1. THE online sexual information portal for the modern woman.
Lessons Learned
Team: Alexis Maule, Allison Sommer, Garrett Morgan

2. ● ⅓ of Americans would
rather give up sex than
lose their smartphones
● 40M Americans have what
experts call a “sexless
marriage” (sex < 10 times
a year)
The problem...
Source: NYTimes.

3. ● Strengthens immune system; fewer sick days
● Lowers blood pressure and risk of heart attack
...Despite Health Benefits
Source: WebMd.

4. The Opening
The sex toy industry is around $15 billion
Women are over 67% of the customer base, but the current
marketplaces have created garish brands that do not appeal
to women we have interviewed
There are several new, modern, innovative products -
WeVibe, Eva, Jimmy Jane - but no great sites to sell them
Sex therapists and interviews have confirmed: women do not
have a good resource for accurate sex information, and they
don’t trust strict product sites when they want to solve a
problem.
We want to create THE
sexual information portal for
the modern woman.
Current Marketplace
Product Innovation

5. THE online sexual information portal for the modern woman.
www.love-tap.com/
● Curated products ● Expert content & access+
The Solution

6. The Team
Founded in 2014 by three Stanford graduate students with a mix of backgrounds in e-commerce,
art, and design, LoveTap will give couples the resources to identify problem points in their
relationship, and the means to enhance their sex life and bring them closer together
www.linkedin.com/in/alexismaule https://www.linkedin.com/pub/allison-sommer/12/442/93
*Ecommerce/product marketing experience with
Amazon
*Experience from Consumer Research, User Behavior,
and Brand Marketing classes at D. School
*Love working with teams, iterating and coming up with
new ideas collaboratively
*Sales/advertising and Adwords expertise
with Google
*After an internship at Birchbox,
committed to working in the ecommerce
startup space.
*Co-founded ALPHA, a shampoo startup
(manufactured and distributed shampoos in high-
end salons)
*Design for Extreme Affordability GSB class -
utilized 3D printing and Solidworks
www.linkedin.com/in/gdmorgan
Wrong! Women as the entry point to couples, Men are not going to
seek info, buy products, take action
There is a
reason why an
engineering
team member
is required for
tech
companies &
you don’t get
funding without
one!

7. Customer Journey…..
Couples!
Single Ladies!
Old folks:
retirement homes?
Men!
Couples...via the woman!
"I like the online content. I like reading about
this kind of stuff and i would like buying it too. I
think that would be great. Fun and
different...interdisciplinary... will you tell me
when it’s launched? I really want to use it”
Awkward to
initiate convo,
but want to
keep the
sexual spark
Toys are the
“inbetween”
boyfriend….but just
need 1 toy...
Lazy! If it’s not
working...i’ll just
move on to the next
woman!
Lots of sex...but not sexy for
marketing! Start with young
and old will follow
"I love this idea. Can you please
interview me and my boyfriend? I
really want you to “liberalize” him
in this area- can we take the
quiz?"

8. Market Opportunity: The sex toy industry is around $15 billion
Target Market Size: $380 million verified through interviews with industry professionals (owner of Unbound Box,
Dame Products), customers, and research data (New York Times articles.
Acquisition Cost: Verified through SEM campaigns and Google Trends reports
Learnings:
● Good engineers are expensive. Budget appropriately.
● Products are high revenue, but high costs. Stocking, affiliate models, etc. all mean different things costs.
● SEM is iffy. Workarounds, playing with ad text is possible, but other channels are surer marketing
● (basically) EVERY ADULT in the world is a potential customer. Take that for TAM!
Financial Learnings...

9. Emotional Learnings...
We’re like Destiny’s Child, we keep losing members, but we’re better each time for it! We
went from a team of 5 to 3.
The process was incredibly difficult. Yiannis left after Week 1 for personal
reasons. Avery was not the right fit and caused pain for our team sorting through
the separation.
We learned:
-- careful who you hire. references, references, references
-- once you know, you cannot fire soon enough, cut your losses
-- commitment to a shared mission stands above all else (more important than skill)
-- workarounds can last you only so long, hire now for what you need tomorrow
-- allocate enough, but not too much, time to team emotional development

