Early in my entrepreneurial career, when the iPad first came out, a really gifted engineer came to me with this idea for an app.
The app would take your photos and build 3D animations and set them to music.
The photos would respond to the music…dancing with these 3D animations.
I loved the idea. I thought it was great.
So I carved some time out, carved out some money.
We booked a full week boot camp down at the Nerd Ranch in Atlanta and really geeked out on 3D animations.
Within a few months we had this thing ready to be released.
I hired a PR firm, got an interview with TechCrunch…
…and they annihilated me ;)
I really didn't do my homework.
We didn't have a good business plan.
I really didn't plan out:
How was this going to go to market?
What problems were we solving and for what customer?
Who was going to pay for this?
It was an interesting app with compelling technology.
The Tech Crunch person was really impressed when they saw it, but they just didn't understand what the business model was and who would pay for this.
That was a painful lesson for me because there really wasn't a vetted business model.
I put the cart before the horse.
As with any mistakes or failures, I learned a lot.
I learned a lot about PR.
I learned a lot about 3D programming.
I learned a lot about IOS programming.
More importantly I learned that you have to do market research, and make sure that you're solving a problem that people are really willing to pay for…before you build it.
And there's plenty of lightweight ways to model your ideal customer profile and so some market research before spending the kind of money that I did.
Don't put the cart before the horse. Do your research first.
Make sure you're solving a problem that people are really willing to pay for.
Have a great day everyone!
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