Idea to Execution and Beyond

Transcript

1. Idea to Execution And beyond
3. ➤ Solo founder
4. ➤ Solo founder ➤ Bootstrapped
5. ➤ Solo founder ➤ Bootstrapped ➤ Company of one
6. I mean business Some of this can apply to personal projects, but I’m talking about business
7. Let’s talk about ideas
8. My idea
9. What problem are you trying to solve?
10. What problem are you trying to solve? ➤ Lack of trust. 73% of consumers don’t trust their insurance provider
11. What problem are you trying to solve? ➤ Lack of trust. 73% of consumers don’t trust their insurance provider
12. What problem are you trying to solve? ➤ Lack of trust. 73% of consumers don’t trust their insurance provider ➤ Insurers don’t invest money into their technology. 74% of insurers see technological innovation as a challenge
13. Meh
14. What problem are you trying to solve? ➤ Lack of trust. 73% of consumers don’t trust their insurance provider ➤ Insurers don’t invest money into their technology. 74% of insurers see technological innovation as a challenge ➤ 2 out of 3 customers are dissatisfied with their customer journey
15. A digital insurance platform with great design and technology
16. A digital insurance platform with great design and technology (And really good customer service)
18. The original post-it note when dreaming up With Jack December 2013
19. December, 2013 Write a post-it note titled ‘Ashley’s new insurance company’
20. August, 2016 Launch to a mailing list of 120+ people
21. Why?
23. Shiny object syndrome
26. “ “After a while you realise how much your habits costing. You let a few go with pangs of regret and doubt but clutch on to others.” - Someone on Twitter
27. “ “Only dulled when you realise 6 months later you’ve yet to do a thing with them.” - Someone on Twitter
28. Ideas need commitment to become great projects
29. Ideas need an extraordinary amount of work behind them
31. Ruthless prioritisation
33. Ruthless prioritisation is where the magic happens
35. Pick one. Cull the rest
36. Idea validation
37. What did With Jack’s validation look like ?
39. Will people pay you money for it?
41. What did my MVP look like? ➤ Signed up as an affiliate ➤ Didn’t need to convince insurers to give me their products to sell ➤ Didn’t need to become authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority
42. This meant I could launch quickly, but…
43. I had zero control over the design and technology
44. I had no relationship with my customers
45. People still gave Insurance by Jack their money!
46. Good job: The brand effectively communicated my vision
48. Idea validation ➤ Are people paying you money for it? ➤ Can you profitably acquire new customers every month? (h/t @mijustin)
49. Build
50. Forecast your misery
51. The various stages of building something ➤ This is a good idea. I’m so going to do this
52. The various stages of building something ➤ This is a good idea. I’m so going to do this ➤ Huh, this is kind of hard. I’m not so sure about this
53. The various stages of building something ➤ This is a good idea. I’m so going to do this ➤ Huh, this is kind of hard. I’m not so sure about this ➤ This totally sucks
54. The various stages of building something ➤ This is a good idea. I’m so going to do this ➤ Huh, this is kind of hard. I’m not so sure about this ➤ This totally sucks ➤ I suck
56. The final 20% is the hardest
58. “ …It gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point - really hard, really not fun. - Seth Godin
59. That’s the point most people quit
60. What did The Dip look like for With Jack?
61. What did The Dip look like for With Jack ➤ Regulation was a barrier to entry
62. What did The Dip look like for With Jack ➤ Regulation was a barrier to entry ➤ Insurers didn’t want to work with me
63. It felt like I was putting in a ton of work in exchange for nothing
64. The Dip is when successful people don’t quit
65. Use The Dip to measure how serious you are
66. Embracing transparency with the build process
67. How did I do this?
69. Email. Is. Powerful.
70. Email. Is. Powerful.
71. Email. Is. Powerful.
72. 120+ sign-ups
73. Many beta tested With Jack
75. Benefit #1: It builds community
76. Benefit #2: It’s how I got my first customer 3 weeks before I launched
77. Benefit #3: Get ideas from a range of people
78. Launch
80. Expectations
81. Expectations ➤ A suite of insurance products ➤ A dashboard to manage your insurance ➤ Instant quotes and cover ➤ Referral program ➤ Polished customer journey
82. Reality
83. Reality ➤ One product—professional indemnity ➤ Support for 4 professions ➤ Manual quotes ➤ No dashboard ➤ Unpolished customer journey
85. Reality ➤ One product—professional indemnity ➤ Support for 4 professions ➤ Manual quotes ➤ No dashboard ➤ Unpolished customer journey
