Developing a minimum viable product (MVP) to showcase business concept.
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8Levate is an early-stage startup founded by Margherita Pasquariello, who has over 20 years of experience in the manufacturing and automotive sectors. Drawing on her professional background, she identified systemic challenges within recruitment and skills matching, particularly the difficulty of aligning individual capabilities with employer needs.
The startup is developing an AI-enabled solution designed to enhance decision-making in recruitment with the aim to provide deeper insight into individual skills, helping employers, recruiters, and jobseekers connect more effectively while also identifying opportunities for upskilling and career progression.
As a solo founder, Margherita faced several challenges in progressing her idea from concept to market. While she had a strong understanding of the problem and a clear vision for the solution, she lacked some technical expertise and financial resource required to design and build a fully functional digital product.
A key barrier was the ability to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) that could demonstrate the concept and support funding applications. Like many early-stage founders, she encountered the common “funding gap” challenge, needing investment to build the product, but requiring a product to secure that investment.
Additionally, navigating the technical design process, defining user journeys, and structuring a scalable solution for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets presented further complexity.
Through engagement with Digital Pathfinders, Margherita received targeted, practical support focused on advancing her concept. Working with Digital Adoption Specialist, Chamath, she was supported in refining her idea and translating it into a structured MVP design.
The support included collaborative sessions to map out the user experience, define key functionality, and develop a clearer technical framework for the platform. The support also helped prioritise core features, ensuring that available resources were directed towards the most critical elements of the solution.
Importantly, the support provided hands-on guidance at a stage where practical input was essential, complementing the strategic knowledge Margherita had already gained through other accelerator programmes and industry engagement.
The support enabled Margherita to move from a conceptual idea to a more clearly defined and structured product vision. By developing an MVP framework and user journey, she gained greater clarity on how her solution could be implemented in practice.
This has strengthened her ability to communicate the concept to potential investors and collaborators and has provided a more solid foundation for future development. The engagement also reduced key barriers by offering access to technical insight and expertise that would otherwise have been difficult to obtain as a solo founder.
“The support was an absolute gamechanger for a founder like me. The support removed a lot of barriers, it sped up the journey, and it was absolutely amazing. The approach was collaborative and Chamath was very flexible, organising meetings to work together at the right pace for me, working under pressure when I needed to get things done. What founders need is practical, hands-on support to make it happen, like this type of support from Digital Pathfinders. It removes those key barriers and allows us to move ideas closer to market.”
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