Hubstaff is a time tracking software that takes screenshots, tracks activity levels, and provides management dashboards and reports. In 14 months it has gained 4300+ users, takes 15k new screenshots daily, and tracks 88+ days of hours. The founders made mistakes like over-engineering features and not dedicating enough time, but also had wins like a 50/50 equity split, using helpful services, early concept validation, and buying traffic. Attendees provided suggestions on how to build features faster, dedicate more time, charge sooner, and generate more traffic.
7. Overview
3 Biggest early mistakes
4 Biggest early wins
Were still getting started, lots
of mistakes still to make :)
8. The Plan
Present our mistakes & wins
quickly
Give 5 mins for discussion
The Goal: Present a real problem
in our business and collectively
learn how to solve it in a lean
startup way.
9. Mistake #1 - Not Building
Features Quickly
Retention
Over-engineering (robust)
Flexibility is king
Waste time on worthless features
10. Example - Multi-
Organization Support
Problem: Users work for multiple
companies.
Our solution: Users can belong to multiple
organizations. Avoid multiple accounts.
Issues: Complex, confusing permissions.
Long build-out. Confusing payment
process.
Results: 200+ customers have multiple,
paid organizations
11. How can we stop over-
engineering?
What would you do?
Do we put the effort in
upfront or later?
12. Mistake #2 - Not
Dedicating Enough
Time / Focus
Hard to leave current jobs
Opportunity window closes
Dedicating 100% =
Exponential results
13. Example - Dev & Support
Rule the Biz
Problem: Dev & support efforts
take up 80% of our scarce time.
Our solution: Find a dedicated
support person and do what we
can (work overtime).
14. How can we dedicate
more time?
What are our options?
What would you do?
15. Mistake #3 - Not
Charging Sooner
Didnt feel its fully baked
Dont know most valuable
demographic early
Higher retention of early users
Attract a different class of users
16. Example - Desktop
clients had bugs
Problem: Desktop clients had
bugs and web UI lacked core
features.
Our solution: Slap a beta label on
it and not charge.
18. Win #1 - 50% split equity
& opposite skills
Keeps everyone fully invested
Nothing else can easily
replace it
Makes it easier to get all tasks
done
19. Is this the best way?
Many ways to do it
Has anyone had a bad
experience doing 50/50?
Do you shoulder the burden and
hand out small equity amounts?
20. Win #2 - Use services,
platforms and tools
Heroku, hosted Postgres,
ActiveAdmin, Intercom,
InstrumentalApp, New Relic,
Bootstrap, Rails, Themes,
GetAmbassador,
ReferralSaaSquatch, Desk, etc.
22. Win #3 - Early validation
of concept and marketing
White-labeled existing product
Tested conversion rates with
real marketing campaigns
Created new landing pages
24. Win #4 - Buying Traffic
Made user acquisition automatic
Validate whether the market wants this
very early
Validate whether marketing is
affordable and scalable
Zero-in on keywords and roll that into
SEO