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
   

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3. + Actually Useful
   

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4. + Actually Useful = PROFIT!!
   

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5. Aren’t you done yet?
   

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6. Charles
   Darwin
   

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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
   

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10. O N E Q U E S T I O N
    

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11. Aren’t you done yet?
    

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12. N O
    

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13. N E V E R
    

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14. The
    Red Queen
    Race
    Roan Lavery
    Product Director, FreeAgent
    roanlavery
    @
    

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15. G E N E S I S
    

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16. Scratch that itch
    caseywilliamson
    

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17. The big picture
    

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18. Stock
    File Accounts
    Payroll
    Receipts
    Estimates
    Invoicing
    Time Tracking
    Expenses
    Budgeting
    Pay Taxes
    Cashflow
    Bills
    Banking
    Ecosystem
    visualisation
    

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19. Stock
    File Accounts
    Payroll
    Receipts
    Estimates
    Invoicing
    Time Tracking
    Expenses
    Budgeting
    Pay Taxes
    Cashflow
    Bills
    Banking
    Ecosystem
    visualisation
    

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20. Stock
    File Accounts
    Payroll
    Receipts
    Estimates
    Invoicing
    Time Tracking
    Expenses
    Budgeting
    Pay Taxes
    Cashflow
    Bills
    Banking
    Ecosystem
    visualisation
    

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21. Stock
    File Accounts
    Payroll
    Receipts
    Estimates
    Invoicing
    Time Tracking
    Expenses
    Budgeting
    Pay Taxes
    Cashflow
    Bills
    Banking
    Ecosystem
    visualisation
    

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22. The
    Paradox
    It has to
    be simple.
    Yes! But it has
    to do loads.
    

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26. Laffer
    curve
    Tax rate %
    0 100
    Revenue
    

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27. Laffer
    curve
    Functionality
    Customer
    Satisfaction
    

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28. "The world is complex;
    our tools need to match that complexity."
    - Don Norman
    

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29. - Don Norman
    "It’s not complexity that’s the problem,
    it’s bad design"
    

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30. Run upstairs
    thomas_hawk
    

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31. E V O L U T I O N
    

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32. FUNCTIONALITY
    RELIABILITY
    USABILITY
    PROFICIENCY
    CREATIVITY
    Hierarchy of Needs
    

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33. nora kann fliegen
    Where next?
    

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34. API
    User permissions
    Search
    Usage metrics
    Photo gallery
    User comments
    Ratings
    Upload UI
    Categories
    Back ups
    

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35. API
    User permissions
    Search
    Usage metrics
    Photo gallery
    User comments
    Ratings
    Upload UI
    Categories
    Back ups
    

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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
    

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37. Your users are your Product Development
    

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38. Your users are your Product Development
    and Marketing
    

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39. Stéfan
    Stand out
    

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40. Give them something
    remarkable and make it
    easy to tell their friends”
    “
    

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41. Give them something
    remarkable and make it
    easy to tell their friends”
    “
    

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44. Result
    Over 50% of new signups come via referral
    Standard conversion rate ~ 20-30%
    Referred conversion rate ~ 50%
    

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45. Thanks
    Roan Lavery
    roan@freeagentcentral.com
    Twitter: @roanlavery
    www.freeagentcentral.com
    

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