Iterating in a Startup
David CummingsAugust 8, 2009
Iterating is a key for startup success.
|0|
But how do you measure success?
|0|
Being a little crazy helps.
|0|
A good market and agile people are needed.
|0|
Iterating is natural and healthy.
|0|
Learning what doesn't work is critical.
|0|
Hannon Hill was started in late 2000.
|1|
SaaS is a great business model.
|1|
The only problem? We were a failure.
|1|
The market wasn't accepting of SaaS.
|1|
$30/month was expensive to prospects.
|1|
Customers needed significant help.
|1|
We had to change our business model.
|1|
Installed software seemed right.
|2|
Low sales weren't sustainable.
|2|
We finally got our big break in 2001.
|2|
It was time to build something new.
|2|
Changing directions was easy.
|2|
The next product was a fancy CMS.
|2|
We had no idea if we'd be successful.
|3|
There was no clear market leader.
|3|
Customer-driven development is best.
|3|
Eating your own dog food helps.
|3|
We launched and won an award.
|3|
A good product doesn't equal sales.
|3|
We only sold one license in 2003.
|3|
Learning to sell was our next step.
|3|
Cold calling seemed the most logical.
|4|
1,000 calls only resulted in four demos.
|4|
We needed a solid value proposition.
|4|
We needed reference customers.
|4|
We need name recognition.
|4|
Agencies seemed obvious next.
|4|
Agencies didn't work.
|4|
Agencies make money off their time.
|4|
PPC ads proved to be our next break.
|4|
Sales in 2004 pointed to higher ed.
|5|
Higher ed. needed our product.
|5|
We could manage multiple sites.
|5|
Our simple pricing was attractive.
|5|
Naturally we didn't plan it that way.
|5|
We were getting close to success.
|5|
In 2005, we went back to cold calling.
|5|
I was the sales engineer and manager.
|5|
Sales tripled and then doubled.
|5|
We're now one of the top vendors.
|5|
Success came down to a few things.
|5|
We never thought of giving up.
|5|
We made decisions quickly.
|5|
We loved our product and customers.
|5|
Iterating is critical for success.
|5|
Thank You Questions?