Tim Leung @tim-leung-blog - Tumblr Blog

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Hello Jacob Adams at Pearson Specter is the CEO!

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Be awesome!

I noticed an interesting tweet by Dave McClure the other day that talked about startup pitch decks and the general lack of information about distribution:

He is absolutely right. Most pitches I see are all focused on product and team. There is the requisite slide about the big market...

Me waking up to no emails about my startup

Concept of Constant Iteration - New Features for PastFuturePresent

A core principle of lean startup philosophy is the concept of constant iteration. At PastFuturePresent.me, the team are strong believers of the idea. We released our app out to the public early, and have gotten feedback since day one utilizing a friend and family round.

Most people refer to the term as a funding round but we actually used our friends and family for our initial UX research and understandings. They might not be our ideal customer segment but most of them had wedding registries before. Although we focused on having easiest on-boarding process, there are still improvements to be made. We went to our drawing board and product roadmap to focus on making the process easier.

Gifts Inspiration Library

We realized that there are always going to be certain gifts that people add to their registry.To make this process easier, we created a pinterest like listing of inspirations. Check it out as we have prepared listings for wedding, baby shower, holiday, housewarming..etc...

We also allow for a one-click add option with all the necessary required details already filled out. Hopefully our customers can have a more enjoyable time add gifts to their list and more time focusing on getting the gifts :)

Easier Photo Upload

The other important feature we released was the integration with FilePicker (which I previously blogged about here) which allows our customers to have an optimal experience finding images either on their computers or across the web. We have gotten feedback that the process of uploading images took too long, and we are pretty confident this world class plugin will be the solution.

We have many product iterations to go in our journey but hopefully every week we get closer to delivering an outstanding experience for our customers.

#new-feature #product-roadmap

patrickleahy-blog

Recently, I noticed I was making a major mistake while following the Lean Startup approach. I was only doing easy work. More specifically, I was intentionally and consistently selecting away from doing hard work on Firefly, our new product that does instant screensharing for customer support....

Accelerators and the Weekend Project

Today I came across a very interesting article from the financial post regarding accelerators and what seems like the companies coming out of it can effectively be created “over a weekend with some friends and a few cases of beer”. The article was based off of the recent JOLT demo day where 6 companies was launched and presented to the audience.

A look from the other side:

Building a web product is very easy at the start – a couple of weekends does yield tremendous results (See Startup Weekend - http://toronto.startupweekend.org/)

The hard part isn’t building a couple of pages or a few sign-up flows, it is the constant iteration to achieve product-market fit

Every developer can look at Twitter, Facebook, etc.. and go “Give me a couple of weekends and I can build it”...

Products might iterate, pivot, and ultimately change – try to understand the vision and the purpose of the company

I thought Marquee was just a simple one page creator until I dove deeper and understood their vision and power

Customer Acquisition and traction is key – Which is why Venngage stands out in the bunch with over 7000 users, but what will distinguish a weekend project to a full business is the plan and the execution of the product-market fit

Not only are companies being developed during the Accelerators, but I believe a lot of personal development happens for each of the entrepreneurs

The more I do this...the less I code

When I first started with the dream of running successful project that will ultimately replace my full time income and lifestyle several years ago - the mantra in my head was to always build, build, build. I guess that is what gets instilled into your mind after 5 years of university and a couple of years working as an Internet Consultant.

Let me outline the process throughout the years and how I have slowly reduced the amount of product development work that goes into each one to validate the idea.

Initially

Talk to friends and convince one my designer buddies to design me a logo/layout for me to use (I thought that once traffic/customers come in, the branding and design of the website is important)

Think endlessly about a good domain name - then buy it

Market Research (Figuring out competition, market positioning, unique advantage...etc...)

Thinking about a sustainable business model

Spend couple of months building a prototype that is probably considered today a MVP

Thoughts:

I actually had a lot of fun early on developing MVP for small ideas of mine, pitching to friends and making a few cold emails to see traction. It was also alright to do it when I was straight out of university as it allowed me to work on new technologies that kept me on the corporate ladder.

