Idea to Execution – and Beyond

Ashley Baxter gives us a high-level run through of what it takes to ship a product, touching on each stage from idea, through build, to launch, and what to expect post-launch.

Transcript

1. Idea to Execution And beyond
2. ➤ Solo founder ➤ Bootstrapped ➤ Company of one
3. I mean business Some of this can apply to personal projects, but I’m talking about business
4. Let’s talk about ideas
5. What problem are you trying to solve?
6. What problem are you trying to solve? ➤ Lack of trust. 73% of consumers don’t trust their insurance provider
7. What problem are you trying to solve? ➤ Lack of trust. 73% of consumers don’t trust their insurance provider
8. 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
9. Meh
10. 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
11. A digital insurance platform with great design and technology (And really good customer service)
13. The original post-it note when dreaming up With Jack December 2013
14. August, 2016 Launch to a mailing list of 120+ people
15. Why?
17. Shiny object syndrome
20. “ “After a while you realise how much your habit’s costing. You let a few go with pangs of regret and doubt but clutch on to others.” - Someone on Twitter
21. “ “Only dulled when you realise 6 months later you’ve yet to do a thing with them.” - Someone on Twitter
22. Ideas need commitment to become great projects
23. Ruthless prioritisation is where the magic happens
25. Pick one idea. Commit to it, give it the resources it needs to become a great project. Cull the rest
26. Idea validation
27. What did With Jack’s validation look like ?
29. Will people pay you money for it?
31. 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
32. I had zero control over the design and technology
33. I had no relationship with my customers
34. What did validation look like? ➤ People still gave Insurance by Jack their money ➤ 55 paying customers ➤ £14,000
35. Good job: The brand effectively communicated my vision
37. Idea validation ➤ Are people paying you money for it? ➤ Can you profitably acquire new customers every month?
38. Build
39. Forecast your misery
40. The various stages of building something ➤ This is a good idea. I’m so going to do this
41. 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
42. 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
43. 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
45. The final 20% of any project is the hardest to complete
46. “ …It gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point - really hard, really not fun.
47. What did The Dip look like for With Jack?
48. What did The Dip look like for With Jack ➤ Regulation was a barrier to entry
49. What did The Dip look like for With Jack ➤ Regulation was a barrier to entry ➤ Insurers didn’t want to work with me
50. It felt like I was putting in a ton of work in exchange for nothing
51. The Dip is when successful people don’t quit
52. Use The Dip to measure how serious you are
53. Embracing transparency with the build process
54. How did I do this?
56. Email. Is. Powerful.
57. 120+ sign-ups
58. Many beta tested With Jack
60. Benefit #1: It builds community
61. Benefit #2: It’s how I got my first customer 3 weeks before I launched
62. Benefit #3: Get ideas from a range of people
63. Launch
65. Expectations
66. Expectations ➤ A suite of insurance products ➤ A dashboard to manage your insurance ➤ Instant quotes and cover ➤ Referral program ➤ Polished customer journey
67. Reality
68. Reality ➤ One product—professional indemnity ➤ Support for 4 professions ➤ Manual quotes ➤ No dashboard ➤ Unpolished customer journey
70. Reality ➤ One product—professional indemnity ➤ Support for 4 professions ➤ Manual quotes ➤ No dashboard ➤ Unpolished customer journey
71. Why was my launch successful? ➤ Involved people in the build process ➤ Was transparent about the journey ➤ Focused on doing one thing well
72. Shipping Anxiety
74. Shipping anxiety ➤ Avoid spending time and money on pixel perfect products that nobody will buy
75. Shipping anxiety ➤ Avoid spending time and money on pixel perfect products that nobody will buy ➤ Launch with one, useful feature (do one thing well)
76. 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
77. 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
78. What happens after you ship?
79. You’ll discover problems
80. What problems did I discover?
82. What happens after you ship?
84. There is no overnight success
85. ➤ 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
86. ➤ 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
87. AirBnb launched with 6 listings. Only 2 of them became bookings
88. (And one of those bookings was from the co-founder)
90. Post-launch
91. Everything is a hypothesis
92. Get in the trenches with your customers
93. August, 2016 With Jack launched with just one product—professional indemnity insurance
94. February, 2017 Rolled out two new products—public liability and contents insurance
95. April, 2017 Improved onboarding based on feedback. The biggest friction were the risk questions.
96. June, 2017 Added support for more professions.
97. Coming Soon Instant quotes and cover. Coming Soon Dashboard to manage your insurance.
98. Have your customers tell you what they want
99. Customer Development
100. “ 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
102. The Mom Test How to talk to customers
104. My assumptions ➤ More people will buy insurance if we offer them rewards
106. “ It devalues the brand and cheapens the service. Also, the rewards don’t fit my business. - With Jack Customers
107. My assumptions ➤ More people will buy insurance if we offer them rewards ➤ Freelancers buy insurance because it’s contractually required
108. Job security
109. Peace of mind
110. Professional image
111. My assumptions ➤ More people will buy insurance if we offer them rewards ➤ Freelancers buy insurance because it’s contractually required
112. Know your customer
114. Your first 100 customers
115. Your first 100 customers
116. Your first 10 customers that aren’t your friends or family
117. Where do your first customers come from when you have no money ➤ Email list. 120+ people ➤ Go to where your audience is (Twitter’s worked well for With Jack) ➤ Designer News and Product Hunt (made it to Top 5 on Product Hunt) ➤ Content marketing ➤ Useful tools
119. Pro tip: Your launch strategy shouldn’t live or die by Product Hunt
120. Where do your first customers come from when you have no money ➤ Email list. 120+ people ➤ Go to where your audience is (Twitter’s worked well for With Jack) ➤ Designer News and Product Hunt (made it to Top 5 on Product Hunt) ➤ Content marketing ➤ Useful tools
122. Where do your first customers come from when you have no money ➤ Email list. 120+ people ➤ Go to where your audience is (Twitter’s worked well for With Jack) ➤ Designer News and Product Hunt (made it to Top 5 on Product Hunt) ➤ Content marketing ➤ Useful tools
125. “ Real entrepreneurship is launching something that solves a problem for people, getting paid to do it again. - A podcast I listened to
126. Incremental wins compound over time
128. Actual stuff for you to do
129. 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
130. Thank You for listening! @iamashley