The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to

Tara Hunt
Tara HuntCEO + Partner at Truly Inc.
10
                     things
                        I’ve
                      done
                     wrong
...so you don’t have to.
       by: tara ‘missrogue’ hunt
who am I and why I’m
qualified to talk about
      this stuff:

• co-founder + CEO
  Buyosphere.com
• been raising $$ for >1yr
• raised $200k F&F
• believed the hype
• lived in SF for 4yrs
• made a crapload of
  mistakes already
• serial entrepreneur (but
  first startup)
1.
focused on the ‘big picture’ too much
the original* pitch deck
*since 2008 when I put this deck together, I’ve done 75+ versions...
“The hard part is to figure out the
fewest possible features that could
possibly accomplish your company’s
goals.” Eric Ries
The advantages of Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

1.test your assumptions

2.minimal wasted time/energy

3.iterative based on real customer
  needs
The trouble with Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

1.it has to be viable

2.it has to be viable

3.it has to be viable
key: build something your customers can use.
what we did wrong: kept focusing on (our idea of)
the final product and building minimum components
of it rather than thinking about what our customers
could really use.
we were wandering lost in the
sea of aimless builds with no
     data and no reason
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
unfortunately, it took us a year and $200k to figure this out.
               fortunately, we’ve figured it out.
3 ways to figure out MVP

1. Think about the problem you want to solve and ask yourself:
   “Could I accomplish this on an email list?” Try it. On an email
   list. OR think about how people solve it currently. Can you
   hack that?

2. Talk to as many of your intended customers as possible and
   ask them for little things they really need. Build something that
   keeps coming up from these conversations in a weekend.

3. No audience? No problem to solve? Twitter, for instance, didn’t
   start out to solve a problem, but they launched a pretty
   minimal product. It was engaging because it was super simple
   to use. Think: Instagram.
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
STOP thinking about the big picture*. START
 thinking about creating value NOW.




*a big picture is very good to have, but note that these things tend to shift, morph and become something
altogether new over time.
2.
 focused on the wrong things
wrong things: anything that pushes people to do
what you want them to do (i.e. spend time on your site)
right things: things that let people do what they
want to do where they want to do it
What to focus on #1:

       onramps and offramps
onramps                                 offramps
the ways we allow people to post to our   the ways we allow people to post to
        apps from other places                other places from our apps

                                           Facebook likes, comments,
        Facebook connect
                                               recommends, etc.

          Twitter connect                        Posting to Twitter

            Mobile app                              SMS/MMS

         Email forwarding                          Email sending

Bookmarklet/Browser add-ons                    Browser notifications

  Buyo buttons on other sites                 Site widgets/embeds
What to focus on #2:

       analytics/engagement
you don’t need a crystal ball to tell you
 what to do next, you need analytics.
Heard             Arrived              Used            Engaged             Bought            Referred




                                                                                                                   framework courtesy of Alistair Croll + Sean Power in AMAZING book
  PR,                                                      Pricing/                                Tell a
                    Landing            Sign up Actions/
 Search,                                                   Payment                                friend/
                     pages             process interaction
  WOM                                                      options                                invites
                       Is the         How easy           How easy is Can the user                  Is this so




                                                                                                                                     “Complete Web Monitoring”
Is there a          message                                 adding    live without it?         awesome they’ll

                    clear? Is it      is the sign          content/   How simple is
                                                                                                   wanna tell
  story?                                                                                       friends? Do you
                   compelling?            up?            interacting?     paying?                make it easy?

   measure:                                                                   measure:         measure: invites,
                  measure:      measure:
unique visitors                                           measure:          transactions/      tweets, fb posts,
                bounce rate on completion/
 from various                                            events/tasks       shopping cart       emails + other
    sources      entry pages abandonment                                    abandonment            referrals


 win: unique        win: bounce                               win:          win: growing        win: growing
                                   win: sign up           engagement                           percentage of
   visitors          rate low +                                             percentage of
                                  growth + filling         with actions/                          customers
  growing          moving to sign                         interactions          paid              sharing +
                                     up profile
   steadily              up                                 growing          customers         inviting others

                    clicktale.com
                                         Mixpanel           Mixpanel           Mixpanel           Mixpanel
unbounce.com       Google Analytics
                                       KISS Metrics       KISS Metrics       KISS Metrics       KISS Metrics
Google Analytics       Mixpanel
                                      Google Analytics   Google Analytics   Google Analytics   Google Analytics
                    KISS metrics
What to focus on #3:

           user experience
once you have a good sense of where you are
losing people, figure out what you are doing
wrong and fix the experience.
Heard          Arrived     Used      Engaged Bought Referred

