Alan O’Rouke
WorkCompass.com
Justin Mares
Traction
It is very likely that one channel is
optimal. Most businesses actually
get zero distribution channels to
work.
Poor distribution—not product—is
the number one cause of failure. If
you can get even a single
distribution channel to work, you
have great business.
@jwmares
“The number one
reason that we pass
on entrepreneurs we’d
otherwise like to back
is their focusing on
product to the
exclusion of
everything else. Many
entrepreneurs who
build great products
simply don’t have a
good distribution
strategy. Even worse
is when they insist
that they don’t need
one, or call [their] no
distribution strategy a
‘viral marketing
strategy.’”
“A startup is a company designed to
grow fast. Being newly founded does
not in itself make a company a
startup. Nor is it necessary for a
startup to work on technology, or
take venture funding, or have some
sort of ‘exit.’ The only essential thing
is growth. Everything else we
associate with startups follows from
growth.”
@jwmares
@julescoleman
Hey, I’m
Founder &
Chief Product Officer
How to scale a product for
the sharing economy
Uh… the internet?
How do you build a
product like ours?
Just follow this Reddit guide
We started by
from a book
But we hadn’t built
Business Development
Customer Service
Data Analytics
Demand Management
Design
Engineering
Finance
Human Resources
Legal
Management
Marketing
Operations
Performance Management
Supply Management
Supply Recruitment
The code
Minimum
Viable
Product
We’d built 66% of an MVP
Minimum
Viable
Product
Minimum
Viable
Product
Minimum
Viable
Product
The sharing economy is
So where’s the
complexity?
They all involve
interacting in the real world
You can have the most
perfect tech…
Every interaction has a
single point of failure
Our business is the
This can be built in a weekend This
can’t
80% 20%
We provide a utility
Good gosh, my water
supply company is awesome
– No one, ever
Our best customers
Instead of a feature request,
we get
How do we manage that?
How can we solve the biggest
as quickly as possible?
define quick != bad_code && no_testing
Do it right Do it right now
Do the right thing
Product manages the natural
between these demands
Minimal Viable
Process
Sprints slowed us
down
Re-prioritising is not
inherently bad…
…but it does need to
be managed
Discovery
Wireframe
Build
User Acceptance
Testing
Deploy
Not everything is solved with
a
Sometimes microcopy is better
than a feature
We choose the top 20% of
ideas
80% 20%
Discovery
Wireframe
Build
User Acceptance
Testing
Deploy
A picture paints a thousand
words
It is infinitely easier to
criticise than to create.
– John McCormick
Discovery
Wireframe
Build
User Acceptance
Testing
Deploy
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Feature Monday
Kaizen Friday
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Feature Build
Discovery
Wireframe
Build
User Acceptance
Testing
Deploy & Measure
Have you really solved the problem?
Discovery
Wireframe
Build
User Acceptance
Testing
Deploy & Measure
Without metrics there can be no
Did we pick the right 20%?
So in conclusion…
Building an MVP is hard
Scaling a product for humans
is harder
Focus on solving
biggest edge cases
Embrace the 80/20
rule
Strive for the
Minimal Viable
Process
Measure the improvement
Thank You
@julescoleman
Thank You To Our
Sponsor
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