15 ms·

Patio11 says Hello Ladies

699 points by akshat 16y ago

akshat 16y ago
Sorry for the karma bait title :)
- mryan 16y ago
  From the title, I was half-expecting a link to patio11's profile on some dating site. Great video, thanks for posting.
- nandemo 16y ago
  The title is very appropriate. The talk is awesome too.
- DeusExMachina 16y ago
  I think that here on HN any title with the word "Patio11" in it can be considered karma bait ;)
csavage 16y ago
This is a man who understands why people buy stuff. Awesome to see him talk.
mistermann 16y ago
Doesn't work on iPhone?
ct 16y ago
At the end of the video Patrick mentions his website has some example businesses for women. Anyone have the link to that page?
- ja27 16y ago
  His blog: http://www.kalzumeus.com/start-here-if-youre-new/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/start-here-if-youre-new/
- ugh 16y ago
  It’s the last slide and you should click the fullscreen button to be able to read the text: http://www.slideshare.net/patio11/software-for-underserved-markets http://www.slideshare.net/patio11/software-for-underserved-m...
  - patio11 16y ago
    Here you go: http://images1.bingocardcreator.com/blog-images/hn/selling-to-women.png http://images1.bingocardcreator.com/blog-images/hn/selling-t...
swah 16y ago
This was great, but he seemed a little nervous, although his text was perfect.
- chime 16y ago
  If you've seen his older videos and interviews you can see how far he's come along. Few more presentations and he'll be a pro.
- jarin 16y ago
  Sometimes you can't help it. Even if you're super prepared and you know your material is good, if you don't give presentations on a regular basis your reptilian brain just sits there screaming THEY ARE GOING TO KILL YOU to your autonomic nervous system. It happens to me almost every time I give a presentation (about twice a year), even though I really enjoy giving presentations and I am completely not nervous at all consciously.
  - mdda 16y ago
    I'm far from being a presentation pro, but I've talked myself out of getting nervous - just by reasoning it through like going on a flight. When you're in an audience, do you want to kill a speaker? I know that when I'm in an audience, I (a) don't care at all; (b) switch off if the speaker is bad; (c) actually want to hear the information being giving them (and don't mind if the speaker is bad - and probably rooting for them if they are).
    - markkanof 16y ago
      It was once pointed out to me by a public speaking coach that "the audience wants you to succeed." It's so easy to let nerves kick in and become terrified that if you make even the slightest mistake you will be booed off stage. It can feel like an adversarial relationship between you and the audience. The reality is that in almost all cases people in the audience are there voluntarily because they want to hear what you have to say. They want you to succeed so that they can have an enjoyable experience listening to you. I have also realized that this is true at times when I am in the audience for a speaker who is really nervous. In some small way it feels like I am part of the speech. I think most people have been in this situation and sort of cringed when a mistake happens, because you don't want to see the person on stage hurting, you want to see them do great.
chopsueyar 16y ago
Patio11, good speech and funny, too. Awesome job, man!
bearwithclaws 16y ago
Very impressive, Patrick! Love the energy and humor. Just wondering, how many times you practice it? (I'm guessing at least 5 times)
- kroger 16y ago
  "All of the Lightning Talks were delivered by non-professional speakers. They followed a murderously difficult format: you get 15 slides which get auto-advanced every thirty seconds, and that’s it. You might think that means you can get away with slapping together something in an hour: oh no. In discussions with my fellow lightning talkers, we agreed that there has been something of a “lightning talk arms race”: the two talks I was most impressed by took over 24 hours to prepare, and mine took at least twelve solid hours over two months, with probably half of that being rehearsal until I could literally count out thirty seconds with a prepared spiel delivered in a voice other than my own." http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/10/15/lessons-learned-at-business-of-software-2010/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/10/15/lessons-learned-at-busin...
- TillE 16y ago
  Ever learned a musical piece that's more than just a few chords? The process, at least for me, is similar. You practice practice practice until you've got it perfectly memorized. I couldn't give you a specific number, but whenever I've given a ~5 minute talk, I'm sure I ran through it at least a couple dozen times. Even if you have every single word written down and perfect, there are all kinds of details (timing, tone, etc) to be worked out -- and in reality, I do a lot of minor editing as I practice. That effort is the difference between a dull talk with a lot of um-ing and uh-ing, and an engaging one that the audience might remember.
chapel 16y ago
Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed the presentation and have a newfound respect for patio11. Not that I didn't enjoy listening to him on the Techzing Podcast.
aw3c2 16y ago
Non-blogspam link: http://businessofsoftware.blip.tv/file/4933754/ http://businessofsoftware.blip.tv/file/4933754/ Alternatively a direct link to the 70MB M4V (H264 & AAC) source (so you can avoid Flash, even though Blip.tv has HTML5 I think): http://blip.tv/file/get/Businessofsoftware-PatrickMcKenzieMarketingToMinorities763.m4v http://blip.tv/file/get/Businessofsoftware-PatrickMcKenzieMa... It's a video called "Patrick McKenzie. Marketing to minorities". Title of the talk was "Software for underserved markets", he talks about women. It's quite short (<10 minutes) and full with wit and energy. Great fun to watch.
- bioh42_2 16y ago
  This Patrick McKenzie sounds suspiciously like patio11, the submitter of this very link...
