88Mirrors: Lessons Learned

Spencer Holt, Roopesh Nair, Sara Pollack, Nilesh Savkoor

OverviewTeam Name: 88MIrrors

Hypothesized pain point: Current system for connecting people and projects in film is inefficient

Hypothesized solution: A web-based service for all production professionals, leveraging social networks for trusted recommendations and a points system & leaderboard to increase engagement.

Market Size:

The TeamSpencer HoltCurrent Position: Audit Manager for Technology Start-upsPrior Experience: Audit for public semiconductor companies; training and employee developmentTeam Role: Customer Outreach; Strategy; Financial/Market Analysis

Roopesh NairCurrent Position: Technology Consultant, Director of Professional ServicesPrior Experience: sameTeam Role: Customer Outreach; Strategy; Product Design and Development

Sara PollackCurrent Position: Head of Entertainment Marketing, YouTubePrior Experience: Film Development, Financing & ProductionTeam Role: Customer Outreach; Strategy; Industry Insight; Site Design; Copywriting

Nilesh SavkoorCurrent Position: Sr. Manager, Product Management & Marketing, CiscoPrior Experience: Product development, Consulting, Bus Dev & SalesTeam Role: Customer Outreach; Strategy; Product Concept; Competitive Analysis

BMC: Version 1Key Partners Key Activities Value Proposition Customer

RelationshipCustomer Segments

• Supplier Network

• Social Networks

• Develop & maintain platform

• Maintain supplier relationship

• Authentic referrals

• Marketing

• Customers: Promote projects and find crew/services through trusted referrals; leave feedback to get points Suppliers: Showcase work experience and find new projects; leave feedback to get points Advertisers: Access to targeted consumer base

• Customers: communities, self-service

• Suppliers: Personal assistance, automated self-service

• Advertisers: Direct sales

• Customers: Production Professionals (Directors & Producers)

• Suppliers: Production Crew & Service Providers

• Advertisers

Key Resources Channels

• Platform• Customer data• Supplier &

Advertiser Network

• Web• Mobile• Social widgets

Cost Structure Revenue Stream

• Platform development & maintenance• Customer acquisition

• From suppliers: lead generation; sponsored listings; % of revenue

• From advertisers: advertising dollars

What We Did

Customers/Suppliers• Drafted interview questions to test our

hypothesis• Conducted 15 1:1 interviews with potential

customers & suppliers

Market Landscape• Evaluated competitive landscape• Assessed market opportunity

Teaching Team/Mentors• Discussed scope, type of service and

revenue model

What We Found

Pivot: Focus on Film

Pain point and proposed solution validated by all interviewees, but especially filmmakers

Points, leaderboards, ratings did not find much support

TAM: 2.4M users (based on MPAA statistic)

Many competitors in creative matchmaking (Blurgroup, MediaMobz, Crowdspring), but not may in film specifically

The teaching team questioned the reliability of this

stat

What We Did

Customers/Suppliers

• Interviewed financial services and healthcare professionals

• Sent out survey to collect additional information from filmmakers

Market Landscape

• Reassessed market opportunity for film:– MPAA– Bureau of Labor Statistics– Film Guilds and Schools

• Assessed market opportunity for other verticals

What We FoundFinancial services and healthcare wouldn’t work

– Online recommendations not common

– Factors other than reputation play important role, e.g. insurance coverage

TAM: 8MM…but irrelevant

But our filmmaker survey was confirming demand for an 88Mirrors type service

Pivot: Refocus on Film + Production Services

The market size for film was really a 690K user opportunity

TAM: 690K users

What We Found: Filmmaker Validation

56%

44%

Time Spent (Producers)

Just FineToo Much

50%50%

Access to Talent (Producers)

SatisfiedUnsatisfied

61%

39%

Time Spent (Crew)

Just FineToo Much 38%

62%

Access to Projects (Crew)

SatisfiedUnsatisfied

* 93 Respondents

BMC: Version 2Key Partners Key Activities Value Propositions Customer

RelationshipCustomer Segments

• Supplier Network

• Social Networks

• Develop & maintain platform

• Maintain supplier relationship

• Authentic referrals• Marketing

• Customers: Promote projects Find crew through trusted referrals; Streamline work with production services

• Suppliers: showcase work experience and find new projects

• Advertisers: access to targeted consumer base

• Customers: communities, self-service

• Brand advertisers: direct sales

• Suppliers: personal assistance, automated self-service

• Customers: Production Professionals (Directors & Producers)

• Suppliers: Production Crew & Service Providers

• AdvertisersKey Resources Channels

• Platform• Customer data• Supplier & Advertiser

Network

• Web• Mobile• Social widgets

Cost Structure Revenue Stream

• Platform development & maintenance• Customer acquisition

• From suppliers: lead generation; sponsored listings; % of revenue

• From customers: premium services (payments, crew communication, etc.)

