We're not "doing a startup"

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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, re:build 2014 Friday, 18 April 14

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grabaperch.com Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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This is a marathon, not a 5K. Friday, 18 April 14

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Friday, 18 April 14

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It’s not about the money (until it is) Friday, 18 April 14

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Getting started Choosing the perfect product to bootstrap as a side-project. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/7276841268 Friday, 18 April 14

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Walt Disney “The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.” Friday, 18 April 14

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• for an audience you are already part of • that can get to a shippable version 1 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, 18 April 14

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A product for an audience you are already part of. Friday, 18 April 14

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Solve problems for your own community. Friday, 18 April 14

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Look for problems close to home Friday, 18 April 14

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The worst that could have happened with Perch? No-one would want it but we’d have a useful tool for our business. Friday, 18 April 14

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With a track record in a community you will already have trust. Friday, 18 April 14

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A product that can get to a shippable version 1 quickly. Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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To launch with a small product, you need to find a problem that can be solved with a small product. Friday, 18 April 14

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Perch v.1 • A simple content editor • No way to add new pages • No API • Images could be uploaded - but not resized Friday, 18 April 14

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The Problem Client requests that an already developed static site be made editable via a CMS. Friday, 18 April 14

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The Solution A simple CMS that turned static pages into editable pages by way of dropping in a couple of PHP tags. Friday, 18 April 14

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A product that solves a problem that people are happy to pay to have solved. Friday, 18 April 14

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Money is the only validation Friday, 18 April 14

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A product that does not need a lot of traction to be useful. Friday, 18 April 14

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“Social” or “community” products need a large user base to succeed. Friday, 18 April 14

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Where do your initial users come from? What will they cost? Friday, 18 April 14

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A product that has existing competition. Friday, 18 April 14

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Perch competitors at launch • WordPress • ExpressionEngine • CushyCMS • PageLime • Joomla • Drupal Friday, 18 April 14

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What problem is your competition NOT solving? Build it. Friday, 18 April 14

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New concepts will require you to educate potential customers as to why they even need your product. Friday, 18 April 14

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Finding the time How to make time for side-projects. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mybigtrip/6111406 Friday, 18 April 14

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Malcolm S. Forbes “One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a- hundred half-finished tasks.” Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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Get set up to be able to pick up and work on your side-project quickly - whenever the time is available. Friday, 18 April 14

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Your product must be a first-class citizen alongside your other work. Friday, 18 April 14

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Set aside time and plan in advance what you will do with it Friday, 18 April 14

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Diana Scharf Hunt “Goals are dreams with deadlines” Friday, 18 April 14

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There is power in setting a goal, writing it down, putting a date on it Friday, 18 April 14

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How to get started • Choose your goal • Define what it is you are going to create • Put a date on it. Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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Be realistic about how much you can achieve. Feeling as if you are falling behind can demotivate you. Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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Be ruthless in cutting features that can be added post-launch Friday, 18 April 14

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The “missing” features at launch will seem far more important to you than to your customers. Friday, 18 April 14

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Describe the product as it is now. Sell the solution. Friday, 18 April 14

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• Start Small • Get feedback from paying customers • Improve and add to your product based on their needs balanced by your vision. Friday, 18 April 14

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Minimum Viable Infrastructures Friday, 18 April 14

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Own Your Own Data Friday, 18 April 14

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Launch and beyond Managing a growing side- project alongside an existing job or business. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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• 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, 18 April 14

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A successful side-project should be given more time as it represents a higher % of your income. Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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The slower growth curve of bootstrapped products gives you time to fix problems before they become BIG problems. Friday, 18 April 14

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Managing growth • Never promise a specific timeframe • Collect use cases not feature requests • Delight customers by solving problems • Protect the core use case • Make frequent, small releases • Don’t be led astray by a noisy minority Friday, 18 April 14

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Never promise a specific timeframe to customers Friday, 18 April 14

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When your product is a side-project you have even more things that could cause you to push back a feature. Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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Use Cases not Feature Requests Friday, 18 April 14

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Find general solutions that will benefit many customers rather than adding very specific features Friday, 18 April 14

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Understanding the problem means we can help the customer now and optimize the solution later. Friday, 18 April 14

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Delight customers by solving their problems and letting them know when you have done so Friday, 18 April 14

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Protect the Core Use Case Friday, 18 April 14

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Your product will benefit by being owned by someone who will say no. Friday, 18 April 14

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Make Frequent Small Releases Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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Don’t be led by a noisy minority Friday, 18 April 14

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Seek out the opinion of those customers you never hear from. The happy majority are often silent. Friday, 18 April 14

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Marketing How to tell people about your product, when you have no money to burn. https://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/5284764031/ Friday, 18 April 14

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Seth Godin “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” Friday, 18 April 14

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You have made something that genuinely solves a problem. Go tell people about it! Friday, 18 April 14

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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, 18 April 14

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Your reach will give you your initial customers. Then what? Friday, 18 April 14

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Content Marketing Friday, 18 April 14

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Write blog posts and articles on the things your potential customer is interested in, not about your product. Friday, 18 April 14

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Sponsorship Friday, 18 April 14

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Perch sponsoring the Unfinished Business podcast Friday, 18 April 14

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Paid Advertising Friday, 18 April 14

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If you cannot track it do not pay for it Friday, 18 April 14

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Target the “long tail” keywords Friday, 18 April 14

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Research smaller sites visited by your ideal customer, advertise on those less expensive sites. Friday, 18 April 14

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People love Perch - http://grabaperch.com/people-love-perch Friday, 18 April 14

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Create your own definition of success Friday, 18 April 14

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The work is always worth it. Friday, 18 April 14

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Thank you Rachel Andrew [email protected] @rachelandrew http://rachelandrew.co.uk Friday, 18 April 14