Order of Importance:

Business Model (Is there a business)

Product (It has to be amazing to wow customers)

It needs to be Polished (Must have designer)

With a Couple of Years of Experience:

Buy a html theme from ThemeForest and customize the look

Think about a decent domain name - then buy it

Market Research (Figuring out competition, market positioning, unique advantage...etc...)

Thinking about a sustainable business model

Spend a month building a prototype that is probably considered today a MVP

Thoughts:

Although I have optimized and made the building of the product much more efficient (leveraging design/development framework + experience + re-usable code from previous projects), my focus is still pretty much on product development and business model.

Order of Importance:

Business Model (Is there a business)

Product (It has to be amazing to wow customers)

Now:

It took me awhile to get out of the developer's mindset and the resistance to get feedback early but now...

Figure out if I am passionate about the product/vertical/problem

Figure out from market research if there is an unique way for customer acquisition (Adwords, Facebook, Content, Blogging...). Especially getting the first 10 customers so you can learn and iterate

Seems very intuitive after you read the Lean Startup, and other books such as the Four Hour Work Week that hones in on quick market validation for your own product.

I think the following two points are pretty much a given now for any teams entering an accelerator:

They can most likely build it

They probably found an unique positioning versus competitors

but when I attend a demo day or read about a startup in the accelerator, the first thought that comes to mind...

How are they going to acquire their customers? because that is truly a competitive advantage...

I have been thinking about this topic for some time now but the following blog post by Charlie Crystle triggered this post.

Please Read: The hardest part of Startups: Getting Past Zero

According to Profit, the average age of CEOs of Canada's fastest growing startups is 39 years old—decidedly younger than the average CEO overall, which is anywhere from 45 to 55 depending on who you ask and what scope researchers cover. The average age of incoming CEOs of S&P 500 companies is around 53.

Why I would spend money on a feature – FilePicker.IO

Over the weekend, I had the luxury to do some development on a side project I have been working on. Instead of spending hours developing an image upload feature (with cropping, client side upload, drag and drop functionality), I signed up for a Filepicker.io account.

Here are the reasons why:

Speed

Even if I was operating at optimal development speed, I won’t be able to reproduce what filepicker.io had developed in less than a day of work

During the implementation, I spent 1 hour integrating (Great examples and documentation!)

Focus

Image uploading is a “feature” for my side project but it isn’t the feature where I advocate as a benefit to my customers

I am pretty sure the team at Filepicker.io will continue making their widget/platform/UI a lot better – brain cycles that our team can focus elsewhere

However, it doesn’t hurt to integrate with the upload widgets and have first class upload functionalities J

Cost

The best part about using Filepicker for a side project/startup? Their Starter Plan is free up to 5000 files which is perfect for a company getting off the ground and iterating towards traction

If I am lucky enough to get traction, their $ 99/month plan is pretty much a drop in the bucket and is probably cheaper than the team spending time enhancing/attending to this feature

More Coverage of FilePicker.io here:

Venture Beat

Techcrunch

Toronto Start-Up Accelerators Roundup

With the start-up financing post by Mark Evans, I took the opportunity to find out more about the accelerator programs available in Toronto:

Jolt

http://jolt.marsdd.com

$30, 000 capital in exchange for 5-6 % equity stake

4 Month Program

Winter and Summer Cohorts (Max of 8 teams per cohort)

Digital Media Focus

Applications now open for their winter cohort and closes on November 4th

Management Team: Susan McGill, Sarah Katyal, Krista Jones, Barry Gekiere (all are part of MaRS)

Twitter: @JoltCo

Unique Perks:

Part of Global Accelerator Network via TechStars ( http://globalacceleratornetwork.com - Microsoft Azure, Hosting, Paypal, Rackspace, Amazon Web Services Credits)

Product Development (TheWorkingGroup) and User Experience Guidance (JetCooper)

Brand exposure through their partnership with PostMedia (Getting featured on the Financial Post is a great PR boost for these companies)

Office Space and exposure to the MaRS innovation centre and network

Additional Reads:

http://business.financialpost.com/category/entrepreneur/fp-startups/jolt/

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/960749/mars-announces-jolt-new-technology-accelerator-will-combine-creative-design-and-business-expertise-to-build-growth-companies

