Startups 101: Creating Your Own Business

Andy Harris, Harvard ’14Scott Crouch, Harvard ‘13

Saturday, July 16, 2011

• Developing a Business Idea- Software Startups

• Creating a Winning Website • Validating your Business• Technical Debt

DEVELOPING YOUR IDEA

Solve a Problem

Opportunities vs. Ideas

Better/Cheaper/Faster

Your Audience

Some Business Terms:

B2B – Business to Business

B2C – Business to Consumer

Your Market

• Do Market Research!

• Size Your Market

• Saturated Market! Use it to your advantage

Software Business Models

What Is it?

CREATING A WINNING WEBSITE

• Navigation

• Make Your Site Dynamic!

• One Column Layout

• Create and nurture a bond with your customers!

• Present concise product information that no consumer can deny is desirable

• Give the consumer a compliment and use statements that they can easily appreciate and support

• Testimonials, Endorsements and Referrals

• Comparisons

• Make a Promise to your Customer

TESTING AND VALIDATING YOUR IDEA

Goal: Test the viability of your business without major development costs.

Method: Trick the user…

• Entice the user

• Act like the product already exists.

• Pictures!

• Forms, FAQ and Contact Us.

• NO PRICES

• Now it’s time to be honest!

• Talk about your product and how it is a work in progress.

• Include a submit form to get their feedback and to answer any of their questions

• Discounts

• Create a control

• Play with different strategies, and pricing

• Change your marketing approaches and see which ones work

• Signups are higher for B2C

• Upgrades are higher for B2B

• Aspirational services will have higher conversion rates

• Things to think about: free trials, requiring billing information at signup

• Onboarding

• Does using a third party sign-in (Facebook Connect, etc.) help/hurt conversion rates.

• Should you offer multiple sign-in options.

• Does asking for more info after login hurt conversion rates?

• PayPal/Other Third Party Payment Systems -> Lower Purchase Rate

• Browsers vs. Searchers? Who is buying

• Accounts?

• Entering via homepage or individual deal?

• Be very careful with your UX (User Experience)! Does cloning Groupon help or hurt?

• Display previous deals?

Smart vs. Cheap and Quick