noahc 16y ago
The best line is when he says, "features.html should 404." What he says is basically: 1. Develop a niche, and this is probably easier if you target women. 2. Sell an emotional experience, not features. 3. Tell stories because software is boring. 4. Profit!!!
- dtby 16y ago
  2. Sell an emotional experience, not features. Eh, that works for your market. 3. Tell stories because software is boring. Now we're getting somewhere, this is universally applicable.
  - MPSimmons 16y ago
    I think the underserved market is pretty much non-geeks. I don't really think non-geeks like features as much as they like being able to do things.
    - dpcan 16y ago
      I kind-of agree with dtby because I've been able to sell some of my web software because of my massively exhaustive list of features. For my customers, it left them thinking, man we have to have this, we had no idea there was a software solution for all these problems.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    Bzzzt. You are having a common nerd/guy adverse reaction to the word "emotional", but as someone who has sold software and services to huge companies staffed with gun-totin' Ron Swansons for 15 years, let me assure you, everyone is receptive to emotions. They're just different emotions†. Watch Patrick's talk. Particularly the Google slide. † "Fear" is one my industry has used to great effect; "egotism" is another one.
    - dtby 16y ago
      And as someone who has sold software and services to huge companies with gun-totin' Ron Swansons for over 15 years, let me assure you that this is untrue. So, yeah, it's a question of approach. Which was my entire point.
revorad 16y ago
"Software is just the monetisation engine for the emotion business." That makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
singular 16y ago
Brilliant talk - but for some reason I always envisioned patio11 as being quite considerably older...!
keyle 16y ago
This was brilliant. To me the best part was about bringing the emotional connection to customers right from the home page. Sell them the success they're subconsciously seeking.
follower 16y ago
Wow, really nicely done. Sure, some nerves and timing issues but really impressive outside that, particularly as an non-natural public speaker. Of course, the true measure of public speaking is how many people act on the message. :) Would be interested to know what feedback patio11 has received on that front. Are the slides available somewhere? Couldn't find them on his site.
- patio11 16y ago
  particularly as an non-natural public speaker. My favorite comment after the speech: "Honestly, when you got up on stage, I thought 'Oh cripes, an engineer with no social skills.' Little did I know it was all part of the act!" Hah, the joke is on you, sucker :) (Joking aside: this is the best speech I've given in my life by a factor of "lots" judging by audience reaction, but I did competitive public speaking for most of a decade. It isn't totally anomalous that I'd be decent at it.)
  - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
    [Please approach in a light tone] I found you engaging and fresh in your approach (but I don't see that many presentations so what do I know) but to be uber-critical you spoke a bit too quickly at times. Usually this is an indication of nervousness but you appear to suggest (above) you have so much experience that this wouldn't be a problem. Incidentally I suck at public speaking and tend to make nervous quips and self-deprecate (which tends to make one look worse) like you did with your "10 second [...] shoulda practised [...]" interlude. Did I mention that I'm a bit too heavy on the negative critique usually too ... Couple of points/queries: Is the colour of the guys you're selling software to relevant? You specify that they're white guys but I wasn't sure if this is a specific comment on demographics of people who buy software or if it was something else? Second, knowing when a battle was doesn't make you intelligent though it might make you knowledgeable or nerdy. That aside Google don't appear to sell themselves on the issue of their customers presenting themselves as knowledgeable. Surely the benefit they sell most is simply "not wasting time looking for stuff" (Bing do the same, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLV_MTvshGg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLV_MTvshGg).
davidw 16y ago
Interesting and very timely, I think a significant portion of the audience for http://LiberWriter.com http://LiberWriter.com will turn out to be women. So... what kind of easy to create image can I put up to show how things work in a more 'human' way? I like the spareness of the design and I'm not paying for a designer until I start making steady money so "go pay a design guy a lot of money" is not a good answer.
- revorad 16y ago
  A picture of Amanda Hocking with a quote (with her permission of course). Edit: or a clip like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1qWOy4p4MvM#t=37s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...
- mise 16y ago
  Timely, too, since they are maximizing exposure for registration for this year's conference. Clever!
- patio11 16y ago
  Get a $70 template from WooThemes (or any of numerous cheaper options) to make it look professional, then find a stock image of e.g. a woman sipping coffee at Starbucks and do one of those hand-drawn arrow things saying "She'll be a published author by the end of the latte." Alternatively, a youngish mother playing with her child. Again, hand-drawn callout: "My mom is a published author."
  - marklittlewood 16y ago
    Cool. A little birdie tells me that Adii Rockstar, founder of Woothemes will be coming from South Africa to talk at Business of Software this year. http://businessofsoftware.org/ http://businessofsoftware.org/
- equark 16y ago
  Perhaps you should be selling the dream of becoming a published writer rather than just being "the easiest way to write for the Kindle."
nhebb 16y ago
