How to launch your web business idea without programming. The talk focuses on doing customer development in order to find that first paying customer. More details can be found in the LaunchBit Startup Guide at http://guide.launchbit.com

1. Get Going!
Build & test your idea
without programming
Elizabeth Yin
Jennifer Chin
co-founders of LaunchBit

2. We want to thank our event
sponsor – MIT E-Center

3. In high school, we decided to
become internet entrepreneurs

4. Shiny Orb is a social shopping site
for wedding apparel

5. DressMob is a social shopping
site for all dresses

6. Building a website has become
very accessible
1990s 2010
Difficulty HARD Easier
Speed Months/Years Days/Weeks/Months
Hire, Try to learn, outsource,
Options Hire, Try to learn
3rd party tools
Books, friends, online,
Resources Books, friends
forums, Craigslist
Sites are being built more quickly and easily

7. The biggest obstacle for you is no
longer technical
Do you have a
product that
people want??

8. We believe in the “Lean Startup”
philosophy and execution
Eric Reis (nytimes) Steve Blank (nytimes)

9. The Lean Startup Model is just
like playing poker
Go all in without
seeing your cards?
Fold if things are
not looking good?
Image Credit: lasvegasvegas.com

10. The first step is to achieve
product/market fit
Maximize
Product/Market Fit Scale Up
Profit

11. You can build and test your web
idea without programming
Research
Building
Measuring
Marketing Q&A

12. Doing the
Research

13. Find potential customers outside
your own social circle
Join mailing lists and forums
Email people. Oftentimes, the right
people will help for free
Filter prospects with a simple survey.
Offer $25 for a 30 minute phone
conversation if selected

14. Craigslist can be a great place to
get feedback
Cindy Alvarez
 Use the "gigs" section
 Providing your first name and a voicemail
number will grant you legitimacy
 Clearly state the compensation amount
upon meeting qualifications and
completion of the call
 Expect a 10-15% flake rate

15. Ask about behavior and bring a
simple set of “paper” prototypes
Image credit: Simon Collison (flickr)
Image Credit: Mathieu Brault
Do people “get” your idea?

16. Hanging around coffee shops
helps Pulse refine their new ideas

17. Building
a Landing
Page and
MVP

18. There are plenty of free (or almost
free) WYSIWYG platforms

19. Make sure your landing page
messaging is clear

20. Dropbox got 200,000 signups
with just a video

21. Your Minimum Viable Product
should have just 1 or 2 functions
Image Credit: Hammacher Schlemmer
Can you explain your product in 1 sentence?

22. We challenge you to think
creatively when building your MVP
Easy MVPs Hard MVPs

23. Aardvark went to see the
wonderful Wizard of Oz

24. Food on the Table started with
real, live “concierge” service

25. The Wed Connect is our own
experience at quick idea testing

26. Online tools made it possible to
work behind the curtain
Image Credit: Wizard of Oz

27. Early Stage
Marketing

28. Early stage marketing is a
complement to Measurement
My Website

29. Ads are a perfect way to get
traffic immediately

30. Q&A forums and other industry
specific sites are like “annuities”

31. Community marketing channels
can offer quality verbal feedback

32. Measuring
Results

33. Find out what your users are doing
on your website

34. There are many affordable tools for
quantitative & qualitative analysis

35. At least 40% of your users should
be very disappointed if you’re gone
Very disappointed
Not disappointed or
Somewhat disappointed
Sean Elllis (startup-marketing.com)
Successful Product / Market Fit

36. In 5 days, we had numbers to
evaluate The Wed Connect
Bounce Rates
87% of 68 people
56% of 16 people
21 Signups
 Quick math:
 Charge wedding vendors $2 / lead * 21 leads = $42
 Costs: $0.44 * 68 people = $29.92
 Potential profit: $0.58 / person

37. Qualitative feedback taught us
about the customer

38. We determined the viability of The
Wed Connect in just 1 week
0 1 2 7 8
1 day Customer Research
1 day Analysis
1 day Build MVP
5 days Testing and Marketing
Great initial numbers but a frustrating business

39. Ante up, make your bets, then
decide -- will you go all in?
Research
Blinds Landing Page
MVP
Bet Early Marketing
Hire People
All In Seek PR
Image Credit: Logan Ingalls

40. LaunchBit helps new, aspiring
entrepreneurs launch their ideas

41. Build and test your idea without
programming – Get going!
 More questions? hello@launchbit.com
 Feedback index cards
 LaunchBit mailing list signup sheet
 Blog: blog.launchbit.com
 @launchbit
 www.launchbit.com