I'm having a hard time building my first startup, Xtremgo. Why? Because I had to reset my brain. I discovered lean. Aka startup 101.
I started writing a loooong post about it as I decided to enter the AppSumo Lean Challenge. But I ended up thinking it would be better to go to the point. The lean way ;)
Photo credit: Red Bull Illume, 2010.
BEFORE MARCH '10:
- I wanted to create a Facebook/Amazon/whatever for extreme sports;
- I only had assumptions;
- I spent a whole year working on a business plan and studied tons of market studies;
- I didn't build any working prototype, just some Photoshop mockups showing a zillion features;
- I was able to say that I would generate X M€ revenue in Year 5;
- I maybe talked to 1 person who could have been interested in my idea.
IN MARCH '10:
- I entered The Founder Institute Spring semester in Paris, France (900km each week to go there, as I'm living in Andorra -> people said I was crazy, I prefer to think that I'm freaking persevering!);
- I pitched my initial idea to Adeo Ressi. He listened carefully. Then he killed it. (Best quote ever: "Why don't you test it right now? Set up a fake page, spend $50 in Adwords, and wait for visits. If you get some, it'll tell you something.").
A whole year killed in 5 minutes. Boom! So I decided to RESET MY BRAIN.
AFTER MARCH '10:
- we refreshed the concept, focusing on a marketplace for adventure week-ends;
- we started learning from scratch how to run a startup (thanks Twitter, for giving me the opportunity to discover Steven Blank, Mark Suster, Eric Ries, Ash Maurya, 37 Signals…);
- we started building a prototype focusing on a MVP;
- we hired a technical cofounder;
- we engaged with our community to get as much feedback as possible;
- we made our first sales;
- we won a 100k€ prize in a startup contest.
So what? Lean saved us and it's another fairy tale about startups? Hell no. Lean startup is amazing. But it's freaking difficult as a newbee.
LESSONS LEARNED:
- Leopard cannot changed its spots. Culture, school heritage… Unfortunately, the whole package has not disappeared! It's a long process, and it's easy to leave the lean path;
- Go outside. Gather feedback and suggestions. Say thanks. Not yes. We ended up developing features for one early adopter that nobody wanted to use later. Ridiculous;
- Keep efficiency everywhere. We spent way too much time (like months!) on design, without adding real value. Stay neat, run A/B tests. Period;
- Be your first user. To understand how you have to deliver. I was so much focused on building Xtremgo that I stopped doing adventure sports. I lost connection with the basics;
- Focus on creating value. Bootstrapping is key, as raising money (at least here in Europe) is freaking time-consuming. If you're having hard time to keep high standard on delivering your service, that's a good sign. Investors will come faster, as you'll have metrics to sex it up;
- At first, do things you won't scale. We spent too much time thinking how to build a scalable service from day one. Learn first, by any way. Then analyze and iterate;
- Retention, not Revenue is the Ultimate Validation (Ash Maurya). Don't focus on sales for the money as we did first, but rather understand why people are using your service, and how to lock them in (there are hundreds of tools to help you that way, at a *cheap* cost - thanks AppSumo);
- Be eager to learn. From mentors, peers. Twitter makes it that easy to engage with people all around the world. Don't miss it;
- Human is the biggest asset, do not underestimate it. If something goes wrong in the team, act quickly. I delayed hard decisions when we hit internal issues, and I ended up loosing the 2/3 of my team;
- Keep passion at the top. It's your startup fuel. Without it, you cannot change the world…
Lean startup is taking a huge hype right know. I'm happy as I'm really convinced it's the perfect way to do. But guys, it's not easy as a ON/OFF switch. Be careful about that. Either way, go on! To quote Mark Suster, just f*cking do it!
Matt.
Here's another way for us to disrupt from competitors: we're giving you the opportunity to rate the activities you've done!
This is not a private joke, but our brainstorming session this afternoon about branding gave us THE flashback!
You have to to be French to understand it. Let's go back in 1989 (we were really young at that time!). A french TV game called "En route pour l'aventure!" spiced our wednesdays afternoon, aired on La Cinq channel. Three children had to compete in a jungle style environment in sports activities such as climbing, treasure quest, monkey bridge and more that I can't remember. If the child was successful, he had to choose a (fake!) golden statue to insert on the side of a big Inca head, as a key to try unlock big treasures.
We're trying to match your needs and give you the best access to adventure sports activities.
Hi guys!
Yesterday I woke up at 8:00 am to go to work on a sunday! Crazy? I don't think so.
Hi guys!
It has been quite a month since our last post, but the Xtremgo crew has been focused on getting out a new version of the website! What have we been working on? As I said we worked a lot this summer to improve the basic feature of Xtremgo. Now you can access a marketplace with more activities and ideas to disrupt from your weekly urban stress! You can browse activities by sports or by areas to make your search easier. So don't wait and try it now!
So is Formula One driving experience something you could be interested in? If not, what about a short trip to Barcelona to go shark diving... We will add new activities soon, such as sky diving, bungee jumping and some of the best rafting french spots.
What next? We need you guys! What do you want to discover on Xtremgo? More craziest sports, more choice? Please use the Uservoice Feedback tab on our home page to give us any idea/comment to help us make Xtremgo better! You can also take part on our actual discussion topic by visiting our Facebook page here. The more, the better. We want to make adventure sports booking easier, so tell us if we're doing good (or not) at it! Big event: Paris Founder Conference.As a recent Founder Institute graduate, I have been invited to share the stage with two others entrepreneurs during the next Founder Conference in Paris next tuesday.
Interviewed by Roxanne Varza (Techcrunch France editor), we will talk about how to create a startup today in Europe, and I will be proud to share with the audience the bootstrapping experience we're having at Xtremgo. Before that, we will have the chance to listen a presentation done by Adeo Ressi, founder of Thefunded.com and The Founder Institute. As I said in an older post, this guy rocks, so don't miss that opportunity to meet him! If you want to come and meet us, don't wait and book you ticket here! The event will take place at Atelier BNP Paribas on Tuesday September 14, from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm. See you in Paris! Matt.
A new industry portal for the Action Sports Market in Europe just launched last week. They kindly made an article about Xtremgo, focusing on the potential of adventure travel for the forthcoming years.
Indeed, “the impact of the recession has been good. People have changed their mind regarding plenty of things. And concerning travel and leisure, they want to live it another way. With adventure activities, they have discovered a way to experiment new sports activities where they can valorise themselves, at an attractive price and not too far from home.”
Moreover, “our early adopters are people already involved in the action sports and adventure leisure. They are really passionate and they are experimenting with various activities during the year. But in the future, we are expecting to catch people who just want to do something different, get closer to the nature and disrupt from urban stress. With family or friends, there will be many levels to feel adrenaline!”
Xtremgo is the marketplace for adventure week-ends. Disrupt from the stress of work. Don't waste time behind TV. Browse the Xtremgo marketplace, find ideas, book a trip and go outside do real sports with your friend!
