1. Directions Conference 2010 Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske Red River College / Babylolly.com Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
2. About Me Kyle Geske Born and Raised in Pegcity (Fort Rouge) Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
3. Graduation Class of 2000 Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
8. BabyLolly.com is… A babybook for parents to share their baby's life with close friendsand family. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
9. BabyLolly.com is… A private social networkused to share photos, journals, videos. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
10. BabyLolly.com Brainstorming started in July of 2007. We launched in March 2009. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
11. BabyLolly.com - Fall 2007 Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
12. BabyLolly.com - Now Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Press
13. BabyLolly.com - Press Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Journey
14. It’s Been a Journey Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: You
15. Let’s Talk About You Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
17. Full of Great Ideas? Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
18. If you build it they will come Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
19. It’s Not That Easy What?!?! Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Steps to Success
20. Steps to Startup Success? Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 ->
21. Steps to Success - #1 Find Your Niche Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
22. Steps to Success - #2 Develop a Minimum Viable Product; Iterate. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
23. Steps to Success - #3 Market the Frack out of Your Site Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
24. Steps to Success - #4 Go Viral; User Driven Marketing Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
25. Steps to Success - #5 Compete Fiercely Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
26. Steps to Success - #6 Profit! Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Step 1 Niche
27. Step 1: Finding Your Niche Be Narrow Be Different Be Casual Attribution: Evan Williams Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
28. Niche: Be Narrow Focus on the smallest useful problem you can solve. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
31. BabyLolly Feature Usage Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Narrow Sites?
32. Twitter is Narrow What are you doing right now in 140 characters or less? That’s it. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
33. Niche: Be Casual Fit in with our busy lives without requiring a lot of commitment. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
34. Niche: Be Different Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
35. Be Different Scientifically The Google Keyword Tool See Advertiser Competition Based on Keywords Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
36. Be Different: Cheese Searching for Organic Cheese Look, a “Cheese Drink” niche market! Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Step 2 Development
37. Step 2: Development Find Business Partners with Complimentary Skill Sets. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
41. Business Administration: Marketing, Accounting, Securing FundsLaunching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Minimum Viable Product
42. Minimum Viable Product The minimum set of features needed to learn from early adopters. Attribution: Eric Ries Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
43. Your First Minimum Product Build a single webpage brochure for your site, nothing else. Include a “sign up” or “buy now” button. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
44. Smoke Test Example Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
45. Buy Some Ads Drive traffic to your smoke test webpage with online advertising. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
46. Minimum Product Tracking Track how many people click on the ads, and how many continue on to click the buy/sign-up button. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
47. Gather Emails Ask everyone who clicks on your buy/sign-up button for their email address. These people will be your early adopters. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
48. Is the Product Viable? If your ad click-through rates are high, and you’ve gather a large number of emails (1000s) you should proceed. The next step is to survey the users who provided you with emails. Allow them to drive the next version of your product. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
49. BabyLolly MVP How many parents did we consult about our product before we began our development? Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
52. Parents Consulted Okay, maybe one or two, but still… Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Step 3 Marketing
53. Step 3: Marketing Get Noticed. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
54. User Acquisition Cost to acquire vs. Lifetime Value of Customer A profitable business model Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
55. BabyLolly Marketing Facebook Advertising Targeted by location: Canada, USA, UK Targeted by profile keywords: baby, mother, father, parent Statistics for March 2009 Impressions: 3,050,533 Clicks: 623 Click Rate: 0.02% Cost per Click: $0.24 USD Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
56. BabyLolly Marketing Google AdWords Advertising Targeted by: Language and Keyword Statistics for March 2009 Impressions: 1,119,016 Clicks: 692 Click Rate: 0.06% Average Cost per Click: $0.37 USD Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
57. BabyLolly Cost to Acquire Google Statistics for March 2009 Impressions: 1,119,016 Clicks: 692 Average Cost per Click: $0.38 USD Sign-Ups from Google Ads: 54 Cost to Acquire One User:$4.87 USD Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Step 4 Viral
58. Step 4: Go Viral Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for staggering message exposure and influence. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
59. Memes Internet Meme: Catchphrase, video or image that spreads rapidly from person to person via email, IM, social networks, etc. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
62. Meow Reader Stats Unique Visitors After One Month: 7,9167 Unique Vistors After One Year: 11,601 Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
63. Viral Marketing User driven marketing allows your users to market on your behalf. http://tellafriend.socialtwist.com/ Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Invites
65. Viral Growth Factor Viral Growth Factor = U * I * A U = % of users who invite other people I = average # of people that they invite A = % of user who accepted an invitation Example:U=40% I=12 A=30% VGF = 40% * 12 * 30% = 1.44 Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
66. Viral Growth Factor A VGF greater than one means organic exponential growth. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: Step 5 Compete
67. Step 5: Compete Fiercely Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
68. Don’t Worry Every online business will eventually have competitors. Why worry about the inevitable? Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
69. Don’t Overvalue Ideas There’s a reason we patent processes and not ideas. It’s the execution that matters. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010
76. Monetize Early The quickest way to test if you have a viable product is to charge for it. Launching Your First Web Startup Kyle Geske – Directions 2010 Next: BabyLolly Wrap up
