TestParty: A Welcome Assist (Excerpt From Harvard's Alumni Magazine)

Introduction

The internet wasn’t built with everyone in mind—and today, we’re living with the consequences. As Harvard Business School highlights in its recent profile of TestParty founder Michael Bervell (MBA ’24), digital accessibility remains one of the largest unrealized opportunities in technology. An astonishing 97% of the world’s top websites still exclude users who rely on assistive tools like screen readers or keyboard navigation.

In “Venture: A Welcome Assist,” HBS explores how TestParty emerged to close that gap—helping companies not only comply with global accessibility regulations but also unlock a growing $13 trillion market of consumers with disabilities and their families. The piece dives into the origins of TestParty, the rising urgency of compliance laws like the European Accessibility Act, and the broader innovation potential hidden at the edges of the bell curve.

Below is the full article, spotlighting the mission behind TestParty and the massive shift underway in how businesses approach inclusive design.

Article by: Jen Mcfarland Flint

Illustration: Chris Gash

The internet grew up inordinately fast. It all happened so quickly, in fact, that it blew right by the accessibility guidelines that would’ve made digital tools available to everyone, regardless of their age or ability, says Michael Bervell (MBA 2024). As a result, an estimated 97 percent of the one million most-visited websites lack accessibility, making them difficult to navigate for those using assistive technologies, such as screen readers, magnifiers, and keyboard controls. Seeing that gap, Bervell cofounded the startup TestParty in 2023, to help companies identify problematic source code and apply automatic fixes wherever possible.

There are plenty of reasons that companies might want to make their websites accessible to everyone, Bervell says, starting with economics: The estimated spending power of people with disabilities and their families surpasses $13 trillion. About 17 percent of the world’s population is affected by disabilities. There’s also the fact that, beginning in June, any company conducting business in the European Union will need to meet the standards of the European Accessibility Act. The regulation applies to websites, apps, online shopping, banking, and transportation; fines for non-compliance could range between €5,000 and €20,000 per violation.

Besides that, Bervell argues, “There’s a huge case to be made that if you invest in what I call the edges of the bell curve, you actually create innovation that benefits the middle.”

Consider the typewriter: Around 1808, a blind Italian countess needed a way to communicate with her friend (or lover, depending on your source) that didn’t require dictating a letter to a third party. Her correspondent, the Italian inventor Pellegrino Turri, eventually developed a machine with a key for each letter. The first typewriter ultimately led to the keyboard, which became fundamental to digital communications and, well, modern life. It’s one example from a long history of devices originally designed for people with disabilities but adopted by everyone, Bervell says. There’s also the fact that “we’re probably all going to age into the group that I’m building for right now,” Bervell acknowledges.

The Fine Print
A company can download TestParty’s tools, which automatically scan source code for its websites, mobile apps, images, and PDFs. “We can fix about 40 percent of issues. For the other 60 percent, either you work with us, you work with your own team, or you hire consultants to help you get there,” Bervell says. “If we can’t get you compliant within the first month, then you get your money back.” The pricing varies according to the scale of the website, starting at $1,000 a month for a Shopify site.

Scope of opportunity
While 97 percent of the one million most-visited websites lack accessibility, Bervell is certain that percentage would go up for the 10 million most-visited sites. “But when you boil the ocean, you still have to go one cup at a time. So we’re trying to focus on a very small niche: first, stores in the US that make between $10 million and $100 million in annual revenue and use Shopify. And second, we’re looking at European companies that have at least $10 million in revenue or 2 million customers a year.”

The Competition
TestParty has raised $4 million to date. Some of its competitors have raised $125 million or $150 million. “Everyone is working toward the same angle but at different parts of the stack. One of our competitors is building end-to-end tools purely for Fortune 1,000 companies, for example. Even with this, there’s still massive opportunity and room for innovation—and it begs the question: Why isn’t there more interest here, given what looks like a no-brainer opportunity? In any other space where the greenfield market potential was 97 percent of the world, everyone would be running toward it.”