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People told us we were crazy for months. During our YC interview PG told us it was one of worst ideas he'd heard. Thus, I believe founder conviction is one of t

by ashrust 14y ago

People told us we were crazy for months. During our YC interview PG told us it was one of worst ideas he'd heard. Thus, I believe founder conviction is one of the most important parts of building a company. As an aside, SendHub isn't really focused on SMS marketing, there are lots of services out there for that - people use SendHub for both interactions within their business as well as communication with customers.

choxi 14y ago
That's awesome, I have a lot of respect for your conviction.
StavrosK 14y ago
This is rather off-topic, but this is a problem I'm having now with the product I'm currently developing (http://www.instahero.com http://www.instahero.com). I believe it's a good idea and that there's a need for it, but feedback hasn't been great. At any rate, this post gives me hope that I'm not wasting my time, so I'll try hard to get the MVP out and see what customers think.
- wpietri 14y ago
  Yes, yes, yes. Have people try it out. Some of them won't like it, of course. They could be the wrong audience, or the wrong end of the right audience. You should only quit when a) you are sure no significant audience for your product exists, and b) your many discussions with customers haven't led you to discover an audience that you can pivot to serve.
  - StavrosK 14y ago
    That's very good advice, thanks. The usual problem, though, is that you don't know if it's worth building (so you aren't wasting your time), so you need to go with your gut if you consider that a market big enough exists for the sort of thing you're building. I think there is a market, so I'll post here when the MVP is ready, and see if people find it useful. Thanks again!
    - wpietri 14y ago
      Why would you need to go with your gut? If you have gut feeling, I think the right approach is to express that as a hypothesis. E.g., "Small retail businesses need an easy way to take credit cards." Then you can go out and interview a number of people in that market. If you find a lot of interest, get them to sign letters of intent. E.g., "If you create a way for me to take credit cards on my iPhone, I'll sign up for $10/month plus 4% in fees." Based on your interviews and your letters of intent plus public statistics, then you do some math to see if there's a market there. Please do announce your product here. Feel free to email me directly as well, and also consider joining one of the Lean Startup Circle mailing lists if you want to discuss LS techniques further.
      - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
        Its a myth that customers will know a good product when they see it. They have to be 'marketed'. That's a big part of building a company, as much work as the product. So its no shortcut to say 'just ask the customer', you'd have to pretty much build the company to do that in a meaningful way. Because the question really is not 'do enough customers like this product?', but instead 'can you market this product to enough customers?'
        wpietri 14y ago
        I'm not saying, "Just ask the customer." I'm saying that to discover if there is a market for your products, you need to study the people you think are in your target audience through direct interviews. And then get them to agree to buying something once you have it ready. This is a good proxy precisely because you are marketing it to them. Understanding a customer's needs, showing how your product will fit the need, and then getting a commitment is basically a direct sales process. This is one of the core messages of the Lean Startup approach: you can learn a great deal without ever building the company in a meaningful way.
        JoeAltmaier 14y ago
        Right, and its a message I don't believe in. Its not much use to ask existing customers without a strong marketing message - half the battle is the marketing. So you only learn 'I'm not much good at marketing'. Or 'I need to work harder on marketing'. Nothing really about the product.

by ashrust 14y ago

choxi 14y ago

That's awesome, I have a lot of respect for your conviction.

StavrosK 14y ago

This is rather off-topic, but this is a problem I'm having now with the product I'm currently developing (http://www.instahero.com http://www.instahero.com). I believe it's a good idea and that there's a need for it, but feedback hasn't been great. At any rate, this post gives me hope that I'm not wasting my time, so I'll try hard to get the MVP out and see what customers think.

wpietri 14y ago
Yes, yes, yes. Have people try it out. Some of them won't like it, of course. They could be the wrong audience, or the wrong end of the right audience. You should only quit when a) you are sure no significant audience for your product exists, and b) your many discussions with customers haven't led you to discover an audience that you can pivot to serve.
- StavrosK 14y ago
  That's very good advice, thanks. The usual problem, though, is that you don't know if it's worth building (so you aren't wasting your time), so you need to go with your gut if you consider that a market big enough exists for the sort of thing you're building. I think there is a market, so I'll post here when the MVP is ready, and see if people find it useful. Thanks again!
  - wpietri 14y ago
    Why would you need to go with your gut? If you have gut feeling, I think the right approach is to express that as a hypothesis. E.g., "Small retail businesses need an easy way to take credit cards." Then you can go out and interview a number of people in that market. If you find a lot of interest, get them to sign letters of intent. E.g., "If you create a way for me to take credit cards on my iPhone, I'll sign up for $10/month plus 4% in fees." Based on your interviews and your letters of intent plus public statistics, then you do some math to see if there's a market there. Please do announce your product here. Feel free to email me directly as well, and also consider joining one of the Lean Startup Circle mailing lists if you want to discuss LS techniques further.
    - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
      Its a myth that customers will know a good product when they see it. They have to be 'marketed'. That's a big part of building a company, as much work as the product. So its no shortcut to say 'just ask the customer', you'd have to pretty much build the company to do that in a meaningful way. Because the question really is not 'do enough customers like this product?', but instead 'can you market this product to enough customers?'
      - wpietri 14y ago
        I'm not saying, "Just ask the customer." I'm saying that to discover if there is a market for your products, you need to study the people you think are in your target audience through direct interviews. And then get them to agree to buying something once you have it ready. This is a good proxy precisely because you are marketing it to them. Understanding a customer's needs, showing how your product will fit the need, and then getting a commitment is basically a direct sales process. This is one of the core messages of the Lean Startup approach: you can learn a great deal without ever building the company in a meaningful way.
        JoeAltmaier 14y ago
        Right, and its a message I don't believe in. Its not much use to ask existing customers without a strong marketing message - half the battle is the marketing. So you only learn 'I'm not much good at marketing'. Or 'I need to work harder on marketing'. Nothing really about the product.