Extreme Startups

www.extremestartups.com

$50, 000 up front, $30, 000 mid program (SmartStart program from OCE), with 150, 000 upon completion from Business Development of Canada in exchange for 10 %

12 week program

Winter and Summer cohorts with 5 companies per cohort

Technology-oriented companies with a focus on compelling ideas

Applications should open in the winter for their 2013 Winter Cohort

Management Team: Andy Yang and Sunil Sharma

Twitter: @ExtremeStartups

Unique Perks:

They hold a dinner series which connects established start-ups in Toronto with job seekers

Board of Directors includes Dominique Belangér (BDC), John Ruffolo (OMERS Venture), Roger Chabra (Rho Canada Ventures), Alex Baker (Relay Ventures), Amar Varma (Extreme Venture Partners)

Office space! Their new space is amazing!

Corporate Partners: KPMG, PwC, TSX, RBC, Cassels, Miller Thompson, Oslers, Kirchener Private Capital)

Additional Reads:

http://www.extremestartups.com/press/

Driven Accelerator

http://drivenaccelerator.com

No-Equity or Funding! Also does not offer office space

12 Week Program

Summer and Winter cohorts

Digital Start-ups with Co-Founders that are women or people of colour

Applications for the next cohort opens November 27th, 2012

Management Team: Tamar-Melissa Huggins, Carolyn Van, Pierre-Yves Pau, Andrew Bromfield

Twitter: @DrivenAccel

Additional Reads:

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=67052

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/starting-out/digital-startup-accelerator-targets-minorities-women/article4101371/

InCubes

http://incubes.ca

7.5 % equity with no upfront capital

3 Month program

3 Cohorts per year based on their recent schedule

Innovative internet technologies with revenue models

Application open now for their Autumn Cohort

Management Team: Ben Zlotnick and A. Traviss Corry

Twitter: @incubes

Unique Perks:

Hosting, Legal, and Accounting Services

Partnerships with C100, Lean Startup, Venture Start

Additional Reads:

http://blogs.itbusiness.ca/2012/04/startupto-incubators-of-to-look-inside-incubes/

http://www.techvibes.com/blog/incubes-accelerator-demo-day-sees-hover-event-holler-and-more-present-2012-09-19

The next two are pseudo-accelerators in my opinion, offering their boutique expertise and guidance for selected companies:

Kinetic Cafe

http://www.kineticcafe.com

Twitter: @kineticcafe

Bento Box

http://bentobox.net

Twitter: BentoBx

Other Relevant Articles Worth Reading:

Thoughts about accelerators

Incubators and Accelerators – Do they Work?

I’m not technical, what can I do? - From a Developer

Read an article on Launch48 [http://launch48.com/2012/09/12/im-not-technical-what-can-i-do/] and thought I can chime in as a developer that has been through 3 Startup Weekend Events.

Refine the business plan.

Understand the competitive marketplace

Main value proposition

Customer Demographic

Voice, Messaging, Channels

SEO

I think these are excellent points to get started and as part of the business team, get these information very quickly but just searching around. Once you have all the information, I totally recommend the business model canvas but involve your whole team when filling it out. After winning two start-up weekend events, one of the key process that I attribute to the success was having the entire team discussing the business model canvas. It allows the entire team to be on the same page, understand the value proposition, and be involved and own the product.

· Business team should then refine the canvas by making a succinct 30 second pitch of the product that the entire team can pitch.

Do some finances

· I think for a weekend, some napkin style analysis would probably be enough unless you are building a physical product where production cost might trickle in

Schmooze Some Investors

· Definitely go out and start chatting with everybody including other teams. The more you pitch the idea and concept, the better you get at refining the value proposition that resonates

· Make sure everyone can pitch the idea

Marketing and Sales

· Go out and show traction for your start-up. Set up appointments with people in your target market, get interviews, or even get them to commit to paying for your finished product.

