launching tech products
TRANSCRIPT
1. Validation 2. Build 3. Launch 4. Growth
Launching Tech Products
Background
Why are you here?
What are your ideas?
Don't build anything!
Don't build anything, yet!
1. Validation
1. Landing pages
2. Prototypes
3. Crowdfunding
Alternative ways to validate your idea
Costumer Development
Write down the hypothesis
1. Don't ask for the solution, present it
2. Sell aspirins, not vitamins
3. Aim for at least 50% success
4. Sell (everybody's nice until they have to pay)
Tips
This won't be easier after you build the product!
How can you validate your product without building it?
2. Build
MVP Minimum Viable Product
“Build half a product, not a half-ass product”
Jason Fried (37 Signals)
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch05_Half_Not_Half_Assed.php
1. Always ask why, why, why...
2. Play the 100€ game
3. Aim for 1 month development maximum
Tips
Not an engineer?
Option 1 Outsource
(If you have the money)
1. Only after you really know what to build
2. Takes longer (and is more expensive) than what you think
3. Never delegate marketing and support
Outsourcing tips
Option 2 Learn
Option 3 Get a technical co-founder
“You don't find a technical cofounder, you earn one.”
What's your MVP?
How are you going to build it?
3. Launch
Focus your audience
1. Deliver the right message
2. Helps product decisions
3. Know where to spend your marketing budget
Why focus your audience?
Don't do a big launch!
1. Iterate until you keep at least 50% of them
2. They should already be paying customers
3. If you can't get those first customers, it won't get any better after a big launch
Start with 5 clients... then 20... then 50...
Ready for launch?
1. Products don't sell themselves
2. You need sales and marketing
3. If you don't like it, get someone that knows how to do it
Ready for launch?
What's your first audience?
How are you going to launch your product?
4. Growth
What now?
Measure!
Worry first about Activation & Retention
1. Pick only the 3 most important metrics for you
2. Get the team on board, growth is everybody's job
3. Test a lot, but aim only for significant changes
Tips
Constant feedback
1. Why, why, why
2. Focus on the paying customers feedback
3. Ignore new feature requests, until you can't (losing paying customers)
Always talking with customers
Competition
It doesn't matter!
1. Startups die of suicide, not homicide
2. Most customers don't know alternatives, they just want your product to work for them
3. At most, they help validate your market
Competition doesn't matter
Competition only matters when your paying customers keep mentioning them
Not growing yet?
If you can't get/keep paying customers, you need to pivot.
It's not because you don't have enough features
It's because you build the wrong top feature for the wrong audience
Make tough decisions
What are your 3 main metrics?
Conclusions
1. Avoid building it, validate and test hypothesis first
2. Start with a MVP
3. Launch small first
4. Focus on retention
5. Competition doesn't matter
Conclusions
Suggestions• Nail It then Scale It (Nathan Furr e Paul Ahlstrom)
• Getting Real (http://gettingreal.37signals.com)
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development (Brant Cooper & Patrick Vlaskovits)
• Startup Metrics for Pirates (http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/
startup-metrics-for-pirates-nov-2012)