Its been a long time since my last post here, I've been mainly tweeting which seems like a better option for those that aren't good in writing long texts (such as myself). Anyway, I was involved in a conversation which was kinda funny so I decided to post it here for everyone to enjoy.
Okay so, I decided to send out an email to a Greek IT company I discovered through a tweet one of the people I follow sent out yesterday. I knew that I wouldn't have to expect much but their website seemed nice and the employees looked (by looking at the site) like they are part of a team. So here it goes (the original conversation was in Greek, this is the English translation):
"Good morning Dears,
we have setup an application for sales and inventory management (megaventory.com). I think your clients that are involved in b2b may find it quite useful so, it might be worth looking at. If you think you can promote megaventory to your clients we can discuss how to proceed so both our companies will win (as well as your clients).
Thanks, Kostis"
This is what I got back from the CEO:
"Both your mail and the link to a page that just displays a login page do not convince me. You may have the best application in the world and my clients will find it useful but nevertheless you don't promote it appropriately.
Regards, Yiannis"
yes, I know... quite offensive for both me and our application. But I keep my nerves, after all its Saturday and I will fire up the BBQ in less than two hours! So, it continues from my part:
"Yiannis,
You are absolutely right! We have the best application in the world and your clients will indeed gain from using it. What do you suggest for a better promotion? Thanks, Kostis"
and I get back this:
"I suggest you hire us or other professionals to help you promote your application. I'll be happy to meet you and talk. Call me by this Monday at 210...., Yiannis"
okay, I thought this is it, this guy is finally worth crap, wants only to sell and can't see further than his nose.
Now, I am quite sure that IF the same mail was sent by another megaventory team member (and not by me, having a name that easily identifies me as Greek) the reply would be completely different and not so insulting (maybe also positive). I think it all goes back to the Greek mentality; we cannot admit the work of another Greek and we always have to say a bad word for it. This is happening for centuries and it won't stop in my case as well.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Startup thoughts
It's been almost a year since the public launch of megaventory and for the sake of it, I've been through lots of challenges and psychological ups and downs. I thought some of my experiences -from the seed idea until now- might be useful to someone that considers to launch a startup.
The seed idea
An idea can be triggered by anything. In our case the idea was born back in 2005 when looking for a way to synchronize stock levels between our suppliers and our shopping cart software. API functions were not an option simply because none of our suppliers was using any information system to control inventory; everything was on paper or in the mind of their warehouse guy. So, I went ahead and build a prototype web application but the harsh reality was that none of our suppliers was finally using it. Instead, they preferred doing business by the telephone even if that was taking much more time and created -inevitable- mistakes. This situation led the initial idea to failure (the initial idea apparently sucked) but it also led to a new idea and product redesign (started two years later in late 2007) with two things in mind: Design for dummies and build a clear product identity.
Getting to day zero
Always set deadlines. People tend to work harder towards the end of deadlines so break the time span in 3 to 4 realistic deadlines and try not to exceed them. For each one, ask the people working on the product if they are ok with it. If you get their ok they can't back off later or, if they do, you have a good excuse to bitch them. The final deadline should be the public product launch. Our deadlines went pretty much on schedule but it came out that designing for dummies was far more complex than designing for IT experts. Dummies need guidance in every part of an application, even in the most obvious parts of it. Dummies need a bug free application because they do the most weird and unthinkable operations. Dummies need the exact amount of information: Overload them and they short-circuit. On top of that we had to include product features so at least some parts of the supply chain logistics of a small business could be fulfilled (this is our product identity). And that is how we arrived in November 1st 2008 -our launch date- with a product that a) looked ok and b) didn't break upon first touch. The product identity was still not 100% there (clearly was not even 50% there) but I am a believer of the 'launch fast or die' approach. You can't get real user comments if you don't launch, you cannot debug/improve without comments from real users.
