hip snip pw bcs presentation

Phil Woodward – [email protected] – @WoodyPNR

Phil Woodward

Founder & CEO, HipSnip

[email protected]

@WoodyPNR

shopping questions, answered


My Background and HipSnip

How HipSnip got to where it is in web and mobile

The relationship between web and mobile

What’s the difference? Mobile web versus mobile app.

Is mobile-first right for you?

Key considerations and challenges.

Getting your app (/business) funded

My experience and the consumer app challenge...

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Background & experience

Phil Woodward

Founder, CEO

HipSnip

• 5 years strategy consultant

• Co-founded HipSnip in 2010

• Start-up Leadership Program

• Springboard London 2012

• Two angel rounds for HipSnip

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Mobile app Web app

Ask a question, get advice. On the web, or a mobile device.

My business: HipSnip

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...can take time

Designing the proposition

Late 2010 / early 2011 – lots of pivots all mobile focused:

1. product registration app, 2. mobile marketing tool, 3. mobile

shopping notepad, 4. social shopping advice app

June 2011 – won Ericsson Application Awards

mobile shopping app to get advice on what to buy from experts

1st July 2011 – closed funding

redesigned HipSnip as desktop web and mobile app

April 2012 – Springboard 2012. Focus on B2B2C

August 2012 – closed 2nd seed round

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...from a technical viewpoint ...with many different screen sizes

There is only one Web...

Small Big

• Phones

• Tablets (7” and 10”)

• Laptops / desktops

• TV

A question over User Interface – different ways of displaying

information and site interactions

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Relationship centred on occasion, functionality and content

creation

Where & how is different

Where / when

is it used?

How is it used

for?

What are they

creating (or

doing)?

Mobility drives more

occasions for use

Use sensors &

capabilities

Increased browsing

convenience

Different device types

optimal for different

types of content

creation

anywhere

most

fast &

simple

work/home

least

longer &

complex

Mobile Tablet Desktop

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home, couch

research purchase


Six differences to factor into your development process

Native or Web? Differences:

Issue Native app Mobile web

Distribution App store No app store...

Monetisation App store

Ad platforms

No app store...

Ad platforms, other

User interface Native feel... Can be similar to

native (not WP7...)

Capabilities Access all the

phone’s features

Limited access (for

now)

Development Own dev process,

SDK and language

Web: HTML5, CSS3

etc

Versioning Requires upgrade All users on same v.

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A number of key commercial questions to ask yourself in choosing

mobile web vs. native app

Native or Web? Questions:

• What distribution channels are you using?

• What monetisation options are there?

• Do you require full device feature access?

• What range of mobile devices do you need to target?

• How important is native performance to the app?

• What is the budget?

• What are your personal technical capabilities?

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Broad marketing outreach

vs. distribution

Native mobile app

Distribution

Mobile web app

Marketing outreach

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Consumer app considerations

Commercials

What will drive your KPI’s,

desktop or mobile?

e.g. Pinterest (content creation)

Is mobile distribution best for

your business?

Single channel: Apple, Android,

WP7 vs. multiple desktop options:

PPC, social, SEO, partnerships...

Is mobile monetisation easiest?

Mobile revenue below desktop:

CPM/CPC ads, affiliate etc

Proposition

What is the problem you are

solving?

i.e. Where does mobile fit?

Is your application Native to

mobile?

e.g. Instragram, Foursquare

Is your application better or

differentiated on mobile?

e.g. Fitness / Diet apps, Path

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When your app is not native to mobile, 2-3 UI’s may be needed, or

a responsive design. Both are difficult!!

Multiple UI challenges

Mobile / Tablet / Desktop

(iOS / Android / WP7 etc)

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e.g. Trello

...but different native UI

Multiple UI Or responsive design


Our approach at HipSnip

First design:

Mobile user interface (Android and web app)

Immediately post 1st round:

Redesigned the site using the app as a starting point for dual desktop / mobile

web application

Immediately post 2nd round:

Now doing second major UI iteration, designing desktop first, mobile second

(we’re now better at product development)

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Our funding history

Seed round 1

Pre-product (Android app built, but thrown out day 1 post funding)

All about the Team

Seed round 2

Pre-revenue, but with well developed sales pipeline (the demand

from business was proven)

Team, Traction and Technology

Next round – growth...

Traction, Team, Market Potential, Technology

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“Ten million users is the new one million users” – C. Dixon, Aug ‘12

The consumer app challenge

- 1000s of early stage consumer co’s funded in last 24 months

- Only a few dozen VC’s fund early stage consumer

- Facebook shares have roughly halved

- Some consumer hits hitting >10M users in record time

- Internet users have choice of thousands of apps

“If you are thinking of starting a non-transactional

consumer startup, be aware that you are entering

what is perhaps the most competitive sector in

tech in the last decade.” 17

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A few insights from Tradedoubler Connect 2012

m-commerce insights

71% research on mobile (once a month)

56% purchase on mobile at least once per month

• iphone: 55% research weekly, 21% purchase weekly

• Android: 30% research weekly, 11% purchase weekly

• Blackberry: 26% research weekly, 8% purchase

• Tablets: 50% research weekly, 42% purchase

• Average order ~€100 on mobile vs ~€250 on tablet

Tablet is mainly an at home, on couch device.

50% of smartphone users found purchasing a frustrating experience

63% use mobile at home, 31% at work, despite access to other devices

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Phil Woodward

[email protected]

@WoodyPNR

Get in touch

always happy to help