peer pressure columbia 2015

PeerPressure

Lean Launchpad ‘15: Hana Abbas, Zainie Jamali, Andy Hadjigeorgiou, Alex Wong

Day 5

Interviews yesterday: 17

Interviews to-date: 63

A mobile marketplace that leverages social networks to instill a new level of ‘trust’ and customer experience in the used goods arena

Key PartnersWho are our key partners/ suppliers

Key ActivitiesWhich key activities does the biz model require

Value PropositionWhat value do we deliver to the customer

Customer RelationshipsWhat type of relationship does each segment require of us

Customer SegmentsFor whom are we creating value

ChannelsThrough which channel does each segment want to be reached

Revenue StreamsHow much is each segment willing to pay and how would they like to pay us this amount

Cost StructureWhat are our cost drivers

Key ResourcesWhich key resources does the biz model require

Mobile (initial to ease advertising process for sellers)

Web

Buyers: Bargain hunters who don’t want to compromise on quality or deal with fraud:• Students• Urban young

professionals

Sellers: Want to sell legitimate products at the price they deserve and want a pain-free selling experience• Students• Urban young

professionals

Advertisers

GET: Campus outreach, existing marketplace substitutes, & social media

KEEP: High quality customer experience

GROW: High quality assortment of second hand goods

• Featured listings• After critical mass, small fee per listing (e.g., <$1)?

Ad revenues

• Buy goods & services from people you can trust – better value goods and better buying experience

• Easy to use search interface

• Ability to purchase in advance

• Reach more legitimate buyers for your products/services and achieve higher sales prices

• Provide better selling experience

• Post to multiple platforms through our app/ website

Targeted ads

• Platform

• Social media connectivity (e.g., Facebook log-ins and data)

• Platform management

• Marketing and outreach

• Online payment option (later on)

• Platform costs

• Marketing/customer acquisition costs

• Sellers

• Social networking sites (to validate degrees of separation)

• Partnership with a delivery service provider (e.g., Luggor TaskRabbit)

Day 1 Canvas – here’s what we ‘guessed’ coming in

Original idea:

Improve the entire traditional secondhand goods market by:

• Integrating existing social networks with a marketplace platform to allow you to buy and sell with your extended networks

Mass market platforms

Location based apps

Social Media

Free options

Niche marketplaces

Peer

Pressure

Where we fit in…

We spoke with 60+ interviewees aged 18-34 representing 17 countries of

origin, consisting of a mix of undergraduate, graduate students and young

professionals

Key PartnersWho are our key partners/ suppliers

Key Activities Value Proposition Customer RelationshipsWhat type of relationship does each segment require of us

Customer SegmentsFor whom are we creating value

Channels

Revenue StreamsHow much is each segment willing to pay and how would they like to pay us this amount

Cost StructureWhat are our cost drivers

Key Resources

Buyers: Bargain hunters who don’t want to compromise on quality or deal with fraud:• Students• Urban young

professionals

Sellers: Want to sell legitimate products at the price they deserve and want a pain-free selling experience• Students• Urban young

professionals

Advertisers



GROW: YardSale –tinder-like discovery feature to showcase small items (e.g., <$20) for sale near you to engage users more often

• Featured listings• Listing fee after you hit a certain amount of active listings• Transaction fee on “commitments” or “buy-nows” on

YardSale

Ad revenues

• Easier buying experience through mobile browsing; commitment options; improved search functions (ie., location-based, networks, etc.)


• Ability to purchase in advance or ‘commit’ to products in advance to reserve them


• Provide better selling experience through quick mobile posting function


Targeted ads

• Platform

• Social media connectivity

• Search algorithim

• PayPal account to receive and funnel money



• Escrow account ability (paypal)


• Platform costs


• Sellers


• Apple App Store



Web

Day 2 Canvas

Key Partners Key Activities Value Proposition Customer Relationships Customer Segments

Channels

Revenue StreamsCost Structure

Key Resources

Buyers: Bargain hunters who don’t want to compromise on quality or deal with fraud:

• 18-30 Years old• Moves Around a Lot• Social Media Savvy• Smartphone User• Students/ Low income (especially for

junk collectors)• Urban Some younger professionals• Open to used goods • Cares about seller reliability/ quality

Does not want to travel farJunk-collector: • Cares about ease of search/

browsing• Selection of useless goods / bargainsSpecific need buyer• Care about specific categories • Cares about ease of searchSellers: • Want to sell legitimate products at the price they

• 18-30 Years old• Mostly sells stuff when moving Social

Media Savvy• Smartphone User• Students/ Urban young professionals• want a pain-free selling experience• Wants to sell product quickly• Wants to limit spam/ negotiation• Wants to limit logistical challenges

Advertisers





YardSale

Ad revenues

• Marketplace platform which links to your social network to instill a level of trust in the seller and quality of goods

• Mobile shopping app which allows convenient, on-the-go browsing

• Easy to use search function to help you find what you are looking for without repeat or outdated listings

• Location-based to help you minimize logistical issues

• improved search functions (ie., location-based, networks, etc.)


