selfmadebm
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I'd like to start a progress thread about a software business I am starting, and my goal to take it from $0k to $10k in 365 days, starting now (Sept 9th).
Who Am I?
My name is Dave. I'm 26 years old, and have been doing internet marketing for 2 years. My main activities and businesses over the last year have primarily been:
Backpacking with my girlfriend across Asia and Europe (30 countries, 21 months)
Running a network of websites, on which I sold links. For awhile, that was a 5 figure a month business (but has since dropped off dramatically).
In June of this year I started a software company with two other guys who I met on the internet. They live in Europe (London, Moldova), and I an currently in Boston.
I love startups, marketing, and business. I have been a fastlane forum lurker for a few months now and posted a few threads, but just recently joined the INSIDERS.
Why Have I Started This Thread?
Lately I have been feeling the entrepreneurial rollercoaster ride that accompanies a major undertaking. For me this is by far the biggest professional undertaking I have ever done - ever.
I have also noticed that it is difficult to find full on case studies where businesses chronicle major milestones pre and post launch, additionally with the founder's perspective. I really want this record not only for myself to look back on, but also for others to benefit from. This is the most unique professional experience I have to offer, so it makes sense to put it out there if others are interested.
I plan on updating this monthly.
My primary goals are:
-Chronicle my experiences so that I have a complete record
-Get feedback from more experienced entrepreneurs, at various stages of the business
-Hold myself accountable on any goals
-Have fun, interact with more people, benefit someone
Why 10k/month?
Mostly it just sounds like a nice number.
It is also very doable, it's 100 customers paying you $100/month (of course you will have to get more than that to account for churn, but that's the gist of it). I feel if we cannot achieve this in one year, then we really have not found product to market fit, or are failing hard with our marketing.
What is the business, and why did I choose it?
The product is called ninjaoutreach (ninjaoutreach.com). It is a blogger outreach software. If you are familiar in this space you might know products like BuzzStream, InkyBee, and GroupHigh.
I chose it because I am a blogger myself and there is an element of "scratch your own itch" in that I typically do outreach for my posts and struggle to find the right people to contact as well as collect the necessary information to find the right people. I have used the competitor's products and they all felt incomplete to me, either lacking in prospecting, outreach (CRM), and/or analytics.
The target market is
-Digital marketing agencies and SEOs who work with SMBs, that want to increase their brand online
-Bloggers who invest in their blog and do content marketing
-Small businesses who want to do their own outreach marketing
How is it different from the competitors?
Because this is not a new market and the demand has been defined, we have focused primarily on the product, and building a "better" one, which means more features.
Some of the competitors are not a CRM, meaning you cannot message people from the tool
Some have very limited prospecting capabilities i.e they show you less data and there is less you can do with it (filtering, sorting, etc)
Basically none of them have really built in analytics, where you can measure the results of campaigns you run
How much capital have we invested?
In total we have invested about $13k between the three of us, and of course time. This has primarily gone to some development, designs, and virtual assistants. We have not received any funding, nor have we applied for any/asked.
How are we marketing it?
Because we are in the development stages my goals have been to build the marketing materials, come up with a marketing strategy, and talk/connect with as many people in the target market as possible.
Some of the main activities have been
-Messaging SEOs on linkedin to solicit feedback and phone calls
-Direct email marketing to companies and individuals
-Networking with bloggers in the target market
-Leveraging my existing audience
-Submitting to startup directories
-Getting on the phone with potential customers, people from sohelpful, and from the DC
-Content marketing on the website
After launch we will probably switch to
-Guest posting
-Podcast appearances
-Giveaways/competitions
-In office demos
-Attending conferences
Where are we at, now?
Our email list is about 200 people.
We have a website that gets around 40 unique visitors a day.
I have spoken on the phone with probably 20 people.
We predict about one month until launch.
What struggles are we facing?
The product is taking some time to develop, longer than we expected, we are probably a month delayed.
Connecting with people in the target market, pre launch (using cold methods like calling and emailing) has a pretty low success rate and hasn't been super scaleable.
Trying to understand "where we are at" and just getting an honest assessment of how things are going, and what trajectory we are on, with my limited experience, seems impossible.
Balancing good days and bad days emotionally.
So that's it, happy to answer any questions, and will be continuing to update this as we go!