                             you lose
 you get                                 people                people are
                  you get people in                    lots of
                                        sign up,
no traffic.         lots of the sign- but then        sign ups + using +
                 hits, but       up.                  use, but buying, but
                                       never do
   are you        nobody                             nobody is nobody is
                                       anything.                sharing
 talking to      signs up. is the sign                 buying.
  the right
                                 up       are the                   is sharing
audience?                                                is it
                   is your    process instructions                   simple
 solving a                                           something enough?
                 message       simple   clear? Is
real need?                                           people like, obvious?
     bad         clear? are enough? posting too       but isn’t a are they just
                you talking do you      hard? do
optimization?                                         ‘painkiller’ using your
                                        you have
 research       to the right    have                 enough to product or
                                       performance
  needed.       audience? performance                   buy?        in love?
                                         issues?
                              issues?
when you have a clue through analytics, you move
onto talking to your customers individually (and
through surveys) to get more data.
3.
 didn’t spend enough time on
 culture from day one
Aren’t they cute?
picking a co-founder is on the same level as
picking a husband or a wife.
Things to look for in a co-founder

1. complimentary skills

2. ability to ‘pull their own weight’ - these are co-founders, not
   employees

3. good conflict resolution skills (ability to kiss and makeup
   after the biggest fights you will ever have)

4. undying faith in you, the team and what you are doing

5. strong personality
if you ARE married or in a relationship, your
husband/wife needs to understand you just
brought a second (and 3rd) spouse into your life.
Culture is key: our 8 cultural values

1. YES!!!                      7. BREAKING THE MOLD


2. TRUTH & TRANSPARENCY        8. EVERYBODY IS A CONTRIBUTOR


3. NOT TAKING OURSELVES TOO
   SERIOUSLY


4. STRIVING TOWARDS WIZARDRY


5. FRIENDSHIP & KINSHIP


6. WE’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH
4.
 didn’t quit my ‘day job’ fast enough
“I’m all in”
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigweb/3245790994/
I was home after our incorporation about 25% of the
     time for the first 8 months of Buyosphere.
5.
 drank my own Kool-Aid
I admit it. I have an ego the size of Germany.
just because you’re on TechCrunch doesn’t mean
that anyone cares...
So many things that were cool, but didn’t matter

• chosen as a ASTIA portfolio company

• named as one of the 25 Women-Led Startups to Watch by Fast Company
  Magazine

• We raised $200k in F&F convertible debt from really fancy people

• chosen as a TechCrunch Disrupt (SF) Finalist

• Featured on Mashable, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, SFChronicle,
  Building43 (Scobleizer), WowElle and more...
what matters? product/market fit. nothing else.
(Robert Scoble can offer you his first born and unless you find
product/market fit, you have a ways to go.)
6.
 underestimated the time it would
 take to raise money
How long we thought it will take to raise money
                 How long it actually took
            12
                                                     12
                   the amount of
                    time we had
            8
                    to get VERY
in months




                    creative = 9
            4          months
                             3


            0
                                    Seed money
raise money                 get to traction


 if we got to traction, raising money would be simple

if we raised money, we could have more runway to get
        to traction (or at least hire A level people)
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
7.
listened to the tech press
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
“So, to hell with all that noise. It’s just
a big mass of envy, chatter and
FOMO. Let’s get excited and make
things.” Caterina Fake
8.
 focused too much on competition
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
I made hundreds of these...
                             blah

                                a little too close
                                for comfort, but               weeeee!
          not even an
                                we’re obviously               look at us
             issue
                                  up and over                  up here!
                                        there
yadda                                                                yoda

                                             yeah, these
          looooosers...                    ones are okay,
                                           but are missing
                                           the big picture,
                                                right?
                        opposite of blah
a quadrant has nothing to do with how you will
fare against your competitors. (refer to point #2 on
what matters)
fact: just because they’ve raised more $$ than
you, it doesn’t mean they will win. (we’ve watched at
least 10 ‘competitors’ raise oodles of dough and then shutter or
pivot)
9.
 didn’t learn from competition
as we weren’t raising money, they were hiring big
teams to make mistakes for us!
10.
  didn’t communicate
there is no such thing as over-communication
when you are doing a startup.
1
but...there is
                 thing
                    I’ve
                 done
                  right
that you should also know about
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/milkyworld/3128291642/sizes/l/in/photostream/
“Many of life's failures are people who
did not realize how close they were to
success when they gave up.”
Thomas Edison
The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to
the entrepreneurial venn
                   desire to
     delusional A change the
                  status quo
               D
           C       B


