Video First
Collaborative user interface testing
We are pleased to announce the Video First Slack App is now live!
The Slack App allows users to link their Video First projects to a Slack channel. Users can then receive real-time Video First updates without leaving Slack. Installing the app is easy - see the following blog for more information.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/video-first-slack-app-now-live-bob-marks/
We did a private Beta release of Video First back in the summer of 2018 to a few friends and family. We took all the feedback from users, worked hard an then did a public beta release in Jan, 2019. This release included a demo project (AirBNB) which users can interact with when they log in for the first time.
We are delighted to announce Syndeo as our first paying customer. This is a huge milestone for Video First and helps to validate the product idea. We did an interview with Syndeo to understand how they use Video First. To see this interview - please see the following video: -
As the 6 month Propel Pre-Accelerator came to an end - the final event was a pitch event in Ormeau Baths where each start-up had to pitch their product. I am delighted to announce out of the 20 companies on the Accelerator, Video First secured the top prize of £10,000 - see https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/technology/hunt-for-new-northern-ireland-tech-companies-to-be-propelled-37349329.html for more info.
In Jan 2018, Video First was one of 20 tech start-ups who successfully accepted onto the Propel Pre-Accelerator (https://igniteni.com/) where over 300 companies applied). The accelerator is based in Belfast, give funding of £15,000 and meant that development on Video First could commence full-time. The support of the accelerator was invaluable with help from experience advisers, workshops on sales, marketing etc to just being able to chat to other companies in the room as a support network. I would personally recommend an accelerator to anyone who wants to make the leap into creating a software product.
What I first started working on my idea, it had no name, no solution just a problem. The problem I encountered many times in my career as a software engineer was the complex process of delivering / testing / collaborating on a software UI (user interface). Delivering UI is hard, there are many obstacles and problems. These include, (1) designs being out of sync with the actual implemented UI, (2) lack of visibility of what is being tested, (3) getting sign off by the correct people i.e. product owners, customers, (4) remote testing / engineering teams adding to complexity and (5) testing / engineering staff leaving (losing skills).
Some of the software companies I chatted to about this problem were using out-dated technologies to help with their UI testing such as spreadsheets.
This is where the idea for Video First (https://www.videofirst.io) came from i.e. using video to capture, communicate and collaborate on user interface testing. Think YouTube, but instead of lots of cat videos, there would be videos of user interface tests. For example, an engineer creates a new piece of UI functionality (e.g. search button). To test, they hit record on screen capture software, do a quick test, stop screen capture and then upload the saved video of the test to Video First. They can then invite their colleagues to review the test. These could be other engineers, testers, management, designers and even customers who can all login in, play the video of the test, comment, approve / decline etc. This increases visibility at a much earlier stage of the development life process and ensures that the correct UI is being built - thus saving time / money for customers / clients / software companies. The video is proof that the testing happen and that it was signed off by the correct stakeholders.
So at the start of August, I dedicated 2 days a week to this idea for a few months and then started full-time on Jan 2018 when I was accepted onto the Propel Pre-Accelerator in Belfast.
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