Protobaking Revisited for Startup Weekend Columbus 11 - Jan. 14-16th My talk on building startup concepts via rapid prototyping, and the big kitty labs way of doing things.

1. APPLAUSE NOW
PROTOBAKING REVISITED - PRESENTED BY DAN ROCKWELL
OF BIG KITTY LABS FOR STARTUP WEEKEND 11 COLUMBUS
JANUARY 14-16TH, 2011 - AT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

2. 11 teams
most of you will fail in creating a winning biz
but all will learn something

3. DAN ROCKWELL @FLOOZYSPEAK
SENIOR INSIGHT TRANSLATION ASSOCIATE @LEXTANT
WORKING IN THE FIELD OF DESIGN RESEARCH AND
USER EXPERIENCE FOR 11 YEARS
FOUNDER OF @BIGKITTYLABS
3 MAN RAPID PROTOTYPING HOUSE
IN COLUMBUS OHIO

4. “GREAT “MBA’S” “VIRAL
PRODUCT” STICKINESS”
“REAL REVENUE MODEL”
“PASSIONATE
“MENTORS”
“ENVIRONMENT” USERS”
“SPEED”
“AWESOME USER
“TEAM”
EXPERIENCE”
“PATENTABLE IDEA!!”

5. “GREAT “VIRAL
PRODUCT” “MBA’S” STICKINESS”
“REAL REVENUE MODEL”
“MENTORS” “PASSIONATE
“ENVIRONMENT” USERS”
“SPEED”
“TEAM”“AWESOME USER
EXPERIENCE”
“PATENTABLE IDEA!!”

6. BKL’s obsession with speed
WHISKER HOOLYKN BEAKER
BORIS SOURCECOW SYDTRACK
HASHPARTY PARSEPLZ DOKUSHOT
ETHNOKAT CHUMPDUMP RIGHTNOW
TIXIT IT MARTINI MX

7. COME SUNDAY AFTERNOON
YOUR JOB IS TO MAKE ME
BELIEVE YOU’RE SPECIAL

8. YOU HAVE TWO
OPTIONS
1. MAKE IT
2. FAKE IT

9. SOME GENERAL THOUGHTS
ON HOW TO PULL OFF YOUR
PENDING MAGIC TRICK
INTERROGATE YOUR IDEA
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
LEVERAGE API’S
STEAL
CODE IT
OR DON’T AND DON’T TELL ME

10. AVOID THE FOLLOWING
B E I N G A PA S S E N G E R
FIGHTING FOR EGO SAKE AND NOT PRODUCT SAKE
CART BEFORE HORSE, THE PRODUCT, EXPERIENCE AND WTF ARE WE DOING
DUDE WE GOT A BLOG MAKE A PRESS RELEASE!
BUILDING THE WRONG SH$T FIRST
WHITE BOARD WONDER LAND
TAKINGAHITOFTHATPIPEANDTELLINGTHESTORYOFFUTURETOWN
CREATING A PITCHDECK FULL OF BULLSHIT #’S

11. THE SOONER YOU CAN COME TO GRIPS WITH YOUR
STARTUP REALITY THE FASTER YOU CAN BENEFIT
FROM ITS RESIDUAL EFFECT
- DAN ROCKWELL, BIG KITTY LABS

12. YOU THINK BUILDING IT IS HARD, JUST WAIT TILL YOU
GET TO FINDING PEOPLE TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT IT
FEEDBACK IS A BITCH - DAN ROCKWELL - BIG KITTY LABS

13. BIG KITTY LAB’S PROTOBAKE PROCESS
1 - IDEA INTERROGATION
2 - DO YOUR RESEARCH
2 - TECHNOLOGY DIVE (API’S, ARCHITECTURE Q’S)
3 - BUILD A USER PERSONA
3 - SANDBOX & STEALING
4 - MOCKUPS AND EXPERIENCE DIAGRAMS
4 - JUST BUILD IT
5 - ITERATION 1 PARTY
5 - VALIDATE YOUR HUNCH
6 - ITERATION 2 SHOW CLIENT
7 - TRY TO BREAK IT
8 - ITERATION 3, 4, TEST, 5, 6, TEST, 7, LAUNCH, 8,
APOLOGIZE, 9, TEST, 10, FIND A FRICKIN REV MODEL, 11,
ALES, 12, PING SOME PRESS, 13, MAKE IT SEXY, 14, TEST,
LEARN NEW STUFF...

