Tarik Hamou Hadi, Sales and Marketing at SavolaThank you for sharing the very insightful experience. As I'm going through the creation of an internet business, this story is really helping me put a lot of things in place: focus and simplicity and what really matters to the user, but also flexibility to change or adjust course when needed. The story is meaningful even more for me because I was one of the early adopters of Xobni 2 years ago, as I saw referral from one of the early employee in his blog, and then became a Xobni Plus user down the road. I don't use it anymore as now I'm on Mac after leaving my corporate job 3 months ago, but the experience was great.2 years ago
5 stages of xobni’s growth and 5 pivots along the wayPresentation Transcript
The 5 stages of Xobni’s growth
& 5 pivots along the way
Matt Brezina
Co-founder, Xobni
Twitter: @brezina
mattbrezina.com/blog
The Big Idea
2
The Big Idea
Google organized the world’s public data
2
The Big Idea
Google organized the world’s public data
2
The Big Idea
Google organized the world’s public data
But, personal data is different
2
The Big Idea
Google organized the world’s public data
But, personal data is different
+ There is no Google of personal
information
2
The Big Idea
Google organized the world’s public data
But, personal data is different
+ There is no Google of personal
information
+ 10x more personal data in the world
than public info
2
The Big Idea
Google organized the world’s public data
But, personal data is different
+ There is no Google of personal
information
+ 10x more personal data in the world
than public info
+ Most personal data is trapped in email
2
The Big Idea
Google organized the world’s public data
But, personal data is different
+ There is no Google of personal
information
+ 10x more personal data in the world
than public info
+ Most personal data is trapped in email
= Foundation for Xobni 2
The Situation
3
The Situation
• 22 & 25 years old
• Never had a “real job”
• $12k in the bank
3
The Result
4
The Result
• A lean startup was our only option
4
The Result
• A lean startup was our only option
• We had a lot to learn about email
4
5 stages of Xobni
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
1. Stealth
1.5
years
50
users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
1. Stealth
• Knew the vision, but not the product
• Lots of pivots in early years
• Pivot 1: Choosing Outlook
• Pivot 2: Analytics to sidebar
• Pivot 3: Raise $4M & hire 6 employees
1.5
years
50
users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
Pivot 1: Outlook
7
Pivot 1: Outlook
• We wanted to build our own email client
7
Pivot 1: Outlook
• We wanted to build our own email client
• However, surveys & research showed
Outlook was biggest among people
with $
7
Pivot 1: Outlook
• We wanted to build our own email client
• However, surveys & research showed
Outlook was biggest among people
with $
• Our own email client would take huge
marketing budget to get people to try
7
Pivot 1: Outlook
• We wanted to build our own email client
• However, surveys & research showed
Outlook was biggest among people
with $
• Our own email client would take huge
marketing budget to get people to try
• Lower user adoption risk on Outlook
7
Xobni Analytics
8
Xobni Analytics
8
Xobni Analytics
Analytics was our 6 week project to
understand email better and establish
thought leadership.
8
Xobni Analytics
Analytics was our 6 week project to
understand email better and establish
thought leadership.
8
Xobni Analytics
Analytics was our 6 week project to
understand email better and establish
thought leadership.
That took over 4 months to build
8
Xobni Analytics
Analytics was our 6 week project to
understand email better and establish
thought leadership.
That took over 4 months to build
8
Xobni Analytics
Analytics was our 6 week project to
understand email better and establish
thought leadership.
That took over 4 months to build
And wasn’t a product people would use on a
daily basis
8
Xobni Analytics
Analytics was our 6 week project to
understand email better and establish
thought leadership.
That took over 4 months to build
And wasn’t a product people would use on a
daily basis
8
Xobni Analytics
Analytics was our 6 week project to
understand email better and establish
thought leadership.