That was a great speech. After ruminating a bit, I'm still left with the sad thought that I have no clue how to put this information to use. I just went through my last 100 orders and 29 were women, so there's room for improvement. I just Googled a few variations of "how women buy on the internet", which resulted in a bunch of sites for little blue pills and Russian brides, I didn't find any useful studies. It would be a good reading topic if anyone knows a source.
- mayukh 16y ago
  Why don't you ask your female customers? Ask them how they found you? why they bought? what features of the product they like the best? ...
  - mdda 16y ago
    > Features... Patio11 would probably suggest putting a question about benefits and experiences during usage in there too.
  - nhebb 16y ago
    I actually have asked customers - both men and women, but the main issue is that only a small percentage ever contact me for pre-sales or support inquires (which is nice in its own way), It never hurts to read academic or professional studies with a broader scope, though.
    - rmc 16y ago
      Bribe them. Give them a promotional code that gives them $5 of one of your other products, and let them give a $5 discount to one of their friends. You'll be able to purchase information about your target market.
- minouye 16y ago
  Read "Why She Buys" by Bridget Brennan. It is probably one of the most enlightening marketing/consumer psych. books I have ever read. I seriously cannot recommend it highly enough. Also, it's not just about the female consumer--there's discussion about the male consumer psychology to put things into context. http://www.amazon.com/Why-She-Buys-Strategy-Consumers/dp/0307450384 http://www.amazon.com/Why-She-Buys-Strategy-Consumers/dp/030...
dutchrapley 16y ago
This is great. Goes along with Zed Shaw's philosophy on the selling and purchasing of enterprise software - steaks and strippers. Features are boring, steaks and strippers aren't. http://vimeo.com/2723800 http://vimeo.com/2723800 (17:53)
patio11 16y ago
Posted with slides on my blog. http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/26/software-for-underserved-markets/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/26/software-for-underserved... I had been waiting for the video to come out -- they usually use them to promote the Business of Software conference. So, let me make my one plug: go to the Business of Software conference. It was one of the highlights of my professional career, and I got advice and inspiration that directly helped get AR launched the following month. This talk barely gets in the ballpark of quality of some of the presentations -- and the real reason to go isn't the presentations, but to meet people who doing great things in software. (More than once I found myself asking "Who the heck let me sit at this table?! This guy bootstrapped a business which sells nuclear power plant control software and now has N employees and Y million revenue. I make bingo cards for a living!") Thanks for the praise by the way.
- davidw 16y ago
  How much advice from the nuclear plant guy is relevant for bingo cards? Honest question, I can see "surprisingly more than you'd think" to "well, not much, really" being in the range of possible answers. Sounds like a fun conference, but I'm cheap: $2000+ plus travel plus hotel, plus lost time is a lot of money. Conferences always seem like a much better deal if you get invited as a speaker. You get a super-power-bonus for your own networking, because people recognize you from you talk, you get a speaker badge, and so on, and plus, you don't have to pay so much (or anything if it goes well). I pretty much stopped going to conferences where I'm not speaking.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    (In agreeing I'll add) I'm stingier with my time than $2000; the thing making me hesitate on the next one is that I wonder how much of Patrick's endorsement is based on him getting to sit at the cool kid's table in the evening and talk directly with the other speakers. Patrick, did you learn much from talking directly to attendees? Had you not been speaking, would you have learned as much from (say) Peldi?
  - marklittlewood 16y ago
    The good thing about Business of Software is you get to sit at the table with the cool kids the whole time. The capacity for the event is 380 people in total. That is a small conference by any standards.
shadowpwner 16y ago
Random, but is the intro from the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast?
- count 16y ago
  It's from the Old Spice commercials.
jasonlotito 16y ago
Such a simple talk, such simple advice, but I learned so much. So much is obvious upon reflection, but great advice usually is. Awesome job.
jdp23 16y ago
I think of it as a two-dimensional market segmentation perspective: gender on one dimension, race on another. In a lot of segments, almost everybody is fighting it out in the "white guy" quadrant or at least the "guy" half. Take the Q&A space, for example: Quora is 80-90% guys, and so is StackOverflow. So there's room for competitors targeting the "niches" that actually make up most of the population. And there are similar dynamics in most market segments ...
marklittlewood 16y ago
If you are thinking of going to Business of Software this year, the first Early Bird discount finishes midnight PST on Sunday night. Over 150 places of 380 total gone already. http://businessofsoftware.org/ http://businessofsoftware.org/
edw519 16y ago
Patrick, I'm really glad to see you use the reference from the Atlantic article in your presentation. It was one of the most memorable "testimonials without even being a testimonial" I've ever read about the use software for a higher purpose: Next, Mr. Taylor announces it’s time for Multiplication Bingo. As Mr. Taylor reads off a problem (“20 divided by 5”), the kids scour their boards, chips in hand, looking for 4’s. One girl is literally shaking with excitement. Another has her hands clasped in a prayer position. I find myself wanting to play. You know you’re in a good classroom if you have to stop yourself from raising your hand. My reaction, which hasn't changed, from 11 months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1267630 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1267630 The full article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/01/what-makes-a-great-teacher/7841/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/01/what-makes...
