We're not "doing a startup", Topconf
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A talk about self-funding your own business.
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We're not "doing a startup", Topconf
- 1. We’re not “doing a startup” How to cut through the hype and build your side project into a profitable business. Rachel Andrew, Topconf 2016
- 3. G.K. Chesterton “I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.”
- 4. This is a marathon, not a 5K.
- 6. It’s not about the money (until it is)
- 7. Getting started Choosing the perfect product to bootstrap as a side-project. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/7276841268
- 8. Walt Disney “The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.”
- 9. • for your own community • that you can ship quickly • that solves a problem people will pay to have solved • that does not need a lot of traction to be useful • that has existing competition A product ...
- 10. A product for your own community https://www.flickr.com/photos/drewm
- 11. Amy Hoy “Are you a Ruby developer? Then serve Ruby developers. Are you a UX designer? Serve UX designers.”
- 12. The worst that could have happened with Perch? No-one would want it but we’d have a useful tool for our business.
- 13. With a track record in a community you will already have trust.
- 14. A product you can ship quickly http://freekvanarkel.nl
- 15. John Radoff “The goal of a startup is to find the sweet-spot where minimum product and viable product meet – get people to fall in love with you.”
- 16. To launch with a small product, you need to find a problem that can be solved with a small product.
- 17. Perch v.1 • A simple content editor • No way to add new pages • No API • Images could be uploaded - but not resized
- 18. The Problem Client requests that an already developed static site be made editable via a CMS.
- 19. The Solution A simple CMS that turned static pages into editable pages by way of dropping in a couple of PHP tags.
- 20. A product that solves a problem that people will pay to have solved https://www.flickr.com/photos/futureshape/
- 21. If you can save a business time they will see the value in paying for your product.
- 22. Bootstrapped With Kids, Episode 31 “We think their workflow sucks, but they like it…”
- 23. Our target market for Perch was designers and agencies. We aimed to save them time on smaller projects.
- 24. Feedback from paying customers trumps feedback from free users. Every time.
- 25. A product that does not need a lot of users to be useful https://www.flickr.com/photos/22746515@N02/
- 26. “Social” or “community” products need a large user base to succeed.
- 27. Choose a product that is as useful to customer #1 as customer #1000
- 28. A product that has competition
- 29. Perch competitors at launch • WordPress • ExpressionEngine • CushyCMS • PageLime • Joomla • Drupal
- 30. What problem is your competition NOT solving? Build it.
- 31. New concepts will require you to educate potential customers as to why they even need your product.
- 32. Finding the time How to make time for side-projects. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mybigtrip/6111406
- 33. Malcolm S. Forbes “One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a-hundred half-finished tasks.”
- 34. Sir John Lubbock “In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.”
- 35. Get set up to be able to pick up and work on your side-project quickly - whenever the time is available.
- 36. Your product must be a first-class citizen alongside your other work.
- 37. Set aside time and plan in advance what you will do with it
- 38. Diana Scharf Hunt “Goals are dreams with deadlines”
- 39. There is power in setting a goal, writing it down, putting a date on it
- 40. How to get started • Choose your goal • Define what it is you are going to create • Put a date on it.
- 41. Brian Casel http://casjam.com/the-cascading-to-do-list-or-how-to-get-big-things-done/ “In a nutshell, the idea is to start with the end- goal in mind, then divide it into smaller and smaller increments. Plan all of the actions in detail beforehand, then get to work.”
- 42. Be realistic about how much you can achieve. Feeling as if you are falling behind can demotivate you.
- 43. If there is not enough time ... • Either revise your end date • Or, remove elements of the project - pushing them into a post-launch phase.
- 44. Be ruthless in cutting features that can be added post-launch
- 45. The “missing” features at launch will seem far more important to you than to your customers.
- 46. Describe the product as it is now. Sell the solution.
- 47. • Start Small • Get feedback from paying customers • Improve and add to your product based on their needs balanced by your vision.
- 49. Own Your Own Data
- 50. Launch and beyond Managing a growing side-project alongside an existing job or business. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall
- 51. Winston Churchill “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
- 52. • We launched Perch at the end of May 2009 • At launch we were still 100% booked out on client projects • Income from Perch was initially reinvested into Perch • January 2013 we made the decision to stop taking on new client work Our timeline
- 53. A successful side-project should be given more time as it represents a higher % of your income.
- 54. Not making a profit? • Are you pricing too cheaply? • Are you reliant on expensive services? • Are you attracting customers who need a lot of support?
- 55. The slower growth curve of bootstrapped products gives you time to fix problems before they become BIG problems.
- 56. Never promise a specific timeframe to customers
- 57. When your product is a side-project you have even more things that could cause you to push back a feature.
- 58. We don’t publish a roadmap • It allows us to be flexible and react to customer needs and changing trends in web design. • It means that customers are not relying on the launch of feature X in order to complete a project. • It means that we can hold back a feature until we are absolutely sure it won’t cause anyone a problem.
- 59. Use Cases not Feature Requests
- 60. Find general solutions that will benefit many customers rather than adding very specific features
- 61. Understanding the problem means we can help the customer now and optimize the solution later.
- 62. Delight customers by solving their problems and letting them know when you have done so
- 63. Protect the Core Use Case
- 64. Beware adding things just because they “make good demo”
- 65. Your product will benefit by being owned by someone who will say no.
- 66. Make Frequent Small Releases
- 67. Small releases • Fewer changes = fewer things to go wrong • Easier to isolate the issue if a problem does occur • Get features to customers more quickly • For our customers, less of a dramatic change that they need to communicate to their clients
- 71. Don’t be led by a noisy minority
- 72. Seek out the opinion of those customers you never hear from. The happy majority are often silent.
- 73. Marketing How to tell people about your product, when you have no money to burn. https://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/5284764031/
- 74. Seth Godin “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”
- 75. You have made something that genuinely solves a problem. Go tell people about it!
- 76. Pre-launch of Perch • A month before we put up a landing page and email signup form • About 500 people signed up • We emailed the list on launch and those people represented enough sales on launch day to pay back all pre-launch costs.
- 77. Your reach will give you your initial customers. Then what?
- 79. Write blog posts and articles on the things your potential customer is interested in, not about your product.
- 80. Sponsorship
- 81. Sponsoring podcasts can be inexpensive and a great way to have someone influential talk about your product for a few minutes.
- 82. Paid Advertising
- 83. If you cannot track it do not pay for it
- 84. Target the “long tail” keywords
- 85. Research smaller sites visited by your ideal customer, advertise on those less expensive sites.
- 89. Create your own definition of success
- 90. Revenue that is not worth chasing for a 60 person business can be life- changing for the solo founder.
- 91. Is the grass greener on the product side?
- 92. The work is always worth it.