15. INTERROGATION
WHAT IS IT?
QUESTIONS
WHY DO I NEED IT?
WHAT DOES IT DO?
WHO USES IT?
HOW DOES IT MAKE MONEY?
HOW DOES IT PROVIDE VALUE?
WHO’D WRITE A STORY ABOUT IT?
HOW DOES IT WORK?
WHAT’S IT RELY ON?
WHAT’S IT LIKE (EXPERIENCE WISE, BRAND ASPIRATION WISE)?
WHERE’S THE DATA COME FROM?
WHAT’S THE EXPERIENCE FLOW?
WHAT’S THE SHARE FLOW?
WHAT ARE THE BARRIERS, BLACK BOXES AND QUESTIONS YOU
HAVE NO FRICKIN CLUE HOW TO ANSWER YET?

16. DOING YOUR
HOMEWORK
WHO USES IT... I DO!
PASSIONATE ABOUT FIXING SHIT
YOU CARE ABOUT
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? SPAM PROBLEM, HARD
TO GET CLARITY ON WHAT HARO
IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES ARE APPLICABLE TO ME
A REAL
PROBLEM
IS THAT JUST MY VOICE OR A CONSENSUS
DIDN’T RELY ON FARMED VIA RESEARCH?
YOU AS THE SOLE
DATA POINT TO DATA MINED USER FORUMS, TWITTER SEARCH,
DRIVE THE
INNOVATION (YOU
FACEBOOK AND GET SATISFACTION
DID SOME FRICKIN
RESEARCH TAKE A
BOW) NET BENEFIT? FROM THIS DATA I CREATED A
NEEDS/WANTS POOL OF UNDERSTANDING,
IDENTIFIED POTENTIAL USER CREATED A USER PERSONA, AND IDENTIFIED
TARGETS, BONUS WIN!
INITIAL BETA TESTERS FOR MY CONCEPT

17. TECHNOLOGY DIVE
WHERE DOES THE WHAT DO WE HAVE TO START WITH? EMAIL LIST
DATA COME FROM
CHALLENGE WHAT’S THE ATTACK PLAN? WE DATA SCRAPE AND
THE CODER FUNNEL INTO A LIVING DATABASE
APPLY MVP FEATURE SET? SEARCHABLE DATABASE AND
CONSTRAINT MATCH ON USER PROFILE CUES, CREATE CUSTOM
OPPORTUNITY REMINDERS AND LISTS
ADD SAUCE BONUS WINS? SEGMENTATION OF DATA, SOCIAL
PROFILING OF REPORTERS AND MEDIA OUTLETS,
SOCIAL SHARING, DECENT UX

18. HOOLYKN
CONCEPTING, RESEARCH, MOCKS = 4 DAYS
BUILD TO GET TO ITERATION 3 (HAPPY PLACE) = 12 DAYS
INITIAL USER FEEDBACK = POSITIVE
FATAL FLAW: DIDN’T ASK “WHAT’S IT RELY ON?” QUESTION
HOOLYKN VOILATED HARO’S TERMS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT (A DATA SCRAPERS WOE), IN HINDSIGHT WE SHOULD
OF THROUGHLY ADDRESSED THE QUESTION OF “WHAT DOES THIS IDEA RELY ON?” BUT BECAUSE WE DIDN’T WE
BUILT A GREAT TOOL FOR A PROBLEM WE DIDN’T HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO REALLY SOLVE. THE FATE OF HOOLYKN
IS PENDING AS WE REASON WITH HARO’S CONTENT CREATORS, THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF FAILING FAST,
HOOLYKN TAUGHT US ALOT AND AT THIS POINT WE’RE PIVOTING THE IDEA TO WHERE IT GOES NEXT

19. EXPERIMENTS MATTER
MARK ZUCKERBERG HAD A KNACK OF RUNNING
MULTIPLE PROJECTS IN PARALLEL FOR THE HELL
OF IT, FACEBOOK WAS 1 OF 4 OR MORE
PROJECTS HE JUGGLED UNTIL IT STOOD OUT
AND TOOK HIS PASSION BY STORM
DON’T LET YOUR FAILURES END THIS WEEKEND, KEEP BAKING

20. thanks, and questions?