Exit strategy Berkeley 2016

Exit Strategy…to today

The Master Key to Your Life

A consumer-facing SaaS tool for creating and maintaining a customizable “map” of an individual (or family’s) online accounts

10 weeks102 interviews

“Eliminate the migraine of settling someone’s affairs after death”

From the beginning…

https://youtu.be/eFNaDRk7ZUM



Exit StrategyThe Master Key to Your Life

Kelly DeutermannMBA

Hustler/Picker/Designer

David KohCS

Hacker

Rachel ParkMBA/MPH

Hustler/Picker/Designer

Ashmeet SidanaMentor

Engineering Capital

Why did we pursue this idea?

The pain was real

“Three years after my dad died, I received an email from him. It was creepy and unnecessary.”

- Kelly

The market is big

Total amount Americans spend on legal services a year

Total amount Americans spend on legal services for death a year

Total amount Americans spend on end of life affairs

ExitStrate

gy

Legal information resources

Online password/ profile managers

Pers

onal

estat

e

plann

ing so

ftwar

e

End-of-life online management platforms

Online financial

account managers

Independent banks (professional trustees),

law firms, forensic/public accountants

Not widely-served

Ad hoc approaches+ digging through loved one’s email account + receiving magazine subscriptions and past due notices months after death

+ giving up and leaving accounts open (e.g. iTunes balance)

Team dynamics and communications…a tale

Kelly Deutermann

David Koh

Rachel Park

Oski!

I’ve signed a will, funded our trust, created a contingency plan for the kids…

What’s a trust?

A trust is only for super-rich people, right?

We never found our Oski….

Our first MVP

Our first MVP

Lesson learned: MVPs are critical to get your customers - and your own team - on the same page

Getting to the Dirty Work: Customer Discovery

Our customer segments converged & divergedWeek 1: Everyone

Terminally ill

New parents

Healthy baby boomers

Military

Disabled

Type A, Young Professionals

Recent death experience

Week 2: Focus on identifiable triggers

Terminally ill: Engaged in planning

25-35 Parents, w/2+ kids: Professionals, homeownersEngaging in family planning

Healthy Adults >55:>$500k assets, have will/trust in place

Adults 30-55, designated as executors/guardians for minor(s): Planned for executorship/ guardianship

Week 3: Still diverging…

Terminally ill: Engaged in planning




Type A, Young Professional, Efficiency Oriented: Executed will/trust

The value prop canvas became really complex!

We picked and refined one customer segment


Healthy Adults 50-65:>$500k assets, have will/trust in place

85 year old: “I don’t own a cell phone.”

68 year old: “Someone who’s working is very different from someone who has been retired for 10 years”

Insight: Not all people 55+ are the same!

Multiple interviews: “I do all the finances, so if I’m gone, my wife/husband is screwed. I’ve written down my accounts and passwords…and hope they can figure it out from there”

Healthy Adults 50-65:>$500k assets, have will/trust in place, organized, comfortable with technology, manages household finances

Which helped us learn how NOT to market to them“OMG WTF how does

it know the date I recently accessed my

account?”

“Do you guys work for the CIA?"

"This makes me feel so inadequate!”

“OMG this is scary! I would need you to

give me some Valium before looking at this

more…”

And helped us understand what’s important

“It was a nightmare for my mom when my grandmother

died”

“I don’t want to be a burden on my

family”

“I use the internet for everything”

“If I passed away, my husband would

be at a loss for where to start”

“My files are all in one place – I’m

organized.”

“My professional network is who I trust to provide

credible recommendations”

And helped us understand what’s important

“It was a nightmare for my mom when my grandmother

died”

“I don’t want to be a burden on my

family”

“I use the internet for everything”

“If I passed away, my husband would

be at a loss for where to start”

“My files are all in one place – I’m

organized.”



Lessons learned: 1. The customer’s experience with your

product drives the insights; the technology behind it is a distraction.

2. Narrowing your CS is the only way to dive deep

Through Customer Discovery Comes Channel Discovery!

“This would be really helpful if it came through my estate attorney – as we were actively working through the estate planning process – instead of picking it up later.” ~ Customer

“This would be an amazing intake tool! Increasing the efficiency of my operations is huge – I spend 80% of my time on 20% of my clients.”

~ Estate Attorney

Starting to get signal...

Let’s find some estate attorneys!



40 cold calls, emails, and

visits to estate attorneys

1email from our mentor

(Ashmeet) to a contact, getting us into the Kasner Symposium

3 Interviews with estate

attorneys

3 Interviews with estate

attorneys…in 45 min

Hustling helps…

…but using your network helps even more!

