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August 3: I Failed. Do, Learn, Adapt and Repeat Differently.
I am mothballing my ServiceChat startup experiment. After six months, I have to admit to myself that ServiceChat has no legs. People who I thought should be interested are not and actually trying to find people interested is proven too difficult for my abilities. The lack of interest is itself great feedback – if […]
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July 12: Traction not tractors
Traction is vital, getting early customers to commit to using what I’m offering is very important. Both are vital and important for my finances and startup growth, sure – but mostly for my sanity. I’m a maker and an artist. I make the art that is in my head. Many of the things I make […]
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July 9 – Back away from the code, slowly.
Every passing day re-affirms my fear. I have to back away from the code, close the IDE – quit doing what I love doing and start doing the other thing. You know – the other thing, the hitting-the-phone, sell-your-vision, learn-the-problems, discover-your-customers, dine-with-rejection-and-unreturned-emails thing, you know Customer Development! Now, I have a world of love […]
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June 26 – Disheartened
I’m sitting here not really wanting to do anything else but code. I know it’s wrong – I’ve built something I passionately believe is valuable but not getting to even talk to the people I believe it is valuable for is deeply disheartening. It doesn’t mean ServiceChat isn’t valuable (I honestly don’t have enough data […]
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June 20 – Mikey's back!
The last 13 days Q: Does a daily blog have to be done every day? A: Not when it’s @mhsutton’s blog – obviously. So much has happened in the last 13 days, I don’t really know where to start. I’ve been away because I’ve been a little discouraged with the progress of ServiceChat (no, I […]
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June 7 – Dizzy with pivots.
Yesterday(and the previous 2 days) The last few days have been like driving in a tunnel, with occasional pauses to check the map. Sometimes where you want to is actually a bloody long way away! All this grind has yielded a bunch of exciting potential pivots – bizbuzz as a data visualisation tool for businesses […]
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June 03 – Plod on dear boy, plod on.
Yesterday I’m finally resigned to the realisation that I won’t be an overnight sensation ;-). At this point, the core of my strategy is plodding on – persevere through the mud that lies between me and triumph (or at least the next mountain!) and have fun in all that squelchy goodness! So here is […]
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May 31 – Talking to Customers is Hard
Yesterday So I’m trying really hard to chat with some people about the problem I’m trying to solve. My approach is to talk to my prospective customers’ customers – the ones that have the enquiry/frustration/need they want addressing. It should be easy, right? It would appear not so. What could be easier – I know […]
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May 30 – It's Been Emotional
Yesterday Watching the data stream in and seeing the emotions and needs that generated it has itself been really emotional. On one hand, frustration that so many people who use certain businesses are dissatisfied and go unheard. On the other, I am also glad that they choose to express that need (albeit with some angry […]
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May 27 – A Squeak of a Week
Yesterday Last Week! It’s Monday, of a brand new week – that is as it always is. However last week was notable for a few reasons: I didn’t write my blog – a serious breach of the commitment to my focus. It’s not that I was not focused, in fact I was too focused to […]