Validation Strategy
To validate our mitigation plans and assumptions thus far, undertook significant product, business and technical validation.
This included travelling to Germany to visit the Puma HQ, where we had meetings with the Director of Data & Analytics; deploying a technical proof of concept with a London based development agency; and demoing at the Axel Arigato HQ in London.
Product Validation
Our feature set must cater to all the communication and data needs in the development vertical. We hypothesise that there are currently too many features.
Our users should want to use Threadline and choose it over an alternative communication platform.
Threadline should require fewer clicks to update or access information than a typical PLM. Additionally, the software should be intuitive to navigate.
People must be actually willing to log in and change their behaviour
Features are Well Selected
Users Opinions & Buy-In
Threadline is Easy to Use
Willing to Log In
Miro: Expert Interviews
Through our research, we found that Miro was one of the most recently and widely adopted softwares in the Product Development vertical. We reached out to their key stakeholders to understand how they succeeded.
Deniz Karpetke
UX Researcher @ Miro
At Miro, we asses new features on a Feasibility vs Desirability matrix.
The holy grail is: low floor, high ceiling. People to be able to jump into it easily and also have a ceiling where they can come up with very complex processes within Miro
Hannah Knight
Product Manager @ Miro
You are definitely onto something big by looking at specific workflows ... that's what Miro is looking at now: how to cater for a full workflow in a particular vertical.
A lot of our business is driven by what we call a 'Miro-hero'. These people drive a bottom-up approach to embedding Miro in many teams. I love this bottom-up and top-down approach you've set out, it's on the money.
Action Taken:
Feature Selection
We followed the Feasibility vs Desirability to determine the initial feature suite. This was based on our customer discover and provides baseline for feedback.
Simplicity in Design
To ensure a 'low floor' we will run user testing and benchmark to currently used PLMs.
User Interviews
Following our customer discovery and software expert interviews, an initial mock up of Threadline was created. Then, interviews with developers were scheduled for feedback. This marked the beginning of Threadline's co-design process.
Tom Fyern
Sourcing Agent @ The Brand Collective
You have a version history tab there … that's really important as well
I want the manufacturer to see that timeline - it reminds them to be on time because that is a very big issue
Localised Feedback
Timeline
Software access in China
Manufacturer vs Developer Access to Infromation
Translation is Needed
Outcome:
Tom ended the interview by connecting us with Daniel, the software procurement manager for The Brand Collective. This showed buy-in and bottom-up traction. The Brand Collective were energised to discuss a potential co-design partnership.
User/ Management Buy-In
We struggled to communicate the potential of AI in the system and the user experience as the UI could not be interacted with.
Joanne Jørgensen
Ex-Materials Design Director @ Nike
This is great, it is fantastic that you have designed for the workflow and with the user in mind.
In Nike, you can be fired for having pictures of samples on your phone.
Localised Feedback
Useful to have on a phone
Attitude to Adoption
Manufacturer vs Developer Access to Infromation
Phone app must be secure
Key Learnings:
Joanne emphasised the barriers to adoption being:
Legal concerns related to IP.
Deep-rooted stubbornness towards new tools from users.
IT teams reluctance to signing off another new tool.
Puma HQ Visit
We arranged to visit Puma HQ and spend 3 days in Germany with the product development team. During our time there. we conducted:
Ethnographic Research
Product vs Workflow Fit Testing
User Trials & Interviews
Interactive MVP:
To provide the developers with the ability to interact with and feel the experience of using Threadline we made a front-end works like prototype that shows Threadline from a developers perspective.
Ethnographic Research
During our research, we noted metrics that we could use to benchmark the success of Threadline to. We chose navigation, time and clicks as values to optimise as they clearly relate to clarity and ease of use of the software.
Product Line Mangers Software Usage
The product line managers in Puma have to copy and paste the data and information 13 times between 15 different platforms
I hate this one … This one is so annoying … I have to copy and paste everything so many times
Lucia Mayagiota
Product Line Manger @ PUMA
This workflow can be significantly simplified through custom API integration, a feature available on our Enterprise plan.
100%
could navigate successfully to a named product
121 seconds*
to find the milestone dates from the location of latest feedback
9 clicks*
to find specific product files from Desktop
*mean calculated from all developers & designers
Product vs Workflow Fit Testing:
Threadline was designed to fit into key workflows. We had targeted conversations and watched our users at key points to validate workflow assumptions:
Localised Feedback
We assume files & sample pictures have feedback circled and shared in a PowerPoint
Finding:
Feedback is circled on everything!
