Dropbox & MVP

Hello Practicum class,

My name is David Grijalva and for this week social moment I chosen to write about Dropbox. This company is the perfect example of a venture started by using the lean start up method.  Dropbox was founded in 2007; it was officially launched in 2008. Dropbox started with the sole purpose of making an extremely easy to use file storage and sharing tool.  

The company started as minimum viable product, which helped its founders start the learning process as quickly as possible.  Dropbox founders state that along with their product development efforts they wanted to receive feedback from their customers.   In building their MVP, Dropbox founders did not include all possible features that they hoped to add to the product in the future. They only included the central elements that most clearly highlighted the convenience and usability advantages of their system. Then, in order to get the MVP into the hands of potential users they put the idea out there through a working prototype shown on a 4 minute walk through. The developers listened to the comments and developed their "polished" version taken in account all feedback given by potential users.  It was as if they’d put the code into the hands of potential users and in doing so, captured their attention.

There is a link to their product demo (MVP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QmCUDHpNzE

The video demo turned in a guerilla marketing strategy to reach early adopters. In one day the waiting list for their product increased from 5,000 to 75,000 achieving the critical mass that most startups dream of. In this case, the video was the minimum viable product. The MVP validated Dropbox founder’s leap- of- faith assumption that customers wanted the product they were developing not because they said so in a focus group,but because potential users actually signed up and starting using Dropbox.

Some of the lessons learned by Dropbox founders were the following:

• Biggest risk: making something no one wants

• Not launching = painful, but not learning = fatal

• Put something in users hands and get real feedback as soon as possible

• Know where your target audience hangs out and speak to them in an authentic way

By creating a simple/beta version of Dropbox and sharing it with thousands of people, company founders were able to increase interest in their product, collect invaluable user-feedback and test critical business hypotheses. And then, when the ‘polished’ version was ready for launch, they knew they had a captive audience, who appreciated the value of their offering.
Drew Houston (Dropbox founder) - Lean Startup Conference 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE-C-i74jsY

Questions

1.Do you use Dropbox or any other file storage & sharing tool? 

2.Why was their demo video so successful? Would you have used another method to share the MVP with potential users?

3.Apart of the leap of faith discussed above, what other leap of faith and assumptions do you think Dropbox founders took into consideration?

4. In your opinion, what is the most important element of the lean start up method?

Delano Brown by Louis Mendoza

During the last few years I have been following the work of an artist named Delano Brown, although that is not how he would refer to himself. Delano Brown like to describe himself as an ARTrepreneur. He has been featured on various magazines as well as the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/fashion/delano-browns-painted-clothing.html?_r=0). Essentially he has applied his artistic vision to various luxury products and pieces ranging from clothing, furnitire, and cars. The design that got his brand off the ground and into the public eye is his simple rose pattern. Specifically, his custom rose Timberland boots are his most well known product and sell for thousands of dollars because he has managed to keep his products and brands highly exclusive and desirable through his line of clothing "Lano for Public". You can't get what he makes in a store, there needs to be a relationship made with Mr. Brown.


Delano Brown has achieved this by appealing to both admirers of art and fashion by blending the two together. He has customized clothing pieces by Givenchy, Balmain, Chanel, and Louboutin. He has customized luxurious cars like a Ferrari and Rolls Royce. His portfolio contains custom pieces made for celebrities like Kevin Durant, Chris Brown, and Wiz Khalifa who post the custom art he has done on their instagram's. He's also held exclusive art shows in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.  His New York show featured him painting his famous rose pattern onto a model wearing a white dress. This type disruptive innovation is changing the way most people view high end fashion. He begins with luxury clothing that he knows is already exclusive and adds his own twist to it and lets these high end brands know that he can make them better. Delano has inspired many imitators to the fashion industry but none compare to the quality and exclusive art of Delano. 




