Technology Start-up Programme in Coventry & Warwickshire

Iris Jiang has a business idea to build an online platform to connect freelance photographers with potential clients. Her idea was developed through her love of photography which she explored at high-school and university — she was part of the photography society. In addition, her past modelling experience gave her a useful insight into the fashion photography industry.

It is fair to say Iris is fascinated by photography as it requires unique talent and skill to be a good photographer. Cyrill Goessi, cofounder, who has full charge of the critical website development rounds out their management team. Iris approached CUE Business Solutions to discuss her business idea and build a support package tailored to meet her needs—this included marketing and business planning using the Lean Model Canvas workshops. Iris and Cyrill also received mentoring from experienced Business Advisor Paul Bennett.

Talking about the support Iris received from CUE Iris said, “I gained a clearer direction with what to focus on first in terms of building my idea and been kept accountable with my progress”. “Paul [Bennett] suggested I take a more customer-focused approach in terms of our product development—instead of spending all our energy and time in building the website. We started to talk to potential users much earlier than expected and learnt some valuable insights that affected the way we develop our platform. We could otherwise still be stuck with our heads in our laptops spending all our time on building a website that would have ended up not being used or heard of”.

The CUE Technology Start-Up Programme is part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Support Programme and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

 To find out more about Iris please click on these links

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/hipho.uk/  and Twitter: https://twitter.com/HiPho_UK

For more information about the CUE’s Technology Start-up project and upcoming events – which are aiming to support new businesses in the field of technology – visit www.cuebusinesssolutions.com/technology-start-up or email startup@cueltd.co.uk