Startups are the possible corporates of the future and entrepreneurs are the millionaires of the future. To obtain these future corporates as a customer, ING wants to be there for them at the start. Therefore ING has set the goal to become “the startup bank of the Netherlands”. I
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Startups are the possible corporates of the future and entrepreneurs are the millionaires of the future. To obtain these future corporates as a customer, ING wants to be there for them at the start. Therefore ING has set the goal to become “the startup bank of the Netherlands”. ING wants to offer startups more than a bank account; access to knowledge, a network and investors. To realise this ambition ING started the Startup Squad two years ago.
With the goal of ING to become the startup bank of the Netherlands, their purpose is to be not only the bank, but also the partner of both startup and investor. To become a partner it is important that there is a value transfer between the participating parties. In the current product offer of the squad, the main focus used to be on the investor side. This resulted in an uneven balance of the portfolio. To have a fitting product offer for both customer groups, the research question for this project was established;
“Discover the value which can be realised between startups and ING, and how this can be realised into a successful product or service”.
The setup of the graduation project is based on the Double Diamond design process (Council, 2005). The red line through the project is dominated by this process as the project is split up in the four phases: discovery, define, develop and deliver
Discovery & Define
First an analysis is performed to obtain deeper insights on the current situation. The analysis is split up in an internal and an external analysis. The internal analysis focusses of the strengths of the squad and ING. The squad is a relatively new team, this results in the opportunity of not having a clear objective. Depending on the opportunities, the team could change their strategy. ING has a strong purpose throughout the whole organisation. This provides a good framework to work within and to develop products around.
The external analysis provides new insights on the market around the Startup Squad and ING. The competitor wheel shows the diversity of the saturated market for startups in common. By executing the strategic value curve, it became clear that here was room for improvement on the abilities of providing tailor made advice and face-to-face attention. Adjusting the scope to a niche of the later stage startup created a starting point for the consumer research.
Develop
Conducting qualitative interviews with both later stage startups and serial entrepreneurs, revealed the struggles later stage startups experience with the professionalisation of their startup. The term professionalisation can be split up in the four problem clusters; human resource management, finance, insurance and legal. An interesting insight is that startups enjoy to work with the unknown, dealing with these struggles is what drives them. In order to create a solution to these discoveries, a design statement was drafted;
I will design a tool where the professional network of ING can help later stage startups with one of the four defined problem clusters by bringing together both parties to stimulate synergy.
Ideation sessions with both SPD students and ING employees resulted in solutions to the design statement. The main outcome focussed on bringing together experts and startups to share knowledge by creating synergy. Three concepts were drafted and presented to the squad, the different concepts together had several touch points with a possible customer journey. The squad was looking for a more complete product, therefore the strengths of the concepts were combined into the Founders Club.
Deliver
The Founders Club is a portal which can provide an answer to the customer’s question. Based on the four problem clusters, two channels are exclusively accessible for members; A call service and physique meetups. Real value between ING and a later stage startup can occur by establishing a relationship. In brief, a relationship is an accumulation of touch points with the customer. The different elements will reinforce each other by placing them in line. The key is to have a two way conversation between customer and ING.
The design of the service can function as an incentive to start building this relationship for ING. It is of great value to conduct a validation over a longer period to detect what triggers the customer and if ING can provide the requested value.