- patio11 16y ago
  I wrote that into the slide primarily because you had seemed so affected by it. Thanks for calling it out for me.
- mryall 16y ago
  That is a great article, even aside from the anecdote about the bingo cards. Analysing what makes a good teacher is so important yet so difficult in reality because of the influence of teachers’ unions. There’s also is a huge reluctance to use any information that is discovered to improve our education systems.
  - zrog 16y ago
    Amazingly, it's also highly relevant to entrepreneurs. The article lists six characteristics of great teachers: 1. great teachers tended to set big goals for their students 2. perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness 3. avidly recruited students and their families into the process 4. maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning 5. planned exhaustively and purposefully by working backward from the desired outcome 6. worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender -- Translating these to the world of entrepreneurs we can say: 1. set big goals for yourself 2. perpetually look or ways to improve your effectiveness 3. avidly recruit workers and partners into the process 4. maintain focus, ensuring that everything you do contributes to your goals 5. plan exhaustively and purposefully by working backward from the desired outcome 6. work relentlessly, do not surrender
jenndox 16y ago
Thanks for explicitly calling out that it isn't that people sell poorly to women, but that we sell poorly to everyone. It is a very useful turn to take when thinking about market segmentation. Great talk!
bane 16y ago
Great talk! Funny, engaging, involved the audience, full of great content. I certainly learned something, already rethinking a few parts of our messaging.
marcamillion 16y ago
I have been highly anticipating this, and it's better than I thought it would be. A bit awkward at times, but that's what makes it so endearing. We can see how genuine he is. Good job Patrick!
marklittlewood 16y ago
It is difficult to understate how good Patrick was. BoS has some of the best speakers in the business. Some you will have heard of - Seth Godin, Joel Spolsky, Geoffrey Moore - some you won't have heard from even if you have heard of them - Peldi at Balsamiq for example. http://businessofsoftware.org/prevyear.aspx http://businessofsoftware.org/prevyear.aspx Patrick only had 7 minutes 30 seconds but he rocked the house. He will be back this year we hope.
- dhimes 16y ago
  I assume s/understate/overstate/
  - marklittlewood 16y ago
    Ha! Indeed. I had originally written, 'couldn't overstate'. Then I wrote something else. Then a small child appeared and distracted me. Then I just posted nonsense. I blame the minors. What I meant was Patrick was totally awesome and the video doesn't do his talk proper justice.
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
I hate hero shots, do we have to have hero shots?
Vivtek 16y ago
Fantastic presentation!
dawgr 16y ago
Expect a surge in period tracker web apps.
jwwest 16y ago
This was an awesome presentation, quick, funny, to the point. However, it brought up some interesting questions for me. How many people can truly create software for the sole purpose of selling it? Unless he really likes Bingo cards, he worked on this software not out of love but love for money. This isn't a bash, I'm insanely curious actually. The more I think about it, the more I know that I cannot create software for women because I have absolutely no interests that would coincide with an underserved market. Maybe I'm just not creative enough? And honestly, for me to create an awesome product, I'd have to be invested in it somehow.
- patio11 16y ago
  I don't hate money, but if I wanted it, there would be more straightforward ways of getting it than BCC. I certainly don't love bingo. I do really care about teaching and helping teachers. I also love running a business, both the actual mechanics of doing it and what it does for my life. You almost certainly have interests which coincide with an underserved market, since you're a human and not a walking cliche of asocial geeky engineer who likes D&D and Firefly.
kellysutton 16y ago
Kind of along the lines of this is Spolsky's advice that he would give out at the Dev Days conference tour he does/did with Carsonified: How is your software going to get someone laid? While a little far-fetched, it does help keep everything in perspective although it serves the young guy demographic a bit more.
- electrum 16y ago
  Did that "get someone laid" bit originate with JWZ? http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html
noonespecial 16y ago
I wondered at first how Patrick could squeeze success from something like Bingo card creation. I don't anymore.
marklittlewood 16y ago
If you are going to pick something up and post it on your Posterous, ignore the copyright notices, then post it on Hacker News, it would be really lovely if you could include one small link back to the event page you took it from. http://businessofsoftware.org/ http://businessofsoftware.org/ Thanks.
some1else 16y ago
Business of Software is the best for sharing these videos. Thanks Joel/BoS!
code_acdc 16y ago
Very interesting prespective
sdizdar 16y ago
Excellent presentation. Brilliant. I'm always told that sell process is actually selling one of these four things: fear, greed, vanity, or insecurity. But that is easier said than done. I have no clue how to achieve that (I'm still in "sell features" mindset). I would like to hear is there are any good examples of software product or server which does that well.

