Guiding a sleep health startup through redefining their product and experience.
The team at Somni, a digital sleep health startup, reached out to IDEO for guidance. They had built a promising sleep tracking and coaching platform and physical sleep hygiene kit, and kicked-off some exciting partnerships with enterprise customers, but were lacking focus around their target audience, core value proposition and product user experience.
The Partnership
I lead a small IDEO group, partnering with the Somni team for a 24-week “Entrepreneur-In-Residence” Program, hosting bi-weekly co-working sessions. Building upon each other and ranging from content shares to group brainstorms, each session focused on tackling a unique challenge facing the Somni team.
With my role focusing on the client relationship, planning sessions, preparing content and workspaces, and facilitating the workshops, I had the opportunity to bring in subject matter and discipline experts from across IDEO at the right moments—from Industrial Designers, to Medical Directors, to Business Designers—to share their expertise.
*The below image is not my work. It is a product image created by the Somni team.
Key focus areas:
Teaching the IDEO Design Research approach and applying it to Somni’s user research and testing process
Refreshing Somni’s brand strategy— mission statement, purpose and values
Defining the Somni core product value proposition and product strategy (B2B/Enterprise vs. D2C)
Brainstorming concepts for a brand new Sleep Health Kit experience, based on user testing feedback
Auditing the customer-facing digital product experience, and brainstorming design solutions and new features
