@LukasFittl
We Built It,And They Didn’t Come!
#LeanConf
About MyselfCo-Founded 4 tech startups,worked with many others
2007 - ’10 2011 - ’12 since 2011 since 2013
Let me introduce you to:
started October 2010
Actual Revenue: 0 EUR
First of all,lets talk about the Team
Lukas Michael Christian
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas Michael Christian
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas Ash Emiliano
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas Ash Emiliano
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas Michael
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas Michael
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas Andreas
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas Andreas
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas (2011)
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
Lukas (Today)
Design & Development DevOps Sales & Marketing
What didI learn?
Product
Distribution
Business
1. The Art of Launching Your MVP2. Radically Different Value Propositions3. The Ideation Switch
Product
1. The Art of Launching Your MVP2. Radically Different Value Propositions3. The Ideation Switch
Product
Launch = Make your Product available to (some) customers
Not: Press Launch!
What we had at Efficient Cloud:
Task Task
Task
Task Task
Task
TODO IN PROGRESS DONE
Release!
Risk
TimeBUILD
BUILD
BUILD
In a group of Developers,its really dangerous tojust “get things done”
IDEAS
PRODUCTDATA
MEASURE
BUILDLEARN
Experiment
Risk
TimeRelease!
BUILD
Release!
BUILD
Release!
BUILD
Release!
BUILD
Charged Customers$200 / monthfrom Day One
What we have at Spark59/USERcycle:
Build: Full PrototypeMeasure: “Successful” LaunchLearn: (within months)
Perfection: 3+ months
Build: Weekend PrototypeMeasure: Customers commit to buyLearn: (within days)
Iteration: 2-3 weeks
Dictates how fast you can learn
Experiment Scope
Your Runway
How long you can survive
1. The Art of Launching Your MVP2. Radically Different Value Propositions3. The Ideation Switch
Product
Hosting Company, this helps youimplement PaaS and still get a lotof customers onto one server.
(But you need SSD drives.)
Sounds complicated? Yes!
Bigger Problem: We didn’t (really) try something different.
=> Landing Page Test
But we just tested for testing’s sake,we didn’t believe in that product at all.
Version 1: Analytics for Marketers
Version 2: Analytics for Startups
Version 3: Analytics for SaaS Startups
Getting the Right Designvs.
Getting the Design Right
1. The Art of Launching Your MVP2. Radically Different Value Proposition3. The Ideation Switch
Product
Kind-of-Salesis notCustomer Development
Are you ideating orare you executing?
IDEAS
PRODUCTDATA
MEASURE
BUILDLEARN
Experiment
Executing =
Ideating =
Customer InterviewsDesign StudioUsability Tests etc...
1. Financial Planning & Metrics2. Making Deals3. Traction First, Fundraising Second
Business
1. Financial Planning & Metrics2. Making Deals3. Traction First, Fundraising Second
Business
Main Assumption:
Customers would buy a5000+ EUR license
&integrate our Product
within weeks (not months)
Its ok to ignore your plan,but focus on these
assumptions.
1. Financial Planning & Metrics2. Making Deals3. Traction First, Fundraising Second
Business
Don’t ever get too attached toone single investor / customer / partner.
Berlin, London, Moscow, Kiev, Vienna- all for one deal that didn’t go through.
1. Financial Planning & Metrics2. Making Deals3. Traction First, Fundraising Second
Business
He loved the product & team, butthe numbers never justified an investment.
Accelerators give you a peer group,and access to a lot of people(if you’re ready).
1. Personal Authenticity2. Getting the Message right is Hard!3. Adapting to the Market
Distribution
1. Personal Authenticity2. Getting the Message right is Hard!3. Adapting to the Market
Distribution
In the beginningpeople believe in you first,the product second.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Click!
Left the Site
Click!
User Energy Users who See Something About You
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Click!
Left the Site
Click!
User Energy
Click!
Users from Google Adwords
Users who See Something About Youvs
Personal Authenticity gives peoplea better reason to look harder &ignore their own misunderstanding.
1. Personal Authenticity2. Getting the Message right is Hard!3. Adapting to the Market
Distribution
Messaging A Customer A
Your Product doesn’t need to change,Yet Your Messaging Can Change Everything
Your Product
Messaging A Customer BYour Product
Credit: Kathy Sierra
Make Happy Customers,Not: Make Customers Happy
Messaging is a journey without an end,you will not reach perfection.
(but ideally people will still buy)
1. Personal Authenticity2. Getting the Message right is Hard!3. Adapting to the Market
Distribution
Continuously ask yourself:
Is this a good customer?
-> can be targeted & sold to-> pays money-> actually buys what you are selling-> ideally you like them!
“We had a long discussion,on doing this project at all right now.”
(2 months into the sales process)
Your biggest risk is
Indifference.
People just don’t care.
Your Team determines yourDistribution methods
e.g. Don’t target the Enterpriseif you’re missing the know-how.
Product
Distribution
Business
@LukasFittl
Thank you!
[email protected]