First Steps Consulting – Startup Strategy  

I was fortunate enough last night to be able to attend the excellently run WebInnovators Event at the Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge.  WebInnovators provides a forum for startups to pitch their idea in front of a crowd of mixed programmers, designers, funders and otherwise entrepreneurially enthused individuals.

I am also currently consuming the intriguing “Made to Stick” by the Heath brothers, which explores what makes some ideas “sticky”.

I thought I would apply the Made to Stick mantra to the pitches given last night.  Cleverly captured in the acronym S.U.C.C.E.S they suggest that the key components of every sticky idea are “Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories

Ok…here’s my effort to apply this to the solutions proposed.

Quick Overview: An iPhone app that allows companies to deploy targeted surveys to customers on the spot and offer a digital coupon.

Simple: Sure…the concept of a survey and iPhone app are both familiar, and the idea has a clear targeted use.

Unexpected: Not so strong here.  While the concept of offering a survey on the spot is a unique value proposition, it seems like a more efficient way to complete an existing  process rather a surprising new idea.

Concrete: Very concrete.  Even without using it, it is easy to imagine this application in use in practical scenarios.

Credible: Yes. The presentation was given by one of the founders, who has direct executive experience at Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts, two companies that would value this offering.  In addition, they have a strong existing client base of companies currently using the solution.

Emotional: Not really, more could have been done in the presentation to highlight how the survey would fill an emotional need for the customer.  The presentation focused more on showcasing the application’s UI.

Story: An effort to talk through a compelling story of how the solution satisfied both customer and business might have helped ground the presentation further.

Quick Overview: For $25, get three envelopes that allow you to swap unused clothes in your closet with unused clothes in some else’s closet, NetFlix style.

Simple: Scores Ok here.  Clothes swap online seems straightforward, but then the questions start emerging.  What if I don’t like what I get? How or can I return it?

Unexpected: I was surprised by this offering.  It opened my eyes to the enormous amount of unused clothing that collects in closets, and presented a viable opportunity to address it.

Concrete: Very easy to imagine and personalize the experience.  May feel more concrete for my wife, but then that is probably their main target anyways. (They did mention they were going to be targeting baby clothes, which seems brilliant to me as the father of a constantly growing 7 month old)

Credible: Moderate credentials here.  Seems like a lot is riding on their ability to “match” the needs of clothes swappers.  Would have loved to been convinced that the technology behind this was from a trusted source.

Emotional: They hinted at the satisfaction in receiving new clothes by mail, but could have gone further here to highlight the emotional need being met, which I think is very real.  It’s amazing to see how much new shoes mean to my wife.

Story: The did a good job in walking through a use case, but they could have done more to make the “users” seem like real people, and the use case more like a story with characters.  This may have helped some people connect better.

Quick Overview: A wiki style map layer that can be edited / updated by anyone, and resides on top an existing map structure.  People build out spaces that they want to customize.

Simple: Not at all.  There seem to be lots of things you can do with ZoomAtlas, but I am not sure what the one thing it does well is.

Concrete: Not really.  I had a hard time imagining how I would practically use this in real life.   There may be a concrete application, but I do not believe it has been flushed out yet.

Credible: The team seemed credible, but they are going head to head with some big players (like Google) so I think their credibility needs to be even deeper than most, and they were not quite there for me.

Emotional: The presenter tried to hint at the emotional benefit of reliving or connecting with the past through the mapping, but it didn’t seem to hook me.

Story: This is the one presentation where a story format was used to try to highlight how the application can be enjoyed, and the story was a personal one to the presenter.  Too bad the concrete application wasn’t clear in the story.