The phone app design will follow that of standard pen tools on WhatsApp etc. It is simple and familiar.
Focus on chats and written feedback on Threadline
We assume feedback is given in writing
Finding:
Feedback often happens during in person meetings
Phone app and online platform allows you to 'phone' the product(s) discussed. AI generated action points and chats are transcribed.
One panel of chats & no DM capabilities
We assume developers have the most problems communicating with their Local Operators
Communication is messy, but mainly in HQ
Feedback and communication about products happens mostly between internal teams.
The conversations in HQ should be respected and streamlined, separate from conversations with LO's
Features are Well Selected
User Trials & Interviews
We gave each of the 10 developers, designers and PLMs that we interviewed time to look at and trial the MVP. We watched their interactions and then held an interview with each about their experience.
Trials:
We observed their interactions and then asked them to perform the same tasks on Threadline as previously measured on the existing system.
Key Learnings:
80%
could navigate successfully to a named product
5 seconds
to find the milestone dates from the location of latest feedback
4 clicks
to find specific product files from Desktop
*mean calculated from all developers & designers
Users failing to navigate
Quickly see information
Speedy Navigation
Threadline is Easy to Use
Interviews
This is what [our current PLM] should be.
Lars Naumann
Footwear Developer @ PUMA
User/ Management Buy-In
Nothing rigid please! The way that you order samples here is not flexible, sometimes I just want a trial
Geraint Harries
Footwear Developer @ PUMA
I am willing to try anything that means my admin is sped up
Steven Oh
Footwear Developer @ PUMA Teamsport
Willing to Log In
If it means that my team can get back to real developer work then I love it
Philipp Dorsch
Teamhead Footwear Development @ PUMA
User/ Management Buy-In
Key Learnings:
Chats are too much: the quantity of communications
Sample orders are too rigid
This process needs to be further analysed and the feature iterated. We plan to conduct testing during our codevelopment to understand how to improve the casual vs structured communications.
Localised Feedback
Useful to have on a phone
Bulk-Signing Off
Axel Arigato HQ
Workshop:
I do not like using excel. It just doesn't work for me, its not visual at all.
Isabella Braithwaite
Materials Developer @ Axel Arigato
Interface Design is Crucial
We spend an entire week transferring the CAD into the PLM system.
The manufactures and our Local Operators are so much faster to reach on WhatsApp … they always have their phone on them when going around the factory.
Cameron Ackroyd
Footwear Developer @ Axel Arigato
Phone App
Automations in Admin
If we have notifications and deadline reminders then we can hopefully hit our milestones and never make chnages going into production.
Imogen Wilberforce-Ritchie
Product Developer RTW @ Axel Arigato
Curated notifications
If you can integrate with Miro that would be fantatsic! … a game changer
Francesca Wright
Footwear Range Planning Manager @ Axel Arigato
Integration with Miro
Key Learnings:
Streamlined, reduced and targeted notifications were loved by all the developers, designers and Product Managers. This tackles their key pain point: overwhelming communications.
We need to ensure the manufacturers portal works effectively on slow devices and is simple to navigate.
Integration with Miro would be very useful for this team. This prompted us to reach back out to Hannah and Deniz.
Case Study
PLM Communications Pilot Trial
Previously part of a PLM communications trial that was pushed by upper management and then scrapped after 2 seasons.
Communications became even messier
Emails still needed to be sent to manufactures
You had to click through so many boxes and windows to see anything
Stephanie Douglas
Lead Footwear Developer @ Axel Arigato
Key Learnings:
Everyone utilised the PLM and were willing to log in to give it a try.
The system was not designed to minimise requests. This echoes what we heard at PUMA: It is key to reduce noise rather than just congregate.
Feature Cards:
We conducted a feature card experiment with the team at Axel to see which features were the highest priority for users.
Key Learnings:
Features Prioritised
Focus on UI design being clear and quick to navigate for future development. Ensure traditional PLM tasks are as fast as possible to complete.
Reduction in notifications through streamlining was a high priority again
Phone Support was crucial as that is how many of them receive notifications about products. It is also why they often switch communication platform currently. Manufacturers respond more quickly to phone based notifications.
Features are Well Selected
Business Viability
Our CAS involves a bottom-up and top-down approach, with a goal of 8 touch points across 3 teams. Outreach methods of must be effective while we gain traction.
Targeted pilot trials with key brands is crucial to our gaining traction: positive results from previous pilots in a similar industry and willingness to pilot are key.
