Case Study BulkExchange

CASE STUDY

TECHNICAL

BulkExchange

Construction Materials • Marketplace

Country

USA

Platforms

Web

2023 - Present

Bulk Exchange

Onsite pilot testing

Multiple stakeholder discovery interviewing

Product success metrics

Screen with main searching feature of the platform having the products displayed on the right and a map with vendors on the left.

01

Project Overview

The digital disruption of the construction industry

Bulk Exchange provides a digital marketplace to connect anyone who sells, buys, accepts, or disposes of bulk construction materials.

Industry challenges

The construction industry still operates with the same communication and management tools like it did for most of its recent history because of a strong reluctance to adopt new technologies.

02

Results and Achievements

Outcomes

Bulk Exchange was able to mediate 6k total orders through its Alpha version of the product. For its first product launch, the startup was able to test out its unique value proposition in a real environment, leveraging its strategic partnership with a key industry player in the Bay Area.

A graphic showcasing that from January 2023 to November 2023, BulkExchange was able to mediate 6k total orders, with a total Gross Merchandise value of almost $12m.

BEFORE

The startup has been working on building its idea for the past year, with limited success in building a product that could effectively deliver its unique value proposition in the market. Their latest attempt was to personalize a white label platform to its need, facing difficulties in implementing such a solution with the previous development team. The startup had raised a pre-seed round based on its ambitious vision to disrupt the construction industry and was looking for solutions to accelerate its path to success in the market.

Once the collaboration with Linnify started, the startup was able to come up with an interactive design prototype in 1 month and have it thoroughly refined through usability testing with target users from its strategic client.

AFTER

The first version of the product was launched leveraging the founders’ industry experience and based on the research done by the startup on their own. After starting the partnership with Linnify, a validation-driven approach to development was adopted, which resulted in challenging the need on the market for each feature that was proposed for development.

This version of the product was launched in less than 3 months and was used as a beta for continuous feedback integration through client onsite testing. After several months of slow organic growth, the startup adopted an even stronger validation-driven approach, switching from dedicated teams to fixed-price statements of work that can quickly test out assumptions. The change brought an extended runway in their product roadmap and a seed investment during 2023, one of the toughest years for a startup to raise venture capital.

BEFORE

The startup has been working on building its idea for the past year, with limited success in building a product that could effectively deliver its unique value proposition in the market. Their latest attempt was to personalize a white label platform to its need, facing difficulties in implementing such a solution with the previous development team. The startup had raised a pre-seed round based on its ambitious vision to disrupt the construction industry and was looking for solutions to accelerate its path to success in the market.

AFTER

The first version of the product was launched leveraging the founders’ industry experience and based on the research done by the startup on their own. After starting the partnership with Linnify, a validation-driven approach to development was adopted, which resulted in challenging the need on the market for each feature that was proposed for development.

Once the collaboration with Linnify started, the startup was able to come up with an interactive design prototype in 1 month and have it thoroughly refined through usability testing with target users from its strategic client.

The first version of the product was launched in less than 3 months and was used as a beta for continuous feedback integration through client onsite testing. After several months of slow organic growth, the startup adopted an even stronger validation-driven approach, switching from dedicated teams to fixed-price statements of work that can quickly test out assumptions. The change brought an extended runway in their product roadmap and a seed investment during 2023, one of the toughest years for a startup to raise venture capital.

03

Linnify's Involvement

Role in the project

Linnify helped the client accelerate its product validation and development efforts through an iterative process starting from discovery, system architecture, design and development to a continuous development format. The collaboration involved more than 10 members from Linnify’s team, spread across product management, design, development and quality assurance.

The team helped with lean market research since the beginning of the project, conducting usability interviews for the first version of the product design. Once the slow organic growth started to become an issue, Linnify helped conduct a quantitative analysis of the construction industry Bay Area market, together with a qualitative research consisting of 17 discovery interviews with multiple stakeholders. This has helped the startup in better understanding the specific problem they’re solving, its size and the most relevant stakeholder within the problem landscape. Based on these results, Linnify proposed multiple experiments that were able to test out the startup’s riskiest assumptions regarding its unique value proposition. After further refining the scope through the client’s efforts, one of the experiments was chosen to be developed and tested out in an effort to adopt an even more dedicated validation-driven approach.

