
I need your advice! Startup Failing. Should I simply release the product? - juwo
http://juwo-works.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-need-your-advice-startup-failing.html
======
jwecker
I went to juwo.com when you first posted here and thought "huh, that's kind of
funny that there's nowhere where you can actually use the product..." You're
competition is going to have a chance to copy your ideas at some point or
another anyway- it's a simple fact of business- even if you do have a patent.
And no amount of miraculous outside funding will help that. Take a risk [
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/01/death_by_riskav.html
].

Get the product into as many people's hands as quickly as possible, as
massively as possible. If there's a chance that some hacker is willing to do
some of the work to make it work with other media formats, then for heaven's
sake open source the product (or part of it like pg said). What do you have to
lose? You're product is more than just a list of features. Believe it or not,
many people will not do a point-by-point comparison of your product with other
products- there's the coolness factor, loyalty to you and your company, the
subtle touches of your product, the way you support it and it's users, the
vision you have of how it can be used to enrich someone's life, how frequently
you respond and update it, etc. etc.

None of that will matter if no one is using it. Start a following. It may fail
either way- that's got to be part of the reason you still have a day job, but
it has absolutely no chance of success if no one is using it and spreading the
word about it.

~~~
juwo
jwecker: I had a demo page up that I took down upon other people's advice. I
just returned from an enterpreneur meeting here in Kansas City and a wise man
with 6 startups under his belt told me when I said I am considering giving it
away, "Dont give it away because then it's gone".

But then contrast it with, "Cast your bread upon the waters and after many
days, they shall return to you".

~~~
jwecker
I don't understand his logic. It's catchy, but it means nothing. The only time
that would make sense if there is a very small finite market for your product-
for example- if there are only 50 people on the planet who will pay for your
product and there's a reasonable chance they'll know where to find it, then
yah, don't give it away. When is that ever true, though? When you sell nuclear
submarine technology to 1st world governments? It sounds like you've put a lot
of sweat and guts into this. I would suggest you read
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php (it applies even if yours isn't a web
app) and Crossing the Chasm http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060517123
which goes into the mechanics of your market. If you took down the demo
because it made your product look bad because it was incomplete, complete a
smaller subset. If you took it down because someone said someone would steal
your idea, welcome to startups- know that they'll steal it and move on and do
it better.

~~~
juwo
I really appreciate the advice from you all. To those who posted on this page,
I can send you the demos, an executive summary and competitive matrix - if you
are interested. IMHO juwo is a useful everyday tool. However, you would have
to give me your word that (sorry, I dont know how to put it diplomatically)
you will not rip off any new ideas. In return, perhaps, I can share a
percentage of any profit from juwo - for a certain time eg. 1 year with those
who will help out with concrete help. There is a lot of money in it if it
catches on. Think of youtube using it for their audio/video. Feel free to
email me anil AT juwo DOT com. thanks, Anil Philip

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bootload
Releasing new software products to a market and being successful may seem to
be timing, luck or good marketing? But the pro's know better and know there is
more to it than that. The answer to your question is not as cut and dry as you
think.

ASSUMPTION?: I'm assuming your product is a shrink wrapped binary to be
released to one operating system for single users (from what I've read on your
product).

COMMUNICATION: I cannot really view your software, but it looks like its a
binary application. Unlike its web counterparts, your audience cannot simply
use your software. This is by far the biggest hurdle. If your audience cannot
use or see your software they will judge (rightly or wrongly) by what
information you offer. Do you show on your website, blog or other forms of
communication the following?

* product summary?: simple sentence explaining problem solved

* why better/product comparison: how is your product than competitor(s)?

* features: list of things the software does

* scenario: small stories of how certain problems are solved

* images: screenshots of major forms

* blog: meta behind the scene view of product (my favourite as you can really guage the product process) & how real users solve their problems (hopefully with your software)?

* forums: what problems people are having

* price: what is the price of your software? No price, even if its alpha still give a hint 

DELIVERY: Are you going to have your software on your website? Or are you
going to look for the best couple of sites that offer downloads for new &
categorised binary software like Tucows or Cnet.com? The ranking and
categorising of products make it easier for users to find new & interesting
software and also makes it easier for developers to find their markets. From
here you can work out important things like pricing, feature matching etc.

'... Your first set of problems revolve more around business & distribution
than software and engineering. ...'

CONCLUSION: Notice I've not added any development problems here (release
planning, defect processes, etc ...) Your first set of problems revolve more
around business & distribution than software and engineering. Since you have
invested time & money and you want to protect your investment consider the
following. Go back to marketing 101.

Invest the time (not money) to see how you can improve the communication of
your product on your site. Then concentrate on placing your product with Cnet.
At the same time maintain your job (and income) & improve the existing code
but not new features.

There are other alternatives, explore those. I do not suggest you open source
the product. If you have created a site that communicates the benefits of the
product. Found a way to deliver the product to consumers. Then you can work on
selling. This is going to take longer than you probably think.

