CELEBRATING FAILUREHow to not make an app at an ad agency

The question of the day/year/era:Can ad agencies make products?

We tried. We failed.Then we kind of succeeded.

We learned more than 5 things. But here are 5.

1. Ad agencies were created

to serve clients’ needs, not their own.

2.The development process should not resemble

a Hieronymus Bosch painting.

Torture testing by multiple layers. Fighting for resources.

Answering too many masters.Competing with real clients for time, effort.

3.A startup is not a 9-5 job.

It’s definitely not a 9-10:30 every other day kind of job.

4.You can’t develop an app without developer buy-in.

5.Marketing: Stop writing checks

that Dev can’t cash.

We had t-shirt designs before we had any code.

t-shirt image

So, progress was slooooooooow.We lost momentum.

But then, we changed our approach.

Partnered with an outside resource.

Devoted a solid week to development.

Took the entire team off-site, focused.

Sprinted to the finish line.

And shipped a product.