Copywriting

· All points are valid – although I would concentrate heavily on the Presentation and getting the structure and slide down

Product Design

· Assuming you have a product team that can design/develop, you definitely help out to shape the product from a non-technical point of view. Try to voice your opinion from the angle of your target market (since you have been going out and selling/interviewing with them)

Bond with your Team

· Manage the communication between teams, try to keep everyone involved. I suggest having regular touch points throughout the weekend for a quick chat to recap what has been done and what is still left to do

Have Fun

· Probably the key! Giving out a weekend in your busy life, the least you can do is make it fun and rewarding for you and your team

Local Business Network Driven by Small Business Websites

Introduction: Provide an easy way to enable the social features of applications like Yelp into a small business website:

Driving new customers

Maximizing the investment of having a website

Enable more control

Current Solutions: In general there are the print yellow pages book, basic directory search services, and enhanced community driven directory websites.

Local businesses have depended on yellow pages print media for the longest time but the amount of revenue, volume, and usage is decreasing over time. (1)

Yellowpages and other similar phone book type business (yellowpages.ca, canpages.ca...etc) began developing online directories that offers a search and business profile pages. These pages usually offer a map, location and contact information. Businesses usually stand out from the crowd by participating in a "Featured Advertisers" program and paying either a monthly or yearly fee.

With some amazing work by entrepreneurs innovating in the space, new online local business directories launched with social features, communities, user reviews, great design to increase user engagements. For example, these group of social community/recommendation sites include Yelp, CitySearch, Urbanspoon and many others. Let's call this collection of websites "Social Yellow Pages" (SYP).

The core is taking the traditional business profile and organize that page with more meta data and user/editor contributed information (User Generated Content). This also involves an improved layout, better and more relevant search capabilities and an underlying user community. Although these solutions work very well for small businesses currently, but SYP sites depend a lot on capitalizing on search engines directing traffic to these business profile pages.

There are a few issues with Yellow Pages Directory websites in general. There are far too many currently on the Internet with more and more start-ups launching in this space. (I too have worked for a SYP when developing OurFaves.com).

As a local business owner, which SYP would you advertise on?

How would you then use your business website as an competitive advantage?

How do you enable these social functionality on your own website?

Google is also innovating in the space

They already show maps and the top 10 local place results before other relevant business profile pages

They have Google Maps which shows business locations

They have Google Profile Place Pages and a verification system set up to verify business owners

Current Workflow: User Searches "Pizza in Toronto" User Lands on a SYP website with a directory of business profiles that have Pizza in Toronto Users figure out the one they want to and view that user business profile page and then decides if that's the page to go to Proposed Solution In Depth: Maximize the potential of a small business website by bringing together the social features of SYP and the local business network utility of finding other nearby local businesses. Key features will include:

User reviews and commenting

The ability to share the place/review with existing social communities (Facebook, Twitter)

Map search of nearby places

Think of a Blog Network like http://psd.tutsplus.com/ which is a network of sites with the underlying topic being online web design/development. Users can browse to different blogs by using the top navigation. Instead of different blogs of varying topics, have a directory of local businesses.

Business owners have total control over the user reviews process. They can respond to comments on their page, highlight top reviews...

Business owners maximize the potential of their business by offering user reviews directly on their site, map if they do not have any

Benefiting from the change in Google Search Results by directing traffic directly to the website (SEO involvement is needed)

Search engine optimization is very relevant but it solves only half the problem because when an end-user ends up on a site, the wealth of information presented currently in SYP really do help in making the final decision. What we are trying to do is to optimize the decision making process by bypassing these SYP and having users come directly to your site. Implementation: The best example of the implementation is the ow.ly URL shortener tool bar that is above the webpage and offers social features like sharing to other social networks, rating the webpage...etc.. Use the same concept but enable the functionality we would want to employ for a small business website like:

Have a button to create and view reviews

A Search button for nearby places

Share the place to other social networks

Some Questions:

Like Yelp and traditional print media, selling to local consumers require a sales force. (Need a way to automate process)

there may be a chicken and the egg scenario. You need local businesses to advertise its usefulness, but local businesses wants to see other successful businesses.

Varying levels of technical expertise within the local small businesses

Pretty hard to scale SEO work across the different local small businesses. Enabling, education, or even outsourcing the SEO work might be more ideal

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