permissions across all functions
- Change management
- All with an extensible model to add/remove features for different groups
Research
As with many startups, we began building something we would use ourselves. This led us towards a system most beneficial to service companies like advertising agencies. We made connections and many local (NYC) advertising firms, both large and small. We visited their offices and shared designs and prototypes with them. Research for this project was not particularly rigorous, but the fundamentals were there.
Screens
The screens have been put into a storyboard embedded below.
Results
Although the product was well received and heavily used, the company did not have experience with marketing or sales and was unable to build a business. Shortly after launch, the economic landscape changed dramatically. (Dot-com bubble burst)