Forward Thinking Product Creators: Meet the Paralect R&D Team
Here’s the context — the product landscape has shifted quickly in the last few years. Accelerated by the pandemic, increased reliance on digital tools has spread to every industry. The pace has changed. The R&D team is here to match the velocity that today’s startup founders need.
What’s clear is that winning formulas are not static. Igor’s written about this evolution earlier.
So where’s research and development come in? This team stands at the intersection of rapid product prototyping, tech discovery and product team empowerment.
We’re going to help our founders not just with the development of MVPs but trying to find the approach that will help them quickly. We’re taking our experience from the Product Lab and all our product expertise and converting it into packages and services for founders.” – Vladimir Panteleev, Head of R&D Team
Here are the main goals for R&D:
- Speed up the product discovery and project launch cycle for new ideas in the Paralect founder community.
- Build developer proficiency with new technologies via these new products.
- Support engagement across product teams with events and internal product development.
Starting with Efficiency
The main pain point we’ve discovered comes at the early stage of our partnership with founders. To start a new project quickly, R&D works with the sales team to develop the product proposal and design prototypes.
A dedicated team ready to design the product architecture, appearance and define the MVP scope.
How the process has transformed 👇
We’re responsible for laying the cornerstone of new projects and making a smooth handover to the product team. On the way, we conduct technology intelligence before the start and prepare the production team to implement new tech.”
This is an evolution of the Product Discovery and Design Phase — giving both the founder and their product team a clear roadmap for the MVP launch and further product iterations.
The R&D Community
While the team itself has only four members for now, in spirit and action it’s open to everyone. This will manifest in a few ways and directions.
First up the team will re-vamp and level up Paralect Ship. That’s our open-source tech toolkit for starting new projects.
Any developer can contribute to Ship or make requests for new functionality.
On a higher level, the R&D projects fit within the larger Paralect Ecosystem beside the Idea Validation lab in the Venture Studio. When a product idea is validated and shows significant interest with the target market, the R&D team can join the team to quickly design prototypes and product architecture.
Then it’s on to a quick MVP launch, raising funds and passing the development momentum on to a dedicated product team.
We have a lot of services and communities where you can create your ideas, try your ideas and validate your ideas. But I see the R&D community as a platform for implementation — the next step or level in our infrastructure.”
Beyond the products and tech, this team values sharing knowledge and experience and will facilitate workshops, seminars and events that boost our hive mind of product expertise and entertain along the way.
The Future Odyssey
To jumpstart the R&D community, the team have launched our first-ever hackathon.
I believe this event should be open to anyone at Paralect — no matter their position or level of expertise. Whether they are a developer or an office manager or whatever, they are welcome to join a team and run the hackathon.”
There are three main tech directions for the first edition:
- Machine Learning: “From a kitten classifier to a TAS speedrun.”
- Augmented / Virtual Reality: “From AR outfits to the metaverse.”
- Web3: “From NFT standard to the creative economy.”
By the end of the 30 hour run, teams will launch a product with a minimum of one core feature and enjoy their journey into the future of tech together. Then they’ll pitch what they’ve made — after some sleep — to the wider Paralect community and world.
It’s as much about exploring the creative side of tech. And if an amazing product is born out of this intensive experimentation, that’s damn fine too.
Stay tuned for more forward-focused product stories from the R&D team as well as updates from the hackathon. See you in the future 🔮
