allocate stanford 2016

# interviews this week:

0

Juhana Kangaspunta Ron Tidhar Erik Zahnlecker David Flatow

# total interviews:

0

Machine Learning / Software Engineering Product / Strategy VC / Growth Equity AI / Data Science

Tracking billing hours automaticallyTracking billable hours is a frustrating, laborious, and inefficient process for the

employee.

Using AI to track billable hours automatically

Providing managers with accurate, real-time insights for growing the bottom line.

# interviews this week:

10

Juhana Kangaspunta Ron Tidhar Erik Zahnlecker David Flatow

# total interviews:100

Machine Learning / Software Engineering Product / Strategy VC / Growth Equity AI / Data Science

Team

Juhana Kangaspunta Ron Tidhar Erik Zahnlecker David FlatowMachine Learning /

Software Engineering Product / Strategy VC / Growth Equity AI / Data Science

Nick O'Connor Tom BedecarreFounder of

Launchpad AccelerateFresh Stanford student

(also co-founder of AKQA)

Mentors

Allocate

Day OneInitial idea:

Tracking billing hours automaticallyTracking billable hours is a frustrating, laborious, and inefficient process for the employee.

Market size

Week 1 Business Model Canvas

Key Original Hypotheses

Value Proposition Saving time by filling out time sheet is the biggest value proposition

Customer Relationships We can GET enterprise customers via a ‘trojan horse’ strategy…

Customer Segments

Any professionals who bill clients by the hour (consultants, lawyers, PR agents, project managers, and accountants) all experience this frustration

So Here’s What We Did…• MVP (below), and tested hypotheses

Send daily reportVerified by customer

Collect Customer Data

(for a single day)

Process manually

In the building

Out of the building

10 Interviews

Learning 1 - Customer Segment Focus• Cluttered thinking - trying to boil the ocean

LawyersAccountants

PRConsultants

Freelancers

Interior Des.

Advertising

• Narrowed our focus - PR and Advertising professionals

35 Interviews

• Why? PR/Ad are underserved, creative, multi-taskers, who are younger, and more willing to adopt new technology

PRAdvertising

Further Ad. Validation - Market Size

Source: LinkedIn, Ibis

Employee Count

US PR Firms

Total: 4,901

2015 Revenue: $13.8B

US Advertising/Marketi

ng Firms

Total: 46,098

2015 Revenue: $50.0B

Learning 1 - Business Model Canvas

Learning 1 - Business Model Canvas

Learning 2 - Customer Archetype

Position Junior / Mid Level Professional CEO / Management IT / CIO / CFO

Age 22 - 30 30+ 30+

Value Propositio

n

Time-saving, increase productivity, avoid

manager emails asking for timesheets, less time

on non-vital tasks

Increase revenue, real-time decisions,

accuracy, efficient resource allocation,

forecasting

Avoid shadow IT, adopt tech built with

enterprise in mind, security

Channel Organic, SEM, word of mouth Direct Sales Direct Sales

0 Interviews

Jennie

Learning 2 - Customer Archetype

Position Junior / Mid Level Professional CEO / Management IT / CIO / CFO

Age 22 - 30 30+ 30+

Value Propositio

n

Time-saving, increase productivity, avoid

manager emails asking for timesheets, less time

on non-vital tasks

Increase revenue, real-time decisions,

accuracy, efficient resource allocation,

forecasting

Avoid shadow IT, adopt tech built with

enterprise in mind, security

Channel Organic, SEM, word of mouth Direct Sales Direct Sales

50 Interviews

Jennie Anna Jennie’s Boss

Learning 2 - Customer Archetype

Position Junior / Mid Level Professional CEO / Management IT / CIO / CFO

Age 22 - 30 30+ 30+

Value Propositio

n

Time-saving, increase productivity, avoid

manager emails asking for timesheets, less time

on non-vital tasks

Increase revenue, real-time decisions,

accuracy, efficient resource allocation,

forecasting

Avoid shadow IT, adopt tech built with

enterprise in mind, security

Channel Organic, SEM, word of mouth Direct Sales Direct Sales

Jennie Anna Jennie’s Boss

GazaThe Gatekeeper

75 Interviews

What Didn't Work

Hypothesis

Outcome A nice to have for employees

Tracking hours is tedious

and time consuming

Value Proposition

$2 CPC with little conversions

Market to users with AdWords and SEO

Customer Relationships

• Do employees really care about timesheets? Or are they top-down mandated tasks?

• Do people even know an automatic, AI-based solution exists?

Why?