10. The product design journey...
Game in Balsamiq
Landing Page demo
“I got my results….Now
what?”
Let’s build a site so the
game will take you
somewhere!
But wait? How will anyone
find it if we can’t post a
single ad due to suspicious
content?
We’ll just throw some events and do
some experiments and lure people that
way!
On the right
track...
Offensive!
Tacky!
We need content! People have
lots of questions, and want to feel
safe while browsing
Game on facebook

11. Our First Business Model Canvas

12. Here’s what we did, week 1-2
Here’s what we learned, week 1-2
Began
developing
workable
prototype of
Facebook app
Facebook app would
require significant
improvements for
workable prototype - are
there quicker, leaner
experiments?
Duration of relationship
matters for communication
and sexual
experimentation/willingness
to purchase products
People will spend if there’s
“guarantee” of added value
Verified Target
Market Size of
$380 million
through
interviews/data
Women are more
significant market;
have greater needWomen [NOT MEN]
purchase sex toys for
clitoral stimulation
“in-between”
relationships
Interviewed 44 women
and men to refine
customer demographics;
focused on testing how
much men spend on
products vs. women,
understand the “buyer”
of the couple

13. Customer Segments
25-35 year old women in
relationships
-straight
-access to Facebook
-not an extreme user
-6 months in relationship
25-35 year old men in
relationships
-straight
-access to Facebook
-not an extreme user
-6 months in relationship
22-30 year old women
-single or in a relationship
-regularly masturbate
Business Model Canvas Weeks 3-4
Cost Structure
Fee for website domain
Shipping
Developer salary
Rent for working space
Revenue Stream
3rd Party Sales
Freemium access
Ads
Key Partners
CPG Personal Care
Distributors
Sex Stores
Sex Product Manufacturers
Sex Therapists and
Specialists
Key Activities
Develop Usable Mobile
App and Online Platform
Generate Question Banks
and Educational Tools
Create platform to sell
products
Value Propositions Customer
Relationships
Get: Social media ads,
ambassadors
Keep: product mixes
Grow: viral, word-
of-mouth, press
Channels
Facebook App - ??
E-commerce & content
platform--??
Mobile App
Direct Sales through
Friends
Key Resources
IT
Content Manager
Marketing/Branding
All New Value Props

14. Here’s what we did, week 3-4
Here’s what we learned, week 3-4
Surveyed a bus
of 52 men and
women, 24-34
Males leaned toward Game
Males more confident in
responding
People prefer anonymity (first
experiment to show this)
Asked interviewees for
feedback on existing content
sites and mockups
Need higher quality
concept of what we
envision (spent too
much time talking about
what it would be)
Launched new landing
page to collect e-mail
addresses, began
experimenting with
facebook/google ads
27 pageviews; 3.7%
conversion rate
Getting people to site
will be major task; we
cannot use cost-
effective
google/facebook
advertising to lead
strangers to page

15. BMC Week 5-6
Cost Structure
Fee for website domain
Shipping
Developer salary
Rent for working space
Sex Therapist Contractors
Revenue Stream
3rd Party Sales
Freemium access
Ads?
Sponsorships through
partners
Key Partners
CPG Personal Care
Distributors
Sex Stores
Sex Product Manufacturers
Sex Therapists and
Specialists
Key Activities
Generate Educational
Content
Aggregate Content
Develop Usable Mobile
App and Online Platform
Create platform to sell
products
Value Propositions Customer
Relationships
Get: Social media ads?,
ambassadors
Keep: product mixes
Grow: viral, word-
of-mouth, press, quizzes
Channels
Facebook App - ??
E-commerce & content
platform-
Mobile App
Direct Sales via Friends
Key Resources
IT
Content Manager
Marketing/Branding Trade Shows / Conferences
Customer Segments
21-35 year old women in
relationships
-straight
-6 months in relationship
-3 variables: Sexually
active, communicative &
adventurous
25-35 year old men in
relationships
-straight
-access to Facebook
-not an extreme user
-6 months in relationship
21-30 year old single
women
-single or in a relationship
-regularly masturbate

16. Here’s what we did, week 5-6
Here’s what we learned, week 5-6
Posted ads seeking older women (over 40) to
interview and soliciting engineer at different pay
grades.
Older women have an equal need, but are
less open about engaging in anonymous
conversation. Market to young women,
but expect a wide age range to
participate.
Adjusted cost in model to $200K/year.
Tested which keywords and ad text
(focus on sex information, products
to buy, vs. couples game to play) via
AdWords and Facebook ads and
Google Trends reports.
People are most
interested in
opportunities to get
questions answered
and validated. Also,
we face major
censorship issues.
WOM is most powerful
marketing engine.
Women see spending
on themselves as
legitimate.
Couples quiz
incorporated in
content
Interviewed founder of
a bra company, CEO o
Unbound Box (sex toy
company), S&M BDSM
blogger
Sought SEM workarounds like
Reddit and WOM program.