• Ability to purchase in advance or ‘commit’ to products in advance to reserve them

• Marketplace platform which links to your social network to instill a level of trust and reliability in buyers (commitment, safety, less spam, etc.)

• Mobile experience is extremely intuitive and easy to use – can post a listing in 3 clicks

• Make sure your listing gets found -improved categorization and search functions



Targeted ads

• Platform






• Paypalaccount link


• Platform costs


• Sellers


• Apple App Store

• Facebook for Developers



Day 3 Canvas


Channels


Key Resources

Buyers: • 18-30 Years old• Moves Around a Lot• Social Media Savvy• Smartphone User• Students/ Low income (especially for

junk collectors)• Some young alumni• Open to used goods • Cares about seller reliability/ quality


browsing• Selection of useless goods / bargainsSpecific need buyer• Care about specific categories • Cares about ease of search

Sellers: • 18-30 Years old• Mostly sells stuff when moving Social


Advertisers

GET: Post and market on existing campus FB groups and through campus organizations




YardSale

Ad revenues







• Post your listing to other Platforms through ours (initial)


Targeted ads

• Platform








• Platform costs


• Sellers


• Apple App Store




Day 4 Canvas

We learned a lot from our customers

• There are a lot of sub-segments within our initial target market

• Customers buy and sell second-hand products for different

reasons and have different needs

• Trust is a factor that a lot of customers agree will solve many of

the pain-points in the buyer and seller journey

• The usability of available platforms is a major pain-point

• Mobile is super important to both buyers and sellers

Customer

Segments

Value Prop/

Channels

Revenue

• Ad revenue is far in the future

• Some customers are willing to pay for additional features (like

moving sales, buy now options)

Customer

Relationships

• To get customers, we need to initially target the facebook group

users who are all willing to switch over TODAY

• Allowing sellers to post to multiple platforms at once will make

them use our app as a no-regret move

We will now target four distinct customer segments as part of the two-sided

marketplace

Buyer:

Specific Need

Buyer:

Junk-Collector

Seller:

$$/Space-conscious

Seller:

Moving Away

General sale

Yard Sale

Moving Sale

General sale

Yard Sale

Moving Sale

General sale

Yard Sale

Moving Sale

General sale

Yard Sale

Moving Sale

Hustler Helen is a 21

year old barista/student

living in a small NYC

apartment. She works 10

hour a day and looks to

sell any unwanted goods

to preserve space and

get cash.

She needs a platform to

post used goods quickly

and efficiently for a good

price. If possible, she

wants to sell to others

who she can trust and

live near nearby.

Busy Ben is a 25 year

old recent grad moving

from NYC to SF for a

private equity job. He has

to dispose of many

belongings and is not

price conscious.

He needs a platform to

quickly post his items for

sale on a short time

frame. He would love to

sell everything in one go

with limited negotiation.

Junkie Janice is a 25

year old living in Brooklyn

with in a marketing job.

She enjoys sipping

coffee while listening to

jazz and visits many yard

sales to look for

treasures.

She is looking for an

easy way to access all

2nd hand sales, and

cares about both

selection and ease of

browsing.

Diligent Derek is a 19

year old Columbia

student studying

engineering. He

dedicates most of his

time to studying and

research projects.

He is looking for a

convenient and

affordable way to

purchase used textbooks

and 2nd hand furniture for

his apartment.