            audacity
                       A. those that go postal
                       B. dictators
                       C. serial killers
                       D. startup entrepreneurs
thank you for being
 crazy, audacious
   dreamers. xo
Tara
(@missrogue)
   Hunt
ceo/co-founder, Buyosphere
  tara@buyosphere.com
        514-679-2951
   www.buyosphere.com
  www.horsepigcow.com
   twitter.com/missrogue
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  • 1. 10 things I’ve done wrong ...so you don’t have to. by: tara ‘missrogue’ hunt
  • 2. who am I and why I’m qualified to talk about this stuff: • co-founder + CEO Buyosphere.com • been raising $$ for >1yr • raised $200k F&F • believed the hype • lived in SF for 4yrs • made a crapload of mistakes already • serial entrepreneur (but first startup)
  • 3. 1. focused on the ‘big picture’ too much
  • 4. the original* pitch deck *since 2008 when I put this deck together, I’ve done 75+ versions...
  • 5. “The hard part is to figure out the fewest possible features that could possibly accomplish your company’s goals.” Eric Ries
  • 6. The advantages of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) 1.test your assumptions 2.minimal wasted time/energy 3.iterative based on real customer needs
  • 7. The trouble with Minimum Viable Product (MVP) 1.it has to be viable 2.it has to be viable 3.it has to be viable
  • 8. key: build something your customers can use.
  • 9. what we did wrong: kept focusing on (our idea of) the final product and building minimum components of it rather than thinking about what our customers could really use.
  • 10. we were wandering lost in the sea of aimless builds with no data and no reason
  • 12. unfortunately, it took us a year and $200k to figure this out. fortunately, we’ve figured it out.
  • 13. 3 ways to figure out MVP 1. Think about the problem you want to solve and ask yourself: “Could I accomplish this on an email list?” Try it. On an email list. OR think about how people solve it currently. Can you hack that? 2. Talk to as many of your intended customers as possible and ask them for little things they really need. Build something that keeps coming up from these conversations in a weekend. 3. No audience? No problem to solve? Twitter, for instance, didn’t start out to solve a problem, but they launched a pretty minimal product. It was engaging because it was super simple to use. Think: Instagram.
  • 15. STOP thinking about the big picture*. START thinking about creating value NOW. *a big picture is very good to have, but note that these things tend to shift, morph and become something altogether new over time.
  • 16. 2. focused on the wrong things
  • 17. wrong things: anything that pushes people to do what you want them to do (i.e. spend time on your site)
  • 18. right things: things that let people do what they want to do where they want to do it
  • 19. What to focus on #1: onramps and offramps
  • 20. onramps offramps the ways we allow people to post to our the ways we allow people to post to apps from other places other places from our apps Facebook likes, comments, Facebook connect recommends, etc. Twitter connect Posting to Twitter Mobile app SMS/MMS Email forwarding Email sending Bookmarklet/Browser add-ons Browser notifications Buyo buttons on other sites Site widgets/embeds
  • 21. What to focus on #2: analytics/engagement
  • 22. you don’t need a crystal ball to tell you what to do next, you need analytics.
  • 23. Heard Arrived Used Engaged Bought Referred framework courtesy of Alistair Croll + Sean Power in AMAZING book PR, Pricing/ Tell a Landing Sign up Actions/ Search, Payment friend/ pages process interaction WOM options invites Is the How easy How easy is Can the user Is this so “Complete Web Monitoring” Is there a message adding live without it? awesome they’ll clear? Is it is the sign content/ How simple is wanna tell story? friends? Do you compelling? up? interacting? paying? make it easy? measure: measure: measure: invites, measure: measure: unique visitors measure: transactions/ tweets, fb posts, bounce rate on completion/ from various events/tasks shopping cart emails + other sources entry pages abandonment abandonment referrals win: unique win: bounce win: win: growing win: growing win: sign up engagement percentage of visitors rate low + percentage of growth + filling with actions/ customers growing moving to sign interactions paid sharing + up profile steadily up growing customers inviting others clicktale.com Mixpanel Mixpanel Mixpanel Mixpanel unbounce.com Google Analytics KISS Metrics KISS Metrics KISS Metrics KISS Metrics Google Analytics Mixpanel Google Analytics Google Analytics Google Analytics Google Analytics KISS metrics
  • 24. What to focus on #3: user experience
  • 25. once you have a good sense of where you are losing people, figure out what you are doing wrong and fix the experience.
