a web product playbook: technology

and business strategies

a four chapter presentation by Mike Subelsky @subelsky

links posted to http://subelsky.com

Prologue: Qualifications/unqualifications

• Beware the survivor bias
• More qualified by my failures than successes

Prologue: Disclaimer

• these are heuristics at best

Chapter I: Idea gardening

Tend an idea garden

• http://davetroy.com/posts/idea-gardening-a-primer

Keep a spark file

• https://medium.com/the-writers-room/8d6e7df7ae58

Pick something boring and unsexy

• Most interesting/urgent problems are B2B
• Fun beats sexy
• Hard/tedious == opportunity

Pick something where buyer == user

Pick something people have to purchase

• $$$ == feedback

Pick something where you're an expert

Chapter II: Getting started

Your main goal is to get feedback

• Is this opportuntiy worth the risk?
• Is it worth the opportunity cost?

Figure out your value hypothesis

• http://theleanstartup.com/principles

Figure out your growth hypothesis

• http://theleanstartup.com/principles

Do customer development first

• http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2008/11/what-is-customer-development.html

Build little/no software at first

• http://viniciusvacanti.com/2013/05/07/the-manual-first-startup/
• http://steveblank.com/2013/07/22/an-mvp-is-not-a-cheaper-product-its-about-smart-learning/

Make the simplest thing that could possibly work

• aka MVP
• aka "the 80% solution"

Don't make it look cool

• http://blog.asmartbear.com/design-important.html

Don't launch, avoid PR

• http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/03/dont-launch.html

Don't make people sign NDAs

• http://www.subelsky.com/2011/10/why-i-wont-sign-your-nda.html

Incorporate yourself, DIY

• Articles of Incorporation ==> bank account

• LLC Operating Agreement: http://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/llc-operating-agreement/

• Get a lawyer to clean up the mess later

Chapter III: Building your product

Make it modular from the beginning

• Rails Engines
• Private gems (gemfury)
• Open source as much as possible
• Lays the groundwork for SOA

Make nice tools for yourself

• Rails Admin/active_admin

Emphasize quality

• Expect zero-defects
• Fix all bugs
• Apply root-cause analysis
• BDD/TDD

Deploy continuously

• Avoid staging and QA
• http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/04/the_five_whys_for_startups.html

Document continuously

• README-driven development
• http://tom.preston-werner.com/2010/08/23/readme-driven-development.html

Treat the database as a fortress

• Constraints
• Triggers
• Views
• etc.

Don't build a JavaScript front-end

• tool chain not good enough
• give up too much control

Don't run servers

• Heroku, EngineYard, etc.
• Mailgun, Papertrail, Redis-to-Go, etc.

Chapter IV: Getting resources

This is the essence of entrepreneurship

• "Give me something I'm not entitled to, on paper"

• Saras Sarasvathy's talk at TEDxMidAtlantic

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5HZW4NqZ-E

Very tough to find a cofounder

• Technical AND nontechnical

Teach yourself to code

• http://blog.scottmessinger.com/

Hard to find good programmers

• http://sivers.org/how2hire

If contracting out, try lots of people

Start building your network early

Be generous

Become a community leader

• Start blogging
• Find or build a community
• Crush It book

Get advisors & give 'em equity

• FAST agreement: http://fi.co/contents/206

Delay fundraising as long as possible

• Huge distraction

Layers of funding/involvement

• Friends & family
• Seed investors (angels/incubators)
• Institutional investors (A round)

Investors love 1 of 2 things

• Cool idea <= 1/10
• Compelling numbers <= 9/10

Epilogue: More Resources

• Books
  • Lean Startup book
  • Personal MBA book
  • Founder's Dilemma
• http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/11/are-you-in-a-startup-career-path-or-are-you-one-and-done.html
• http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/03/codified-advice.html

Questions? Advice?

• [email protected]

I am happy to meet you for coffee to discuss your business/idea!

Presentation software courtesy of: https://github.com/sotte/presenting.vim