• From advertisers: advertising dollars

What We Did

Customers/Suppliers

• Expanded focus beyond filmmakers

• Interviewed professionals in Music, Commercial Production, Design, Fashion, Visual Arts, etc.

• Sent surveys to professionals in all creative fields

Market Opportunity

• Assessed new TAM to include all creatives

What We Found

Other creative verticals validated the same pain points as filmmakers

Feedback on willingness to pay for our service ranged from inconsistent to disconcerting

TAM: 2.9M (across the U.S., UK and Australia)

Pivot: Focus on Creatives

What We Found

Verticals

FilmMusicAdv.Publ.Perf. ArtsFashionGraphic Des.Cul. ArtsVis. ArtsArchitec.

34%

66%

Access to Projects (Hire-ees)

Satisfied

Unsatisfied47%

53%

Time Spent (Hire-ees)

Just Fine

Too Much

54%46%

Access to Talent (Hirers)

Satisfied

Unsatisfied

54%46%

Time Spent (Hirers)

Just Fine

Too Much

BMC: Version 3Key Partners Key Activities Value Propositions Customer

RelationshipCustomer Segments

• Supplier Network

• Social Networks

• Schools• Trade

Unions

• Develop & maintain platform

• Maintain supplier relationship

• Authentic referrals• Marketing

• Customers: Promote projects and find crew/services through trusted referrals;

• Make new professional contacts;

• Review contacts’ activity as a feed

• Suppliers: Suppliers: showcase work experience and find new projects

• Advertisers: access to targeted consumer base

• Customers: communities, self-service

• Advertisers: direct sales

• Suppliers: personal assistance, automated self-service

• Customers/Suppliers: Film, Music, Advertising, Publishing, Performing Arts, Fashion, Graphic Design, Culinary Arts, Visual Arts, Architecture professionals

• Advertisers

Key Resources Channels

• Platform• Customer data• Supplier & Advertiser

Network

• Web• Mobile• Social widgets

Cost Structure Revenue Stream

• Platform development & maintenance• Customer acquisition

• From suppliers: monthly subscriptions fee• From customers: monthly subscription fee• From advertisers: advertising dollars

What We Did

Built an MVP that allows you to…

Login with new or existing IDsSee a personal profile with

people and

projects

Search for talent

Free access to premium

services88Mirrors.com

What We Did

• AdWords Campaign

• 18-44 year olds

• Music, Visual Arts, Fashion, Film, Advertising, Performing Arts and Architecture-driven searchers

• Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Portland, Providence, Nashville and Austin

• Social Media

• LinkedIn

• Facebook

• Students and schools

• Academic Outreach

• Campus Ambassadors

Traffic Generation

What We Found

• AdWords only drove 134 clicks over 7 days, but we learned valuable information about our market

• Schools were unresponsive – of the 35 emails we sent, only 1 received a response – however traffic to the site may have come from this outreach

• No Campus Ambassadors responded to the call of duty

SF Austin LA Providence0.00%

0.05%

0.10%

0.15%

0.20%

Highest CTR by City

CTR

Archi-tecture

Visual Art

Fashion Music Film0.00%

0.40%

0.80%

Highest CTR by Ad Group

CTR

23-Nov 24-Nov 25-Nov 26-Nov 27-Nov 28-Nov 29-Nov 30-Nov0

1020304050

Clicks

Clicks

What We Found

Traffic Sources:

• 616 Direct visits• 247 Facebook referrals• 94 Google AdWords referrals

• 52 Google Search referrals• 53 Linked In referrals

Account Registrations:

74

What We Found

Quantitative Feedback

• 59% drop off rate after reaching the homepage

Qualitative Feedback

• Showcase work—Need a mechanism to upload or showcase work

• Search function—Parameters should include location, recent experience, etc.