Linnify was also able to assist the startup in obtaining Google Cloud credits by leveraging its Google Cloud Partner membership and helping Bulk Exchange minimize its infrastructure costs by doing so.

Application of expertise

Linnify’s validation and product development expertise took form under its support in refining the initial product specifications and designing the system architecture in the discovery phase. Through the design phase, the usability interviews were essential in designing the ideal product experience. And the development of the product’s beta version was smoothly implemented on time, on budget and on quality.

Throughout the pilot phase with the strategic client’s onsite deployment, Linnify’s team was involved through continuous usability testing, quantitative and qualitative research and onsite visits in the Bay Area. Besides building a scalable microservices infrastructure, the development team was also key in integrating the most relevant 3rd party solutions for the product’s needs.

The team is currently working together with Bulk Exchange in experimenting in the market through small iterations of the product that are able to move the needle and validate the need for the solution in the market.

Services

• Product Validation
• Market Research
• Rapid Prototyping
• UX/UI Design

• Product Management
• Software Development
• Quality Assurance
• Go-to-market Strategy

Photo with the product success manager that provided the testimonial

'My journey with Bulk Exchange has been an enriching and rewarding challenge. Guiding clients through the validation process proved to be a pivotal moment for the product’s evolution. This experience underscored the importance of validation, demonstrating that even with over 20 years of industry expertise, embracing a meticulous approach is highly valuable when developing innovative solutions.'

Anca Aron, Product Success Manager

04

Geographical Focus

Primary market

Construction professionals in the Bay Area that are open to improving their workflows and achieve cost-saving through digital solutions.

Cultural considerations

The industry’s strong reluctance to adopt new technologies has made it difficult for most tech startups to crack the shell with digital solutions.

A globe illustration highlighting North America.

05

Problem

Client's challenge

Launching a product in the market has proved to be difficult due to high budget requirements from custom software development providers and unsuccessful attempts at building whitelabel based solutions to minimize costs.

After its most recent unsuccessful attempt, the startup was determined to accelerate its product development efforts and launch something in the market as soon as possible.

But in order to do it the right way, they needed the right partner for the journey.

06

Solution

Proposed solution

Adopting a staggered approach to product development by starting from the already existing product scope that the startup has put together since its inception and refining it through discovery, design and development together with Linnify.

The key aspect in the partnership’s success was the mutual understanding of the importance of validation-driven development. This transposed in productive brainstorming, continuous market research and a focus on challenging feature requests through a validation filter.

If it hadn’t been validated yet, then we had to find ways to test it out and see whether it’s what the market needs or not.

A complete product development team was dedicated to the project, which supported Bulk Exchange’s efforts through all its startup journey phases.

A laptop with a screen showcasing how to create a ticket inside the app.

07

Conclusion and Future Outlook

Summary of success

The startup’s adherence to a validation-driven approach to product development helped launch the product in less than 4 months, continuously iterate on its beta product and then adapt to market feedback by focusing on problem/solution fit. The ability to change and thrive under the conditions of the venture capital market in 2023 was truly exceptional.

Learning and Growth

This experience helped us further solidify our belief in the importance of validating the riskiest assumptions early in a startup’s product development efforts.

Moreover, our ability to gather quantitative and qualitative information in such a unique market has been truly rewarding to the team.

And more than anything, the resilience shown by the startup in the face of adversity and adapting an even stronger validation-driven approach to achieve problem solution fit has been a motivating factor in our continued support as a partner in the project.

A laptop with a screen showcasing the details of an RFP.

Photo with BulkExchange's CTO that provided the testimonial

'I was really taken aback by Linnify’s exceptional delivery, and the highly professional and intelligent teams that proved themselves to be real experts. Their validation steps helped us save invaluable time and money in the process.'

Paul Whyte, CTO Bulk Exchange

You can read the full review here