We discovered a lot of pain-points in the seller journey and tailored our

value proposition to address them

Post adCommunicate with

interested buyers

1

Wait for buyers

Pain

points

• Easy to use point

and post mobile

app

• Huge effort to

post (often don’t

post cheaper

goods as a

result)

Value

prop

• Categorization and

search functions helps

buyers find your products

more easily

• Listing gets lost in

Craigslist

clutter/Facebook feed

and have to repost to get

to the top

• Lots of spam and

time wasted

• Too much back and

forth negotiations

• Messages cluttering

inbox

• Sketchy/fake buyers

• Social network

linkage instills level

of trust and reliability

in sellers and goods

• Messaging feature

in-app

Sell product/ make

some cash

• Scheduling issues

• Some buyers fall through

or don’t show up

• Safety concern with

inviting strangers into

your home (some

products)

• Social network linkage

instills level of trust and

reliability in sellers and

goods

42 3

Sellers: current working mobile prototype makes it easy to post items in 3

steps

Use the app to snap

photo of the item for

sale using your iPhone

Add title, description,

and asking price to your

photo; add same posting

to fb groups with 1 click

Items posted to

PeerPressure stream of

items for sale

1 2 3

We discovered a lot of pain-points in the buyer journey and tailored our

value proposition to address themSearch for a used good or

serviceBuy product or

service

1 2 3

Reach out & communicate

with sellers

Pain

points

• Easy to use search interface

with categorization

• Social network linkage instills

level of trust and reliability in

sellers and goods

• Mobile experience is more

convenient

• Hard to find what you are

looking for (repeat ads, limited

search capabilities on FB

groups)

• Questionable quality (lack of

pics, untrustworthy sellers)

• Have to use PC, no great

mobile apps

Value

prop



sellers and goods

• Feature which encourages

timely deletion of listings

• Unresponsive sellers

• Wasting time on already-sold,

outdated listings

• Sketchy sellers, worried about

safety

• Product sucks when you see it/

doesn’t match listing

• Delivery and logistical issues



sellers and goods

• Location-based filtering helps

you manage logistical issues

Buyers: current working mobile prototype makes it easy to find what you’re

looking for

Search for a specific

item and see results

from your network,

close to your location

Choose a category to

browse, and set

other filters that

matter like price and

location

Use the YardSale

feature to casually

swipe through cheap

items near you

1 2 43

View product details,

including mutual

friends, and

purchase through a

buy now option if you

are satisfied

We identified 3 key revenue streams to monetize

our idea

Advertising‘Buy Now’

functionality

Moving Sale

aggregator

▪ We can offer a local and

distinct audience to local

advertisers (local

students)

▪ We can offer a distinct

and sought-after

audience (students) to

large advertisers

▪ ~$1000 for 2Mn

views/month

▪ A small percentage fee

can be taken from in-app

purchases

▪ 5% fee (PayPal takes

2.9%, we take remainder)

▪ Users who are moving

out pay nominal fee ($3 -

$10) to advertise and

‘push’ moving sale

notifications to users

interested nearby

▪ Users interested in

moving sales can

subscribe ($5/month) to

receive updates

• Target moving websites and “admitted

students” groups to spread awareness

• Solicit active campus sellers / buyers on

Facebook, Craigslist to adopt PeerPressure

We figured out how to get our initial buyers and

sellers

Market

Adoption

Word of Mouth

• Actively promote on existing

marketplaces (Facebook,

Craigslist) to offer an alternative

solution with greater usability and

trust

• Ideally, app can also be able to

post on Craigslist / FB at same

time

• Columbia FB group has 10+

postings a day

Existing Marketplaces

• Collaborate with university facilities

departments and sell app as a “green”

solution

• Include as part of orientation

program

• Feature in campus recycling

pamphlets and newsletters

University Administration


Channels


Key Resources

Buyers: • 18-30 Years old• Moves Around a Lot• Social Media Savvy• Smartphone User• Students/ Low income (especially for

junk collectors)• Some young alumni• Open to used goods • Cares about seller reliability/ quality


browsing• Selection of useless goods / bargainsSpecific need buyer• Care about specific categories • Cares about ease of search

Sellers: • 18-30 Years old• Mostly sells stuff when moving Social


Advertisers

GET: Post and market on existing campus FB groups and through campus organizations




YardSale

Ad revenues







• Post your listing to other Platforms through ours (initial)


Targeted ads

• Platform








• Platform costs


• Sellers


• Apple App Store




Day 5 Canvas

Today’s concept:Improve the traditional secondhand goods market for college students and young alumni by:

• Integrating existing social networks with a marketplace platform to allow you to buy and sell with your extended networks

• Using a mobile platform to ease the process for sellers

• Giving buyers an easy way to search and find what they are looking for (simple swiping, ‘buy now’ and ‘reserve’ options)

