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WeezLab's CEO Andrey Kudievskiy and COO Samuel Strasser
For first-time startups, product challenges can be overwhelming and unfortunately the odds aren’t on an entrepreneur’s side. Too often good ideas flounder because of mistakes that could have been avoided. That’s where WeezLabs comes in – the Santa Monica-based company helps take initial ideas all the way to a finished product (and often with funding too).
Startup Veterans
WeezLab’s CEO Andrey Kudievskiy and COO Samuel Strasser are both startup veterans and are all too intimate with the struggles budding entrepreneurs encounter. Back in 2005, Strasser made his first wire frame that was adopted into an app by his friend’s dad. From there, Strasser said he “kind of became obsessed.”
Learning by fire might have worked for the two of them, but for those who can avoid it, WeezLabs provides inside information. The company helps with mobile development, website design, brand identity and database architecture.
“It’s always the best learning experience, just to do it yourselves. Everything we learned back then is what we brought into WeezLabs now,” said Strasser. “Our niche, our focus and our driving passion is with startups and the struggles they go through.”
WeezLabs helps take an idea and make it into a product. Their Blue Sky Series walks startups through pre-development, strategy and investment pitch, taking about 8-12 weeks and costs a cool $40,000.
The process can be a bit overwhelming for newbies. The first two weeks include intensive meetings with groups of 25 or more people, all picking apart an idea to find the best way to move forward.
“We pick out every little idea before we even get into the research,” said Strasser.
If it makes sense, WeezLab will even bring other startups into the meeting. The team tries to mitigate risk throughout the whole process. Strasser said user flow documents, detailing how the app will work, can be 60-90 pages long.
WeezLab tries to differentiate itself by its approach to development. Unlike other companies that take ownership of developing an app and then handing it back to the client, they are invested in the entire startup process.
“There’s not a simple way of training an entrepreneur about what lessons they will have. It’s not about building the best product for them but teaching them which is the best product,” said Strasser.
WeezLab works closely with startups to test out concepts, build prototypes and introduce startup founders to potential investors.
Of course every business comes down to profits. Here, the support of a large, experience team can give startups clever ideas on how to monetize an app. The team of monetization strategists pull together ideas that could range from creating an API or filing for a patent.
Everything is done in house. WeezLab doesn’t contract out to developers or designers in India. This way, their clients get a lot of face time with the engineers, analysts and designers working on their product.
The company loves working with startups and has developed their Blue Sky Series to target exactly the types of problems new companies often face.
“That’s the best part about it – we get to interact with these crazy concepts everyday,” said Strasser.
For anyone with an idea or concept, Strasser says to first think exactly about the problem you are solving for, then run with an idea. Still, WeezLabs also works with more developed companies on how to scale up (in fact, the company works with some fortune 500 companies).
The company is growing fast, doubling revenue every year, though Strasser admits their base in 2012 was low. This year WeezLabs hopes to hit $3-5 million in revenue.
The Santa Monica office houses 11 employees with another office in Moscow.