699 points by akshat 16y ago

akshat 16y ago

Sorry for the karma bait title :)

mryan 16y ago
From the title, I was half-expecting a link to patio11's profile on some dating site. Great video, thanks for posting.
nandemo 16y ago
The title is very appropriate. The talk is awesome too.
DeusExMachina 16y ago
I think that here on HN any title with the word "Patio11" in it can be considered karma bait ;)

csavage 16y ago

This is a man who understands why people buy stuff. Awesome to see him talk.

mistermann 16y ago

Doesn't work on iPhone?

ct 16y ago

At the end of the video Patrick mentions his website has some example businesses for women. Anyone have the link to that page?

ja27 16y ago
His blog: http://www.kalzumeus.com/start-here-if-youre-new/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/start-here-if-youre-new/
ugh 16y ago
It’s the last slide and you should click the fullscreen button to be able to read the text: http://www.slideshare.net/patio11/software-for-underserved-markets http://www.slideshare.net/patio11/software-for-underserved-m...
- patio11 16y ago
  Here you go: http://images1.bingocardcreator.com/blog-images/hn/selling-to-women.png http://images1.bingocardcreator.com/blog-images/hn/selling-t...

swah 16y ago

This was great, but he seemed a little nervous, although his text was perfect.

chime 16y ago
If you've seen his older videos and interviews you can see how far he's come along. Few more presentations and he'll be a pro.
jarin 16y ago
Sometimes you can't help it. Even if you're super prepared and you know your material is good, if you don't give presentations on a regular basis your reptilian brain just sits there screaming THEY ARE GOING TO KILL YOU to your autonomic nervous system. It happens to me almost every time I give a presentation (about twice a year), even though I really enjoy giving presentations and I am completely not nervous at all consciously.
- mdda 16y ago
  I'm far from being a presentation pro, but I've talked myself out of getting nervous - just by reasoning it through like going on a flight. When you're in an audience, do you want to kill a speaker? I know that when I'm in an audience, I (a) don't care at all; (b) switch off if the speaker is bad; (c) actually want to hear the information being giving them (and don't mind if the speaker is bad - and probably rooting for them if they are).
  - markkanof 16y ago
    It was once pointed out to me by a public speaking coach that "the audience wants you to succeed." It's so easy to let nerves kick in and become terrified that if you make even the slightest mistake you will be booed off stage. It can feel like an adversarial relationship between you and the audience. The reality is that in almost all cases people in the audience are there voluntarily because they want to hear what you have to say. They want you to succeed so that they can have an enjoyable experience listening to you. I have also realized that this is true at times when I am in the audience for a speaker who is really nervous. In some small way it feels like I am part of the speech. I think most people have been in this situation and sort of cringed when a mistake happens, because you don't want to see the person on stage hurting, you want to see them do great.

chopsueyar 16y ago

Patio11, good speech and funny, too. Awesome job, man!

bearwithclaws 16y ago

Very impressive, Patrick! Love the energy and humor. Just wondering, how many times you practice it? (I'm guessing at least 5 times)

kroger 16y ago
"All of the Lightning Talks were delivered by non-professional speakers. They followed a murderously difficult format: you get 15 slides which get auto-advanced every thirty seconds, and that’s it. You might think that means you can get away with slapping together something in an hour: oh no. In discussions with my fellow lightning talkers, we agreed that there has been something of a “lightning talk arms race”: the two talks I was most impressed by took over 24 hours to prepare, and mine took at least twelve solid hours over two months, with probably half of that being rehearsal until I could literally count out thirty seconds with a prepared spiel delivered in a voice other than my own." http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/10/15/lessons-learned-at-business-of-software-2010/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/10/15/lessons-learned-at-busin...
TillE 16y ago
Ever learned a musical piece that's more than just a few chords? The process, at least for me, is similar. You practice practice practice until you've got it perfectly memorized. I couldn't give you a specific number, but whenever I've given a ~5 minute talk, I'm sure I ran through it at least a couple dozen times. Even if you have every single word written down and perfect, there are all kinds of details (timing, tone, etc) to be worked out -- and in reality, I do a lot of minor editing as I practice. That effort is the difference between a dull talk with a lot of um-ing and uh-ing, and an engaging one that the audience might remember.

chapel 16y ago

Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed the presentation and have a newfound respect for patio11. Not that I didn't enjoy listening to him on the Techzing Podcast.

aw3c2 16y ago

Non-blogspam link: http://businessofsoftware.blip.tv/file/4933754/ http://businessofsoftware.blip.tv/file/4933754/ Alternatively a direct link to the 70MB M4V (H264 & AAC) source (so you can avoid Flash, even though Blip.tv has HTML5 I think): http://blip.tv/file/get/Businessofsoftware-PatrickMcKenzieMarketingToMinorities763.m4v http://blip.tv/file/get/Businessofsoftware-PatrickMcKenzieMa... It's a video called "Patrick McKenzie. Marketing to minorities". Title of the talk was "Software for underserved markets", he talks about women. It's quite short (<10 minutes) and full with wit and energy. Great fun to watch.

