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We’re not
“doing a startup”
How to cut through the hype and build your side
project into a profitable business.
Rachel Andrew, WDC 2014
Friday, 10 October 14
grabaperch.com
Friday, 10 October 14
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.”
Friday, 10 October 14
This is a marathon, not a 5K.
Friday, 10 October 14
Friday, 10 October 14
It’s not about the money
(until it is)
Friday, 10 October 14
Getting
started
Choosing the perfect
product to bootstrap as a
side-project.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/7276841268
Friday, 10 October 14
Walt Disney
“The way to get started is to quit
talking and start doing.”
Friday, 10 October 14
• 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 ...
Friday, 10 October 14
A product for your own community
https://www.flickr.com/photos/drewm
Friday, 10 October 14
Amy Hoy
“Are you a Ruby developer? Then
serve Ruby developers. Are you a UX
designer? Serve UX designers.”
Friday, 10 October 14
The worst that could have happened
with Perch? No-one would want it
but we’d have a useful tool for our
business.
Friday, 10 October 14
With a track record in a community
you will already have trust.
Friday, 10 October 14
A product you can ship quickly
http://freekvanarkel.nl
Friday, 10 October 14
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.”
Friday, 10 October 14
To launch with a small product, you
need to find a problem that can be
solved with a small product.
Friday, 10 October 14
Perch v.1
• A simple content editor
• No way to add new pages
• No API
• Images could be uploaded - but not resized
Friday, 10 October 14
The Problem
Client requests that an already
developed static site be made
editable via a CMS.
Friday, 10 October 14
The Solution
A simple CMS that turned static
pages into editable pages by way of
dropping in a couple of PHP tags.
Friday, 10 October 14
A product that solves a problem that
people will pay to have solved
https://www.flickr.com/photos/futureshape/
Friday, 10 October 14
If you can save a business time they
will see the value in paying for your
product.
Friday, 10 October 14
Bootstrapped With Kids, Episode 31
“We think their workflow sucks, but
they like it…”
Friday, 10 October 14
Our target market for Perch was
designers and agencies. We aimed to
save them time on smaller projects.
Friday, 10 October 14
Feedback from paying customers
trumps feedback from free users.
Every time.
Friday, 10 October 14
A product that does not need a lot of
users to be useful
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22746515@N02/
Friday, 10 October 14
“Social” or “community” products
need a large user base to succeed.
Friday, 10 October 14
Choose a product that is as useful to
customer #1 as customer #1000
Friday, 10 October 14
A product that has competition
Friday, 10 October 14
Perch competitors at launch
• WordPress
• ExpressionEngine
• CushyCMS
• PageLime
• Joomla
• Drupal
Friday, 10 October 14
What problem is your competition
NOT solving? Build it.
Friday, 10 October 14
New concepts will require you to
educate potential customers as to
why they even need your product.
Friday, 10 October 14
Finding the
time
How to make time for
side-projects.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mybigtrip/6111406
Friday, 10 October 14
Malcolm S. Forbes
“One worthwhile task carried to a
successful conclusion is worth half-a-
hundred half-finished tasks.”
Friday, 10 October 14
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.”
Friday, 10 October 14
Get set up to be able to pick up and
work on your side-project quickly -
whenever the time is available.
Friday, 10 October 14
Your product must be a first-class
citizen alongside your other work.
Friday, 10 October 14
Set aside time and plan in advance
what you will do with it
Friday, 10 October 14
Diana Scharf Hunt
“Goals are dreams with deadlines”
Friday, 10 October 14
There is power in setting a goal,
writing it down, putting a date on it
Friday, 10 October 14
How to get started
• Choose your goal
• Define what it is you are going to create
• Put a date on it.
Friday, 10 October 14
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.”
Friday, 10 October 14
Be realistic about how much you can
achieve. Feeling as if you are falling
behind can demotivate you.
Friday, 10 October 14
If there is not enough time ...
• Either revise your end date
• Or, remove elements of the project - pushing
them into a post-launch phase.
Friday, 10 October 14
Be ruthless in cutting features that
can be added post-launch
Friday, 10 October 14
The “missing” features at launch will
seem far more important to you than
to your customers.
Friday, 10 October 14
Describe the product as it is now.
Sell the solution.
Friday, 10 October 14
• Start Small
• Get feedback from paying customers
• Improve and add to your product based on
their needs balanced by your vision.