That took over 4 months to build
And wasn’t a product people would use on a
daily basis
But gave us the understanding for our next
pivot 8
Email is about people
9
And no email clients cared
about people
10
We decided to make email
about people
11
Pivot 2: Moved from analytics to
sidebar
12
Pivot 2: Moved from analytics to
sidebar
12
Pivot 2: Moved from analytics to
sidebar
How we came to this realization
12
Pivot 2: Moved from analytics to
sidebar
How we came to this realization
• Selling Xobni Analytics to
investors; best pitch was what
we could tell them about people
12
Pivot 2: Moved from analytics to
sidebar
How we came to this realization
• Selling Xobni Analytics to
investors; best pitch was what
we could tell them about people
•Dog fooding on our own email
12
Pivot 3: Raise VC to hire
13
Pivot 3: Raise VC to hire
• Building product for enterprise users
was more work than we thought
13
Pivot 3: Raise VC to hire
• Building product for enterprise users
was more work than we thought
• Couldn’t hire with $80k in bank
13
Pivot 3: Raise VC to hire
• Building product for enterprise users
was more work than we thought
• Couldn’t hire with $80k in bank
• Potential employees got away
13
Pivot 3: Raise VC to hire
• Building product for enterprise users
was more work than we thought
• Couldn’t hire with $80k in bank
• Potential employees got away
• Raised $4M and hired 6 people
13
2. Private Beta
1.5 9
years months
50 60k
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
2. Private Beta
• Worked towards product/market fit
• Heavy focus on performance
• Most surveying, user studies, starbucks testing in
company history
• Cut 1/2 of features
• Pivot 4: People profiles
1.5 9
years months
50 60k
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
Pivot 4: Do one thing, and do
it right: People profiles
15
3. Public Beta
1.5 9 1 year
years months
2M
50 60k users
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
3. Public Beta
• Business will be dual prong: direct to consumer &
enterprise
• Raise $10M from Cisco & BlackBerry
• Pivot 5 - Search not relationships for 1st premium
1.5 9 1 year
years months
2M
50 60k users
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
Pivot 5: Search not
relationships for 1st premium
17
Pivot 5: Search not
relationships for 1st premium
• Xobni stands on two pillars: search & relationship
management
17
Pivot 5: Search not
relationships for 1st premium
• Xobni stands on two pillars: search & relationship
management
• Planned on monetizing relationship features first
17
Pivot 5: Search not
relationships for 1st premium
• Xobni stands on two pillars: search & relationship
management
• Planned on monetizing relationship features first
• However, one engineer convinced me to sell a
search product first
– something we needed to build anyway
– low market risk
– low execution risk for team
17
Pivot 5: Search not
relationships for 1st premium
• Xobni stands on two pillars: search & relationship
management
• Planned on monetizing relationship features first
• However, one engineer convinced me to sell a
search product first
– something we needed to build anyway
– low market risk
– low execution risk for team
• The birth of Xobni Plus
17
4. GA & Biz model
1.5 9 1 year 6
years months months
2M
50 60k users
users users
3M
users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
4. GA & Biz model
• Came out of beta - enterprise adoption
• Needed business model to fund paid growth
• Rev line 1: Xobni Plus
• Rev line 2: Xobni Enterprise
• Rev line 3: Xobni BlackBerry
• Rev line 4: Xobni One
1.5 9 1 year 6
years months months
2M
50 60k users
users users
3M
users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
Xobni Free
for Outlook
Xobni Free
for Outlook
Free Premium
Xobni Free
for Outlook
Free Premium
Xobni
Plus
Xobni Free $29.95
for Outlook
Free Premium
Xobni
Plus
Xobni Free $29.95
for Outlook Xobni
Enterprise
$36/user/yr
Free Premium
Xobni
Blackberry
$9.99
Xobni
Plus
Xobni Free $29.95
for Outlook Xobni
Enterprise
$36/user/yr
Free Premium
Xobni
Blackberry
$9.99
Xobni One
$3.99/mo
Xobni
Plus
Xobni Free $29.95
for Outlook Xobni
Enterprise
$36/user/yr
Free Premium
Xobni
Blackberry
$9.99
Xobni One
$3.99/mo
New
mobile &
email
Xobni platforms
Plus
Xobni Free $29.95
for Outlook Xobni
Enterprise
$36/user/yr
5. Growth
1.5 9 1 year 6
years months months
2M 6
50 50 users months
users users
3M 5M
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
5. Growth
• Taking Xobni experience to new mobile & email platforms
1.5 9 1 year 6
years months months
2M 6
50 50 users months
users users
3M 5M
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
5. Growth
• Taking Xobni experience to new mobile & email platforms
• Aggressively acquiring new Outlook users
1.5 9 1 year 6
years months months
2M 6
50 50 users months
users users
3M 5M
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
5. Growth
• Taking Xobni experience to new mobile & email platforms
• Aggressively acquiring new Outlook users
• Sales team adding new enterprise accounts
1.5 9 1 year 6
years months months
2M 6
50 50 users months
users users
3M 5M
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
5. Growth
• Taking Xobni experience to new mobile & email platforms
• Aggressively acquiring new Outlook users
• Sales team adding new enterprise accounts
• Building new products to monetize Outlook, mobile & web
users
1.5 9 1 year 6
years months months
2M 6
50 50 users months
users users
3M 5M
users users
Private Public GA & Biz
Stealth Growth
Beta Beta model
The 5 stages of Xobni’s growth
& 5 pivots along the way
Matt Brezina
Co-founder, Xobni
Twitter: @brezina
mattbrezina.com/blog
Alexander Fulks
The story is meaningful even more for me because I was one of the early adopters of Xobni 2 years ago, as I saw referral from one of the early employee in his blog, and then became a Xobni Plus user down the road. I don't use it anymore as now I'm on Mac after leaving my corporate job 3 months ago, but the experience was great. 2 years ago