growth startup - how to build scalable & flexible applications to manage hyper growth

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Growth Startup

How to Build Scalable & Flexible Applications to Manage Hyper GrowthChristian Zacharias

CTO - Finleap

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Christian Zacharias

CTO - Finleap

until now // CTO @Finleap

until end 2014 // CTO @Tirendo

until Mid 2013 // Freelance Software Architect

until End 2009 // Developer @Spreadshirt

Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias 3

Finleap - The FinTech Company BuilderPart of the Hitfox Group

4 - 6 Companies per Year

0.5 - 5 m € seed funding per company

Finleap launched in Nov. 2014

Finleap uses new technologies and scalable business models to provide cheaper, simpler and more transparent digital services within the FinTech market.

hire up the 150 people in 2015

Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias

Startups in GermanyStatistics by DSM 2014

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Lean Startup CycleStartup Tool of Choice, developed Eric Ries

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Ideas

CodeData

Build

Measure

Learn


Startup Phases of Growth

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Startup GrowthTransition


‣Only Goal ist to find the product-market fit

‣Main Metrics are Customer Retention: How long and often is the Interaction, ask them about your product

‣ Try different Channels to fin the best one for you Product

‣Optimize on Macro Level, not the small things

Startup PhaseEstablish your Business and gain some traction

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“Make things people want!”Paul Graham, YCombinator


‣Goal: This is when you start to pinpoint and interpret different growth levers that are catered toward your particular business. You’ll learn what can positively impact your business and what doesn’t.

‣Metric: During this phase, you should watch and understand your Cost Per Acquisition and Life-Time Value. If you have been receiving the necessary data, this metric should be straightforward.

‣Channels: In the first stage, you chose several channels that are best for your product. Now it’s time to focus in and choose the most effective. If it’s already effective, build on it and the growth rate will continue increasing.

‣Optimization: Instead of placing all of your attention on the big picture (or macro optimization), start switching your focus to the smaller picture (or micro optimization).

Transition PhaseEstablish the Foundation for your Growth

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MOVE FORWARD IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION


‣Goal: The growth levers from the transitioning phase that you started pinpointing? Start tweaking them and make them fit your exact needs.

‣Metric: The spotlight is still pointed toward growth rate, but this shouldn’t be your only focus anymore. Since growth is now occurring, you’ll want to look at your payback period. You’ll want a shorter payback period in order to have a better investment.

‣Channels: Do everything you can with the channel you have to fulfill its full potential. This channel will handle most of your growth. See what other channels are out there so you can create diversity among them.

‣Optimization: Because you’ve focused on macro since the beginning, it’s now time to focus solely on micro. Small changes can also yield large results.

Growth PhaseMaintain the Growth our your Startup

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make small changes that create big effects


Startup Phases of Growth

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Startup Transition GrowthGoal Product/Market Fit Discovering Growth Levers Turning up Growth Levers

Metrics Retention (CPA > CLV) Growth Rate (CPA ~ CLV) Growth Rate (CPA < CLV)

Channels Experiment with 2-3 Channels to find the one to concentrate on Concentrate on first Channel Focus on > 1 Channel

Optimization Macro Macro + Micro Micro

Tools Lean Startup, Prototyping & MVP

Lean Startup & Agile Iterations

Multichannel Plattform, Scalable & Flexible

Team


DBAPP

{API}

Architecture

DeploymentRepository

Analytics

DevOps as a Service

Cloud Hosting

Production

Staging

Get Key Metrics for Startup Phase

Simple Stack

Team

Small and Agile Team focusing on building the MVP and the first Iterations.

Infrastructure as a Service to Streamline you Process

Development

Product UI/UX

DB Queries


‣ Focussing on building the MVP

• It has to be smooth for the Customer, not for your

• It should transport your USP, nothing more

• Doing things manually is fine, you can automate later

‣ ship early, ship often

• start with scrum for building the MVP, switch to Kanban and Continuous Delivery later

‣ not reinvent the wheel

• use Frameworks, Libraries and 3rd Party Services

‣ Get Customer Feedback, Set up and Measure the key KPI´s

Get your Startup LiveBuild the MVP; Get customers; Learn and Iterate

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Architecture Analytics, Metrics, DWH

Track everything, build a DWH and learn everything about your System Behavior

DB

KV

{ } BE

FE Queue

APIDWHETL

Central Logging

TeamBuild up separate Teams to cover the increase complexity

Development

Product UI/UX

DevOpsRepository Infrastructure as

CodeCloud Hosting

Production

Staging

Simple Stack

Build an own Devops/Sysadmin Team to gain control about Infrastructure

Dev-VM

CI Server

deploy & autoscale


‣ Service oriented Architecture

‣ Scale Frontend through Read Only Central Data Storages

‣ Be prepared for Failing and Fail Early

‣Monitor and Measure everything

‣ automate the Deployment and Instance Management

‣ Keep your Codebase Clean and Readable

• gets new Team Member on speed fast

‣ Automated Tests, Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery

Hardening your PlatformPrepare your Platform to handle the Growth

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DevOpsRepository Infrastructure as

CodeCloud Hosting

Production

Staging

Simple Stack

Measure the Behavior of your system and scale (automatically) when necessary

Dev-VM

CI Server

deploy & autoscale

Analytics, Metrics, DWH

Use Data for CRM, Marketing and Recommendations.

DWH

TeamStrong Teams, self organized and responsible for specific components

Development

Product UI/UX

Architecture

DB

KV

Queue

{ }LB

API

LB

WebAppKV

Search Service

Product Service

Worker

Customer Service

Service-Layer

Image Service

Content Service

ETLCentral Logging BI


‣ encapsulate Domain Logic in separate Services

‣ Autoscale your Services and Instance Pools

‣ Use Queues and internal APIs for Communications betweens Services

‣ Build independently Teams who are responsible for specific Services

‣ Learn about your internal and external Traffic Patterns

‣ Use your Data to optimize your Business

Scale your Architecture, Teams and ProcessesKeep Control about your System through separation

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Lean Startup CycleStartup Tool of Choice, developed Eric Ries

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Ideas

CodeData

Build

Measure

Learn

Split Test Customer Interviews Customer Development Five Whys Root Cause Analysis Customer Advisory Board Falsifiable Hypotheses Product Owner Accountability Custom Archetypes Cross-functional Teams Smoke Tests

Unit Test Usability Tests Continuous Integration Incremental Deployment Free & Open Source Components Cloud Computing Just-In Time Scalability Refactoring Developer VM

Split Tests Clear Product Owner Continuous Deployment Realtime Monitoring Custom Liaison

Funnel Analysis Cohort Analysis

Net Promotor Score Search Engine Marketing

Realtime Alerting Predictive Monitoring

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Q/A

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