14 Web App Survival Tips
(Learnt the hard fuckin’ way)

twitter.com/ryancarson
survival kick ass

Built four webtwitter.com/ryancarson
apps
Building a fifth: Truvay.com
Sold two
Sold two
Sold two
Sold two
Sold two

#1 twitter.com/ryancarson
Don't build your billing
system from scratch
Don't build your billing
system from scratch
Spreedly.com?

#2 twitter.com/ryancarson
Engage in the community
from day -63
Engage in the community
from day -63
You should be conversing on Twitter,
Facebook, your blog and at events
waaaaaaay before your launch

#3 twitter.com/ryancarson
Plan on A/B testing
from the start
from the start
from the start
Especially on your home and signup pages.
bit.ly/ab-test

twitter.com/ryancarson
What small change will
yield a 200% increase in
signups?

“See plans and pricing”
twitter.com/ryancarson
vs
“FREE Trial”
“FREE Trial”
“FREE Trial”
“FREE Trial”

twitter.com/ryancarson
#4
Create a new company
Create a new company
100% owned by your current company

twitter.com/ryancarson
#5
Make invoicing simple
Make invoicing simple
Use Xero.com and integrate with their API

twitter.com/ryancarson
#6
Charge in $ US Dollars
Charge in $ US Dollars

#7 twitter.com/ryancarson
Watch out for exchange
losses and gains
Watch out for exchange
losses and gains

#8 twitter.com/ryancarson
Choose your merchant
account carefully
Choose your merchant
account carefully

twitter.com/ryancarson
#91-click admin
functionality
1-click admin functionality
One-click refunds.
One-click password reset with an email sent out. One-
click resent invoice.
Make it easy to give customers “credits”.

twitter.com/ryancarson
#10Use GitHub
Use GitHub
Smart code repository hosting

twitter.com/ryancarson
#11Usability happens
during wireframing
during wireframing
balsamiq.com

twitter.com/ryancarson
#12Obsess over your
numbers
Obsess over your numbers
Pageviews, conversion rates, cost of acquisition per
customer, time to upgrade to paid,
revenue-per-head and % profit

twitter.com/ryancarson
#13Use your app every day
Use your app every day
and do the customer support for the first 12 months

twitter.com/ryancarson
#14Get passionate
Get passionate
If you’re not fanatical, why would anyone else be?

6 Tips for easy acquisition

#1 twitter.com/ryancarson
Don’t plan on
getting acquired
getting acquired
getting acquired

#2 twitter.com/ryancarson
Create a separate account
for Google Analytics
Create a separate account
for Google Analytics

#3 twitter.com/ryancarson
Start the domain
transfer early
transfer early
transfer early

on lawyers and
twitter.com/ryancarson
accountants
Plan on spending $20,000
on lawyers and
accountants

#5 twitter.com/ryancarson
Do some serious
tax planning
tax planning
tax planning
We paid zero corporation tax on the DropSend sale

#6Expect to devote 100%
twitter.com/ryancarson
of your time to the sale for
4+ months
Expect to devote 100% of
your time to the sale for
4+ months

Thanks!
twitter.com/ryancarson