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© 2009 Ninian Solutions Ltd Dealing with Goliath Andy McLoughlin

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Future of Web Apps Bristol presents "Dealing with Goliath" by Andy McLoughlin

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Page 1: FOWA Tour- Andy McLoughlin

© 2009 Ninian Solutions Ltd

Dealing with Goliath

Andy McLoughlin

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I am co-founder / strategy

director at Huddle.net

Huddle is a network of

secure online workspaces

for team collaboration

Huddle was launched in

April 2007

HQ in London, sales

office in Chicago

Growing fast (8 to 35

people in 12 months)

A little bit about me...

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Who wants to build a $10M+ company?

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Who wants to build the next $100M+ company?

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Going big, quickly

Viral growth (Twitter) Acquisition (Writely) Deep pockets (Zoho) Partnerships

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Partners = WIN(for Huddle.net)

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A Very Civil Partnership Huddle provides the

application Partner provides the

network / leads / customers / sales force

Co-brand the application Revenue share on Huddle

subscriptions and advertising

Everyone gets rich and goes home early

Easy, right?

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Not quite!

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The early days Use nice graphics from the website (or ask

Keh)

Partnerships are bloody hard work!

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Two very different partnerships

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LinkedIn.com

Huddle.net

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How it came about

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Facebook POC

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LinkedIn mock ups

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Count down!

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Development: Moving from fragile to agile

Building the thing

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Internal Vs External Dev

Internal Development

Complete controlKnown high quality

× No OS expertise× Opportunity cost

External Development

Flexible resourceOpenSocial expertise

× Variable quality× Additional cost× Lack of control

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Existing API Architecture

PHP Application on Linux Server

C# ASP.net Application on Windows Server

Huddle API

Private SOAP API

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Proposed Solution: “Quick Win!”

PHP Application on Linux Server

C# ASP.net Application on Windows Server

Huddle API

Private SOAP API Open REST API(http://my.huddle.net/api)

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IssuesNo such thing as a quick job

• New API calls

• Application changes

• Project management

• Marketing preparation

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Scaling

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One of only six global partners on

LinkedIn’s OpenSocial platform

October 2008

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Lessons Learnt (OpenSocial) Never outsource build of a core product! Technical debt = FAIL Especially to a company on the other side

of the world Working across 4 time zones = EPIC FAIL There is no such thing as a quick job Be conservative on uptake stats and work

out your CPA – is it worth it? Don’t film in a basement!

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Was it worth it?

Absolutely YES!

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OpenSocial - the Future’s bright Re-use the Huddle

Workspaces app across other networks

Ning OS launching in mid June 2009

3rd OS launch in late June OpenSocial portability is

still an issue (~£8,000 to roll out a new network)

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“How do I get on the platform?” Honest answer: be lucky Have ‘an in’ to the

platform team Meet face-to-face Have an application they

need Demonstrate ability to

deliver and scale No new applications for 3

to 6 months

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InterCall.com

Huddle.net

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An ‘unsexy’ deal

(about 15 months in the making!)

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Money, money, money

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“I have a cunning plan” Co-brand the Huddle app for InterCall Let InterCall bill them Inclusion on all InterCall setup emails Placement on InterCall homepage Get their sales people to create Huddle

accounts on initial call to new customers Mass provision existing 1M+ accounts Easy upsell to Huddle Enterprise for $$$ Manage it all from London

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Making it work

• Technical challenges

• Legal challenges

• Sales challenges

• Marketing challenges

• Cultural challenges

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May 2009

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Lessons Learnt (The Big Co) Engaging the top level vision is easy You need to engage ‘the army’ Bridge the gap - you’re one step removed.

Need feedback of what is / isn’t working Clear value proposition for their customers Be ultra-conservative on revenue

estimates Be prepared for everything to take twice

as long as you’d hope!

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Was it worth it?

Absolutely YES!

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Partnerships – A Summary Good partnerships can deliver everything

you want but... Be realistic Pick your battles wisely Be prepared to invest Be prepared to wait Be prepared to argue, argue, argue Remember that David beat Goliath!

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© 2009 Ninian Solutions Ltd

Thank you! Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @bandrew

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