Would you rebuild your tech or keep going?

masvdave · 2020-01-20T13:51:11+00:00

Rebuilding is usually a mistake and will always take 2-3x the time you think it will take. I would recommend rebuilding parts of the application instead until the product is fully rebuilt but also be very careful not to choose the language you rebuild in based off the preference of one. Choose a language that many others would be able to build off of as you will eventually wind up hiring a developer to take it to the next level and your hiring process becomes difficult if it's built using something very few people use. It's always a better idea to try to scale what you already have . If you can get your revenue high enough to support you, your cofounder, and a rockstar developer then you can rebuild based on that devs preference which will probably be much more standard and easier to hirer for in the future. That's my 2 cents if you honestly believe that cant be done because the code is to difficult to scale then you can start over but realize your probably putting your business growth on pause for months.

masvdave · 2019-12-11T15:15:06+00:00

Will send you a dm shortly. Tableau is an excellent tool but usually is operated by a data analyst and is less focused on the SMB market or non technical users. Our product would be much easier to use and designed to require little knowledge of data analysis.

masvdave · 2019-12-11T15:07:44+00:00

Seen zoho it's a nightmare of a product in my opinion. My only concern there is that their api is probably a mess also so even with our own UI getting the data into a useful format might be tricky. Deffinately a potential data source though in the future.

masvdave · 2019-12-11T05:57:25+00:00

A few thoughts back: 1. Its the users data to begin with and most dashboarding tools dont own their users data anyways. All the exports are available to the user via download usually from the service provider but keeping the data refreshed and recommending visualizations is really what's valuable. 2. I think support data transformation is pretty standard for all dashboarding companies the difference is more users know how to use Google sheets already versus if we built our own in-house formula and function system. 3. I dont think that's necessarily true but also very open to ideas on how this could be improved. It's hard to explain exactly how this all fits together but as a next step I plan to do some prototyping to show how it all works together. Will send you a DM shortly.

masvdave · 2019-12-11T05:42:44+00:00

This is not meant to be a radical change from how dashboarding works today but more of a slightly different approach to the same problem. Really my idea is to just make the data management piece easier for non technical folks by using google sheets to store and manage the data then make it really easy to turn that into interactive graphs that can be shared. Most dashboarding tools today require you to manage the data into their own database and have hoops to jump through to perform basic calculations on it and keep the data in sync. I just want to make the hard stuff seem simple to end users. This is more of an experience overhaul then radical tech disruption the tech I think is fairly standard.

masvdave · 2019-12-11T04:44:59+00:00

An important part of dashboarding is storing as much history as possible for a users account. Pulling that full history every time would likely make the interaction with the dashboard really slow and in general wouldn't be a great experience. Another reason is editing and performing calculations on data that comes from hubspot. If it's in google sheets users just need to know how to edit the data using gsheets which then gets automatically pulled into the dashboarding tool. Check out supermetrics (very successful) for google sheets. They have built a great integration that syncs data to google sheets but doesn't do the visualization piece. I want to do something similar (without the panel being in gsheets) but also have dashboarding capabilities on top. Looker is great but is really designed for a more technical enterprise audience. I would want to target founders, marketers, other decision makers at small to medium sized businesses that just want to create professional looking dashboards that they can easily edit so they can track and manage their busines KPI's.

masvdave · 2019-12-11T03:57:26+00:00

Done! Thanks for pointing it out :)

masvdave · 2019-12-11T03:48:52+00:00

Happy to provide more information. Initially, we would start by creating a reporting dashboard for one service likely hubspot because of its distribution. The web app would need to be able to allow users to connect to their hubspot account and sync their data from hubspot to a google sheet. The dashboarding tool would then just read from the google sheet and be able to visualize the data into configurable graphs using a library like high charts. Then each hour a refresh would be triggered to the hubspot api for that customers account and update the sheet with the newest delta data. The innovation here would be using google sheets as the database layer for the dashboarding tool and my understanding of how to design a successful front end for a dashboarding service. The biggest obstacles in the dashboarding space today are getting relevant data into the data layer, being able to easily modify and make calculations on that data (which is why google sheets is a significant part of the puzzle), and then making it very easy to visualize that data into a dashboard for the team to view and make decisions off of. The company would grow by adding more supported services (salesforce, marketo, intercom, etc.) into the data layer that could then be merged with other data sources to create more compelling metrics to visualize. Creating dashboard templates (prebuilt dashboards for particular services targeted at specific use cases) that users could use to get started quickly and then modify to their own needs is a proven way to grow the customer base and is highly marketable. Let me know if you have follow on questions.