bioh42_2 16y ago
This Patrick McKenzie sounds suspiciously like patio11, the submitter of this very link...

noahc 16y ago

The best line is when he says, "features.html should 404." What he says is basically: 1. Develop a niche, and this is probably easier if you target women. 2. Sell an emotional experience, not features. 3. Tell stories because software is boring. 4. Profit!!!

dtby 16y ago
2. Sell an emotional experience, not features. Eh, that works for your market. 3. Tell stories because software is boring. Now we're getting somewhere, this is universally applicable.
- MPSimmons 16y ago
  I think the underserved market is pretty much non-geeks. I don't really think non-geeks like features as much as they like being able to do things.
  - dpcan 16y ago
    I kind-of agree with dtby because I've been able to sell some of my web software because of my massively exhaustive list of features. For my customers, it left them thinking, man we have to have this, we had no idea there was a software solution for all these problems.
- tptacek 16y ago
  Bzzzt. You are having a common nerd/guy adverse reaction to the word "emotional", but as someone who has sold software and services to huge companies staffed with gun-totin' Ron Swansons for 15 years, let me assure you, everyone is receptive to emotions. They're just different emotions†. Watch Patrick's talk. Particularly the Google slide. † "Fear" is one my industry has used to great effect; "egotism" is another one.
  - dtby 16y ago
    And as someone who has sold software and services to huge companies with gun-totin' Ron Swansons for over 15 years, let me assure you that this is untrue. So, yeah, it's a question of approach. Which was my entire point.

revorad 16y ago

"Software is just the monetisation engine for the emotion business." That makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

singular 16y ago

Brilliant talk - but for some reason I always envisioned patio11 as being quite considerably older...!

keyle 16y ago

This was brilliant. To me the best part was about bringing the emotional connection to customers right from the home page. Sell them the success they're subconsciously seeking.

follower 16y ago

Wow, really nicely done. Sure, some nerves and timing issues but really impressive outside that, particularly as an non-natural public speaker. Of course, the true measure of public speaking is how many people act on the message. :) Would be interested to know what feedback patio11 has received on that front. Are the slides available somewhere? Couldn't find them on his site.

patio11 16y ago
particularly as an non-natural public speaker. My favorite comment after the speech: "Honestly, when you got up on stage, I thought 'Oh cripes, an engineer with no social skills.' Little did I know it was all part of the act!" Hah, the joke is on you, sucker :) (Joking aside: this is the best speech I've given in my life by a factor of "lots" judging by audience reaction, but I did competitive public speaking for most of a decade. It isn't totally anomalous that I'd be decent at it.)
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  [Please approach in a light tone] I found you engaging and fresh in your approach (but I don't see that many presentations so what do I know) but to be uber-critical you spoke a bit too quickly at times. Usually this is an indication of nervousness but you appear to suggest (above) you have so much experience that this wouldn't be a problem. Incidentally I suck at public speaking and tend to make nervous quips and self-deprecate (which tends to make one look worse) like you did with your "10 second [...] shoulda practised [...]" interlude. Did I mention that I'm a bit too heavy on the negative critique usually too ... Couple of points/queries: Is the colour of the guys you're selling software to relevant? You specify that they're white guys but I wasn't sure if this is a specific comment on demographics of people who buy software or if it was something else? Second, knowing when a battle was doesn't make you intelligent though it might make you knowledgeable or nerdy. That aside Google don't appear to sell themselves on the issue of their customers presenting themselves as knowledgeable. Surely the benefit they sell most is simply "not wasting time looking for stuff" (Bing do the same, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLV_MTvshGg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLV_MTvshGg).

davidw 16y ago

Interesting and very timely, I think a significant portion of the audience for http://LiberWriter.com http://LiberWriter.com will turn out to be women. So... what kind of easy to create image can I put up to show how things work in a more 'human' way? I like the spareness of the design and I'm not paying for a designer until I start making steady money so "go pay a design guy a lot of money" is not a good answer.

revorad 16y ago
A picture of Amanda Hocking with a quote (with her permission of course). Edit: or a clip like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1qWOy4p4MvM#t=37s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...
mise 16y ago
Timely, too, since they are maximizing exposure for registration for this year's conference. Clever!
patio11 16y ago
Get a $70 template from WooThemes (or any of numerous cheaper options) to make it look professional, then find a stock image of e.g. a woman sipping coffee at Starbucks and do one of those hand-drawn arrow things saying "She'll be a published author by the end of the latte." Alternatively, a youngish mother playing with her child. Again, hand-drawn callout: "My mom is a published author."
- marklittlewood 16y ago
  Cool. A little birdie tells me that Adii Rockstar, founder of Woothemes will be coming from South Africa to talk at Business of Software this year. http://businessofsoftware.org/ http://businessofsoftware.org/
equark 16y ago
Perhaps you should be selling the dream of becoming a published writer rather than just being "the easiest way to write for the Kindle."

