“Zuckerberg Call!” Interviewed the co-founder of SmartProgress
For several years, reading my RSS feed, I paid special attention to the recordings from Zuckerberg Call!, I always liked his sarcastic and professional approach to preparing news about start-ups. And recently Konstantin Panfilov invited my partner, Smartprogress co-founder Sergey Zakharov, to an interesting conversation about our project.
Panfilov: Tell me about the project - what it is, why, why such a concept, how you came to this (and with whom).
Zakharov: SmartProgress is a service for setting and achieving goals, which helps to structure and organize information on personal goals. It is difficult to understand the essence right away, right? The topic is really non-standard and difficult for primary understanding, especially for people far from this sphere.
It is close to those who are casually familiar with David Allen's GTD or different methods of setting goals, one of those may be SMART. We decided to take on the task of introducing as many people as possible to this topic, but if there are plenty of theories on this topic, then many have a big problem with practice.
Why set goals? It has long been observed that people who go with the flow have mediocre results in almost all walks of life. They do not spend time on their development, do not strive to achieve maximum results in their careers, they complain about their body swum in fat, but do nothing to change their lifestyle.
')
The situation is completely different for purposeful people; they are not exchanged in trifles. If there is a direction in which direction to go, then circumstances in life begin to take shape in their favor.
We have implemented various methods of achieving the goal in SmartProgress, and at the moment when the user creates his goal, we help him with the right questions to correctly formulate the goal and push him to think in the right direction. Creating a goal is half the battle. Next, the user is invited to keep a goal diary, in which he describes all his progress in achieving. The goals are public by default, so any other person can subscribe to such a goal and follow the results. It turns out that the user creates a public statement, as it were, that he will achieve the goal, and if he does not want to be known as an empty windshield, he must reach it.
Panfilov: So how did it turn out?
Zakharov: It all started almost 2 years ago, my old acquaintance Maxim turned to me and voiced the concept of a goal setting service. At first, the idea seemed doubtful to me, although after a few days I thought about it, figured that the niche was not occupied and agreed to become a partner in the project. I acted as a project designer, Maxim was engaged in frontend and backend. At that time he already had another project, bringing him the main income, so he could work on him full time. I worked at CreativePeople and was not going to quit. For me, as a designer, CreativePeople was like a top manager, Gazprom. Development of the design was in my spare time, I was in no hurry, I worked in the evenings and weekends.
At that time, an interesting book — RE: Work — came into my hands by chance, it put my brain in its place. I learned a lot from it. The main message is that there is no need to engage in perfectionism if you are just launching your product. So everything turned out, I made a good design, but I didn’t give everything 100%, the main thing at that time was to show users the idea.
And so it happened, in September 2012 we posted an article on Habré and received 40,000 views, a lot of reviews and first users. This gave us a great impetus for development, we realized that the project is interesting to people, but we need to devote more time to it. Therefore, I left CreativePeople and started working closely on the project.
Panfilov: And how many users are there now?
Zakharov: We already have more than 15,000 users, of which 10,000 were recruited a year, and 5,000 in a couple of months came. Geometric progression, I hope, the trend will continue. Here is the left live statistics.
Panfilov: Yeah, you wrote that you don’t have and don’t need investors (they say, they offered a million dollars, but you refused) - how is that?
Zakharov: Well, just a minor project of Maxim began to bring enough funds to exist. We can not spend a lot on advertising now, but we keep a couple of remote employees on a permanent basis.
Panfilov: Does SmartProgress itself somehow earn or will it earn?
Zakharov: Yes, I have already begun to make a profit. Firstly, these are Pro-accounts, which expand the functionality; secondly, these will be the “Target Templates”; thirdly, the "price of the word."
Goals Templates - launched a section last month. Templates are a ready-made action plan drawn up by a person who already has experience in achieving this goal. The user sets it to his profile and begins to work with him, as with his goal. It can change and add stages, specify deadlines and more. The template consists of text information, links to various useful resources and articles, audio and video materials necessary to achieve each specific goal. Structured information will allow you to get the most useful knowledge without losing time to search for it.