But estate attorneys weren’t our path to market• Fragmented market, with most in 2-5 person shops• Difficult to reach• Not particularly dissatisfied with current process• Not hugely interested in new technology• Ethical issues with preferring a particular vendor

And we never found that route to our customers

AARPSomewhat interested, more for healthcare directive, still reeling from association with “death panels”

Financial plannersSimilar to estate attorneys

Non-profitsLove to extend their mission, but sensitive about “selling” a commercial product

Third-party trusteeMore focused on very high asset clients

This left gaping holes in our canvas. It became really difficult to proceed coherently through the left side of the canvas without a solid go-to-market strategy

Marketing: - Largest likely cost

- Without a verified primary channel, we’d have to pursue every channel to find the best fit

- Solving the channel problem before moving to activities would have allowed for a more focused exploration of required marketing activities

We got mixed signals on revenue model

Subscription

+ Add positive quote about subscription

– “I would have to pay for this for 30 years? I don’t know if I would like that…”

One-time fee + “I would probably only set it up once, so a one-time fee is better”

+ “I’d rather it be on my desktop than on the Internet”

– Add negative quote about subscription

Free, ad-based

+ “Would rather have it free, I don’t mind ads.”

– “I definitely wouldn’t want ads for this type of thing”

– “You would have trouble finding advertisers, except maybe funeral homes. But then you actually want your customers to come back, that’s what makes them valuable to advertisers.”

Lesson learned: In the real world, don’t move on until you’ve solved a glaring problem

Where we ended up

An MVP with a simpler message for a direct to consumer strategy

That keeps focus on the human experience…

And meets their needs in a lean startup environment

Investment readiness: not desired…not required!

We’ve identified an interesting business opportunity…

✓ Large market

✓ Fragmented competition

✓ Big pain point & excitement from customers

But open questions remained…

In this class, we were held up as a result of the channel issue and the course progress.

GYST.com has a compelling story and proven channel to customers.

Kelly will work with the GYST.com leadership team over the next semester to integrate our product into their offerings.

Investment readiness: not desired…not required!

We’ve identified an interesting business opportunity…

✓ Large market

✓ Fragmented competition

✓ Big pain point & excitement from customers

But open questions remained…

In this class, we were held up as a result of the channel trouble.

GYST.com has a compelling story and proven channel to customers.

Kelly will work with the GYST.com leadership team over the next semester to integrate our product into their offerings.

Final Act: GYST.com is taking over where we are leaving off

Thank you to

Ashmeet Sidana, our mentor

Mike Olson, our advisor

Amit Kumar, our advisor

Our classmates

Teaching team

Our interviewees

Appendix

Who we interviewedTraveled across the Bay Area

+ Video chats with people in Seattle, WA

+ Cleveland, OH

+ Tampa, FL

+ Washington, DC

+ Morocco

+ South Korea

+ Ketchakan, AK

+ Irvine, CA

+ And more...

Who we interviewed

70 customers- 31 healthy 50+- 17 young professionals- 10 young parents- 3 military- 3 terminally ill- 6 other

23 partners- 10 estate attorneys- 3 financial planners- 3 marketing pros- 3 non-profits- 2 startups- 1 hospice- 1 AARP

9 startups (for left side of canvas discussions)

102 total interviews

More recent insight: Minimum sensitive info on platform; just enough required to offer value1. Choose your accounts (no account information)

2. Generate account map + instructions on how to deal with accounts

3. Share with yourself or friends/family

2 death certificatesCall 800-555-USAAAvg: 3-6 months

4 death certificatesCall 800-555-CHUKAvg: 2-5 months

1 death certificatesCall 800-555-AAPLAvg: 7 hours

Business model canvas

business model canvas with any changes marked in red, Multi-sided markets shown in different colors

Terminally Ill: Goal for this week

Healthy Adults >55:-> Website to store/ manage financial info in one place-> Easy (free) updates Provides control/ structure for communicating affairs

25-35yo parents:-> Streamlines funding trust without the hassle-> Life organizing tool

Adults 30-55, designated as executors/guardians: Guided questions / checklist repository for answers

Terminally Ill:Engaged in planning




Week 2


Terminally Ill: Organize for family member taking over affairs


25-35yo parents:-> Streamlines funding trust without the hassle-> Life organizing tool


Type A, Young Professional: Not be burdensome for family upon death

Terminally Ill:Engaged in planning





Through word of mouth

Partner with law firms as an intake tool

Week 3




Parents of young kids:-> Streamlines funding trust without the hassle-> Life organizing tool


Type A, Young Professional: Not be burdensome for family upon death

Terminally Ill: Engaged in planning

Healthy adults >55:>$500k assets, have will/trust in place

Parents of young kids: Have a trust in place

Adults 30-55, designated as executors/guardians for minor(s)


