Iterating in a Startup

David CummingsAugust 8, 2009

Iterating is a key for startup success.

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But how do you measure success?

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Being a little crazy helps.

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A good market and agile people are needed.

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Iterating is natural and healthy.

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Learning what doesn't work is critical.

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Hannon Hill was started in late 2000.

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SaaS is a great business model.

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The only problem? We were a failure.

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The market wasn't accepting of SaaS.

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$30/month was expensive to prospects.

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Customers needed significant help.

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We had to change our business model.

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Installed software seemed right.

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Low sales weren't sustainable.

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We finally got our big break in 2001.

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It was time to build something new.

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Changing directions was easy.

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The next product was a fancy CMS.

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We had no idea if we'd be successful.

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There was no clear market leader.

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Customer-driven development is best.

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Eating your own dog food helps.

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We launched and won an award.

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A good product doesn't equal sales.

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We only sold one license in 2003.

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Learning to sell was our next step.

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Cold calling seemed the most logical.

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1,000 calls only resulted in four demos.

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We needed a solid value proposition.

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We needed reference customers.

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We need name recognition.

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Agencies seemed obvious next.

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Agencies didn't work.

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Agencies make money off their time.

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PPC ads proved to be our next break.

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Sales in 2004 pointed to higher ed.

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Higher ed. needed our product.

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We could manage multiple sites.

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Our simple pricing was attractive.

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Naturally we didn't plan it that way.

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We were getting close to success.

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In 2005, we went back to cold calling.

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I was the sales engineer and manager.

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Sales tripled and then doubled.

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We're now one of the top vendors.

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Success came down to a few things.

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We never thought of giving up.

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We made decisions quickly.

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We loved our product and customers.

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Iterating is critical for success.

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Thank You Questions?