Learning 3 - Employee to Manager Pivot

HypothesisManagers at PR/Ad Agencies want Allocate to help them understand their business

Experiments 1. Email/LinkedIn campaigns2. A/B Prototype demos3. Pilot proposals

ChangePivot to sell to managers rather than employees. Surprisingly managers are the evangelist

1. Roughly 20% response rate2. Very positive responses to dashboard3. Eagerness to pilot

Results

80 Interviews

Learning 3 - Business Model Canvas

Learning 3 - Business Model Canvas

Learning 3 - Strategy Implications

Channel Need enterprise sales team for direct sales

Customer Relationships Email campaigns and demos allow us to GET managers at large agencies

Value PropositionManagers need accurate and real-time reports about their organizations allow managers to make informed business decisions

Value Proposition Canvas - Junior Employee

• High output - reading, creation, coordination

• Multitaskers - many clients

• Tech-savvy - computer, smartphone

• Communicators - in person, emails

• Want to appear organised, efficient, valuable

• Working on time-consuming, mundane activities

• Manual, unchallenging, non-vital• Things that interrupt workflow

and ability to multitask, deliver high volume output, etc.

• Using AI to automatically track a person’s billable hours

• Pre-filling of timesheets

Time Saving

Savings:• Time• Effort• Frustration• Reliability• Accuracy• Manager scepticism

Time Saver

Value Proposition Canvas - Junior Employee

• High output - reading, creation, coordination

• Multitaskers - many clients

• Tech-savvy - computer, smartphone

• Communicators - in person, emails

• Want to appear organised, efficient, valuable

• Working on time-consuming, mundane activities

• Manual, unchallenging, non-vital• Things that interrupt workflow

and ability to multitask, deliver high volume output, etc.

• Using AI to automatically track a person’s billable hours

• Pre-filling of timesheets

Time Saving

Savings:• Time• Effort• Frustration• Reliability• Accuracy• Manager scepticism

Time SaverDoing good work, and satisfying their clients & managers

Value Proposition Canvas - Manager

• Tech-savvy - computer, smartphone

• Communicators - in person, emails

• Need to be organised

• Staffing• Project

Management, Budgets (burn rates), teams

• Projections and forecasts

• Lack of knowledge or insight into employee’s work and activities

• Chasing up employees to fill out timesheets

• Uncertainty with regards to employee utilisation

• Budgetary constraints• Poor forecasts• Slow budgeting/staffing reaction times

(month-by-month planning)

• KPI metrics dashboard based on real-time, accurate data

• Customisable, searchable dashboards

• Simple, beautiful UI/UX

• Staffing, budgeting, and forecasting dashboards

• Information• Accuracy• Budgeting,

Staffing, Projecting

• Revenue, Efficiency

• Bottom Line

Savings:• Time• Effort• Frustration (chasing

employees)• Reliability• Accuracy• Money

Doing good work, and satisfying clients

Payment Flows

Employee

Junior Account Exec

PR FirmCFO/COO

ClientMarketing /

Account Managers

Weekly Reports

$ 50K / year

Daily Timesheet

$ Retainer /Hourly

Contract

$ Salary

Resource Mgmt

Market Map - Timekeeping

Billing

Enterprise TT

Offerings

Tim

e Tr

acki

ng

Market Leaders

Lawyers

Market Map - Resource Management

Where We Ended Up

Employee MVP Manager MVP

Using AI to track billable hours automaticallyProviding managers with accurate, real-time insights for growing the bottom line

Investment Readiness

IdeaWe use AI to automatically populate time sheets and to provide accurate, real-time insights to managers

Prototype Prototypes for different customer segments and archetypes.

ProductMVP has given validation that

technology is feasible. Manager prototypes have allowed us to refine key features.

Proven Product Market Fit

Get 10+ paying, referenceable customers

Have list of companies which are eager to start early access.

Customer Trials

Meta-Learnings

•Interviews - “We have two ears, and one mouth - use them in the right proportions”

•Teamwork - find some faces you’re willing to look at after 1am

•Sales - know your customer segments so well that you can “wow” them by speaking their language

•Sales pt. 2 - always bring baked goods to meetings

What’s Next?

•Seed funding?

•Y-Combinator application for Summer 2016 batch

•Build high fidelity MVP with 80%+ automation

•Pilot program

By the Numbers

Notes Taken (words) 39,080 (Animal Farm has 29,000)

Slack Messages 3,800

Emails Written 1,292

Lines of code 1,125

Slides 199

Interviews 100

Launchpad (hours) 76

Prototypes 6

Special Thanks•Teaching Staff

• For encouragement, and being relentlessly direct•Jennie Chow & Monica Cho

•Dozens of PR agents interviews, and brave early guinea pigs•Mark Zahnlecker

•Directing, filming, and editing Lessons Learned•Our Mentors. Especially Tom Bedcarre, our adopted mentor

•9 mentor meetings•Came to almost all of our 3-hour long classes•14 Intros to senior management at the best Ad/PR firms in SF•Including management at AKQA: CFO, CIO, Head of IT, Finance Director…

•Our Interviewees, friends, families, and many more