Why and how we started developing StoriesOnBoard, our SaaS service, an online user story mapping tool. How did we choose and targeted the initial audience, how did we promoted.

1. StoriesOnBoard - a story of a SaaS product from the idea till
market launch
Tamás Árpád
tamas.arpad@devmads.com

2. dsdfWho we are?
2
meet Sanyi
16 years in software development
developer, architect, team lead, ninja
meet Árpi
16 years in software development
developer, BA, PM, Scrum Master

3. dsdfpre 2012 - motivations
3
1. “WTF?? there must be a way of doing this better!”
2.
depending on 1-2 large customer
oversized projects
never saying no
“don’t ask just do it”

4. dsdfgoals
4
1. frequent & small transactions
—> easy purchasing decisions
2. global market from the start
=> steady flow of income

5. dsdfwhat?
5
coming up with ideas is easy
sticking to one is much harder
when you keep getting “better and better” ideas

6. dsdf2012 - User story mapping tool
6
we liked USM much
new niche market
just a few competitors
low entry barriers

7. dsdfUser Story Mapping - crash course
7
product discovery &
planning
user story mapping
by Jeff Patton

8. dsdf1. Understand the problem
8
Searches for a
product
Places orderExamines
products
Makes payment ShipsWebshop

9. 9
Webshop
Browse by
categories
Basic search
Place orderSee details
Pay on delivery
Best sellers
Compare
products
Pay with credit
card
Domestic
shipping
International
shipping
Searches for a
product
Places orderExamines
products
Makes payment Ships
Recommendations
Remember
customer
PayPal
2. Come up with solutions

10. 10
Webshop
Browse by
categories
Basic search
Place orderSee details
Pay on delivery
Best sellers
Compare
products
Pay with credit
card
Domestic
shipping
International
shipping
Searches for a
product
Places orderExamines
products
Makes payment Ships
Recommendations
Remember
customer
PayPal
3. Decide where to start
Release 1 - goal: validate assumptions about demand

11. 11
Webshop
Browse by
categories
Basic search
Place orderSee details
Pay on delivery
Best sellers
Compare
products
Pay with credit
card
Domestic
shipping
International
shipping
Searches for a
product
Places orderExamines
products
Makes payment Ships
Recommendations
Remember
customer
PayPal
Release 1 - goal: validate assumptions about demand
4. Deliver, learn & adapt
Release 2 - goal: improve purchasing experience

12. dsdf2012 - building framework
12
behind closed doors
took long :)
“k. jó lesz!” (and it is)
CQS API
based SPA
framework

13. dsdf2013 - feature development - joint forces
13
Go live: 2013 dec
first naive plan

14. dsdf2014 - devmads kft - public beta
14
establishing devmads kft
joining program
moving into Ms Azure
landing page, blog
launching public beta

15. dsdfmarketing
15
google adwords - 2 months 200kHUF
SEO backlinks, blog comments,
newsletters, twitter
goal: 1st place on google search
Product Hunt!
target audience: experienced user story mappers
10k visitors during 1 week
prev week: 260
no. of unique users / month
43k registered users

16. dsdf2015- … - feedback channels, feature dev
16
feedback through UserVoice
adding most requested features:
import-export, public maps
Jira, Trello, Slack integrations
support through UV, email, Skype
meet Ági
our support ninja

17. dsdf… -2016 may - transitioning to a paid service
17
VAT?? Invoicing??? WTF???
took 4 months to figure out
Payment infrastructure:
StoriesOnBoard - Taxamo -
Braintree - Billzone
monthly-annual subscriptions,
recurring charges

18. dsdfpricing battle
18
had literally 19 different pricing models
made tons of statistics
had been arguing for months
finally we decided on this
published and got this:

19. dsdfpricing v2
19

20. dsdf2016 june - launch
20
initial target: 20k MRR to keep StoriesOnBoard sustainable
reached only 10k till the end of trials :(
but kept going up! :)

21. dsdfsome unexpected things
21
• higher sales activity needed
• resellers
• slower conversion, slower decisions
• large enterprises
• security and maturity certifications

22. dsdfnumbers
22
investment: 4000 hours of work, 3MHUF cash
outcome so far:
• 750 subscriptions, 20% annual
• 40% US, 40% EU
• 4200 subscribed users
• 34k USD MRR

23. dsdf2017
23
• office
• continue development of StoriesOnBoard
• develop marketing, sales
• explore new target groups
• hire developers, sales
• start working on new products

24. dsdftakeaways
24
• delivering quality pays off
• think global act global
• scaling is not tied to number of employees in this model