At SmartProgress there are paid and free templates. Paid is an expert, free - journalists and copywriters. By purchasing a paid template, the user will receive not only the template itself, but also expert support. At that moment, when the client of such a template rests against the wall, he will be able to request the support of the author of the template, he will study the diary of the user's goal and will be able to give recommendations and advice. An important point. When a user installs a template, he gets a list of people who have installed a similar template, and can exchange experiences and communicate with them. It turns out such a collective way to achieve goals side by side with the same people interested in the result.
The price of a word is a bet on yourself and your willpower. This is a great way to shake up and increase your motivation. The bottom line is simple. The user makes a public statement that will achieve such a goal, while assigning the price of the word. This may be, for example, 5,000 rubles. If he reaches the goal on time - the money is returned to his account, if not, then we offer options: either to transfer money to an orphanage, or to the fund of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, or to develop our service. SmartProgress charges a small commission of 9% regardless of the result.
Panfilov: Can you share some numbers? Everyone is interested in how much you can earn on this service.
Zakharov: Not yet, but right now you can observe how our user has placed 50,000 on himself - he wants to throw off 20 kilograms in 2 months. We have not yet fully launched the “price of the word,” landing pages will soon be ready, and we will begin to promote this technique.
Panfilov: How will you check this person? He can lie that he dropped the weight.
Zakharov: Well, the moderators will watch what the person wrote all this time. If he suddenly throws 5 kg over the last day, then there will be doubts. But, in the end, we are adults, he appoints the price of the word for himself, not for us. We will take the commission in any case.
Panfilov: Speaking of users, articles on profile resources are cool, of course, but for stable growth, you need something more serious, what do you plan / do in this direction?
Zakharov: Growth due to word of mouth is already yielding results. Our audience is quite loyal. Plans to reach a more serious income and run advertising in major blogs.
We are still ready beta version of the application for iPhone, now we are registering in the App Store. And they also started doing Android. We order development on outsourcing, I also compose design.
Panfilov: Cool, what other plans?
Zakharov: Now one of the main tasks is to replenish the base with new templates and improve existing ones. The plans to implement on the project MindMap, because these cards are closely related to the subject of our service and will be another tool to help structure the information on the objectives.
Panfilov: I didn’t quite understand your gamification - there are levels, and you can score points - but what does it give? And how to score points?
Zakharov: The site has a system of experience and levels, and the levels are non-linear. At level 5, the user chooses a scenario for the development of his character, from level to level he receives various bonuses. Thus, the game mechanics is projected onto real life with one big difference - in the game, people pump their virtual hero, and on SmartProgress themselves and their skills.
Experience can be obtained for achieving the goals and for the advantages in rating the goals of the user and his comments. Here is our level table .
Panfilov: That is, bonuses are now, in fact, an opportunity to put a plus sign. Then it is somehow modernized, can there be some prizes?
Zakharov: Yes, if the user earns level 10, he will receive an endless pro-account.
Panfilov: Do you have any analogues in Russia or abroad?
Zakharov: In this form, as we have - no. Mostly all success boards or dream boards. There is such a service abroad, there you can also publish your goal and communicate with users, that's all. Their audience is 300 million. In Russia, there is still such . We learned about it after we launched our project.
Panfilov: Do you consider your system universal? After all, all people are different, I used to read a lot about GTD and all sorts of target systems - many come to the point that it’s enough to use a notebook and pen. That is, most likely, it is impossible to come up with something that will suit everyone.
Zakharov: No, there are no systems that suit everyone. Someone like BMW, someone Infiniti. Some people like to plan everything, measure indicators, others do everything intuitively.
Panfilov: By the way, about Infiniti - what are you driving on?
Zakharov: I travel very little around Moscow, I am faster on the subway. Until now, there was no need for a car.
Panfilov: Tell me about the project - what it is, why, why such a concept, how you came to this (and with whom).
Zakharov: SmartProgress is a service for setting and achieving goals, which helps to structure and organize information on personal goals. It is difficult to understand the essence right away, right? The topic is really non-standard and difficult for primary understanding, especially for people far from this sphere.
It is close to those who are casually familiar with David Allen's GTD or different methods of setting goals, one of those may be SMART. We decided to take on the task of introducing as many people as possible to this topic, but if there are plenty of theories on this topic, then many have a big problem with practice.
