Bain Public to Work Pro Bono with Notman House Startup LUCA Theory

In collaboration with Notman House and chosen from a list of 13 startups, starting January 2020, we will be providing our Product Capability Building Program for Pre-Seed Founders, pro bono to LUCA Theory, a rising Montreal startup.
What is Notman House exactly? On a mission to support and grow the Montreal startup ecosystem, Notman House is a technology hub that provides office, event, and communal space for startups, investors, technology partners, and community groups. It's also where we headquartered our office.
Who is LUCA Theory?
Currently in the prototype phase, LUCA Theory is building tools to quantify investment conviction through novel forms of collective intelligence. They plan to offer smarter, better-informed decisions to everyone, starting with the financial, recruiting, executive decision-making and medical markets.
Why Pro Bono?
By partnering with Notman House, we set a lofty goal to undertake pro bono advisory work, bringing the ideas of product leadership, product strategy and product development processes to resident startups. We did so because it’s good business.
We care about user problems and how products fit into their lives. It must fulfill a need or solve a problem users have. We work together to solve real pain points and launch market-tested, innovative products that have the power to transform the world. The standout component is our one-on-one time with the startup founders. Running a startup is not easy work. They forgo stability in exchange for the promise of fast growth. The solutions are not obvious and success is not guaranteed.
"We believe we can have an impact on the Montreal business ecosystem by providing our pro bono services to companies we believe in. I hope they will gain from our processes, framework, experience, product knowhow, encouragement and ideas." Paul Ortchanian, CEO
How Will Bain Public Assist LUCA Theory?
Bain Public, which translates to ‘public bath’, originated from a communal need for cleanliness. With lack of strategy in your product planning efforts comes lack of focus and direction, which means things can get messy really quick. We then come in to assess, cleanse and remove friction from people and processes to boost organizational sell-through and keep the focus on building great products. Making sure everyone is aligned, motivated, inspired and ready to innovate, is at the core of what we do. It’s all about collaboratively making smart product decisions that captivate customers and deliver business results.
David Oram, CEO at LUCA Theory, shared that having adequate product management during the inaugural stages of growth is vital to contributing to a viable and robust roadmap, "We need to value both the long-term vision while also maximising team strengths to develop a functional product."

As LUCA Theory transitions from ‘Prototype’ to ‘MVP’, they require additional insight into the tradeoffs that are required to develop a platform which can be valuable to initial clients while also remaining open for feature testing, feedback and iteration.
"We feel that we could leverage the expertise of Bain Public and accelerate our growth as we move into the early stages of our MVP product roadmap development, with milestones, mockups and designs underway."
What are the Benefits of Working with Bain Public?
From building roadmaps and offering leadership to move your business to new levels, to providing coaching and building strong personal relationships, partnering with Bain Public can be the key to an organization's product success.
To put it simply, we define and refine product roadmaps and their strategies. We help ambitious companies find value with new technology-based products. We aim to transform the way they think and help them define how to build the best products, focusing our efforts into creating the processes that allow ideas to move from the organization to the customer.
The following are some of the benefits of working with us:
- We build roadmaps: Roadmaps are essential to giving organizations direction and product focus. We have repeatedly engaged organizations to collaboratively craft the roadmaps they need to succeed.
- We offer transitionary leadership: We offer the leadership you need to quickly move your organization to new levels. We have a proven track record for quickly assessing technology and product organizations, leveraging their strengths, and implementing just enough process to deliver the products customers love.
- We provide mentoring and coaching: We have the experience to coach and mentor product and software leaders. You don't need to wait for your product managers to learn it all on their own. Let us coach them.
- We spend time with you in-person: With our experience in product management, we have come to learn that it’s difficult to make the role work remotely. Time in-person is important. We put product managers on-site which gives us the opportunity to meet everyone from your team and work together to build strong relationships. Once you’ve met someone in person, they are no longer the block of text behind an email or simply a voice over the phone. When conflicts arise (it’s only natural that they will), you’re more likely to work through the kinks as a team. In the end, we want to work together and grow together.
- We are empathetic: Empathy is the key to success for any product objective. Listening is a powerful tool. By improving workplace relationships through listening and making people feel heard and included, it increases productivity. It allows for an open and safe space for brainstorming. When you show your team that you listen, they will feel comfortable coming to you with collaborative projects and new ideas.
So what sets us apart from competitors? Companies rely on our expert advice, coaching and approaches for managing teams to solve their unique problems. We work alongside our clients as an integrated product design team and emphasize how a product vision and roadmap decisions can affect the consumer. We dive into the ‘what and ‘why’ to discover and prioritize the best features.
Thanks to Loren O’Brien-Egesborg for reading drafts of this article and overseeing aspects of its publication. Also, if you have any feedback or criticism about this article then shoot us an email info@bainpublic.com.
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