I can be reached via the following
personal blog - selfmadebusinessman.com
skype - david.schneider8
email - [email protected]
Who Am I?
My name is Dave. I'm 26 years old, and have been doing internet marketing for 2 years. My main activities and businesses over the last year have primarily been:
Backpacking with my girlfriend across Asia and Europe (30 countries, 21 months)
Running a network of websites, on which I sold links. For awhile, that was a 5 figure a month business (but has since dropped off dramatically).
In June of this year I started a software company with two other guys who I met on the internet. They live in Europe (London, Moldova), and I an currently in Boston.
I love startups, marketing, and business. I have been a fastlane forum lurker for a few months now and posted a few threads, but just recently joined the INSIDERS.
Why Have I Started This Thread?
Lately I have been feeling the entrepreneurial rollercoaster ride that accompanies a major undertaking. For me this is by far the biggest professional undertaking I have ever done - ever.
I have also noticed that it is difficult to find full on case studies where businesses chronicle major milestones pre and post launch, additionally with the founder's perspective. I really want this record not only for myself to look back on, but also for others to benefit from. This is the most unique professional experience I have to offer, so it makes sense to put it out there if others are interested.
I plan on updating this monthly.
My primary goals are:
-Chronicle my experiences so that I have a complete record
-Get feedback from more experienced entrepreneurs, at various stages of the business
-Hold myself accountable on any goals
-Have fun, interact with more people, benefit someone
Why 10k/month?
Mostly it just sounds like a nice number.
It is also very doable, it's 100 customers paying you $100/month (of course you will have to get more than that to account for churn, but that's the gist of it). I feel if we cannot achieve this in one year, then we really have not found product to market fit, or are failing hard with our marketing.
What is the business, and why did I choose it?
The product is called ninjaoutreach (ninjaoutreach.com). It is a blogger outreach software. If you are familiar in this space you might know products like BuzzStream, InkyBee, and GroupHigh.
I chose it because I am a blogger myself and there is an element of "scratch your own itch" in that I typically do outreach for my posts and struggle to find the right people to contact as well as collect the necessary information to find the right people. I have used the competitor's products and they all felt incomplete to me, either lacking in prospecting, outreach (CRM), and/or analytics.
The target market is
-Digital marketing agencies and SEOs who work with SMBs, that want to increase their brand online
-Bloggers who invest in their blog and do content marketing
-Small businesses who want to do their own outreach marketing
How is it different from the competitors?
Because this is not a new market and the demand has been defined, we have focused primarily on the product, and building a "better" one, which means more features.
Some of the competitors are not a CRM, meaning you cannot message people from the tool
Some have very limited prospecting capabilities i.e they show you less data and there is less you can do with it (filtering, sorting, etc)
Basically none of them have really built in analytics, where you can measure the results of campaigns you run
How much capital have we invested?
In total we have invested about $13k between the three of us, and of course time. This has primarily gone to some development, designs, and virtual assistants. We have not received any funding, nor have we applied for any/asked.
How are we marketing it?
Because we are in the development stages my goals have been to build the marketing materials, come up with a marketing strategy, and talk/connect with as many people in the target market as possible.
Some of the main activities have been
-Messaging SEOs on linkedin to solicit feedback and phone calls
-Direct email marketing to companies and individuals
-Networking with bloggers in the target market
-Leveraging my existing audience
-Submitting to startup directories
-Getting on the phone with potential customers, people from sohelpful, and from the DC
-Content marketing on the website
After launch we will probably switch to
-Guest posting
-Podcast appearances
-Giveaways/competitions
-In office demos
-Attending conferences
Where are we at, now?
Our email list is about 200 people.
We have a website that gets around 40 unique visitors a day.
I have spoken on the phone with probably 20 people.
We predict about one month until launch.
What struggles are we facing?
The product is taking some time to develop, longer than we expected, we are probably a month delayed.
Connecting with people in the target market, pre launch (using cold methods like calling and emailing) has a pretty low success rate and hasn't been super scaleable.
Trying to understand "where we are at" and just getting an honest assessment of how things are going, and what trajectory we are on, with my limited experience, seems impossible.
Balancing good days and bad days emotionally.
So that's it, happy to answer any questions, and will be continuing to update this as we go!
I can be reached via the following
personal blog - selfmadebusinessman.com
skype - david.schneider8
email - [email protected]
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