86. Why did people accept its imperfections?
87. Why did people accept its imperfections? ➤ Involved people in the build process ➤ Was transparent about the journey ➤ Focused on doing one thing well ➤ Launched to an audience of web designers and developers
88. Shipping Anxiety
90. Shipping anxiety ➤ Avoid spending time and money on pixel perfect products that nobody will buy
91. Shipping anxiety ➤ Avoid spending time and money on pixel perfect products that nobody will buy ➤ Launch with one, useful feature (do one thing well)
92. Shipping anxiety ➤ Avoid spending time and money on pixel perfect products that nobody will buy ➤ Launch with one, useful feature (do one thing well) ➤ It doesn’t matter when you launch—it’s always going to feel incomplete
93. Shipping anxiety ➤ Avoid spending time and money on pixel perfect products that nobody will buy ➤ Launch with one, useful feature (do one thing well) ➤ It doesn’t matter when you launch—it’s always going to feel incomplete ➤ Set an arbitrary date and ship it
94. What happens after you ship?
95. You’ll discover problems
96. What problems did I discover?
98. What happens after you ship?
100. There is no overnight success
101. ➤ Idea to $20,000 MRR in 5 months ➤ How we got 300,000 users in 24 hours ➤ How I made $70,000 in 48 hours from self-publishing my book
102. ➤ Idea to $20,000 MRR in 5 months ➤ How we got 300,000 users in 24 hours ➤ How I made $70,000 in 48 hours from self-publishing my book
103. AirBnb launched with 6 listings. Only 2 of them became bookings
104. (And one of those bookings was from the co-founder)
106. Post-launch
107. Everything is a hypothesis
108. Get in the trenches with your customers
109. August, 2016 With Jack launched with just one product—professional indemnity insurance
110. February, 2017 Rolled out two new products—public liability and contents insurance
111. April, 2017 Improved onboarding based on feedback. The biggest friction were the risk questions.
112. June, 2017 Added support for more professions.
113. Coming Soon Instant quotes and cover. Coming Soon Life insurance for the self-employed.
114. Have your customers tell you what they want
115. Customer Development
116. “ Customer development has been the most valuable thing we’ve done when it comes to moving our product and company forward, and I wish we would’ve done more of it in our early days. - Groove HQ
118. The Mom Test How to talk to customers
119. Wrong
121. My assumptions
122. My assumptions ➤ More people will buy insurance if we offer them rewards
124. “ It devalues the brand and cheapens the service. Also, the rewards don’t fit my business. - With Jack Customers
125. My assumptions ➤ More people will buy insurance if we offer them rewards ➤ Freelancers buy insurance because it’s contractually required
126. Job security
127. Peace of mind
128. Professional image
129. My assumptions ➤ More people will buy insurance if we offer them rewards ➤ Freelancers buy insurance because it’s contractually required
130. Know your customer
132. Your first 100 customers
133. Where do your first 100 customers come from when you have no money?
134. Where do your first 100 customers come from when you have no money ➤ Email list. 120+ people and my personal network ➤ Social media. Twitter’s worked well for With Jack ➤ Designer News and Product Hunt (made it to Top 5 on Product Hunt) ➤ Content marketing ➤ Useful tools
136. Pro tip: Your launch strategy shouldn’t live or die by Product Hunt
137. Where do your first 100 customers come from when you have no money ➤ Email list. 120+ people and my personal network ➤ Social media. Twitter’s worked well for With Jack ➤ Designer News and Product Hunt (made it to Top 5 on Product Hunt) ➤ Content marketing ➤ Useful tools
139. Where do your first 100 customers come from when you have no money ➤ Email list. 120+ people and my personal network ➤ Social media. Twitter’s worked well for With Jack ➤ Designer News and Product Hunt (made it to Top 5 on Product Hunt) ➤ Content marketing ➤ Useful tools
142. “ Real entrepreneurship is launching something that solves a problem for people, getting paid to do it again. - A podcast I listened to
143. Incremental wins compound over time
145. Actual stuff for you to do
146. Actual stuff for you to do ➤ Pick one idea and give it the resources it needs to become a great project ➤ Forecast your misery. Do you love what you’re building enough to get through The Dip? ➤ Focus on building one feature well, set a date and ship it ➤ Do your customer development. Sign up to IterateHQ.com and test your assumptions
147. Thank You for listening! @iamashley