The Red Queen Race

What makes a great product? It's complicated, but in this talk I look at some of the key decisions behind making a successful and compelling product.

As presented at An Afternoon with Startups at DIBI, June 7th 2011.

Transcript

1. O N E Q U E S T I O N
3. + Actually Useful
4. + Actually Useful = PROFIT!!
5. Aren’t you done yet?
6. Charles Darwin
9. "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" - The Red Queen, Through the Looking-Glass The Red Queen Theory
10. O N E Q U E S T I O N
11. Aren’t you done yet?
12. N O
13. N E V E R
14. The Red Queen Race Roan Lavery Product Director, FreeAgent roanlavery @
15. G E N E S I S
16. Scratch that itch caseywilliamson
17. The big picture
18. Stock File Accounts Payroll Receipts Estimates Invoicing Time Tracking Expenses Budgeting Pay Taxes Cashflow Bills Banking Ecosystem visualisation
19. Stock File Accounts Payroll Receipts Estimates Invoicing Time Tracking Expenses Budgeting Pay Taxes Cashflow Bills Banking Ecosystem visualisation
20. Stock File Accounts Payroll Receipts Estimates Invoicing Time Tracking Expenses Budgeting Pay Taxes Cashflow Bills Banking Ecosystem visualisation
21. Stock File Accounts Payroll Receipts Estimates Invoicing Time Tracking Expenses Budgeting Pay Taxes Cashflow Bills Banking Ecosystem visualisation
22. The Paradox It has to be simple. Yes! But it has to do loads.
26. Laffer curve Tax rate % 0 100 Revenue
27. Laffer curve Functionality Customer Satisfaction
28. "The world is complex; our tools need to match that complexity." - Don Norman
29. - Don Norman "It’s not complexity that’s the problem, it’s bad design"
30. Run upstairs thomas_hawk
31. E V O L U T I O N
32. FUNCTIONALITY RELIABILITY USABILITY PROFICIENCY CREATIVITY Hierarchy of Needs
33. nora kann fliegen Where next?
34. API User permissions Search Usage metrics Photo gallery User comments Ratings Upload UI Categories Back ups
35. API User permissions Search Usage metrics Photo gallery User comments Ratings Upload UI Categories Back ups
36. API User permissions Search Usage metrics Photo gallery User comments Ratings Upload UI Categories Back ups Strategy Who benefits? Profit! Niche audiences, New territory, Join the dots Users, Sales, Marketing, Engineering New market, Upsell, Reduce overheads
37. Your users are your Product Development
38. Your users are your Product Development and Marketing
39. Stéfan Stand out
40. Give them something remarkable and make it easy to tell their friends” “
41. Give them something remarkable and make it easy to tell their friends” “
44. Result Over 50% of new signups come via referral Standard conversion rate ~ 20-30% Referred conversion rate ~ 50%
45. Thanks Roan Lavery roan@freeagentcentral.com Twitter: @roanlavery www.freeagentcentral.com