how not to manage product (mike arsenault) - failcon 2012

@mikearsenault #failcon


LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES


SMB Phone System

Grasshopper R&D

SaaS Subscription Billing 2010

2009


2010

SMB Word of Mouth

April 2011


2010

SMB Word of Mouth

April 2011

$500,000 14 MONTHS


40,000 CUSTOMERS

0 SALESPEOPLE


40% WORD OF MOUTH


Encourage More Referrals


Refer An Entrepreneur


$200 CPA

1.5% CONVERSION

22% CONVERSION

$25 CPA

$100K SIGN UP REVENUE

Otהr"ar#$% &'(ls Re)r ' Ent*p*(ur


Word of Mouth Referral System


+7


✔ A+, Experienced Team

✔ Experienced Founders

✔ 40,000 Customers

✔ 2,000 Beta Opt-ins

✔ Endless Resources


We still failed.


Why?

3x CHURN

+dn’t ,- . Cus./rs


Why?

3x CHURN

3x CPA


Ra0o Ads?

L1 2ar3 45/


Why?

3x CHURN

3x CPA

✗ High Touch


Ra0o Ads?

L1 2ar3 45/

No 67s97פ


Wasted Our Beta List


Wasted Our Beta List

CHIRP


Engineering Design

Product

Bigger Team ≠ Higher Velocity


Didn’t Charge From Day 1



MUST HAVE



MUST HAVE

DATA



MUST HAVE

DATA FEEDBACK



MUST HAVE

DATA FEEDBACK MORALE


Product > Marketing


Product > Marketing

Building Product

Talking To Users

Thanks.

@mikearsenault [email protected]

Business