In The Pink: A Labor of Love

The story of building a product and bootstrapping Dribbble, a site for designers to share screenshots of what they're working on. Also, thoughts on niche opportunities in social space.

Transcript

1. IN THE PINK a labor of love Rich Thornett @frogandcode Friday, June 8, 2012
2. WHERE SHARING IS CARING Friday, June 8, 2012
3. GAME PLAN • Creative control • Product design • Social studies • Sustainability Friday, June 8, 2012
4. CREATIVE CONTROL Friday, June 8, 2012
5. “We get into creative work because we have good taste.” – Ira Glass http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/22/ira-glass-on-the-secret-of-success/ Friday, June 8, 2012
6. Friday, June 8, 2012
7. COLLAB-HOORAY Dan C[SS]ederholm Friday, June 8, 2012
8. “Let's make a site that's purple.” – Dan Cederholm Friday, June 8, 2012
9. in the pink in good health and doing well Friday, June 8, 2012
10. CODING HORROR Jeff Atwood leaves Stack Exchange, to spend more time with his family. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/02/farewell-stack-exchange.html Friday, June 8, 2012
11. product f(scope, time, resources) Friday, June 8, 2012
12. “It's a bummer there's no TechCrunch of lifestyle businesses.” – Matt Haughey http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2012/03/my-webstock-talk.html LESSONS FROM A 40-YEAR-OLD Friday, June 8, 2012
13. PRODUCT DESIGN Friday, June 8, 2012
14. “Designing a product is keeping 5,000 things in your brain... and fitting them all together... every day you discover something new... a new problem or a new opportunity, to fit these things together a little differently.” – Steve Jobs http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/11/15/steve_jobs_lost_interview_design_is_keeping_5000_things_in_your_brain.html Friday, June 8, 2012
15. Mission CHECKS AND BALANCES Users Revenue Friday, June 8, 2012
16. PLANTING SEEDS Friday, June 8, 2012
17. Woo ideal users Friday, June 8, 2012
18. YES... it helps to have a rockstar co-founder http://www.coppermanland.com/band Styling, as always Friday, June 8, 2012
19. we sent a hand-picked beta group snail mail invitations & t-shirts BUT... Friday, June 8, 2012
20. established culture and content EARLY ADOPTERS like Shaun Inman http://dribbble.com/shauninman/projects/2608-Mimeo-and-the-Kleptopus-King Friday, June 8, 2012
21. SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE Friday, June 8, 2012
22. INVITATIONS • Graceful growth • Drafting: Ownership and accountability • Community changes slowly, feels stable • Delay spending time on filtering noise • Time we spend on user support • Scaling concerns growth hormones that regulate... Friday, June 8, 2012
23. INVITATIONS... Marketing wasn't our focus, but creating scarcity can build BUZZ. It scares us sometimes. Friday, June 8, 2012
24. STONE SOUP • Throttled shots (24 per month) • Comments • Likes • Following • Rebounds • Navigation: Following, Popular, Everyone • Working beta: 8-months to marinate Friday, June 8, 2012
25. “Community sites need time to grow. We shut down new users signups and there were very few features added between 2002-2004.” – Matt Haughey, MetaFilter http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2012/03/my-webstock-talk.html IS MY BETA TOO BIG? Friday, June 8, 2012
26. COMMUNITY • Communities are grown, not manufactured • Happy users become guardians and advocates • The perception of quality matters a lot Community is your competitive advantage Friday, June 8, 2012
27. COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT Friday, June 8, 2012
28. FRENCH PARENTING Steward, don't police Let the community figure it out whenever possible. Friday, June 8, 2012
29. LEND A HANDBOOK Once a guideline is written down, there's no debate. Simply link to it. Friday, June 8, 2012
30. DECISIONS Friday, June 8, 2012
31. GAMIFICATION “There's a fine line between stupid and clever.” – David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap Here lies David St. Hubbins. And why not? Friday, June 8, 2012
32. PIXELS & DONATIONS?! Thankfully, my stock market idea never even got this far. Friday, June 8, 2012
33. FEEDBACK Give users what they need. It may not be want they want. Avoid knee-jerk reactions. Complexity has to earn your attention. Friday, June 8, 2012
34. REVENUE •Ads •Pro accounts (designers) •Jobs •Pro accounts (hirers) •[Marketplace] And always be selling t-shirts Friday, June 8, 2012
35. “Make it programmable.” – Fred Wilson, wealthy VC http://thinkvitamin.com/web-apps/fred-wilsons-10-golden-principles-of-successful-web-apps/ API Friday, June 8, 2012
36. API “Don't publish an API without a strategy. If you rely on revenue, establish your business model. When you understand how access to your data complements that model, then... make it programmable.” – Me, paycheck hugger Friday, June 8, 2012
37. “Simply making decisions, one after another, can be a form of art.” – John Gruber http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk3UcgbbmxQ Friday, June 8, 2012
38. SOCIAL STUDIES Friday, June 8, 2012
39. “By far, our biggest competitor for all our products is email.” –David Heinemeier Hansson http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/37signals-we-compete-with-email Friday, June 8, 2012
40. THE SOCIAL NETWORK Facebook, Twitter, etc. Social email? Friday, June 8, 2012
41. MIND THE GAP Which problems or people are underserved? Friday, June 8, 2012
42. FACEBOOK PIE And this is just the world of images... Others Not all-inclusive and not drawn to scale! (Dribbble is much bigger in my head :) Friday, June 8, 2012
43. Facebook may want its pie back... but at pie-high prices $1 billion / slice Friday, June 8, 2012
44. DSN Domain Specific Network A social network focused on a single domain that is distinguished by its community. Friday, June 8, 2012
45. SCRATCH A NICHE • Simple value proposition • Focus on quality v. scale • Niches are good for targeted advertising or marketplaces Friday, June 8, 2012
46. COMMUNITY • Communities are grown, not manufactured • Money & tech are good for manufacturing, but growing requires nurturing and patience. Once More, with Feeling Community is your competitive advantage Friday, June 8, 2012
47. Domain Specific Network (DSN) Friday, June 8, 2012
48. dailymile is a "social experience for active people." It's a bootstrapped, profitable 2 person company. ~500,000 registered users Revenue comes from integrated advertising and Pro accounts. Friday, June 8, 2012
49. Ravelry is a site for knitters and crocheters. It's a bootstrapped, profitable 4 person company. 2,170,320+ registered users Revenue comes from Yarn-related advertising and pattern sales. http://blog.ravelry.com/2012/01/25/how-does-ravelry-make-money/ Friday, June 8, 2012
50. SUSTAINABILITY Friday, June 8, 2012
51. DO patronize me KICKSTARTER ECONOMY Friday, June 8, 2012
52. “If I like the things you create, nothing makes me happier than giving you money to keep doing it.” – Jason Santa Maria https://twitter.com/#!/jasonsantamaria/status/167342553778237440 Friday, June 8, 2012
53. CHEERS! Rich Thornett Dribbble http://dribbble.com @frogandcode Friday, June 8, 2012