nhebb 16y ago

That was a great speech. After ruminating a bit, I'm still left with the sad thought that I have no clue how to put this information to use. I just went through my last 100 orders and 29 were women, so there's room for improvement. I just Googled a few variations of "how women buy on the internet", which resulted in a bunch of sites for little blue pills and Russian brides, I didn't find any useful studies. It would be a good reading topic if anyone knows a source.

mayukh 16y ago
Why don't you ask your female customers? Ask them how they found you? why they bought? what features of the product they like the best? ...
- mdda 16y ago
  > Features... Patio11 would probably suggest putting a question about benefits and experiences during usage in there too.
- nhebb 16y ago
  I actually have asked customers - both men and women, but the main issue is that only a small percentage ever contact me for pre-sales or support inquires (which is nice in its own way), It never hurts to read academic or professional studies with a broader scope, though.
  - rmc 16y ago
    Bribe them. Give them a promotional code that gives them $5 of one of your other products, and let them give a $5 discount to one of their friends. You'll be able to purchase information about your target market.
minouye 16y ago
Read "Why She Buys" by Bridget Brennan. It is probably one of the most enlightening marketing/consumer psych. books I have ever read. I seriously cannot recommend it highly enough. Also, it's not just about the female consumer--there's discussion about the male consumer psychology to put things into context. http://www.amazon.com/Why-She-Buys-Strategy-Consumers/dp/0307450384 http://www.amazon.com/Why-She-Buys-Strategy-Consumers/dp/030...

dutchrapley 16y ago

This is great. Goes along with Zed Shaw's philosophy on the selling and purchasing of enterprise software - steaks and strippers. Features are boring, steaks and strippers aren't. http://vimeo.com/2723800 http://vimeo.com/2723800 (17:53)

patio11 16y ago

Posted with slides on my blog. http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/26/software-for-underserved-markets/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/26/software-for-underserved... I had been waiting for the video to come out -- they usually use them to promote the Business of Software conference. So, let me make my one plug: go to the Business of Software conference. It was one of the highlights of my professional career, and I got advice and inspiration that directly helped get AR launched the following month. This talk barely gets in the ballpark of quality of some of the presentations -- and the real reason to go isn't the presentations, but to meet people who doing great things in software. (More than once I found myself asking "Who the heck let me sit at this table?! This guy bootstrapped a business which sells nuclear power plant control software and now has N employees and Y million revenue. I make bingo cards for a living!") Thanks for the praise by the way.

davidw 16y ago
How much advice from the nuclear plant guy is relevant for bingo cards? Honest question, I can see "surprisingly more than you'd think" to "well, not much, really" being in the range of possible answers. Sounds like a fun conference, but I'm cheap: $2000+ plus travel plus hotel, plus lost time is a lot of money. Conferences always seem like a much better deal if you get invited as a speaker. You get a super-power-bonus for your own networking, because people recognize you from you talk, you get a speaker badge, and so on, and plus, you don't have to pay so much (or anything if it goes well). I pretty much stopped going to conferences where I'm not speaking.
- tptacek 16y ago
  (In agreeing I'll add) I'm stingier with my time than $2000; the thing making me hesitate on the next one is that I wonder how much of Patrick's endorsement is based on him getting to sit at the cool kid's table in the evening and talk directly with the other speakers. Patrick, did you learn much from talking directly to attendees? Had you not been speaking, would you have learned as much from (say) Peldi?
- marklittlewood 16y ago
  The good thing about Business of Software is you get to sit at the table with the cool kids the whole time. The capacity for the event is 380 people in total. That is a small conference by any standards.

shadowpwner 16y ago

Random, but is the intro from the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast?

count 16y ago
It's from the Old Spice commercials.

jasonlotito 16y ago

Such a simple talk, such simple advice, but I learned so much. So much is obvious upon reflection, but great advice usually is. Awesome job.

jdp23 16y ago

I think of it as a two-dimensional market segmentation perspective: gender on one dimension, race on another. In a lot of segments, almost everybody is fighting it out in the "white guy" quadrant or at least the "guy" half. Take the Q&A space, for example: Quora is 80-90% guys, and so is StackOverflow. So there's room for competitors targeting the "niches" that actually make up most of the population. And there are similar dynamics in most market segments ...

marklittlewood 16y ago

If you are thinking of going to Business of Software this year, the first Early Bird discount finishes midnight PST on Sunday night. Over 150 places of 380 total gone already. http://businessofsoftware.org/ http://businessofsoftware.org/

edw519 16y ago

Patrick, I'm really glad to see you use the reference from the Atlantic article in your presentation. It was one of the most memorable "testimonials without even being a testimonial" I've ever read about the use software for a higher purpose: Next, Mr. Taylor announces it’s time for Multiplication Bingo. As Mr. Taylor reads off a problem (“20 divided by 5”), the kids scour their boards, chips in hand, looking for 4’s. One girl is literally shaking with excitement. Another has her hands clasped in a prayer position. I find myself wanting to play. You know you’re in a good classroom if you have to stop yourself from raising your hand. My reaction, which hasn't changed, from 11 months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1267630 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1267630 The full article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/01/what-makes-a-great-teacher/7841/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/01/what-makes...

