We’re a month old. Like every other naive founder out there I expected we’d have our millionth user by now. Actually not quite that, but I was certainly looking forward to getting some immediate traction.
So how are we going on this front?
We’re going OK.
We certainly haven’t set the world on fire. Google hasn’t knocked on my door yet, and there certainly hasn’t been the millionth user party (although the banner is printed and waiting).
Statistically speaking, our weekly growth is incredible. This is the beauty of dealing with remarkably small numbers, because a jump from 5 users to 20 users shows a 300% growth rate. This is how we can say that our weekly growth is over 500%, week on week, and after a month the numbers are beginning to be less insignificant. Our user base is actually growing to a sizeable amount in only four short weeks.
The thing that is most exciting and nerve wracking about this growth is that it is completely organic. We essentially haven’t spent money on advertising - yet. We were lucky to get a lot of exposure from a competition we won very recently, and the resulting flow on media content. Most of our sign ups come from one of this sources, with friends and co-workers being the number two influencer. People are hearing about us, and signing up without any real effort on Banqer’s behalf.
The problem with this is that it is extremely unsustainable.
I would be taking naivety to the next level if I earmarked this as our marketing/sales strategy. Sure, we may have the stage right now, but we can’t hold it forever. New ideas come along, other winners are announced, more exciting businesses are born, and then it will be their turn. And what will we do then?
Now that everything has settled down a bit I feel it is time to answer this question.
It’s one thing to build a product, it’s another to sell it. No product, not even the iPhone, sells itself. It may appear that way, but the public's infatuation with the device comes after years of tactical branding and communications. Positioning themselves as a market leader, as crazy ones, as misfits and as rebels. The spoke to the ones who see things differently and are now reaping the massive rewards.
So I guess the first question is to understand who we want to talk to. Where are they? What do they like to do? How do we have a genuine, authentic relationship with them? Why should they care about what we are doing?
For me, answering these questions is harder than building a product or leading a team. No programming language is harder to learn than the language of the customer. Human code.
This is Banqer’s next challenge and this is my next challenge.