The funding
During the year we had two proposals for funding by angel investors. I do not live in the bay area but in EU, Greece, where VC funding doesn't exist, so I couldn't really turn down any proposal even if it didn't look promising. The angels were coming from my friends circle, they liked the idea, the SaaS model and the business plan and they wanted to be part of it. The problem was that they weren't actually angels but friends. On top of that, they didn't have the money on hand. Such situations usually end up in delaying the whole project until the money cashes in. Our case was worst: we finally got no cash. You can avoid that by signing some official documents but because the involved parties are friends -or family- this is obviously not a politically correct thing to do. So, beware of that, cash the money (or a big part of it) before you go into similar agreements, run away if you don't. In any case don't lose days waiting because you are a startup and you should be running against the clock. Last but not least, beware of startup events that ask you to pay upfront money to pitch and present your startup. After all you're the poor guy asking for funding. Better spend those money in advertising or product development.
The present
A year later megaventory has gone through numerous phases. We have managed -with bad marketing strategies- to subscribe more than 1000 beta users and retain around 15 active users/businesses. Among these clients there is a big one, that paid some money upfront for customization and business intelligence analytics. The money cashed in, so we had to focus on the features requested by this client. Such money can help in product development but can also drive the product identity in a different direction. This is a tough decision and it all depends on the money and opportunities that rise; maybe the product identity needs to change so as to focus on big clients instead of small ones. Always remember that the market defines the need for your product and startups don't have the resources to develop a product for two separate markets. If you ask us whether we succeed or not, we still cannot answer with a yes or no. We need, I assume, a year more to get the message. For sure, megaventory does not seem to scale as fast as anticipated in the initial business plan. We are still far from the break even point. However, we have a good clue -from the number of beta testers and our early adopters- that there is a clearly defined market space for us. So we choose to move on. After all entrepreneurship is really fun.
The seed idea
An idea can be triggered by anything. In our case the idea was born back in 2005 when looking for a way to synchronize stock levels between our suppliers and our shopping cart software. API functions were not an option simply because none of our suppliers was using any information system to control inventory; everything was on paper or in the mind of their warehouse guy. So, I went ahead and build a prototype web application but the harsh reality was that none of our suppliers was finally using it. Instead, they preferred doing business by the telephone even if that was taking much more time and created -inevitable- mistakes. This situation led the initial idea to failure (the initial idea apparently sucked) but it also led to a new idea and product redesign (started two years later in late 2007) with two things in mind: Design for dummies and build a clear product identity.
Getting to day zero
Always set deadlines. People tend to work harder towards the end of deadlines so break the time span in 3 to 4 realistic deadlines and try not to exceed them. For each one, ask the people working on the product if they are ok with it. If you get their ok they can't back off later or, if they do, you have a good excuse to bitch them. The final deadline should be the public product launch. Our deadlines went pretty much on schedule but it came out that designing for dummies was far more complex than designing for IT experts. Dummies need guidance in every part of an application, even in the most obvious parts of it. Dummies need a bug free application because they do the most weird and unthinkable operations. Dummies need the exact amount of information: Overload them and they short-circuit. On top of that we had to include product features so at least some parts of the supply chain logistics of a small business could be fulfilled (this is our product identity). And that is how we arrived in November 1st 2008 -our launch date- with a product that a) looked ok and b) didn't break upon first touch. The product identity was still not 100% there (clearly was not even 50% there) but I am a believer of the 'launch fast or die' approach. You can't get real user comments if you don't launch, you cannot debug/improve without comments from real users.