• Collaborative tools—Include tools such as a calendar to see availability

• Look and feel—Should be clean, professional, but not compete with user content

• 14 people signed up for free premium services

• Only 3 of 664 visitors left feedback via a survey and only 1 said they would recommend it

• Many ads demoted in Google Search because of low quality score

Our Areas of Achievement & Our Areas for Continued Development

A Viable, but Challenging Business • Requires personalization and scalability• Targets a demanding customer segment• Associated with being free• Fiercely competitive

Moving Forward• Determine how to better communicate value proposition• Invest in resources to build full functionality customers asked for• Evaluate “niche” differentiation strategy• Explore WTP w/ 14 “premium” users• Build board of directors, including Jonathan Abrams & Scott Belsky

Where We Ended Up

• We found a genuine pain point

• We found customers

• We did not find a solution

• We did not find a revenue model

Behance

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks To:

Our Teaching TeamSteve Blank, Oren Jacobs, Jon Feiber, Jim Hornthal

Our TABhavik Joshi

Our MentorsMichael Borrus, Dan Martell

Our AdvisorsJonathan Abrams, Scott Belsky, Manjula Nadkarni

Our CustomersThe many hardworking filmmakers, musicians, designers, artists, architects

and even chefs who took the time to help us figure out a business that would meet their needs

Appendix(Business Model Canvases)

BMC: Version 1Key Partners Key Activities Value Proposition Customer

RelationshipCustomer Segments

• Supplier Network

• Social Networks

• Develop & maintain platform

• Maintain supplier relationship

• Authentic referrals

• Marketing

• Customers: Promote projects and find crew/services through trusted referrals; leave feedback to get points Suppliers: Showcase work experience and find new projects; leave feedback to get points Advertisers: Access to targeted consumer base

• Customers: communities, self-service

• Suppliers: Personal assistance, automated self-service

• Advertisers: Direct sales

• Customers: Production Professionals (Directors & Producers)

• Suppliers: Production Crew & Service Providers

• Advertisers

Key Resources Channels

• Platform• Customer data• Supplier &

Advertiser Network

• Web• Mobile• Social widgets

Cost Structure Revenue Stream

• Platform development & maintenance• Customer acquisition

• From suppliers: lead generation; sponsored listings; % of revenue

• From advertisers: advertising dollars

BMC: Version 2Key Partners Key Activities Value Propositions Customer

RelationshipCustomer Segments

• Supplier Network

• Social Networks

• Develop & maintain platform

• Maintain supplier relationship

• Authentic referrals• Marketing

• Customers: Promote projects Find crew through trusted referrals; Streamline work with production services

• Suppliers: showcase work experience and find new projects

• Advertisers: access to targeted consumer base

• Customers: communities, self-service

• Brand advertisers: direct sales

• Suppliers: personal assistance, automated self-service

• Customers: Production Professionals (Directors & Producers)

• Suppliers: Production Crew & Service Providers

• AdvertisersKey Resources Channels

• Platform• Customer data• Supplier & Advertiser

Network

• Web• Mobile• Social widgets

Cost Structure Revenue Stream

• Platform development & maintenance• Customer acquisition

• From suppliers: lead generation; sponsored listings; % of revenue

• From customers: premium services (payments, crew communication, etc.)

• From advertisers: advertising dollars

BMC: Version 3Key Partners Key Activities Value Propositions Customer

RelationshipCustomer Segments

• Supplier Network

• Social Networks

• Schools• Trade Unions

• Develop & maintain platform

• Maintain supplier relationship

• Authentic referrals• Marketing

• Customers: Promote projects and find crew/services through trusted referrals;

• Make new professional contacts;

• Review contacts’ activity as a feed

• Suppliers: Suppliers: showcase work experience and find new projects

• Advertisers: access to targeted consumer base

• Customers: communities, self-service

• Advertisers: direct sales

• Suppliers: personal assistance, automated self-service

• Customers/Suppliers: Film, Music, Advertising, Publishing, Performing Arts, Fashion, Graphic Design, Culinary Arts, Visual Arts, Architecture professionals

• Advertisers

Key Resources Channels

• Platform• Customer data• Supplier & Advertiser

Network

• Web• Mobile• Social widgets

Cost Structure Revenue Stream

• Platform development & maintenance• Customer acquisition

• From suppliers: monthly subscriptions fee• From customers: monthly subscription fee• From advertisers: advertising dollars