
Making something people want - the GoCardless story - tomblomfield
http://tomblomfield.com/post/33506878578/making-something-people-want-the-gocardless-story
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petenixey
Great message, well explained. It was also timely as I've just been reflecting
on how this discipline is required for much longer than one initially
imagines.

I've become pretty ruthless at remembering that an idea is nothing more than a
hypothesis. I'm completely sold to the fact that during the first couple of
months you assume nothing and test everything.

I now find that the silent danger comes when I feel a whiff of interest from
the market and start to lull myself into thinking that I've validated my idea.
Without even realising it I start feeling free to indulge a little more deeply
in the "things I find interesting" (features / scaling / design).

The truth of course is that the process of market-fitting isn't complete until
a product is selling repeatedly. Even then it's only selling to a segment of a
market and a fraction of the channels you'll ultimately use.

The ruthless focus on "what matters" and not "what's interesting" is a large
part of what I think separates the entrepreneur from the hobbyist.

~~~
tomblomfield
Yeah - that's a great point. What traction in the form of signups or usage is
"enough" validation for your idea? When can you stop this customer-discovery
process and concentrate on building to your "vision"?

As you suggest, you probably never reach that point. "Making something people
want" is a (never-ending) process, not a goal.

~~~
petenixey
Quite. And even when you are focussed on that process it's often
extraordinarily hard to decide whether you are working on what people want or
are instead rationalising that they what you want.

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eytanlevit
Hey there,

Reminds me very much of my previous startup, that recently shutdown.

I'm now working on a new company, and I have vowed to not write code until I
feel I've hit a burning problem.

I've now talked with nearly 30 parents(which are my target audience) - and see
the magic of that process.

After speaking with so many potential customers, I have a much stronger idea
of the segmentation of the market, which apps and websites my customers
use(this will be the media I'll buy when I launch), but most importantly, I'm
starting to recognize patterns of problems that repeat.

I'm not there yet, but I feel I'm getting closer, and only once I do - I'll
try to have an MVP - preferrably also without writing code - but doing offline
things that will emulate my online solution.

Last thing, a few days ago Dave Mcclure had a lecture in Israel where he said
one of the most important lessons I've learned lately: When you focus on a
specific customer, pivoting is much easier because each month that passes you
usually know more and more about your customer and find out more about their
problems.

Pivoting around technology(what I did in my last startup), is possible, but
requires much more capital and time, exactly the things startups don't have.

My two cents.

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Swizec
Best part of the article:

"You should spend most of your time focussing on making something people want.
This is a process, not a goal."

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brackin
This is a great story. GoCardless is an example of a company that found a
tough problem and executed upon it excellently in a completely different way
to all of their competitors, allowing them to undercut everyone else. I'm
seeing more UK companies using GoCardless because if you're just catering to
the UK the lower cut is completely worth it, it's very easy to integrate and
easy to communicate with the team. Hopefully the rest of Europe will be able
to use it soon.

If anyone's interested in hearing any further insights, Tom spoke at an event
I co-organise in London recently and had a really engaging talk:
<http://youtu.be/pB1cCd1j48E>

~~~
tomblomfield
Thanks - the talk at Tomorrow's Web gave me the impetus to really sit down and
think about what I really wanted to say on this subject. This article is the
end result of that process.

(Perhaps it should have been the other way round...!)

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coderholic
Great article from one of London's great startups!

Love the line "Most startups aren’t competing with other startups; they’re
competing with no one giving a shit."

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jelled
Agreed. I want this hanging where I can see it anytime I'm working.

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djrogers
Great article, however if you're going to use an acronym that has an already
established meaning (MVP - Most Valuable Person) in an uncommon way, you
really ought to explain it.

It's entirely possible that everyone in your target audience is familiar with
and expects your alternate usage of the term, nonetheless it would be a huge
help to anyone else who stumbles across it if you were to define it (or avoid
TLA-startup-speak entirely).

~~~
tomblomfield
Thanks for the feedback - updated the article with a link to
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product>

Startup myopia, I'm afraid.

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pknerd
The hardest part is to know what actually people _want_ because many product
developer make things which they assume people want while in reality they
don't.

There's no such resource available to learn what people are actually looking.
Atleast not an easy way.

~~~
tomblomfield
Talk to them!

Or start with a hypothesis based on your past personal or professional
experience.

The point is that you should try to validate consumer demand as quickly as
possible without wasting too much time or money. It's the "Lean Startup"
approach:

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lean-Startup-Innovation-
Successf...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lean-Startup-Innovation-
Successful/dp/0670921602/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352404421&sr=8-1)

For example, I recently tried to rent a house in London. The process was
painful and time-consuming and I think I could improve it by writing a great
software package. But instead of spending 2 years and several million dollars
building that software package to a "vision", I would put up a simple landing
page, market it to potential customers and perform the main parts of the
service manually to gauge consumer interest.

~~~
pknerd
Tom it's no so common otherwise most of the problems would have solved by now.
Not everyone gets a "personal itch" and those who even get, there's no
guarantee other share the pain. One just can't "get out of the building" and
ask people,"What's your problem? I am your Genie!" Most of the time you can't
solve a problem because it's out of your domain.

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hayksaakian
Great read, releasing often and early means everything.

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hemantv
I had similar experience, but the only good point was I learned my mistake
fast around 21 days.

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hgld
"Most startups aren’t competing with other startups; they’re competing with no
one giving a shit"

... so true!

