UK businesses with 5 or more employees are legally required to comply with health and safety (H&S) standards (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974). For small companies in particular, the effort and cost of these processes is disproportionately high. The complexity of compliance often results in companies employing expensive third parties to whom they delegate, but don’t actually pass on the responsibilities for this compliance.
Nova cofounded CHEQS with Ian Crook, a non-technical founder who had access to industry expertise. Nova recruited a user panel which worked closely with Ian and the cofounding team to produce a cloud-based system. We are now piloting CHEQS with several companies across their numerous locations.
How Nova helped
Rapid development of early prototypes and minimum viable products (MVP) enabled quick validation with our guidance panel. This revealed a strong desire but also fear of self management of health and safety. Validation of the addressable market is a fundamental tenet of Nova’s Lean Startup process.