patio11 16y ago
I wrote that into the slide primarily because you had seemed so affected by it. Thanks for calling it out for me.
mryall 16y ago
That is a great article, even aside from the anecdote about the bingo cards. Analysing what makes a good teacher is so important yet so difficult in reality because of the influence of teachers’ unions. There’s also is a huge reluctance to use any information that is discovered to improve our education systems.
- zrog 16y ago
  Amazingly, it's also highly relevant to entrepreneurs. The article lists six characteristics of great teachers: 1. great teachers tended to set big goals for their students 2. perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness 3. avidly recruited students and their families into the process 4. maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning 5. planned exhaustively and purposefully by working backward from the desired outcome 6. worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender -- Translating these to the world of entrepreneurs we can say: 1. set big goals for yourself 2. perpetually look or ways to improve your effectiveness 3. avidly recruit workers and partners into the process 4. maintain focus, ensuring that everything you do contributes to your goals 5. plan exhaustively and purposefully by working backward from the desired outcome 6. work relentlessly, do not surrender

jenndox 16y ago

Thanks for explicitly calling out that it isn't that people sell poorly to women, but that we sell poorly to everyone. It is a very useful turn to take when thinking about market segmentation. Great talk!

bane 16y ago

Great talk! Funny, engaging, involved the audience, full of great content. I certainly learned something, already rethinking a few parts of our messaging.

marcamillion 16y ago

I have been highly anticipating this, and it's better than I thought it would be. A bit awkward at times, but that's what makes it so endearing. We can see how genuine he is. Good job Patrick!

marklittlewood 16y ago

It is difficult to understate how good Patrick was. BoS has some of the best speakers in the business. Some you will have heard of - Seth Godin, Joel Spolsky, Geoffrey Moore - some you won't have heard from even if you have heard of them - Peldi at Balsamiq for example. http://businessofsoftware.org/prevyear.aspx http://businessofsoftware.org/prevyear.aspx Patrick only had 7 minutes 30 seconds but he rocked the house. He will be back this year we hope.

dhimes 16y ago
I assume s/understate/overstate/
- marklittlewood 16y ago
  Ha! Indeed. I had originally written, 'couldn't overstate'. Then I wrote something else. Then a small child appeared and distracted me. Then I just posted nonsense. I blame the minors. What I meant was Patrick was totally awesome and the video doesn't do his talk proper justice.

pbhjpbhj 16y ago

I hate hero shots, do we have to have hero shots?

Vivtek 16y ago

Fantastic presentation!

dawgr 16y ago

Expect a surge in period tracker web apps.

jwwest 16y ago

This was an awesome presentation, quick, funny, to the point. However, it brought up some interesting questions for me. How many people can truly create software for the sole purpose of selling it? Unless he really likes Bingo cards, he worked on this software not out of love but love for money. This isn't a bash, I'm insanely curious actually. The more I think about it, the more I know that I cannot create software for women because I have absolutely no interests that would coincide with an underserved market. Maybe I'm just not creative enough? And honestly, for me to create an awesome product, I'd have to be invested in it somehow.

patio11 16y ago
I don't hate money, but if I wanted it, there would be more straightforward ways of getting it than BCC. I certainly don't love bingo. I do really care about teaching and helping teachers. I also love running a business, both the actual mechanics of doing it and what it does for my life. You almost certainly have interests which coincide with an underserved market, since you're a human and not a walking cliche of asocial geeky engineer who likes D&D and Firefly.

kellysutton 16y ago

Kind of along the lines of this is Spolsky's advice that he would give out at the Dev Days conference tour he does/did with Carsonified: How is your software going to get someone laid? While a little far-fetched, it does help keep everything in perspective although it serves the young guy demographic a bit more.

electrum 16y ago
Did that "get someone laid" bit originate with JWZ? http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html

noonespecial 16y ago

I wondered at first how Patrick could squeeze success from something like Bingo card creation. I don't anymore.

marklittlewood 16y ago

If you are going to pick something up and post it on your Posterous, ignore the copyright notices, then post it on Hacker News, it would be really lovely if you could include one small link back to the event page you took it from. http://businessofsoftware.org/ http://businessofsoftware.org/ Thanks.

some1else 16y ago

Business of Software is the best for sharing these videos. Thanks Joel/BoS!

code_acdc 16y ago

Very interesting prespective

sdizdar 16y ago

Excellent presentation. Brilliant. I'm always told that sell process is actually selling one of these four things: fear, greed, vanity, or insecurity. But that is easier said than done. I have no clue how to achieve that (I'm still in "sell features" mindset). I would like to hear is there are any good examples of software product or server which does that well.