When I first learned of Delano Brown I noticed he had just hit a very important point in his career that is essential to any artist, entrepreneur, or creator. The point I am referring to is the point when a creator finds his 1,000 true fans. By true fans I mean Kevin Kelly's definition of a true fan, a person willing to drive 200 miles to see you live, who buys the super deluxe re-released hi-res version of your work even though they already have the low resolution copy. These are the type of fans that share your work through social media and spread the news and keep alerts to keep them updated on new posts. These are the fans that artists can make a comfortable living off of. Kevin Kelly describes this phenomena best in his article "1,000 True Fans" (http://kk.org/thetechnium/2008/03/1000-true-fans/). These fans will gladly pay $100 a year on your products because they love them so much. This essentially gives you a $100,000 of income per year coming only from your true fan base. This day in age social media and the internet has made it the greatest time for artists to find their 1,000 true fans and make a comfortable living through their fan base. This can be applied to various careers such as musicians, photographers, craftspersons, performers, animators, designers, videomakers, or authors. This concept is very important because it gives an artists an important goal to hit instead of waiting for their breakthrough art to catapult them into the mainstream which hardly ever happens and is extremely unlikely. Delano Brown emphasizes this also by constantly writing short inspirational blog posts describing the grind he had to go through to reach this point in his career. He is a very smart artist and businessman and I think observing his art and career trajectory will be very inspiring to watch as his designs have only been getting better and he is still only 23 years old.

Links to Delano Brown:
http://yeahlano.tumblr.com/
http://www.lanoforpublic.com/
http://instagram.com/yeahlano

Questions:
Delano Brown focused on exclusivity, luxury, and customization to reach his 1,000 true fans, what qualities would you emphasize to your target market if you were looking for your 1,000 true fans?

Have you become a true fan of an artist that you discovered through social media? If so then who is that artists and what cause you to become a true fan?

Given the chance, what would you like for Delano Brown to customize for you? (Shoes, Shirt, Car, Watch, Furniture, etc...)

The Importance of Branding

Hello practicum class,

My name is Alejandro Joya and for this week’s social media moment I will be focusing on the importance of company branding. Considering that we are about to present our business ventures I think it would be a good idea to go over what a strong brand consists of. With increasing competition in most markets worldwide there is a growing importance in companies having a recognizable brand with a loyal customer following.

According to entrepreneur.com branding is, “your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your product services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be”.  One of the fundamental elements of a brand is the logo. This is the face of the brand and will be a visual representation that connects your company to customers. Other important elements of branding are your website, packaging, promotional materials and even the way customers perceive staff members. In summary, your brand is all the elements that affect the way customers view and feel about your company.

Many small companies and start-ups fail to establish a clear vision for their brand and long term this can have a strong impact on your business. Taking the time to define this could prove to be difficult and time consuming but with enough customer research and firm decision making a company can establish a solid brand.  Entrepreneur.com provides the following questions to help companies define their brand:

·      What is your company’s mission?

·      What are the benefits and features of your products or services?

·      What do your customers and prospects already think of your company?

·      What qualities do you want them to associate with your company?

As previously mentioned, the importance of brands is higher than ever. Scott Goodson explains the reason behind this in his article “Why Brand Building is Important” for Forbes.com. He states, “Brands are psychology and science brought together as a promise mark as opposed to a trademark. Products have life cycles. Brands outlive products. Brands convey a uniform quality, credibility and experience.” A clear indicator of how important branding has become to companies is the growing trend of company’s acquiring each other for extremely high amounts. One example given by Scott Goodson is Kraft Company’s buyout of Cadbury confectionary for an astonishing $19.5 Billion. What exactly did Kraft pay that astronomical amount for? The chocolate? Factories? Recipes? Candy Makers? No, while those are all valuable assets the most valuable component Kraft bought was their brand. They wanted to enter the confectionary market with an established brand customers already had an affiliation with worldwide. Branding is key for differentiation; if there is no differentiation there is no long-term profitability. People don’t have relationships with products, they are loyal to brands and in a world where there is booming middle class markets (For example Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico and many more) customers are looking for premium brands to consume.

