The document summarizes a startup's journey in developing a mobile app focused on connecting communities passionate about specific activities and products. The startup conducted over 121 interviews and pivoted their concept multiple times based on customer feedback. Their final concept is an app that allows users to save, share, and discover products that define communities they are passionate about through social sharing and e-commerce features.

1. Your communities. Your products. Your passions.
An app to save, share, and
discover the products that
define the communities that
you are passionate about
121INTERVIEWS
AMAR PATEL
MBA 2015
OMAR AYOUB
MBA 2015
CARMELA AQUINO
MBA 2015
CARLOS LASA
MIMS 2016

2. OUR TEAM
Amar Patel
Mobile and adtech expertise
Strategy consulting experience
Omar Ayoub
Mobile engineering expertise
Google and Microsoft experience
Carmela Aquino
Product marketing expertise
Digital analytics experience
Carlos Lasa
UX and design expertise
CPG brand management experience

3. We believe
that mobile has the power
to make commerce easy.

4. 1 To hear the truth, put customers on the spot
2 Don’t try to solve everyone’s problem – focus
on a specific, real customer first
3 When in doubt: go very broad for discovery,
then very narrow for nailing the fit
4 Don’t overbuild the MVP
5 Pivot ruthlessly, even if it hurts
WHAT WE LEARNED IN CLASS

5. Market
Type
Value
Proposition
Product
Type
Customers
Business
Model
WEEK 1
10 interviews
TODAY
121 interviews
Cross-platform Apple
Pay for e-commerce
merchants
App for sharing
passions through
products
Mobile commerce Social commerce
Ease of use for payments
Fulfillment of emotional
needs – belonging and
achievement
Merchants with mobile apps
Consumers who identify with
product-centric communities
% of transactions
Commissions on product
sales, advertising fees
Horizontal feature Vertical platform

6. The Apple Pay for any mobile platform
A tool for converting customers through
retargeted mobile ads
A universal shopping cart
An app to save, share, and discover the
products that define the communities
that you are passionate about
WHO ARE WE?

7. Payments were not high on merchants’ priority
list of concerns
PIVOT 1

8. …then a tool for converting customers
through retargeted mobile ads…While merchants loved the adtech idea,
consumers weren’t as excited about ads
PIVOT 2

9. …then a universal shopping cart…While general consumers liked the app idea, a
compelling value proposition was still lacking
PIVOT 3

10. …to where we are today!Sharing and engaging with communities gives
consumers a reason to come back
PIVOT 4

12. ACTIVE COMMUNITIES
Fulfill higher-level emotional
needs – belonging and acceptance
Have relatively high barriers to
entry due to knowledge and gear
required
Already encourage a culture of
sharing with newcomers

13. 1/5 of our interviewees were climbers,
runners, triathletes
$500
amount that an active
triathlete can spend per
month on gear
Interviewees went to trusted friends or
experts for product advice, not Amazon
Many have interests in multiple activities
Newcomers can benefit the most from a
community-based service that offers helpful advice

14. “With a sport like climbing,
where the barriers to entry are
high, it can be intimidating to
get started. A community like
this would help.”

15. How the business works…HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT
Pinboards for
saving images
and other media
Climbing-
specific forum
App that allows
you to browse and
save products
Fitness social
network using
gamification
Product-specific,
with dynamic
price updates and
stronger
community focus
Allows for users
to engage with
other
communities
Stronger
community focus
around shared
passions
E-commerce is
enabled
throughout the
platform, making
gear hunting easy
PRODUCT CONCEPT
OUR DIFFERENTIATION

16. How the business works…
Recommend
Buy
CommissionCustomer Info
Advertising
Research
Share/Keep/Contribute
Build & Manage
Demand
Build & Manage
Supply
Build & Manage
Platform
Consumers
Merchants
Web
Products
Fingerprint
HOW THE BUSINESS WORKS
OPERATIONAL FLOW
KEY ACTIVITIES

17. Revenue Sources
1. Merchants
Affiliate referral bonus (7-9%)
2. Advertisers
Native ad units for product
discovery feed ($2 CPC)
3. Data Management
Partners, Demand Side
Platforms
Audience data for targeting
purposes ($20+ CPM)
Merchants
Sales / BDUsAdvertisers
Data
Partners
7-9% of
Sale
$2 CPC
$25 CPM
User
Acquisition
(Social Media Ads)
Platform
Payments In Payments Out
80%
20%
% of Sales
Forecast
We learned that the bulk of revenue
would come from sales commissions
HOW THE REVENUE MODEL WORKS

18. MVP
http://bit.ly/fingerprintapp

19. WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT THE
BUSINESS
It is scalable We first build for niche verticals, identify the parameters
that are specific to these verticals, and make these
parameters customizable as we scale
The revenue model is
defensible
Commissions through affiliate programs are an easy first
revenue source, and our data becomes more valuable as
the platform scales
How to work with
partners
We understand the ecosystem of merchants, advertising
companies, and ecommerce vendors, and have built
connections with them
There are key metrics
that matter
GMV (gross merchandise value) is more important than
advertising spend, and 30-day retention can be more
critical than monthly growth for commerce companies
We have a
differentiated value
proposition
Our target customers don’t use substitute product-focused
platforms today – they see the value of what we’re
building, with some even willing to pay for it