17. Cost Structure
Fee for website domain, Server Capacity
Shipping & Fulfillment
Developer salary
Rent for working space, Office Supplies
Sex Therapist Contractors
Revenue Stream
3rd Party Sales
Freemium access
Ads?
Sponsorships through
Partners
Key Partners
Distributors
Sex Product Manufacturers
Sex Therapists
Outsourcing: Design, Law,
Accounting, Payroll,
Benefits, Goods fulfillment
Key Activities
Generate Educational
Content
Aggregate Content
Develop Usable Mobile
App and Online Platform
Create platform to sell
products
Value Propositions Customer
Relationships
Get: Social media ads?,
ambassadors
Keep: product mixes
Grow: viral, word-
of-mouth, press, quizzes
Channels
E-commerce & content
platform-
Mobile App
Key Resources
IT
Content Manager
Marketing/Branding
Customer Segments
21-35 year old women in
relationships
-straight
-6 months in relationship
-3 variables: Sexually
active, communicative &
adventurous
Trade Shows / Conferences
BMC Week 7-8

18. Here’s what we did, week 7-8
Here’s what we learned, week 5-8
Hosted sex toy trunk show.
Learned if people would come
and engage with friends, what
people asked and bought.
Choice is overwhelming. People
want only recommended products.
Even reputable companies are
unprofessional outdated for
modern woman. Updated
LoveTap website content to
synthesize information and
product offerings.
To test if people will engage
in sexual content & to get a
captive audience for a
survey on purchasing and
engagement behavior, sold
out a theater for a pre-
screening of Fifty Shades of
Grey
Before vs after,
willingness to pay
for intimate
products increased
by $86.25.
Solidified
products as part
of business
model.
“Was surprised at the BREADTH of
products.”
“Fun experience with friends”
“I got too overwhelmed by the
selection”
Hosted two on-
campus sex
therapist
workshops with
Anna Randall,
licensed clinical
sexologist
Polled local sex
therapists on
referral models
After understanding what
people want to know, we
updated content plan for
website to reflect that
information.
Outlined pay for content
and patient referral
payment/cost flows.
Test referral
commission,
20% JimmyJane
Simplify product cost structure
through affiliate program

19. Here’s where we ended, week 8-9
1. Built MVP 1. Initial Results
Goals:
products --
would people buy products?
which products?
what more would they need to know to buy a product?
user engagement --
how long do they spend on site?
post-use survey --
what worked for them?
Distribution:
-- reddit “sex” community
-- gsb community to provide feedback

20. MVP Analytics Learnings
people are visiting (and staying!) on our website
Validated customer
● Late 20s = avg. age
Validated content
● 4+ page-views per session
● avg. site time = 2+mins,
● 85% new users rate
● unexpected organic search
rate and referrals
● diverse navigation
Not validated selling products.
● Zero purchases.

21. Lessons Learned
1) Team dynamics are critical to execution,
direction of company and overall success
2) If you can’t stand the heat...then get out of
the kitchen, must have a thick skin to deal
with company subject matter, negative
feedback, and start-up lows
3) Validate your business model segments
before investing funds to build it out (will
save you $$ in long run)
4) MBAs do not a company make, need to
invest in strong technical partner to scale
5) Advertising will be a challenge for this
business (google, facebook, even reddit!)
6) Branding & Marketing is key for this
business: every product and partnership
must be vetted & in the spirit of the
mission
7) Top competitors are tacky, sketchy &
Next Steps
We believe there is a real
*need* and opportunity to
disrupt the adult intimacy
market
1) Rebuild Team
2) Validate selling products
o Establish affiliate
relationships with
product companies once
validated
3) Build out content network
4) Apply to summer
incubators