Whos to blame? The CTO or the CMO?

[Jessejalore]

So i started working for a new dating app that needed help launching a sugar daddies dating app in Switzerland. Now Sugar daddy dating is a very niche service so you cannot advertise on Facebook and Instagram. You have to find very smart worded methods and ways to promote it. Nethertheless We managed to get thousands of registrations. In the month of April alone i did 2.4 million impressions and 19,000 web clicks for a cost of 3000 swiss franks.
However there was some complications. Our CTO had not integrated a payment system so there was no way for us to make any money. Secondly and most vitaly our CTO had made the verification process 23 pages long. The 23 page verification took 30 whole mins to complete. Tinder has a 6 page verification process which takes 5 mins. Our verification process was so long that we lost 90% of users who registered.
Knowing this, who is to blame for the failed launch of the sugar daddies dating app?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

The CEO.

 

[eliquid]

So i started working for a new dating app that needed help launching a sugar daddies dating app in Switzerland. Now Sugar daddy dating is a very niche service so you cannot advertise on Facebook and Instagram. You have to find very smart worded methods and ways to promote it. Nethertheless We managed to get thousands of registrations. In the month of April alone i did 2.4 million impressions and 19,000 web clicks for a cost of 3000 swiss franks.
However there was some complications. Our CTO had not integrated a payment system so there was no way for us to make any money. Secondly and most vitaly our CTO had made the verification process 23 pages long. The 23 page verification took 30 whole mins to complete. Tinder has a 6 page verification process which takes 5 mins. Our verification process was so long that we lost 90% of users who registered.
Knowing this, who is to blame for the failed launch of the sugar daddies dating app?

Everyone is at fault.

There was no checks and balances.

As a digital marketer, I never run a campaign unless I know the bottom line of the goals for it and Ive ran through it to make sure they are there too.

Like checking to make sure a payment system works, before I run traffic to the pages. Or checking for issues like 23 pages of verification.

If you are hired in as a CMO or CTO, this is basically like.. your job to check this and own this.

 

[Jessejalore]

Everyone is at fault.

There was no checks and balances.

As a digital marketer, I never run a campaign unless I know the bottom line of the goals for it and Ive ran through it to make sure they are there too.

Like checking to make sure a payment system works, before I run traffic to the pages. Or checking for issues like 23 pages of verification.

If you are hired in as a CMO or CTO, this is basically like.. your job to check this and own this.

I was told that the payment system works, that was one of the first things i did

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jessejalore]

Everyone is at fault.

There was no checks and balances.

As a digital marketer, I never run a campaign unless I know the bottom line of the goals for it and Ive ran through it to make sure they are there too.

Like checking to make sure a payment system works, before I run traffic to the pages. Or checking for issues like 23 pages of verification.

If you are hired in as a CMO or CTO, this is basically like.. your job to check this and own this.

I was told the payment system works just like i was told that the app was completed

 

[John Clancy]

So i started working for a new dating app that needed help launching a sugar daddies dating app in Switzerland. Now Sugar daddy dating is a very niche service so you cannot advertise on Facebook and Instagram. You have to find very smart worded methods and ways to promote it. Nethertheless We managed to get thousands of registrations. In the month of April alone i did 2.4 million impressions and 19,000 web clicks for a cost of 3000 swiss franks.
However there was some complications. Our CTO had not integrated a payment system so there was no way for us to make any money. Secondly and most vitaly our CTO had made the verification process 23 pages long. The 23 page verification took 30 whole mins to complete. Tinder has a 6 page verification process which takes 5 mins. Our verification process was so long that we lost 90% of users who registered.
Knowing this, who is to blame for the failed launch of the sugar daddies dating app?

It's a matter of perspective.

If you're looking for reasons to blame someone else, you'll find them.

And if you're looking for ways to grow, you'll find those too.

---

"It is the CTO's responsibility to create a product that works. If something breaks, if it's buggy, if we can't accept payments, if the sign up takes 30 mins, or if it crashes with 100 simultaneous users, that's their problem."

"The CEO is ultimately responsible for everything that happens at their company. If the CTO has created a product that doesn't work as required, the CEO needs to take ownership of the situation. They didn't write the code, but they're leading the team - so, they have to step up."

"The CMO is responsible for ensuring that the product they're marketing works as expected. While they didn't build the product, it's their professional duty to ensure zero waste in the marketing budget. Driving sign ups for a product that doesn't work? Incredibly wasteful."

Which of the above do you agree with? All of them? None of them? Or one of them?

They're all true. It's just a matter of perspective.

---

It may not be your fault that the launch failed. But it's your responsibility to figure out how you can help the business to move forward & how you can avoid similar situations in the future.

The fact that @eliquid takes the time to verify these things himself makes him a better, more valuable digital marketer.

The fact that @Andy Black sees this as the CEO's problem indicates that he's thinking like an owner... which is a critical mindset to have.

---

Whatever else you do, consider the following:

1. What have you learned from this situation?
2. What will you do differently in the future to avoid it happening again?

Experiences come and go. But it's only by engaging with them and extracting every drop of educational juice from them that we can develop into the entrepreneurs, leaders, and people we can be.

 

[Andy Black]

A boss got tired of all the finger pointing in meetings.

Whenever the blame game started he’d pull a note out of his drawer and show everyone.

It said:

“It’s my fault.”

Then he’d get everyone to focus on fixing the problem.

(It never said in the story but I can only assume the boss also asked for a root cause analysis and a plan so it didn’t happen again. And made someone responsible for implementing it, by a certain date. And to provide an update in the next meeting.)

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[eliquid]

I was told that the payment system works, that was one of the first things i did

I was told the payment system works just like i was told that the app was completed

I understand where you are coming from.

But being told something, and knowing something are completely different.

In life, do you want to be told something and believe it "as-is", or actually know it?

When it comes to my job/business/life/money, etc... I'd rather know it than be told it, regardless of who told me.

When I was young, I was told I would be taken care of in retirement with social security and if I worked a job for 40 years and got a pension.

That's not a good choice in life...I'd rather know I'd be taken care of with my own choices and things I put in place than trust what someone told me 30 years ago and hope they were right.

Know what I mean?

Bottom line, if you care about something.. you're gonna want to naturally "know it" instead of just hoping someone told you the right thing.