Starting Smarter To Create Smarterer

The foundation of Smarterer was one which highlights the importance of early learning experiments. The team’s unique approach led to success in establishing an efficient way for skills validation.

In this June 2011 presentation to the Lean Startup Circle Boston, Jennifer Fremont-Smith described in detail how her team set about creating their first learning experiments. Smarterer was a product idea to tests and scores people on their digital, social, and technical skills. Using crowdsourced test design and a scoring mechanism similar to the one developed to rank chess masters, in just 10 questions and 60 seconds users get a valid score. The goal was to give people a simple, smart way to validate their skills and tell the world what they know.

The basis of Smarterer rests in the foundational idea of creating a simple, quick, and reliable way in which individuals can demonstrate the unique skills they have, getting them validated for various purposes. This skill assessment platform functions by conducting concise assessments that have been carefully curated to assess an individual’s skills. Posing only ten questions, the platform makes it possible for people to get a precise score which is a reflection of the level of their skills.

It is fast, efficient, and built by leveraging crowdsources test design and an algorithm for scoring, which accurately depicts the skill score of an individual user. This ability made the platform highly useful for employers, particularly those that sought an effective method to assess a candidate’s skill level.

Creating Smarterer

Jennifer’s presentation offered keen insights into the development processes involved in creating Smarterer, and the role of early learning experiments in completing the ordeal. The experiments proved to be indispensable for testing hypotheses, improving ideas, and learning rapidly from real user interactions. The experiments emphasized feedback loops, which enabled the team to introduce modifications and enhance the test designs of the platform immediately, as needed.

Another critical element which set the product on the right course was adoption of the lean startup techniques, through which she focused on making a minimum viable product, testing it in the market, and making adjustments to suit market demands and user feedback. Her strategy for building this platform was not launching the ideal product in one go, but building one which was flexible and scalable to match evolving market needs.

The importance of early experiments in the product development cycle played an essential role in shaping the direction in which the development endeavors go. Smarterer’s simplicity and ability to resolve a challenge for individual users as well as employers, played vital role in driving the platform’s popularity.

Having a product lead with diversified experience across domains also played a crucial role in their early success. Combining academic and professional backgrounds into the development of this successful venture focuseed on products and solutions that cater to an actual demand or address a challenge that has not been solved yet.