20. WHY WE ARE NOT PURSUING
THE OPPORTUNITY FURTHER
We don’t feel we’re the right team to pursue
the opportunity
You really need to live and breathe the active
lifestyle community in order to sell to it
We aren’t truly passionate about social
networks – it’s an opportunity we stumbled upon

21. APPENDIX

22. Market Sizing
TOTAL AVAILABLE MARKET
SERVED AVAILABLE MARKET
TARGET MARKET
$14.0B 2015 U.S. social commerce market1
$2.8B U.S. social commerce from affiliate channels2
$557.2M U.S. social commerce from
affiliate channels in Apparel
and Accessories categories3
2015 2016 2017
Growth Rate 43.0% 43.0% 43.0%
TAM ($B) 14.0 20.0 28.6
SAM ($B) 2.8 4.0 5.7
Target Market ($B) 0.56 0.79 1.14
1 Forrester, Booz & Co.; 2 VigLink; 3 eMarketer
MARKET SIZING

23. Competitor Leaf
Diagram
Funding Raised
Acquisition Value
$122M
$75M
$1.3M
$35M
Public Value of Parent
Company (Market Cap)
$290M
Undisclosed
Undisclosed
$212.1B
$762.5M
$43M
Undisclosed
$14M
$176.5B
Undisclosed
$176.5B
$20.5M
Seed
$2.8M$387.2B
Seed
$7.5M
$979.0M $78.7M
$1.5M
$34.6M
$109.5M Undisclosed
Undisclosed
fingerprint

24. Value Proposition Canvas: CONSUMER
Gains
1. Sense of belonging to a
community (“I can call
myself a climber now”)
2. Social acceptance,
validation, and
recognition
3. Confidence of making
well-informed purchase
decisions
4. Sense of coolness and
personal improvements
VALUE PROPOSITION CUSTOMER SEGMENT
Products & Services
1. Community-based
feed: a social
network to connect
and have
conversations
around products and
activities that define
the community
2. Easy one-click
solution allowing
consumers to
bookmark products
they come across on
the social network
and online
Pain Relievers
1. Prevent not knowing
where to start with a new
activity
2. Prevent: buying the
wrong product and not
being a part
3. Prevent: paying too
much for a product
Customer Jobs
1. Getting closer to
their aspirational
self
2. Learning about the
latest trends with
products for an
activity - getting an
in
3. Making
recommendations
to others and
participate
4. Show off your
passion to the
world
Gain Creators
1. Connect with others who
share the same passion
for activities and products
2. Receive the right
information to actually
buy the right products
3. Curate the future you
Pains
1. Sense of being lost due to
lack of knowledge about
gear for the activity
2. Feeling like an outsider for
this activity
3. Not having the right
products - hence not
exploiting their full potential
4. Envious of higher
performing peers and
paraphernalia
5. Sense of disorganization
with keeping tracks of all
the products in the life you
want

25. Active Community Characteristics
Newcomer Contributor / Gear Heads Expert
CyclistsClimbers
Fitness Enthusiasts
RunnersSurfers Snowboarders
Triathletes
Experience Level of Community Members
Barriers to Entry for Activity Communities
Hikers
HIGH MEDIUM LOW
Social - Difficult to bridge the gap
from being a newcomer to being a
part of the community without others
- Requires you to work with other
people to improve
Technical - Requires technical gear
to fully participate
Social - Often get into this with the
help of others who are already
active members; but can practice on
their own
Technical - Requires technical gear
to fully participate
Social - Can practice on their own
Technical - Requires only minimal
technical gear to participate
ACTIVE COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS
GREEN – Interviewed, with high need
RED – Interviewed, but low need

26. Unit Economics Analysis
Key Takeaway:
Commissions off of purchases are
the key
Goal: Get users to spend about
$35 through our platform to break
even on CAC
UNIT ECONOMICS ANALYSIS

27. Key Activities
Build & Manage Demand Build & Manage Supply
● Marketing activities (social media,
influencer marketing) to drive app installs
● Drive engagement and active usage
through deal pushes
● Incentives & referrals
● Create partnerships with merchants for
commissions and product
recommendations
● Offer native advertising capabilities
Build & Manage Platform
● Build mobile app and web app
● Build robust backend for catalogue
● Bookmarking extension
● Maintain product feeds and scrapers
● Build recommendations engine
● Handle payments and checkout flow
Three critical types of activities that feed off each other:
KEY ACTIVITIES

28. Key Resources & Partners
Resources Build & Manage Platform Build & Manage Supply Build & Manage Demand
Human Engineers/Designers Biz Dev
Partners: Merchants and
Affiliate Programs
Marketing Manager
“Experts” / Influencers
Partners: Social Media (FB)
and Ad Networks
Financial Friends/Family/Angel Friends/Family/Angel Frrends/Family/Angel
Physical Offices, computers and
devices
Partners: PaaS (Azure,
GAE)
Intellectual Algorithms Native Ads Support &
Template
Partners: Mobile SSPs
Customer Lists and Data
Key Activities
KEY RESOURCES AND PARTNERS