Through word of mouth from trusted advisors

- Family/friends

- AARP- Cancer/

hospital social workers

Estate planning attorneys

More likely to DIY, not through lawyer -> more expensive to reach

More likely to have urgency and higher WTP

Not a bad segment, but may be busier, less urgency

Hard to be the person asking someone else to get organized

Week 4





Healthy adults >55:>$500k assets, have will/trust in placeThrough word of

mouth from trusted advisors

- Family/friends- AARP- Cancer/

hospital social workers

Estate planning attorneys

GET: - Professional referral- FB/Google ads

KEEP:- Service/product upgrades- Loyalty incentives

GROW: - Referrals- Upsell services

Week 5



Healthy Adults >55:-> Website to store/ manage financial info in one place-> Easy (free) updates Provides control/ structure for communicating affairsAutomatically pulling together a picture of your financial/digital assets


Healthy adults >55:>$500k assets, have will/trust in placeThrough word of

mouth from trusted advisors

- Family/friends- AARP- Cancer/

hospital social worker

- Financial planner

GET: - Professional referral- FB/Google adsKEEP:- Service upgrades- Loyalty incentivesGROW: - Referrals- Upsell services

One-time fee (for static download)

Annual fee (subscription for ongoing access)

Week 6


Healthy adults 50-65:>$500k assets, have will/trust in place

- Life organizing tool: Tool to auto-map assets for own life organization

- Not a burden on others

- Save time/money: Avoid a costly call to attorney

GET: - Professional referral- Bloggers / PR- FB/Google adsKEEP: Service upgrades, Loyalty incentivesGROW: Referrals, Upsell services

Web

Through word of mouth from trusted advisors - Family/friends- AARP- Cancer/hospital social worker- Financial planner

Financing: Friends, family, angelsPhysical: Company location, server hostingHuman: Engineering, Marketing, Advisors/mentorsIntellectual property: Trade secrets, patent

One-time fee (for static download)

Annual fee (subscription for ongoing access)

Tiered subscription (cheaper for simpler situations)

Software development to create functional site

Encryption & security to establish peace of mind

Marketing & PR to build confidence

Fixed: Engineering, hosting costs, security licensing, company overhead

Variable: Marketing/sales, miscellaneous office

Non-profits: The Conversation Project

Security firms

Online Password Service

PR firm

Bloggers, news sources

Associations: AARP

Insurance companies: Life insurance, health insurance, long-term care insurance


Healthy (partnered) adults 50-65:- Sufficiently comfortable with technology- $500k+ assets, - Have will/trust in place, - Organized- Manage household finances

Single women (50-65)- Sufficiently comfortable with technology- Organized- Manage own finances- Not wanting to be a “burden” to family members- Experienced a family member’s passing

Single men (50-65)- Sufficiently comfortable with technology- Organized, planning oriented- Manage own finances- Experienced a family member’s passing




GET: - Professional referral- Bloggers / PRKEEP: Service upgrades, Loyalty incentivesGROW: Referrals, Upsell services

Web

Through word of mouth from trusted advisors - Family/friends- AARP- Financial planner


One-time fee (for static download)Annual fee (subscription for ongoing access)Tiered subscription (cheaper for simpler situations)

Create a functioning websiteHave an accessible DatabaseEnsuring SecurityAttract customers: Target individual customersCompany FinancingAttract customers: Find large channelsAddress customer inquiriesFind a place to work and keep the lights on

Fixed: Engineering, hosting costs, security licensing, company overhead

Variable: Marketing/sales, miscellaneous office


Security firms

Online Password Service

PR firm


Associations: AARP


Terminally Ill: Upon initial diagnosisHealthy (partnered) adults 50-65:- Sufficiently comfortable with technology- $500k+ assets, - Have will/trust in place, - Organized- Manage household financesSingle women (50-65)- Sufficiently comfortable with technology- Organized- Manage own finances- Not wanting to be a “burden” to family members- Experienced a family member’s passing

Single men (50-65)- Sufficiently comfortable with technology- Organized, planning oriented- Manage own finances- Experienced a family member’s passing




GET: - Professional referral- Bloggers / PR- Oncology social workersKEEP: Service upgrades, Loyalty incentivesGROW: Referrals, Upsell services

Web

Through word of mouth from trusted advisors - Family/friends- AARP- Financial planner


One-time fee (for static download)Annual fee (subscription for ongoing access)Tiered subscription (cheaper for simpler situations)

Create a functioning websiteHave an accessible DatabaseEnsuring SecurityAttract customers: Target individual customersCompany FinancingAttract customers: Find large channelsAddress customer inquiriesFind a place to work and keep the lights on

Fixed: Engineering, hosting costs, security licensing, company overhead, Marketing/sales, miscellaneous office

Variable: Commissions


Security firms (not in year 1)

Online Password Service (not in year 1)

PR firm (not in year 1)


Associations: AARP


Exit strategy Berkeley 2016

Education

Transcript of Exit strategy Berkeley 2016