Our pricing must be in line with what the purchasing teams are willing to pay for PLM and communication tools.
Once we have key partners, we assume that Threadline will be spread across industry as users migrate between companies
Approaches to Outreach
Efficacy of Pilot Trials
Pricing is Approporiate
Software Migrates
Outreach Strategy
To attract initial customers while we build traction we aim to have a bottom-up approach, contacting developers to then access procurement teams.
Conducting Outreach
Cold Outreach
Meeting
234
LinkedIn messages sent
24
responses
18
meetings with stakeholders
Warm Connections
Meeting
30
Warm Introductions
27
Meetings
Key Learnings:
We found that a warm introduction was a key point that allowed us to secure a meeting. We will focus our outreach strategy on building our network and genuine relationships.
Referrals to Procurement Teams
4 development teams MVP demos
3 procurement team meetings
Key Learnings:
This shows the willingness of a developer to push Threadline up their teams. These meetings always began with a warm discussion about their current workflows and the challenges that they faced. This will be carried forwards as we acquire more customers
Approach to Outreach
Expert Interviews: Software CAS
Our CAS is heavily reliant on Bottom-Up pushing of Threadline, pilot trials and then users bringing Threadline with them as they move between companies.
Oluwaseyi Sosanya
CEO & Founder @ Gravity Sketch
We had several conversations with Oluwaseyi to understand how Gravity Sketch went from Kickstarter beta codes to adopted industry wide.
"The pilots let us have a clear criteria for success while we were gaining traction "
Key Learnings:
The very first users that brought Gravity Sketch to their brands were designers that used it in their own time. This was then pushed to procurement teams because: company IP was stored on Gravity Sketch and the designers had sway within their brand. Now, it spreads through Ambassadors and using pilot groups as a showcase for success.
The Power of Ambassadors
A major selling point was IP being uploaded
Efficacy of Pilots
Software Migrates
Hannah & Deniz
@ Miro
Miro has recently been adopted as a tool for collaboration and design feedback across industry. We wanted to hear about their CAS:
Key Learnings:
We need to focus on building strong bonds with our user base, who will bring Threadline with them when they move companies.
The Power of Ambassadors
Botttom-Up is a Major Driver for Customer Aquisition
Software Migrates
Caley Taylor
Enterprise Customer Success Manger, Ex-CLO
CLO took over apparel design for manufacture as it was rooted in preserving the IP of manufacturers: pattern shapes.
Key Learnings:
We had considered selling to manufacturers as they have the power to influence smaller brands to purchase tools. However, more of the value and IP that would be shared on Threadline is that of the brands and not the manufacturers.
Targeting the cutsomers with IP on the platform
Sandeep Kataria
CEO @ Bata Global
Key Learnings:
Speaking to Sandeep, we discussed the software in the footwear industry. He reaffirmed that companies will accept tools and softwares brought in from a bottom-up approach and that this happens at Bata
Software Migrates
Building Industry Relationships
As we found much more success when chasing warm connections, we aimed to begin building and leveraging our network as soon as possible.
Codevelopment Partner
A large risk in our development and GTM strategy was securing a co-development partner. We have managed to heavily de-risk this by connecting with the key teams at PUMA who are excited for the next steps and to arrange the partenrship.
Path to Procurement Team
We took a bottom-up approach that resulted in a referral to the Procurement team. Hover over the diagram below to see how we met new people within the company. We have learnt the importance of building a relationship with the user but bringing a prototype and focusing on value add with procurement teams.
Data, Analytics & AI
PLM Team
Planning & Analytics
Marc Moner
Product Line Manager
Lucia Mayagiota
Product Line Manager
Cameron Crooks
Footwear Development Intern
Lars Naumann
Footwear Developer
Footwear Developer
Steven Oh
Geraint Harries
Footwear Developer
Leah
Colour & Materials
Designer
Younji Choi
Senior Product Engineer
Indrajeet Sen
Board Member, Sourcing
Philipp Dorsch
Teamhead Footwear Development
Product Line Management
Footwear Design
Footwear Development
Teamsport Footwear
Teamsport Business Unit
Govind Pentakota
VP Data, Analytics & AI
?
PLM Integrations
?
PAC Support Team
Susan Wong
Director of Data & Analytics
Ralf Dunn
Digital Coordinator
Lucas Sparvieri
Digital Strategy & Solutions
"I'm thinking about how I can sell this to my boss's boss. … If this can reduce mistaken costs and shrink the time to market that would be the selling point. Management focus on revenue and cost, and so proving threadline can drive huge financial upside will make it an easy sell to my higher ups."