Friday, 10 October 14
Minimum Viable Infrastructures
Friday, 10 October 14
Own Your Own Data
Friday, 10 October 14
Launch and
beyond
Managing a growing side-
project alongside an
existing job or business.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall
Friday, 10 October 14
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.”
Friday, 10 October 14
• 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
Friday, 10 October 14
A successful side-project should be
given more time as it represents a
higher % of your income.
Friday, 10 October 14
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?
Friday, 10 October 14
The slower growth curve of
bootstrapped products gives you
time to fix problems before they
become BIG problems.
Friday, 10 October 14
Never promise a specific timeframe
to customers
Friday, 10 October 14
When your product is a side-project
you have even more things that could
cause you to push back a feature.
Friday, 10 October 14
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.
Friday, 10 October 14
Use Cases not Feature Requests
Friday, 10 October 14
Find general solutions that will
benefit many customers rather than
adding very specific features
Friday, 10 October 14
Understanding the problem means
we can help the customer now and
optimize the solution later.
Friday, 10 October 14
Delight customers by solving their
problems and letting them know
when you have done so
Friday, 10 October 14
Protect the Core Use Case
Friday, 10 October 14
Your product will benefit by being
owned by someone who will say no.
Friday, 10 October 14
Make Frequent Small Releases
Friday, 10 October 14
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
Friday, 10 October 14
Don’t be led by a noisy minority
Friday, 10 October 14
Seek out the opinion of those
customers you never hear from. The
happy majority are often silent.
Friday, 10 October 14
Marketing
How to tell people about
your product, when you
have no money to burn.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/5284764031/
Friday, 10 October 14
Seth Godin
“Marketing is no longer about the
stuff that you make, but about the
stories you tell.”
Friday, 10 October 14
You have made something that
genuinely solves a problem. Go tell
people about it!
Friday, 10 October 14
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.
Friday, 10 October 14
Your reach will give you your initial
customers. Then what?
Friday, 10 October 14
Content Marketing
Friday, 10 October 14
Write blog posts and articles on the
things your potential customer is
interested in, not about your product.
Friday, 10 October 14
Sponsorship
Friday, 10 October 14
Perch sponsoring the Unfinished Business podcast
Friday, 10 October 14
Paid Advertising
Friday, 10 October 14
If you cannot track it do not pay for it
Friday, 10 October 14
Target the “long tail” keywords
Friday, 10 October 14
Research smaller sites visited by
your ideal customer, advertise on
those less expensive sites.
Friday, 10 October 14
People love Perch - http://grabaperch.com/people-love-perch
Friday, 10 October 14
http://tractionbook.com
Friday, 10 October 14
Create your own definition of
success
Friday, 10 October 14
Revenue that is not worth chasing for
a 60 person business can be life-
changing for the solo founder.
Friday, 10 October 14
Is the grass greener on the product
side?
Friday, 10 October 14
The work is always worth it.
Friday, 10 October 14
Thank you
Rachel Andrew
@rachelandrew
http://rachelandrew.co.uk/presentations/not-doing-a-startup
Friday, 10 October 14

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We're Not Doing a Startup - WDC Bristol

  • 1. We’re not “doing a startup” How to cut through the hype and build your side project into a profitable business. Rachel Andrew, WDC 2014 Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 4. This is a marathon, not a 5K. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 6. It’s not about the money (until it is) Friday, 10 October 14
  • 7. Getting started Choosing the perfect product to bootstrap as a side-project. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/7276841268 Friday, 10 October 14
  • 8. Walt Disney “The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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 ... Friday, 10 October 14
  • 10. A product for your own community https://www.flickr.com/photos/drewm Friday, 10 October 14
  • 11. Amy Hoy “Are you a Ruby developer? Then serve Ruby developers. Are you a UX designer? Serve UX designers.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 12. The worst that could have happened with Perch? No-one would want it but we’d have a useful tool for our business. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 13. With a track record in a community you will already have trust. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 14. A product you can ship quickly http://freekvanarkel.nl Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 16. To launch with a small product, you need to find a problem that can be solved with a small product. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 17. Perch v.1 • A simple content editor • No way to add new pages • No API • Images could be uploaded - but not resized Friday, 10 October 14
  • 18. The Problem Client requests that an already developed static site be made editable via a CMS. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 19. The Solution A simple CMS that turned static pages into editable pages by way of dropping in a couple of PHP tags. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 20. A product that solves a problem that people will pay to have solved https://www.flickr.com/photos/futureshape/ Friday, 10 October 14
  • 21. If you can save a business time they will see the value in paying for your product. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 22. Bootstrapped With Kids, Episode 31 “We think their workflow sucks, but they like it…” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 23. Our target market for Perch was designers and agencies. We aimed to save them time on smaller projects. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 24. Feedback from paying customers trumps feedback from free users. Every time. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 25. A product that does not need a lot of users to be useful https://www.flickr.com/photos/22746515@N02/ Friday, 10 October 14
