The Ultralight Startup by Jason L. Baptiste

These are my personal notes that I have taken while reading The Ultralight Startup by Jason L. Baptiste that I wanted to remember for future reference. This isn’t meant to be a Cliff Notes version or a substitute for reading the book.

Additional notes I’ve taken while reading other books can be found here.

It all starts with an idea

Some of the best startups are from recognizing problems at your current employer. Take advantage of these gaps.

One such gap is how Apple got started. Steve Wozniak wanted to create a computer suited for personal home use: at the time computers were only used for professional use.

When Woz checked with his employer at the time (HP) and asked if he could continue the project or whether HP wanted the rights to what would become Apple Computer, he was told “no one will ever want a personal computer.”

Do something that used to be impossible

The best products take advantages of new technologies that can be applied to an idea to make a truly innovative product.

Look at your idea under a microscope

OnSwipe started as a WordPress plugin for $50.

People are cheap and convincing them that you provide value takes a lot of work. When you’re starting out, the difference between zero dollars and any number greater than zero dollars is huge. By partnering with WordPress, we were able to get hundreds of people to pay us. That’s when we knew we were on to something of tremendous value. We never intended to stick with the plugin idea, but it served as a litmus test to determine just how much value there was in the concept.

Launch faster than you ever imagined

There are two types of MVP’s: minimal feature set MVP’s and smoke test MVP’s. The former requires building a working product. The latter is showing a few elements of the product you hope to build.

An MVP is a type of experiment on your product and, as with a regular science experiment, you should have a hypothesis to test as you move forward. Make an educated guess about what you expect will happen so that you have something to pay attention to in the experiment.

Outline the roles of each potential user. This allows you to organize the MVP so that each user understands the functionality / benefit of your product.

Remember, the goal is to build something in a short period of time. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

Answer every question imaginable in your FAQ. If you think even one person will ask a question, answer it there. Order the dumb questions first.

Set up social media accounts. Don’t view them as a source of traffic. Use them as a way to indicate to users you’re serious about your product. A presence on these sites indicates you’re trying to communicate seriously with the world.

Check to make sure your email addresses, contact forms and phone numbers are working perfectly.

The five divisions rule

Look at your business in terms of five distinct categories: product, business development and sales, public relations and marketing, finance and funding, and hiring and HR. The optimal number of divisions to go full throttle on is two, though three can work well.

You can’t go it alone

People are the most important asset of a startup. They breed perseverance, come up with great ideas, and let you build for the long haul and ultimately succeed. Once you have great people on board with what you’re doing, everything else will fall into place over time.

• What cool features or technology have you built that also made a big impact on the overall business?
• Can you name two people who are as smart as you who you would want to come work for you?
• What makes you better suited than anyone else to solve this specific problem?
• What was the hardest feature to cut in a product you built and why did you decide to do it?
• What would be your process not only for finding great talent but also for qualifying them?
• What are the two primary outlets you would use for acquiring customers with the first six months of the company’s existence?
• Would you be afraid of this person working at a competitor?

Using Freelancers

Freelancers should be used when you need a short engagement taken care of or when you need to meet a critical deadline on time or even faster. For example, OnSwipe has a network of freelancers who can double their work capacity and team overnight when needed.

Don’t set project rates. Keep things at a per hour rate, and freelancers will get things done faster.

Send out monthly newsletters to keep your freelancers in the loop. Let them know about upcoming projects you might need them for or just update on the overall happenings of the project.

Affiliate Programs

The rates that Amazon pays out to affiliates are straightforward. Affiliates know how much they will be making and when on a product by product basis.

Amazon creates not only basic banner ads but intense technology to embed their products on publishers’ websites.

Integration is robust yet easy for affiliates. “Amazon associates” can get up and running almost instantly, while many other affiliate programs require a decently in depth approval process which often turns off new affiliates.

The Art of Business Development

What made Google really take off in its early years were its business development deals with AOL and Yahoo! to power their search.

You have to go for wide distribution with your business development deals. It’s just not possible for you to tackle a large number of deals, so you need to find large deals that bring a lot of distribution.

Find a partner who shares your same customer base for isn’t competitive at all (e.g. most likely a complimentary product). Show them their customers will gain more value by partnering with you on their product. Show them what’s in it for them.

Business Development 2.0

Caterina Fake has called API’s “Business Development 2.0” - companies don’t need to cut a business development deal with your company to be able to do interesting things with your product.

Open API’s allow you to extend the value of your product to potential customers since they can customize it to their own needs or mash it up with their existing systems.

You can also get your product into the hands of many more users. DropBox’s API is used by almost every productivity app for iPad and iPhone. DropBox is now exposed to every single new user of those applications.

Make your startup famous

People love a good David and Goliath story, so don’t be afraid to pick fights with industry leaders and huge companies to gain attention. This will raise your profile by putting you on an equal footing with those way out of your league.

OnSwipe called out Rupert Murdoch’s pet project, The Daily, about how to make the design tablet based and the content web based instead of downloadable. Wired read the post early and was able to link back to it.

Pitching the Press

Don’t write for the journalist. Write for the readers. Give them sound bites they can republish or quote. Always provide a way for the writer to get access to more information so they don’t have to speak to you again. This includes: pictures and video, feature overviews, basic company info and the significance of what’s being announced.

Ask “what can I do to make this a great story for you?” Writers don’t want generic press releases. They want something that can benefit them.

Giveaways are a great media incentive - e.g. early invites or trials of a service. The outlet can offer their audience something they can’t get elsewhere.