WHATS NEXT?

March 4th @ 7:30 PM MC 2054Pitch Like a Pro

March 11th and 12th @ 7pm in QNC 0101

$5K Qualifiers

velocity.uwaterloo.ca/events

Finding your customers online

WHAT IS THE GOAL?

• Identify a problem worth solving

• Define the right MVP

• Test the business model

WHEN SHOULD YOU USE IT?

• Global customer base on Day 1

• Customers expect to find your product online

• Fast iteration cycles

WHEN SHOULD YOU NOT USE IT?

• No idea who your customers are

• No clue where to find your potential customers

• No plans to sell product online

• Local service or product

• Brand is important but not polished

KEY STEPS

1. Determine name and identity

2. Build online presence

3. Drive traffic to your website

PICKING A NAME

• Spend time to get it right• Set a deadline (2 weeks)

• Ideally meets these criteria:– Phonetic and Memorable– Three syllables or less– .com available– Descriptive

• Check social channels for availability

BUILD ONLINE PRESENCE

Can you code?

CAN’T CODE?

• Unbounce or Launchrock– Free or paid version– Great landing page

• Optimizely– Landing pages and A/B testing– Great analytics

• HubSpot– Landing pages – Great SEO and social tools

CAN’T CODE?

• Wordpress– Most popular publishing platform

– Easy to get started

– No code required

– Use templates• ThemeForest is my recommendation

LOVE TO WRITE CODE?

• Don’t start from scratch– Use a template

• Host for cheap or free– Heroku – one free instance

• Setup ping to keep alive– Digital Ocean

• Cheap and completely configurable

LANDING PAGE GOAL

• Define next steps for customers

• Capture email– Mailchimp or VerticalResponse

• Test payment– Homegrown or Celery

ITERATE

• First version == Worst version

• Hone your messaging

• Improve your graphics

• Consider A/B testing

DRIVE TRAFFIC - FREE

• Social Media– Friends and Family– Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc

• Popular websites– HackerNews, Reddit, etc

• Industry specific forums– StackExchange, Quora, etc

DRIVE TRAFFIC - PAID

• Paid Search– Google AdWords (free credit)

• Social Media– Facebook Ads (free credit)

• Paid Influencers– Instagram Strategy

QUESTIONS? FEEDBACK?

WHATS NEXT?

March 4th @ 7:30 PM MC 2054Pitch Like a Pro

March 11th and 12th @ 7pm in QNC 0101

$5K Qualifiers

velocity.uwaterloo.ca/events