ELLIIT: Efficient Business Prototyping in Software Startups

This project investigates how new and small businesses can use prototyping effectively to validate and generate innovative business ideas, and to successfully communicate with external stakeholders such as investors and customers. Through identifying variations regarding the type and purpose of prototyping, and exploring how these variations affect the cost and value of the prototyping, we can contribute with novel insights and actionable guidelines. Examples of research questions include:
RQ1. How can prototyping be used in an effective way when the purpose is to
a elicit and generate new innovative business ideas?
b validate new business ideas for a potential market?
c communicate with external stakeholders?
RQ2. What type of prototyping provides the best overall cost-benefit balance?
RQ3. Over time as the business model matures, how should different types of prototyping be combined from a cost-benefit perspective?

Software startups are small and new businesses that develop innovative software-intense products under uncertain conditions and with a severe lack of resources. One important success factor of new business ventures is to test the business idea early on to validate its viability in the market, through constructing a prototype version of the envisioned product. In this project, we explore the use of different types of prototypes, their costs and benefits. Our aim is to provide actionable guidelines that can support startups in making more effective use of prototyping for validating new ideas, and for communicating with stakeholders. Software startups can then more accurately pinpoint which business ideas are viable and shorten the lead-time to market these products, and thereby increase their chances of success.