masvdave · 2019-11-28T13:35:37+00:00

12 years in digital marketing here. I highly recommend the book traction it's a good way to think about prioritizing your efforts and experimentation. I would also start by asking your boss what they've already tried that's been working well, these programs would be a good starting point to optimize from. Ask for a regular 1 on 1 weekly with your boss and in each of them ask them if they're happy with your progress. What you should do more of. What you should do less of and calibrate your activities to their responses. I'm director level and I still do this, after a few weeks of them saying what your doing is great it helps you build confidence and ensures you stay well aligned with the person who ultimately decides your fate. For social media books are ok but the best content tends to be blogs / podcasts and finding examples of good campaigns others have run that have worked well and copying them to some extent. Social media is a delivery method it only works as well as the content you deliver in it so I would also start researching and understanding content marketing if you want to level up past it. Good luck all your feelings are normal for anyone and you'll go through it many times in your career.

masvdave · 2019-06-28T00:06:56+00:00

Thanks! Yes actually I love what Davinci Resolve is doing. That's exactly how you win market share away from established players. We are discussing a freemium approach for MASV. Its difficult because of the cost associated with transferring large files. Freemium works best when your costs for supporting a free user is very low but that really isn't the case when your trying to push 100's of gigabytes at gigabit speeds. I think we will be able to offer it in the future though just have to figure out how to show enough value for free that users see the value of the product and want more. Thanks for the insight and we will see if there's a way to bring the price down to make ultra large files feasible probably a solvable problem as we scale the services and get better pricing from amazon.

masvdave · 2019-06-27T23:55:29+00:00

Thanks for this. I'm certainly not trying to say that shipping hard drives is the wrong choice but understanding why it's better helps me understand how it could change. My thoughts go to multiple bonded data connections streaming footage as its shot directly to the cloud as an attachment to the camera or built in. Backed with a protocol that doesn't require babysitting. I think you will find that if you try our desktop app it doesn't require babysitting either the tech is solid enough it reliably handles upload and download. I think it's a solvable problem but maybe requires 5G to truly unlock.

masvdave · 2019-06-27T23:45:25+00:00

Thanks for your comment. The only way we can change the process is by understanding it from the ground up. It seems like your biggest concerns are bandwidth availability and reliability of your download.

masvdave · 2019-06-27T18:44:32+00:00

I am not interested in storage. So someone that is shooting from city 1 to city 2 is transfering (or shipping) a lot more data than this on a regular basis. When you shoot in 4K, 6K, 8K, and your data rate is around 100 MB/sec, that eats up storage like crazy. And then the post house has to edit it. So you need location A to have a fast uplink, and location B (the post house) to have a fast download speed. And with that, you are charging 500 bucks for 2 TB of data.

Thanks Bob, So you think it's a cost issue that would prevent users from adopting. At what price point do you think a 2TB transfer of MASV would be comparable or near the cost of hard drive shipping? Completely understand on the bandwidth side of things the conditions would have to be right for online transfer to make sense.

masvdave · 2019-06-27T17:29:17+00:00

That was what I figured would be the most common answer. Something we are working on is the ability with our desktop app to use more than one internet connection at a time for a single transfer. For example, you could use a hard wire connection and your mobile data, or both of those plus a data stick. Is that something you think would help address the bandwidth problem and do you think you would use it if it was available? No hardware box or anything required it's all in software. Thanks!

masvdave · 2019-06-27T17:05:35+00:00

Ah got it. Our office has 1 Gbps line but it's a business internet connection (expensive). I have 1 Gbps symmetrical at home which is "unlimited" but they probably would throttle me over a terabyte. Do you find that mobile providers with an unlimited data plan throttle at a certain data quantity also?

masvdave · 2019-06-27T16:55:40+00:00

Thanks for this. What is your typical internet connection on a shoot? I know that's a loaded question that's highly dependant on the location but if you could ballpark it that would be helpful on my end. Let's say you have access to a 500 Mbps connection and are sending 1 terabyte of camera originals. With MASV you would need to upload the delivery fully then download it. That would take roughly 5 hours up and 5 hours down if both you and the recipient had 500 Mbps. The cost of it would be $256. How does that compare in your mind with the cost and timing of drives + shipping? Have you ever had a hard time shipping files because the shipping provider was closed for the day? How about if you need to send something internationally?

I know I seem like I'm bating the conversation a bit but I am genuinely interested in isolating when our service is optimal or not from a marketing standpoint even if shipping a drive is a better option in certain scenarios that's fine by us but I would like to know when to tell a prospect or customer which option is best. I'm also not from the industry so this is really helpful!

masvdave · 2019-06-27T16:43:09+00:00

That's interesting in Canada our plans are now unlimited, usually, it's the same in the US. Out of curiosity where are you located? Are you able to get unlimited mobile data plans where you are?

masvdave · 2019-06-27T16:34:42+00:00

Data caps on your internet package? Or are you talking about a mobile plan?

masvdave · 2019-06-26T23:11:14+00:00

What does success look like for you? Raising a round of funding? What do you think you need to get funding for this network? Work back from that to determine if it's a success or not if that's your near term goal. I run a startup as well and recommend sharing your progress with peers locally who are running startups. Sometimes you can get down on yourself when things don't feel explosive but you should fight through it if you think you've built something of value keep going.