Here is a list given by stategynewmedia.com explaining why branding is important to small organizations:

·      Branding promotes recognition-If branding is consistent and easy to recognize, it can help people feel more at ease purchasing your product.

·      Your brand helps set you apart from competition- Companies now compete on a global scale, what are you doing to differentiate from millions of other companies worldwide?

·      Brand tells people about business DNA-Your full brand experience and all its visual elements tell your customers what type of company you are. Are these points telling the right story?

·      Your brand provides motivation and direction for your staff- provides staff with the clarity your staff needs to be successful. It tells them how to act, how to win, and how to meet organizational goals,

·      A strong brand generates referrals- people tend to tell others what brands they like but you can’t tell someone about a brand you can’t remember.

·      A strong brand helps customers know what to expect- A brand should be consistent and clear, this puts your customer at ease.

·      Your brand represents you and your promise to your customer- you are the brand, your staff is the brand, your marketing materials are your brand. What do they say about you and what you have to deliver?

·      Your brand helps you create clarity and stay focused- A clear brand strategy helps you stay focused on your mission and vision as an organization.

·      A strong brand provides your business value- a strong brand will provide value to your organization beyond your physical assets. Your relation to the customer is the most valuable

QUESTIONS

1-Do you agree that establishing a brand is crucial for young companies? Why?

2-Would you say it is more important to establish a solid product or brand?

3- Any brands that you have strong affiliations for that you do not foresee yourself stopping consumption? Why do you feel that way about them?

LINKS

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/77408

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/05/27/why-brand-building-is-important/

http://www.strategynewmedia.com/why-is-branding-important

Crowdfunding

Hi class,

 I am Brian Masterson and I discussing crowdfunding. Since we toured Capital Factory last week and got some good information on funding sources, I figured I would continue the topic.

Most of us have heard of the term "crowdfunding," but for those that have not, Crowdfunding is the practice of seeking funding for a business or idea through the use of a web-based service such as "Kickstarter," "Indiegogo," and "Gofundme,"  there are dozens of other websites as well. The main benefit of this type of funding is that it gets your project or idea out to the general public and also the world. Though it seems that this option seems easy, there is some science behind it. An article written in Forbes Magazine, by Tanya Prive gives a brief, yet in depth look into crowdfunding.

In the article, Prives points out that it isn't as simple as adding a few pictures or a brief description of your product or service, the entrepreneur needs to take all of the necessary steps as if their product was actually hitting store shelves. Prives lays out the three reasons why people actively support an idea or a product and this is something the entrepreneur needs to keep in mind at all times.

1. People connect to the greater purpose of the campaign

2.They connect to the physical aspects of the campaign such as the rewards

3.They connect to the creative display of the campaign's presentation

More specifically, it will be key for the entrepreneur seeking to fund their business through crowdfunding to include a creative and professionally filmed video that highlights the innovative aspects of your product/service. In addition, a well written and brief description of your product or service and a good array of pictures. From looking through dozens of ideas on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, I've found that those who have set themselves and their ideas up to look like a real business are the ones who are close or have already been fully funded. 

The details of funding are pretty simple, you can set up your goal amount and then request people to back your venture for as little as a dollar. Many projects give their backers a wide range of funding amounts that come with either the product itself, usually delivered a month or later down the road, or a t-shirt some other promotional gift. 

Now what do the platforms get? Kickstarter for example will take 5% of your funds collected, but if your venture does not reach its goal, then all the money will be returned and Kickstarter will not take anything. 

My questions for you are:

1.) Have you backed any ventures that are seeking crowdfunding? If not would you?

2.) What do think makes for a good crowdfunding campaign?

3.) Are there any ventures in our class that could benefit from this funding option?

Links:

https://www.indiegogo.com/

https://www.kickstarter.com/?ref=nav

https://www.crowdfunder.com/

Article Link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/11/27/what-is-crowdfunding-and-how-does-it-benefit-the-economy/2/