Product People Helps Launch an MVP In 8 Weeks and Improves 2 Key Results

The Client: Scoutbee

Scoutbee helps procurement teams enable competitive advantage for their organizations and streamline the source-to-contract process without the need for complex IT projects. Our supplier discovery SaaS solution integrates seamlessly with SAP Ariba Guided Sourcing, enhancing procurement efficiency through advanced AI technology and giving access to an unlimited number of suppliers beyond Ariba Business Network - with no additional integration costs.

Unlike traditional in-house solutions, search engines, and generic Gen AI tools, Scoutbee provides deep category expertise and a sophisticated technology stack developed over seven years in collaboration with procurement experts, data scientists, and developers. Our unique Large Language Model enriches supplier profiles and understands complex user requirements, offering results that align closely with buyers’ needs.

Scoutbee leverages the entire internet as its database, providing unparalleled access to a vast number of suppliers. Our impartial search technology ranks suppliers based on the relevance of their website content, ensuring unbiased results. As an endorsed SAP partner, Scoutbee’s integration within SAP Ariba Guided Sourcing delivers seamless access to advanced supplier discovery capabilities, driving efficiency and value for organizations.

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The Mission: Interim Product Manager

In 2023, Katia Cassano, the Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Scoutbee, faced a critical challenge that demanded immediate attention. To meet the company's ambitious goals within a tight timeframe, she decided to reach out to Product People.

Scoutbee offered a product to help assist Procurement Managers in sourcing suppliers or contractors for various products or services. The platform served as a basic form for clients to input their data, outlining their requirements. These inputs underwent backend processing through a manual process handled by Scoutbee professionals. Subsequently, the team provided the client with a curated list of relevant suppliers.

Globally, higher inflation and increased frequency of high-impact risk events put pressure on manufacturing and retailing businesses. They are asked to reduce costs and improve resilience to disruptions. To support these goals there is a need to look for ways to discover and evaluate new suppliers outside of the existing base.

In our efforts to enhance the experience for Procurement Managers, we identified two key areas for improvement:

1. Expanding the Supplier Database: Our initial database, while extensive, needed to be augmented to ensure a higher caliber of data and more precise supplier recommendations.
2. Optimizing Supplier Search Efficiency: Previously, the search process was lengthened due to extensive manual involvement, which we aimed to streamline to significantly reduce turnaround times.

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Our Main Quest: Launch an MVP In 8 Weeks and Improve 2 Key Results

Initiative 1 - Conversational AI MVP Planning

1. Problems:
   1. Scoutbee needed the MVP launched in a very short amount of time (~8 weeks).
   2. Newly formed team with different skills (i.e., Data Scientists, Software Engineers, Designers).
   3. No previous scrum ceremonies in place and no space for development.
2. Approach:
   1. We implemented 1-week sprints as a specific approach to meet the tight MVP deadline and organized weekly Sprint Reviews to receive feedback from various stakeholders.
   2. We worked closely with Data Scientists to connect their ways of working with the ones of the usual software engineering teams.
   3. We developed a high-level roadmap to combat the tight timeline, marking clear milestones, and attaching them to tangible objectives and key results.
3. Result:
   1. Launched a conversational AI MVP in 8 weeks which reduced the supplier search time by 99.8%, from 10+ hours to <60 seconds, and increased the supplier database by ~200%, from 700k to 2+ million.

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Initiative 2 - Consistently Gathering User Feedback

1. Pre-launch Dogfooding:
   1. Team level: Leveraged dogfooding, involving internal use of the product, to refine and enhance performance before release as early as possible.
2. Pre-launch Bug Bashing Sessions:
   • Company level: Conducted multiple pre-launch bug-bashing sessions to meticulously comb through the product, identifying and addressing any anomalies, potential show-stoppers, and UX issues.
3. Post-launch Usability Testing Sessions:
   • 5 Potential Customers: Arranged user testing sessions with potential customers who had never used the product before to gather valuable feedback and insights, ensuring that the MVP met user expectations and functioned seamlessly upon launch.

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Discovery Mini-Missions: Our Side Quests

As Interim Product Managers, we supported Teams with multiple side missions:

Side Quest 1 - Closely Working with Data Scientists

1. Defining ML model metrics
   1. We had to make sure our search algorithms were not only accurate but also precise
2. Experiment setup
   1. We collaborated with the data scientists to conduct rigorous experimentation to achieve the most optimized search algorithm which was fast, accurate, and precise.

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Side Quest 2 - Sales Support

1. We’ve had the goal of increasing the confidence of sales and marketing in the product who were to help them bring new potential customers. Practically, we helped by:
   1. Preparing the sales demo video.
   2. Preparing a comprehensive walkthrough of the new product
   3. Documenting the FAQs.

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Side Quest 3 - Handover Document for the new PM

1. We created a handover for the new PM by using our discovery board as a task repository, prioritizing the most pressing issues, and crafting future sprint plans.
   1. Additionally, we included a feedback mechanism using JIRA boards to collect user feedback and suggestions, showcasing what we’d work on next and detailing the prioritization of bugs and other key elements from our agenda.

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Mission Achievements: Delivered Outcomes

💡 Launched the Conversational AI MVP from Scratch in 8 weeks.

💡 Reduced the Supplier Search Time by 99.8%.

💡 Increased the Supplier Database by ~200%.