The funding
During the year we had two proposals for funding by angel investors. I do not live in the bay area but in EU, Greece, where VC funding doesn't exist, so I couldn't really turn down any proposal even if it didn't look promising. The angels were coming from my friends circle, they liked the idea, the SaaS model and the business plan and they wanted to be part of it. The problem was that they weren't actually angels but friends. On top of that, they didn't have the money on hand. Such situations usually end up in delaying the whole project until the money cashes in. Our case was worst: we finally got no cash. You can avoid that by signing some official documents but because the involved parties are friends -or family- this is obviously not a politically correct thing to do. So, beware of that, cash the money (or a big part of it) before you go into similar agreements, run away if you don't. In any case don't lose days waiting because you are a startup and you should be running against the clock. Last but not least, beware of startup events that ask you to pay upfront money to pitch and present your startup. After all you're the poor guy asking for funding. Better spend those money in advertising or product development.
The present
A year later megaventory has gone through numerous phases. We have managed -with bad marketing strategies- to subscribe more than 1000 beta users and retain around 15 active users/businesses. Among these clients there is a big one, that paid some money upfront for customization and business intelligence analytics. The money cashed in, so we had to focus on the features requested by this client. Such money can help in product development but can also drive the product identity in a different direction. This is a tough decision and it all depends on the money and opportunities that rise; maybe the product identity needs to change so as to focus on big clients instead of small ones. Always remember that the market defines the need for your product and startups don't have the resources to develop a product for two separate markets. If you ask us whether we succeed or not, we still cannot answer with a yes or no. We need, I assume, a year more to get the message. For sure, megaventory does not seem to scale as fast as anticipated in the initial business plan. We are still far from the break even point. However, we have a good clue -from the number of beta testers and our early adopters- that there is a clearly defined market space for us. So we choose to move on. After all entrepreneurship is really fun.
Monday, April 27, 2009
megaventory workload
I am now relaxing after finishing some -serious- megaventory workload over the past month. I have been working like a maniac getting to bed at 2 am and getting up at 7am. However, I really enjoyed it since, prior to this month, there were times when I felt like I lost my initial interest for my startup and thankfully -like it usually happens- I've found a very good reason to re-ignite my enthusiasm (I'll keep it to myself though :-).
Megaventory is now in version 0.96b and it seems that after quite a few upgrades people tent to like the improved inventory keeping application, since I started to get some really nice feedback about it (I feel quite happy and proud to be honest). We also installed an SSL certificate from Digicert -these guys know the meaning of "Customer Service"- and hopefully this add-on together with some new application features will help attracting more serious visitors to eventually using the online application.
So I'll be dedicating the forthcoming weeks to my family and my PhD degree.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
42,192m
Today, I had one of the best experiences in my life participating in the classic Marathon route in Greece. The classic Marathon route starts at the city of Marathon and ends in the Kallimarmaron stadium, in the center of Athens 42Km and 192 meters away.I decided to take part in this great event after a bet I placed one year back with some friends of mine over a dinner. This simple conversation was the cause of what followed: 8 months of physical training and a Marathon: An experience difficult to describe in words.
In the marathon you compete with yourself and the last 10 kilometers were really hell for me. My body was aching all over and my stomach refused to follow as I threw up twice.
I ended the Marathon in 4Hours, and 33 minutes and the moment I entered the crowded stadium was an extraordinary atmosphere. My sentiments exploded as I passed the finishing line hand-to-hand with a running mate that I met during the last 5 Km.
In the beginning I said to myself that I will not pass my body and mind through this test again! How dumb was I! After I got some rest and had a good dinner and can't wait to live this experience again next year!
I need to mention that finishing the marathon and writing this post wouldn't be possible if Nathalie was not standing next to me all the last year. Thanks for being there Nat!
What a day!!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Megaventory startup
Diveshop.gr has been a great success. In under four years the company became the largest retail distributor of diving equipment in Greece. The success came naturally as competitors were doing business the traditional "Greek" way and got taken aback by the level of organization, customer support and professionalism that diveshop.gr brought to the diving market sector. After four years, diveshop.gr business is setup and running more than well so I decided that it is time to leave my partners carry the torch, get away from the everyday fuss and focus on something fresh.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Let's start bloggin
Well, this is my first post, nothing special, just to inform the world that I am out there..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