- Philipp
"This is so fantastic, we love that you have spoken to the users as well as thinking about how it can benefit us in AI and Analytics"
"What do we need to do next to make this [pilot] happen"
- Govind
"We really see the value from a data perspective"
- Susan
Key Learnings:
This taught us not to focus on the user experience with the budget holders but instead their ROI.
Built a relationship with the pilot team
High conversion rate, meetinsg led to more meetings
Data and procurement teams were already warm to us
Approach to Outreach
User/ Management Buy-In
Next Steps - Arranging a pilot
During our meeting with Puma's Director of Data & Analytics and her team, they wanted to know the next steps for arranging an official pilot and are establishing official relationships with the relevant teams across Legal, IT, Business Development and Teamsport Management.
Efficacy of Pilots
Repeated Success
We have also repeated and validated our bottom-up approach to be referred to IT & procurement teams at two other key brands. This approach has consistently worked for companies like Miro, and we see huge upside in this route-to-market.
Financials
Pricing
Interviews
Our conversations with enterprises did not reveal any current pricing that they are paying. This means that we will struggle to benchmark ourselves to current enterprise plans.
Pricing is Difficult to Benchmark
Pitching & Networking Events
Hult Prize Pitching Event:
Andrew Humphries heard our pitch and found us afterwards as he wanted to put us in touch with the CEO of All Birds, a sustainable footwear brand.
AI Ventures Hackathon:
We came in 2nd place and secured £1000 that funded our trip to Puma HQ.
Agentic AI Hackathon:
This hackathon is running from 15th March -15th April 2025. It is a gateway to accelerator programs. We aim to validate our success at building industry recognition gain more contacts that are experts in AI and software development.
Approach to Outreach
Networking Strategy is Effective
Investment & Funding
We have successfully de-risked the risks relating to securing funding to pay for infrastructure trough our acceptance to Google for Start-Ups Cloud Program. We spoke to Edoardo Tovaglieri who confirmed that after our initial $2000 USD in credits, he is able to secure us $25k. Beyond that he verbally confirmed our eligibility to scale up to the $350000 USD investment, without needing to raise a round.
Enthusiasm from Investors
Awaiting Results …
We have successfully de-risked the risks relating to securing funding to pay for infrastructure trough our acceptance to Google for Start-Ups Cloud Program. We are waiting to hear back regarding a Kickstart accelertor program and Y combinator X25 application
Integration & Partnerships
After the enthusiasm towards integration from Francesca at Axel Arigato, we wanted the localised feedback from Threadline to be able to integrate with comments systems in other commonly used softwares. We secured Letters of Intent from key partners and further brands:
Approach to Outreach
Technical Validation
To verify the technical feasibility of Threadline, we developed a proof of concept (POC) and spoke to a variety of experts in automation, data science and AI.
MVP and Proof of Concept
Our technical prototype combined with our interactive frontend demonstrated promising viability in testing at The Brand Collective, Puma and Axel Arigato.
The error checking proof-of-concept analyses tech packs and BOMs to catch errors, inconsistencies and outliers.
The Brand Collective: MVP Testing
We provided The Brand Collective with an error checking portal that allowed them to upload a tech pack for inconsistency detection.
This meant we could see how frequently users would open a new tool to access the benefits that Threadline would provide.
This was requested after a demo with their software procurement manager.
User/ Management Buy-In
We tracked use and logged each time a new file was analysed. After the initial set up phase,
2
developers uploaded
8
files per week
for
3
weeks
This user trial highlights the feasibility and value of AI-based error checking by catching real mistakes made by real designers.
32
errors caught
Error checking is feasible
Tech Stack Future Development
Tech Stack Development
After consulting with Edoardo Tovaglieri from the Google Startups team, GCP (Google Cloud Platform) offered us $25,000 in cloud credits, with up to $320,000 unlocked based on growth metrics. We are thus using Google Cloud for our cloud storage and compute.
Where possible, we plan to use plug-and-play APIs, such as Weaviate and Chunkr.ai for RAG and document parsing. Further adjustments, such as region of interest (ROI) chunking and filtering, are also to be explored.
Database Integrations
Positive feedback from the Puma Teamsport development team led us to meet with the head of data, analytics and AI at Puma; Govind Pentakonta. The data team validated the benefits of our platform from their perspective, and have connected us with their IT teams to discuss integration requirements.
More Technical Validation
