launching tech products

Sérgio Santos

Launching Tech Products

@sdsantos sergio@bloco.io

1. Validation 2. Build 3. Launch 4. Growth

Launching Tech Products

Background

Why are you here?

What are your ideas?

Don't build anything!

Don't build anything, yet!

1. Validation

1. Landing pages

2. Prototypes

3. Crowdfunding

Alternative ways to validate your idea

Costumer Development

Write down the hypothesis

1. Don't ask for the solution, present it

2. Sell aspirins, not vitamins

3. Aim for at least 50% success

4. Sell (everybody's nice until they have to pay)

Tips

This won't be easier after you build the product!

How can you validate your product without building it?

2. Build

MVP Minimum Viable Product

“Build half a product, not a half-ass product”

Jason Fried (37 Signals)

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch05_Half_Not_Half_Assed.php

1. Always ask why, why, why...

2. Play the 100€ game

3. Aim for 1 month development maximum

Tips

Not an engineer?

Option 1 Outsource

(If you have the money)

1. Only after you really know what to build

2. Takes longer (and is more expensive) than what you think

3. Never delegate marketing and support

Outsourcing tips

Option 2 Learn

Option 3 Get a technical co-founder

“You don't find a technical cofounder, you earn one.”

What's your MVP?

How are you going to build it?

3. Launch

Focus your audience

1. Deliver the right message

2. Helps product decisions

3. Know where to spend your marketing budget

Why focus your audience?

Don't do a big launch!

1. Iterate until you keep at least 50% of them

2. They should already be paying customers

3. If you can't get those first customers, it won't get any better after a big launch

Start with 5 clients... then 20... then 50...

Ready for launch?

1. Products don't sell themselves

2. You need sales and marketing

3. If you don't like it, get someone that knows how to do it

Ready for launch?

What's your first audience?

How are you going to launch your product?

4. Growth

What now?

Measure!

Worry first about Activation & Retention

1. Pick only the 3 most important metrics for you

2. Get the team on board, growth is everybody's job

3. Test a lot, but aim only for significant changes

Tips

Constant feedback

1. Why, why, why

2. Focus on the paying customers feedback

3. Ignore new feature requests, until you can't (losing paying customers)

Always talking with customers

Competition

It doesn't matter!

1. Startups die of suicide, not homicide

2. Most customers don't know alternatives, they just want your product to work for them

3. At most, they help validate your market

Competition doesn't matter

Competition only matters when your paying customers keep mentioning them

Not growing yet?

If you can't get/keep paying customers, you need to pivot.

It's not because you don't have enough features

It's because you build the wrong top feature for the wrong audience

Make tough decisions

What are your 3 main metrics?

Conclusions

1. Avoid building it, validate and test hypothesis first

2. Start with a MVP

3. Launch small first

4. Focus on retention

5. Competition doesn't matter

Conclusions

Suggestions• Nail It then Scale It (Nathan Furr e Paul Ahlstrom)

• Getting Real (http://gettingreal.37signals.com)

• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development (Brant Cooper & Patrick Vlaskovits)

• Startup Metrics for Pirates (http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/

startup-metrics-for-pirates-nov-2012)

Sérgio Santos

Launching Tech Products

@sdsantos sergio@bloco.io