• Providing a platform for disseminating moving sale information

Going forward we will…

• Continue to test hypotheses that require further

validation: emphasis on revenue stream

hypotheses and how our product features align

with this

• Further develop validated features in prototype

and continue to test MVP with users

BACKUP/ OLD SLIDES

Hypothesis Results & Next StepsTest/ Pass-fail criteria

Value prop

& features

▪ Undecided; test further▪ Interviews

▪ Pass if there are some “strong-yes”

users for the product feature

• People would use (and pay for) the

commitment function to reserve

products

▪ Strong pass - for niche customer

segment (younger, lower income,

browsers)

▪ Interviews



• People would use and like a “buy now

option” for the YardSale products (or

all products)

Channel &

user

design▪ Initial pass; Test further through

prototype

▪ Show prototype(s) and mockups to

test and gauge response

▪ Majority of votes (>70%)

• People prefer swiping when shopping

on mobile to clicking

• Sellers value being able to upload

posting to multiple platforms at once

• Buyers would like a discovery

‘YardSale’ feature

▪ Interviews

▪ Pass if there are majority “strong-yes”


▪ Interviews



▪ Passed

▪ Pass; need to consider payment/

technical implications and test

further

We have tested some key hypotheses that have either passed/ failed or

need to be tested further….

▪ Fail except in upscale

neighborhoods; suggests that

network more important

User

behavior

• People trust those who live near them

more

• People trust those who share a

network with them more than

strangers

▪ Interviews

▪ Pass if some ‘yeses’

▪ Interviews on whether would users

would no longer find a need to ‘bring a

buddy’ when visitng a seller in their

network unlike on Craigslist (pro

▪ Pass if majority of votes (>70%)

▪ Pass

▪ Interviews

▪ Pass if majority of votes

• People would like an in-app

messaging process to reduce clutter▪ Strong pass

• Sellers would be easier to attract

because of usability of mobile app

(would help crack the chicken & egg

problem)

▪ Strong pass▪ Interviews

▪ Pass if there are majority “strong-yes”


Further updates to prototype based on validated features

Additional search filters

including distance and price

allow targeted searching

Buyers can now see mutual

friends they have with the

seller

What our customers think about our competition…

• 18-30 Years old

• Mostly sells stuff

when moving around

• Social Media Savvy

• Smartphone User

• Student/ Young

professional

Buyer: Specific NeedBuyer: Junk-CollectorSeller

• 18-30 Years old

• Moves Around a Lot


• Smartphone User

• Student/ Low Income

• 18-30 Years old

• Moves Around a Lot


• Smartphone User

• Student / Young

Professional/ higher

income than JC

• Needs to post quickly

and efficiently (often

doesn’t sell cheap

products for this

reason)

• Wants to sell product

quickly

• Wants to limit spam

and negotiation

• Wants to limit

logistical challenges

• Open to used goods

(lower value items)

• Cares about seller

reliability and product

quality

• Does not want to travel

far

• Cares about both

specific categories and

wide selection of

goods

• Cares about ease of

search/ browsing

• Selection of useless

goods / bargains

• Open to used goods

(higher value items)

• Cares about seller

reliability and product

quality

• Does not want to travel

far

• Care about specific

categories of goods

• Cares about using

time efficiently/ ease of

search

Demographics

Needs

We will target three distinct customer segments as part of the two-sided

marketplace

Type of business

Niche

re-segmentation

Double-

sided

marketplace

Platform that creates

value by facilitating

interactions between

two different groups of

customers; only of

value if both groups

are present

Advertising

platform-

model

A New product to

address specific

needs in an existing

market

Platform is free to

use on one side

and generates

revenues by

selling space to

advertisers on the

other

The initial target market is expected to be ~$560 Mln

Total Available Market

Online Classifieds market in the

USA

= ~$20 B

Served Available Market

Urban online classifieds market1

= ~$16 B

Initial Target Market

University Campuses, Smartphone

accessible2

= ~$560M

Source: Telegraph Research, US Census Bureau, Nielsen, US Department of Education

1 80% urban population 2 13M Full-Time Students / 316M US Population, 85% smartphone penetration in 18-34 age range

A working mobile prototype has been put together to help with customer

discovery

Use the app to snap

photo of the item for

sale using your iPhone

Add title, description,

and asking price to your

photo

Items posted to

PeerPressure stream of

items for sale

peer pressure columbia 2015

Education

high quality assortment

segment willing

social mediakeep

social networks

mobile marketplace

campus outreach

hana abbas

andy hadjigeorgiou