  • 26. “Social” or “community” products need a large user base to succeed. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 27. Choose a product that is as useful to customer #1 as customer #1000 Friday, 10 October 14
  • 28. A product that has competition Friday, 10 October 14
  • 29. Perch competitors at launch • WordPress • ExpressionEngine • CushyCMS • PageLime • Joomla • Drupal Friday, 10 October 14
  • 30. What problem is your competition NOT solving? Build it. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 31. New concepts will require you to educate potential customers as to why they even need your product. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 32. Finding the time How to make time for side-projects. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mybigtrip/6111406 Friday, 10 October 14
  • 33. Malcolm S. Forbes “One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a- hundred half-finished tasks.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 35. Get set up to be able to pick up and work on your side-project quickly - whenever the time is available. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 36. Your product must be a first-class citizen alongside your other work. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 37. Set aside time and plan in advance what you will do with it Friday, 10 October 14
  • 38. Diana Scharf Hunt “Goals are dreams with deadlines” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 39. There is power in setting a goal, writing it down, putting a date on it Friday, 10 October 14
  • 40. How to get started • Choose your goal • Define what it is you are going to create • Put a date on it. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 42. Be realistic about how much you can achieve. Feeling as if you are falling behind can demotivate you. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 44. Be ruthless in cutting features that can be added post-launch Friday, 10 October 14
  • 45. The “missing” features at launch will seem far more important to you than to your customers. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 46. Describe the product as it is now. Sell the solution. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 47. • Start Small • Get feedback from paying customers • Improve and add to your product based on their needs balanced by your vision. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 49. Own Your Own Data Friday, 10 October 14
  • 50. Launch and beyond Managing a growing side- project alongside an existing job or business. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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 Friday, 10 October 14
  • 53. A successful side-project should be given more time as it represents a higher % of your income. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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? Friday, 10 October 14
  • 55. The slower growth curve of bootstrapped products gives you time to fix problems before they become BIG problems. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 56. Never promise a specific timeframe to customers Friday, 10 October 14
  • 57. When your product is a side-project you have even more things that could cause you to push back a feature. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 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. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 59. Use Cases not Feature Requests Friday, 10 October 14
  • 60. Find general solutions that will benefit many customers rather than adding very specific features Friday, 10 October 14
  • 61. Understanding the problem means we can help the customer now and optimize the solution later. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 62. Delight customers by solving their problems and letting them know when you have done so Friday, 10 October 14
  • 63. Protect the Core Use Case Friday, 10 October 14
  • 64. Your product will benefit by being owned by someone who will say no. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 65. Make Frequent Small Releases Friday, 10 October 14
  • 66. 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 Friday, 10 October 14
  • 67. Don’t be led by a noisy minority Friday, 10 October 14
  • 68. Seek out the opinion of those customers you never hear from. The happy majority are often silent. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 69. Marketing How to tell people about your product, when you have no money to burn. https://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/5284764031/ Friday, 10 October 14
  • 70. Seth Godin “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” Friday, 10 October 14
  • 71. You have made something that genuinely solves a problem. Go tell people about it! Friday, 10 October 14
  • 72. 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. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 73. Your reach will give you your initial customers. Then what? Friday, 10 October 14
  • 75. Write blog posts and articles on the things your potential customer is interested in, not about your product. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 77. Perch sponsoring the Unfinished Business podcast Friday, 10 October 14
  • 79. If you cannot track it do not pay for it Friday, 10 October 14
  • 80. Target the “long tail” keywords Friday, 10 October 14
  • 81. Research smaller sites visited by your ideal customer, advertise on those less expensive sites. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 82. People love Perch - http://grabaperch.com/people-love-perch Friday, 10 October 14
  • 84. Create your own definition of success Friday, 10 October 14
  • 85. Revenue that is not worth chasing for a 60 person business can be life- changing for the solo founder. Friday, 10 October 14
  • 86. Is the grass greener on the product side? Friday, 10 October 14
  • 87. The work is always worth it. Friday, 10 October 14