Technical Product Development - next, we began piecing together the different technologies, frameworks, libraries, approaches that we could take to execute against the functionality needs described above. View each slide in real-time as the host is presenting.Use a passcode to join the host’s session.Control the slides being viewed by the audience in coordination with the cadence of their presentation.

Create a passcode-protected private session.

Product Functionality - we began by defining the bare minimum functionality needed for both the presentation host (speaker, organizer, etc.) and audience member: But, given that we had just two weeks to build and launch the entire product, we dove right into the technical work based on a very lightweight, MVP understanding of product functionality. The Process: my usual approach would be to spend a decent amount of time and energy in market research, customer interviews and validation. The Solution: a mobile application that allows the speaker to privately share, and control, the viewing of their presentation slides on the mobile devices of audience members in real-time. The Problem: audiences (of conferences, lectures, large meetings) are often obstructed from, or limited in, being able to get the full benefit of the presentation slides that the speaker is using. In this scenario, Mateusz had the vision, and the stronger technical chops, so I fell in behind him to ensure that our technical implementation was inclusive of a broad range of use-cases and user types. It was a strong product lesson for me, just coming off my first stint as startup founder: You don’t always have to be the visionary to be an effective product manager. We had a few different ideas that we could have pursued, but Mateusz’ passion to create a mobile application that would enable real-time slide-sharing was palpable.

The end of our two-month program called for the design, development and release of a user-facing mobile application. During one of most brutal winters in the history of Chicago, Mateusz and I were enrolled in the iOS Development Bootcamp at the Mobile Makers Academy. Slideo was the brainchild of my very talented friend Mateusz Pis.

Dropbox api slideshow