2 founders, 1 great idea and 0 cash. But infinite passion and drive. Sounds familiar? If you’re working on your own start-up, trying to conquer the world while penniless is simply a fact of life. Add customer anger and disappointment from a botched product launch to the mix, and we had the perfect storm which led to a huge learning curve. This is the story of how we built Studio Ninja, a self-funded start-up SaaS, from an idea on an A4 sheet of paper into a customer base of 1000+ subscribers worldwide. How we got our first 70 users with no product and no cash. How we turned customer support on its head and channelled negative feedback into a wealth of opportunities for growth and product development. We will show you how we overcame our penniless beginnings, how to utilise lean UX methodologies, how to co-design with customers, and tips on getting the most out of limited time and resources. We will also discuss our successes and failures, and how you can apply our learnings to your own start-up projects.

1. TALES FROM LEAN STARTUPS
LEARNING UX FROM
ANGRY CUSTOMERS

2. 2 FOUNDERS. 1 IDEA. 0 CASH.
I WISH I HAVE A
TEXTBOOK STORY OF
HOW WE STARTED

3. Life-changing CRM software.
Designed for photographers,
by photographers.
WWW.STUDIONINJA.CO

4. YUAN
WANG
Creative Director
at Yump
CHRIS
GARBACZ
Wedding
Photographer

5. JUNE 2015
Pre-sold to
70 users
DECEMBER 2015
Launch with
600 on waiting list
(0 conversions)
6 months in MVP development
FEBRUARY 2016
9 new
subscribers

6. ANGRY CUSTOMER #1
“I am going CRAZY!! It’s none
of those things I have tried
everything... need to get a
refund if it won’t work!”

7. MATTER-OF-FACT ANGRY CUSTOMER #2
“I am incredibly unsatisfied
with your product and
service... please refund my
subscription payment and
cancel my account.”

8. WHAT WE LEARNT
It was easier convincing
someone to pay $150 for a
product that doesn’t exist than
to pay $30 for one that does.

9. 3 MONTHS AFTER LAUNCH
LET’S START A
FACEBOOK GROUP!

10. WHAT OUR GROUP CREATED
We started building
a genuine and
transparent relationship
with our customers.

11. Bit by bit, we started involving our customers in every
stage of our product development journey:
1. Respond to every comment, feedback and suggestion
2. Polls to vote on features
3. One-on-one interviews
4. Prototype testing on Invision
5. Beta testing on test server
6. Regular updates both good and bad

12. Why research?
When we could copy the best features out
in the market and have an endless supply of
suggestions from our existing customers.

13. To identify which features are most
important to our highest-value users.
To avoid working on features that
don’t actually matter much to our
most important users.
To identify the gap between what
users say they want, and what they
really need.
To find a particular competitive
advantage before our competitors.

14. WEEK 1
WEEK 3
WEEK 2
WEEK 4
Best practice and competitor review
Consolidate customer suggestions and
explore what works best among references.
Prototype creation and review
Create and share design prototype with a
larger group of around 20 customers.
One-on-one interviews (6 - 10)
Make sure customers are well-represented.
Prioritise features based on insights.
Design refinement
Finalise designs using customer feedback
and queue for development.
Research & design
4-week sprint
Major feature
“Lead management”

15. STUDIO NINJA TODAY
10X INCREASE
IN SUBSCRIBERS

16. CONVERSION FROM
TRIAL TO SUBSCRIBER
36%

17. “I would like to wholeheartedly
endorse Studio Ninja. It’s the shit...
...they are literally on it night and day
working their arse off, motivated by
making the best product for us.”
Rick Liston (photographer)
‘Victorian Wedding Photographers’ Facebook Group

18. “We appreciate not only the
work but the communication
and openness about what you
are doing and how you are
doing it! You are ninjas!”
Maree Jaeger, Dec 2016

19. “The fact that you guys
are always listening and
evolving makes me want
to stick around.”
Peter Dawn, July 2017

20. 1. Presell to gauge market demand before you
start building a MVP.
2. Know who your highest-value users are.
3. Involve users at every stage of your product
development journey.
4. Be open and honest with your users. Be real!
THANK YOU. ANY QUESTIONS?
OUR UX TIPS
FOR LEAN
STARTUPS