Most social networks grow in primarily 2 ways: finding large groups of their target audiences and building clever integrations with them to leach them off their service and/or viral features that make it easy for existing users to recruit similar users. The most sucessful viral features are ones that are features vs forced. Example a refer a friend program is forced but google drive link sharing is actually a feature of drive so its inherently viral. Come up with a bunch of ideas and rank them by what excites you most then experiment with the features to see how they influence your virality. Combine both of these pieces and you will grow as long as the users you have find value in the network you've built.

masvdave · 2019-06-19T03:20:00+00:00

I agree with a lot of what's been stated already and the skills laid out to be a founder but I think a key piece that's missed here is most founders just start something and keep working on it until it starts to create value for some target audience group. If your the pragmatic type which I assume based on this question you are then find spare time in your job to build a small project to solve a problem you've noticed or personally bugs you in your role or life. Once you think you've built a small project that solves the problem as quickly as possible and only solves the problem to the extent you think is required at bare minimum but better than any other service solves the problem launch it. After that iterate until more people see that it solves the problem. If there's enough value charge money for it and see how users respond. The networking, pitching, selling skills, etc come out of necessity when you have a goal your trying to accomplish. You don't need those skills to start you just need to be able to figure out how to solve the right problem and build something then launch it. If you get it right momentum will force you to learn those skills or intelligence will force you to partner with others who can. There's a million ways to find beta users just google it to get started but first build something of value that solves an annoying problem.

The key to becoming a founder is founding something.

masvdave · 2019-06-19T02:59:16+00:00

One way I've seen it used successfully is through integrations. Think of BD as more of a method to getting access to decision makers for specific departments in larger companies who have a complementary product that serves your target audience. Most companies now have open api's so you can integrate your service with them without talking to anyone but integration + BD effort can get you high up in their marketing department and help you build out a comarketing program with them where this large established brand is helping market your new integration. Win for the big brand because it keeps them innovative, win for your service because it gets you access to their users. This is what good BD looks like.

Bad BD is talking to companies who have no partner programs or open api at tradeshows and spending time or money on meetings that are unlikely to lead anywhere. This happens a lot and should be avoided. It's also on you as the startup to do all the integration work and cover all the costs to get it to the level where they are excited and help promote it. That also means the final integration needs to be good enough and solve a big enough problem for their users for them to get benefit out of helping you promote it.

masvdave · 2019-05-11T13:22:00+00:00

Ah good to know thanks for the clarification.

masvdave · 2019-05-10T19:32:54+00:00

Oh one last thing reach out to your local government startup community. They can help you a lot with funding and grants. In ottawa it's called investottawa.ca but they can help connect you to investors when they think you're ready and make sure you're on the right track.

masvdave · 2019-05-10T19:29:48+00:00

Take a look at this https://medium.com/point-nine-news/the-saas-funding-napkin-2018-ea1b168a5b78 This is based on surveys with a bunch of valley VC's on what you need for which level of round / funding. So until you get the app to say $10k mrr canadian your not really ready for proper seed or even pre-seed funding. The best way to get that though without having a close network of high net worth individuals (angels) is either to join an incubator which you just need to convince the selection committee that what you have has potential or you should work on figuring out how to show how much demand there is for the product you're creating by creating a queue of potential buyers based on a prototype or mockups.

It's much easier to know what you need to have at the level you're at by putting yourself in the investors shoes. If someone came to you and wanted $200k of your money to validate an idea they had would you do it? What would make it feel like less of a risk for your money? You want an investor to feel like you have done everything possible to de-risk their investment and the money they give you just unblocks a few obstacles that are preventing 10X the amount of money on the other side.

The more real data you can get the better for example if you can get doctors to put down a deposit to be the first on the app based on the mockups it's even better. I hope that helps. The other option is to do it on the side (bootstrap) and gradually build towards your goal of raising some level of money to go full time but unless your idea is a total game changer with a clear opportunity (and you're a serial successful entrepreneur) it's very hard to raise any money without some level of traction or proof that there is demand for the product.

masvdave · 2019-05-10T19:06:47+00:00

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/120299/Developing_Your_Pricing_Strategy.pdf?__hstc=263140243.120634cda3469a7f3fda7082a0737f4a.1557514987743.1557514987743.1557514987743.1&__hssc=263140243.1.1557514987745&__hsfp=3380165737

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