everything else

Everything Else

Rachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew

https://rachelandrew.co.uk

http://bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf

https://twitter.com/rachelandrew

Remember when you thought you

would spend all day working on your

product?Rachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




I spend all day working on my

product





Documentation, Support, VAT, Systems Administration. Filling in baffling forms from HMRC Replying to the accountant about those forms. Writing talks, giving talks (like this one). Posting to Twitter.

Posting to Facebook. Building marketing sites. Keeping up to date with the

industry ... just working on our product.





You are going to find yourself with new

things to do





You will completely suck at some of

them





Bootstrapped products grow

slowly





How to sell a product





Digital DeliveryMake the sale

Deliver the download





SaaS deliverySet up a subscription

Allow access to the product





Then it begins ...





Can I pay in USD?





I'm in the EU and have a VAT number, can you deduct the

VAT please?Rachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




How much tax is due?





In my country we don't like credit

cards. Can I pay a different way?





My payment was rejected, what now?





I want a refund!





AccountingRachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




StripeIn the UK, unless you have real currency accounts will only pay

into a GBP account





PayPalKeeps each currency in an

individual "pot"





Xero has saved my sanity

→ Create invoices in Xero via the API→ Reconcile statements against that

→ Deals with multi-currency→ Creates VAT returns, EC Sales lists,

MOSS reports





HostingRachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




Shared hosting is generally terrible





Cheap hosting is generally terrible





Your site isFast

Availableand ...





Where is data being stored?





How is data being backed up?





Downloading an SQL dump every so often

is not a backup strategy.





Check you can open your backup

archives!





Availability & Uptime





What is your disaster recovery

plan?





Use configuration management

software





Consider a host with full managed

support





Digital Assets





When do your domain names

expire?





Who has access to the social media

accounts?





When do the SSL certificates expire?





MarketingRachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




Not a natural fit for nerds





We have a tendency to get too technical





No-one can sell your productthe way you can





Don't build it in house!





I want to build it because otherwise I

pay the 3rd party every month





I want to build it because of insert

very specific requirement here





It's part of our competitive edge!





Do build it in house!Rachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




What dependencies on other businesses are you creating?





StripeNot just a Payment Provider ...





Stripe

→ subscriptions→ payment forms→ mobile payments

→ taxes→ shipping





The API might not go away. It might

instead become too expensive





The service might fail to support new

legislation





VAT MOSSthe thrilling

adventures of VAT Girl.





3 months before the deadline

No third party solution had anything in place to help people comply.





You cannot rely on getting much

warning of changes in the law





You cannot rely on your third party to

comply for you





"a user can ask for an explanation of an algorithmic decision that was made

about them"-- EU Regulations on algorithmic decision-

making


http://arxiv.org/abs/1606.08813

http://arxiv.org/abs/1606.08813




Should we step up online censorshipRachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/voices/2012/08/should-we-step-online-censorship




Who owns your data?

Can you export that information easily?





Own your dataUse webhooks or import to maintain a copy of the data





Know your dependencies





Invite the chaos monkey

to tea





"Chaos Monkey is an open source software tool for DevOps [...] The

software works by intentionally creating different failures and tests the ability to

survive them." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Chaos_Monkey


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Monkey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Monkey




Think of a service you rely on





How quickly could you move to

something else?





Does something else even exist?





Would you lose any data in the move?





As you grow keep checking those dependencies.





Look for dependencies that are built on top of

standardsRachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




→ Cloud Storage using OpenStack→ Support systems built on top of your

regular mailbox→ Mail providers using SMTP





Turns out there is a lot to do





You don't need to be an expert





But you need to show up





I trained as a dancer.Rachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




Focus on your

weaknessRachel Andrew | Slides @ bit.ly/rachel-ltvconf | Tweet! #LTVconf @rachelandrew




Understanding makes it easier to

delegate when you can





Learn to love the everything else





Thank you!@rachelandrew








Image credits (Flickr Creative Commons): → Aranami

→ Shawn O'Neil→ Nathaniel_U→ Aron Elal→

→ Scott Schiller


https://www.flickr.com/photos/z0/19194898203

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oneilsh/14601920735

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathan_u/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124082510@N05/14280852392/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/s083027/9686923680

https://www.flickr.com/photos/schill/6351959771




everything else

Business