a story of failure - insights from a start-up & why they matter in an enterprise environment...

#failtownster.de

Tina Dingel

Failure is the state or condition of

not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as

the opposite of success.

WHY?

1) Culture of experimentation

Fail fast, fail cheaply

Failure is integral to experimentation.

Failure drives creativity and insight.

Fail for success.

2) A personal story about failures you don’t need to repeat

LET’S GO…

#fail#epicfail#epicmegafail

TAKE AWAY

• What would I not do again?

• Do differently?• Start doing?

EUR X.000.000burned

The Money:• Betafabrik, Incubator, Cologne

My Deal: • three-year contract• Expectation: behave like a founder - #fail

Me: • 34yrs old, GM experience, Product Mkt at PP• no coding experience

THE MONEY

THE ‘SPACE’

QUICK QUIZ

THE ‘SPACE’

• Location-based service• Directory of businesses• Events• Reviews by users

THE ‘SPACE’

• Location-based service• Directory of businesses• Events• Reviews by users

How to earn money?-> Make businesses pay for placements

THE APPROACH

Lean Startup Approach

Lean Startup Approach

Failure is the state or condition of

not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as

the opposite of success.

‘Fat Startup’

IDEA BUILD PRODUCT EXIT

‘Fat Startup’

IDEA BUILD PRODUCT EXIT

Idea from 2007 - it was 2009 #fail

Idea from 2007 - it was 2009 #fail

Why did I not question this? #fail

TAKE AWAY

Internet - fast developing space

- complex space

-> you cannot plan for complexity

-> you need to test and adapt in

short iterations

Way too many features

Way too many features

Way too many features

Way too many features #fail

Way too many features #fail

Did we test? Speak to consumers?#fail

TAKE AWAY

Customer Driven Innovation – speak to you customers- Test stuff- Focus, focus, focus- What’s the critical functionality?

Shave off the rest, nobody will use it anyway.

DEVELOPING THE PRODUCT

• Townster: • Initially interns, freelancers (designer, product)• Berlin, Cologne

• Web Developers• External, Cologne-based

• Faux-agile w/daily phone 'standups’

Feb 2009

Odd feeling - 'requirements doc' was mentioned again and again.#failDiscuss your odd feelings!

Occasional visits to their office Nothing to see / click #fail

Feb 2009

TAKE AWAY

The only yardstick is functioning code. Nothing else matters.

Use agile dev methodologies –and stick to them- even in the smallest teams.

• Worked on use cases, wireframes, content, branding, etc

• Got location data• Got event data• Busy, busy, bang, bang…

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…

Retail therapy• Office, infrastructure, etc. fat startup, burn rate

#failStill no product… and no value-generating activity.

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE… April 2009

TAKE AWAY

Question yourself: value generating activity?

Spend time on understanding and adapting the system

• Bought a coffee machine – good!

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…

TAKE AWAY

Coffee is crucial.

RECRUITING

EXIT

‘For an exit, we need a two-person management

team’

EXIT

‘For an exit, we need a two-person management

team’

Management team@townster

May 2009

Management team@townster

Turned out to be#epicmegafail

May 2009

TAKE AWAY

Invest time, time, time in selecting a co-partner.

That person is going to be your ‘work spouse’.Go date…

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…

Office Warming Party – nice!

Hiring a CTO

June 2009

Hiring a CTO

Turned out to be an#epicmegafail

June 2009

TAKE AWAY

Developers are not ‘different’.

You need to work with them.

It should be fun. If not – re-think this relationship.

DEVELOPING THE PRODUCT

June 2009CODE REVIEW

Externals reviewing externals

June 2009

#epicmegafail

CODE REVIEW

No Code!

At least not usable one

June 2009

TAKE AWAY

The only yardstick is functioning code. Nothing else matters.

Face customers, deliver actual value

Start anew!

With one CTO & one junior devWeb App

June 2009

Way too many features #fail

Way too many features #fail

Let’s add another one… Actually, let’s add a whole new product!

MOBILE – iPHONE APP

Concept

TAKE AWAY

Identify mistakes / failures.

Dare to speak about them.

Don’t repeat them.

Weird coding activity seemed to be going on…

…but nothing to see.

August 2009

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…• Hired a marketing manager• Hired a product manager• Got a PR agency on retainer • Got a marketing agency to think about

marketing

#fail

TAKE AWAY

As a Start-Up do your own PR.

And do your own marketing – with a great product.

BURN, BABY, BURN

Weird coding activity seemed to be going on…

…but nothing to see.

Getting nervous…

September 2009

Weird coding activity seemed to be going on…

…but nothing to see.

Getting nervous…No transparency on progress.

October 2009

Weird coding activity seemed to be going on…

…but nothing to see.

Getting nervous…No transparency on progress.Setting deadline – to no avail.

November 2009

November 2009

Hiring external developers and consulting.

Injecting SCRUM.‘Definition of Done’

TAKE AWAY

You have doubts? Nobody takes them seriously?

Are they serious? Then start SCREAMING to be heard.

November 2009 - January 2010

Still no product liveCoding, coding, coding….

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…

Fired the CTO – finally

LAUNCH 1ST FEBRUARY 2010

- YEAR AFTER START THE FIRST PRODUCT IN MARKET- ONLY THEN FIRST FEEDBACK#fail-> from here to April 2011

Very slow test & learn cycles…

…but at least we learned.

MOBILE – featured in iTunes Store!

MOBILE – featured in iTunes Store!

Downloads!Yay!

Way too many features #fail

Let’s add another one… Actually, let’s add a whole new product!

Way too many features #fail

Let’s add another one… Actually, let’s add a whole new product!

MOBILE – Android App

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Too much stuff….#fail

TAKE AWAY

Identify mistakes / failures.

Dare to speak about them. Don’t repeat them. Learn from them.

And FOCUS!

HOW TO EARN MONEY?

Really not that easy in given space

So we didn’t make any fresh money

But we were burning through it like mad

March 2010

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…

2nd GM was ‘let go’

april 2010

FRESH MONEY!

EXIT ?

Summer 2010

IN PRODUCT

MEANWHILE AT THE OFFICE…

Cost cutting:• Marketing manager • Sales manager

-> ‘let go’

Summer 2010

FRESH MONEY!

EXIT ?

Investitionsbank Berlin Brandenburg loan#fail

fall 2010

TAKE AWAY

Borrowing money from a bank is a hugely time-consuming process - Is this a value-adding activity?

FRESH MONEY?

Alternative revenue streams…

‘Do some sort of agency business, hire out your developers.’

END 2010 –EARLY 2011

IS THIS REALLY ME? EARLY 2011

REVERSE

Investitionsbank Berlin Brandenburg loan- Negotiate way out

April 2011

Failure is integral to experimentation.

Failure drives creativity and insight.

Fail for success.

a LOT was learned!