  • 26. Heard Arrived Used Engaged Bought Referred you lose you get people people are you get people in lots of sign up, no traffic. lots of the sign- but then sign ups + using + hits, but up. use, but buying, but never do are you nobody nobody is nobody is anything. sharing talking to signs up. is the sign buying. the right up are the is sharing audience? is it is your process instructions simple solving a something enough? message simple clear? Is real need? people like, obvious? bad clear? are enough? posting too but isn’t a are they just you talking do you hard? do optimization? ‘painkiller’ using your you have research to the right have enough to product or performance needed. audience? performance buy? in love? issues? issues?
  • 27. when you have a clue through analytics, you move onto talking to your customers individually (and through surveys) to get more data.
  • 28. 3. didn’t spend enough time on culture from day one
  • 30. picking a co-founder is on the same level as picking a husband or a wife.
  • 31. Things to look for in a co-founder 1. complimentary skills 2. ability to ‘pull their own weight’ - these are co-founders, not employees 3. good conflict resolution skills (ability to kiss and makeup after the biggest fights you will ever have) 4. undying faith in you, the team and what you are doing 5. strong personality
  • 32. if you ARE married or in a relationship, your husband/wife needs to understand you just brought a second (and 3rd) spouse into your life.
  • 33. Culture is key: our 8 cultural values 1. YES!!! 7. BREAKING THE MOLD 2. TRUTH & TRANSPARENCY 8. EVERYBODY IS A CONTRIBUTOR 3. NOT TAKING OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY 4. STRIVING TOWARDS WIZARDRY 5. FRIENDSHIP & KINSHIP 6. WE’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH
  • 34. 4. didn’t quit my ‘day job’ fast enough
  • 35. “I’m all in” http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigweb/3245790994/
  • 36. I was home after our incorporation about 25% of the time for the first 8 months of Buyosphere.
  • 37. 5. drank my own Kool-Aid
  • 38. I admit it. I have an ego the size of Germany.
  • 39. just because you’re on TechCrunch doesn’t mean that anyone cares...
  • 40. So many things that were cool, but didn’t matter • chosen as a ASTIA portfolio company • named as one of the 25 Women-Led Startups to Watch by Fast Company Magazine • We raised $200k in F&F convertible debt from really fancy people • chosen as a TechCrunch Disrupt (SF) Finalist • Featured on Mashable, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, SFChronicle, Building43 (Scobleizer), WowElle and more...
  • 41. what matters? product/market fit. nothing else. (Robert Scoble can offer you his first born and unless you find product/market fit, you have a ways to go.)
  • 42. 6. underestimated the time it would take to raise money
  • 43. How long we thought it will take to raise money How long it actually took 12 12 the amount of time we had 8 to get VERY in months creative = 9 4 months 3 0 Seed money
  • 44. raise money get to traction if we got to traction, raising money would be simple if we raised money, we could have more runway to get to traction (or at least hire A level people)
  • 47. 7. listened to the tech press
  • 50. “So, to hell with all that noise. It’s just a big mass of envy, chatter and FOMO. Let’s get excited and make things.” Caterina Fake
  • 51. 8. focused too much on competition
  • 53. I made hundreds of these... blah a little too close for comfort, but weeeee! not even an we’re obviously look at us issue up and over up here! there yadda yoda yeah, these looooosers... ones are okay, but are missing the big picture, right? opposite of blah
  • 54. a quadrant has nothing to do with how you will fare against your competitors. (refer to point #2 on what matters)
  • 55. fact: just because they’ve raised more $$ than you, it doesn’t mean they will win. (we’ve watched at least 10 ‘competitors’ raise oodles of dough and then shutter or pivot)
  • 56. 9. didn’t learn from competition
  • 57. as we weren’t raising money, they were hiring big teams to make mistakes for us!
  • 58. 10. didn’t communicate
  • 59. there is no such thing as over-communication when you are doing a startup.
  • 60. 1 but...there is thing I’ve done right that you should also know about
  • 65. “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison
  • 67. the entrepreneurial venn desire to delusional A change the status quo D C B audacity A. those that go postal B. dictators C. serial killers D. startup entrepreneurs
  • 68. thank you for being crazy, audacious dreamers. xo
  • 69. Tara (@missrogue) Hunt ceo/co-founder, Buyosphere tara@buyosphere.com 514-679-2951 www.buyosphere.com www.horsepigcow.com twitter.com/missrogue