Donna Wells (Mindflash) Small Biz Tech Tour PPT

Leveling the Playing Field

Technologies to Help Small Businesses Beat Big Competitors

Donna Wells, CEO - Mindflash

I’ve Enjoyed Both Perspectives

Big Guys: Can We Beat Them?

More Technology

More Money

More People

Big Businesses Have

but YES!

Ju-Jitsu: Because striking against an armored opponent proved ineffective …techniques were developed using an attacker's energy against him, rather than directly opposing it.

Others Might Not Think so…


More Technology

More Money

More People

Big Businesses Have

But YES!

Leverage to get an edge

Run your business for a fraction of their cost

Move faster, learn faster

Small Businesses Can

Leverage *Their* Technology

Leverage Competitor Technology

Big Co’s under pressure to get higher return from technology investment

Giving you access to free/low cost headstart Open Source API’s Platforms

Today

Leverage Case Study #1: Mint.com

Leading provider of account aggregation software to large banks

No interest in B2C Market

Licenses core technology to increase return on $100 Million + investment


Patented expense categorization

Personalized savings algorithms

Breakthrough design and ease-of-use

Online personal finance service launched in 2007

Licensed Yodlee software for $’s per user

r


Leverage Case Study #2: Mindflash

Leading providers of content creation software for small businesses

98% desktop presence


Breakthrough online training app launched yesterday

No new software

Automated course management

Easy-to-add Quizzes

Real-time reports

Allows anyone to create a course in minutes


API Resources


Finance/Billing

Web Hosting

*Lean StartUp Company* Shopping List

Amazon Web ServicesRightScaleSliceHost

Financial ForceFreshBooksNetSuiteZuora

Dev Management

RallyJira

Customer Service/Forums

Salesforce.comGet Satisfaction

TriNetSuccess FactorsTaleo

LinkedInJobScoreSolvateElegant.ly

HR

Recruiting

99 DesignsPardotAdWordsHubSpotSEOMozMail ChimpWordPress

Marketing

$100

$999

$500

$0-$99

9

$999

$4,000

$999

Lean Strategy Impact on Costs

Total annual cost of running your business on great and inexpensive B2B SaaS applications? $70 to $120 K

In contrast ...

Running a lean company on these apps:

Reduces the amount of capital you need to raise

Retains equity for founders and employees

IMO, gives you faster and better insights into your customers, operations and business model

The Catch? You’ve got to get Demand

More than Big Co’s, Small Businesses *have* to identify a real pain point … preferably one which costs the user real money

Have to get the Product right … ideally first-to-market with a Minimum Viable Product1

Have to have right Customer Development mindset, processes and technology to continually learn and improve2

1 Eric Ries, StartUpLessonsLearned.com2 Steve Blank, Four Steps to the Epiphany

Move Faster, Learn Faster

Collaboration

*Lean Company* Shopping List

Web Analytics

Zoomerang

SurveyMonkey

HootSuite

Ethnio

Usabilla

UserResearch.com

Research

$0 - $99

9

$0 - $99

9 $0 - $10

0

Google Analytics

Google Web Optimizer

ABTest.com

KISSMetrics

DropBox

Skype

Yammer

Campfire

Wordpress

DimDim

What the Lean Company Knows About Demand

I don’t have to get up at 4 am for Product Launches anymore


There is No Try …

… Only Do


You’re Either Moving Up and to the Right

… Or You’re Not

Lean Strategy Impact on Demand

Total Mint.com marketing spend was $2 million from 2007 to 2009. Roughly what I was spending in 2 average days at Expedia in 2005.

Average cost to acquire each of 1.5 million Mint.com users was $1.10.

In contrast …

Two Parting Thoughts

The two biggest challenges known to mankind:1. Create something new 2. Change human behavior

… and open source technology.

David defeated Goliath with a better idea, better executed


More Technology

More Money

More People

Big Businesses Have

but YES!

Leverage to get an edge


Move and learn faster

Small Businesses Can

Questions?

[email protected]

Thank You