~~~
juwo
It is not shrink wrapped, it is via viral distribution via web. if you would
like to run a demo, please read my reply to jwecker an do contact me. (sorry
for the repeat posts, but there doesnt seem to be email notifications or even
highlighting of new posts).

~~~
bootload
thx, I'll get back to this as soon as I can.

~~~
juwo
released! <http://juwo.com> Please provide your feedback - via email or the
newer thread I started

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run4yourlives
Hi There,

jwercker has some great advice - you need to get this out there. The other
products are pulling ahead because they're actively building a community. You
aren't!

Adding to that, you may want to take some time to invest in a communications
"strategy". After reading your post and checking out the website, I don't
think I have much of a clue as to what your product does, other than maybe
allowing me to organize media in some way... how will that benefit me? How is
it better than the products your competitors have released?

You need to build the community, but in order to do that, you need to
communicate how your product is going to improve that community's lives in
some way - and you need to do this on the front page of your site.

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nostrademons
Release it. I once worked at one startup that decided that their product
sucked too much to even put into the hands of beta customers and went about
rewriting it. The VCs canceled the rewrite 2 months later and shut the company
down 6 months later.

A little later, I was at another startup whose product IMHO sucks *more*.
They, however, are profitable. They manage to get customers to fork over
several hundred thousands dollars to use the product.

There's almost *always* a buyer if you look hard enough. Entrepreneurs are
usually the most critical of their own product; they ought to be, that's what
makes them improve. But chances are, somebody somewhere really wants what
you're making, and your job is to find them.

~~~
juwo
released! <http://juwo.com> Please provide your feedback - via email or the
newer thread I started

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pg
If it's divided into layers, you could release the substrate as open source
and keep some of the uppermost bits.

~~~
juwo
Thank you pg. No, it's not divided into layers. Since it is a GUI, anyone can
play with it and copy a feature they lack - that is the problem. In the
finished product, there was to be a Viewer and an Editor that viewers would
upgrade to upon paying $5. But I would feel comfortable charging only on a
finished product. Giving away a Viewer makes sense only when I have a
multimedia customer. For example, if Paul Graham wants to 'broadcast' his
audio talks. That is an interesting thought - can I get this in front of Paul
Graham right now? :)

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danielha
Right now, your competitors have a product. You have a list of features, as
jwecker put it. I do remember reading your posts on juwo here a couple times,
and still I am unsure on what exactly it does.

You sunk a lot into this and giving it away would yield you 0 return. I
understand that. But don't let regret and hindsight turn into future mistakes.
Get it out there and get yourself a user base.

~~~
juwo
if you would like to run a demo, please read my reply to jwecker an do contact
me. (sorry for the repeat posts, but there doesnt seem to be email
notifications or even highlighting of new posts).

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Alex3917
Websites tend to grow exponentially, meaning that for the first few months
mainly the earlier adopter types will be the ones playing with it. Does your
website currently do anything that creates value for them? If so, release even
if it's buggy and unfinished. People will expect it to improve. On the other
hand, if people go there and see that it doesn't solve their problems or make
their life easier, they probably won't go back a second time. So if it doesn't
yet solve a problem, wait until it does this.

~~~
juwo
if you would like to run a demo, please read my reply to jwecker an do contact
me. (sorry for the repeat posts, but there doesnt seem to be email
notifications or even highlighting of new posts).

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dfranke
Why not pull a Kiko?

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juwo


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juwo