Why set goals? It has long been observed that people who go with the flow have mediocre results in almost all walks of life. They do not spend time on their development, do not strive to achieve maximum results in their careers, they complain about their body swum in fat, but do nothing to change their lifestyle.
')
The situation is completely different for purposeful people; they are not exchanged in trifles. If there is a direction in which direction to go, then circumstances in life begin to take shape in their favor.
We have implemented various methods of achieving the goal in SmartProgress, and at the moment when the user creates his goal, we help him with the right questions to correctly formulate the goal and push him to think in the right direction. Creating a goal is half the battle. Next, the user is invited to keep a goal diary, in which he describes all his progress in achieving. The goals are public by default, so any other person can subscribe to such a goal and follow the results. It turns out that the user creates a public statement, as it were, that he will achieve the goal, and if he does not want to be known as an empty windshield, he must reach it.
Panfilov: So how did it turn out?
Zakharov: It all started almost 2 years ago, my old acquaintance Maxim turned to me and voiced the concept of a goal setting service. At first, the idea seemed doubtful to me, although after a few days I thought about it, figured that the niche was not occupied and agreed to become a partner in the project. I acted as a project designer, Maxim was engaged in frontend and backend. At that time he already had another project, bringing him the main income, so he could work on him full time. I worked at CreativePeople and was not going to quit. For me, as a designer, CreativePeople was like a top manager, Gazprom. Development of the design was in my spare time, I was in no hurry, I worked in the evenings and weekends.
At that time, an interesting book — RE: Work — came into my hands by chance, it put my brain in its place. I learned a lot from it. The main message is that there is no need to engage in perfectionism if you are just launching your product. So everything turned out, I made a good design, but I didn’t give everything 100%, the main thing at that time was to show users the idea.
And so it happened, in September 2012 we posted an article on Habré and received 40,000 views, a lot of reviews and first users. This gave us a great impetus for development, we realized that the project is interesting to people, but we need to devote more time to it. Therefore, I left CreativePeople and started working closely on the project.
Panfilov: And how many users are there now?
Zakharov: We already have more than 15,000 users, of which 10,000 were recruited a year, and 5,000 in a couple of months came. Geometric progression, I hope, the trend will continue. Here is the left live statistics.
Panfilov: Yeah, you wrote that you don’t have and don’t need investors (they say, they offered a million dollars, but you refused) - how is that?
Zakharov: Well, just a minor project of Maxim began to bring enough funds to exist. We can not spend a lot on advertising now, but we keep a couple of remote employees on a permanent basis.
Panfilov: Does SmartProgress itself somehow earn or will it earn?
Zakharov: Yes, I have already begun to make a profit. Firstly, these are Pro-accounts, which expand the functionality; secondly, these will be the “Target Templates”; thirdly, the "price of the word."
Goals Templates - launched a section last month. Templates are a ready-made action plan drawn up by a person who already has experience in achieving this goal. The user sets it to his profile and begins to work with him, as with his goal. It can change and add stages, specify deadlines and more. The template consists of text information, links to various useful resources and articles, audio and video materials necessary to achieve each specific goal. Structured information will allow you to get the most useful knowledge without losing time to search for it.
At SmartProgress there are paid and free templates. Paid is an expert, free - journalists and copywriters. By purchasing a paid template, the user will receive not only the template itself, but also expert support. At that moment, when the client of such a template rests against the wall, he will be able to request the support of the author of the template, he will study the diary of the user's goal and will be able to give recommendations and advice. An important point. When a user installs a template, he gets a list of people who have installed a similar template, and can exchange experiences and communicate with them. It turns out such a collective way to achieve goals side by side with the same people interested in the result.
The price of a word is a bet on yourself and your willpower. This is a great way to shake up and increase your motivation. The bottom line is simple. The user makes a public statement that will achieve such a goal, while assigning the price of the word. This may be, for example, 5,000 rubles. If he reaches the goal on time - the money is returned to his account, if not, then we offer options: either to transfer money to an orphanage, or to the fund of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, or to develop our service. SmartProgress charges a small commission of 9% regardless of the result.
Panfilov: Can you share some numbers? Everyone is interested in how much you can earn on this service.
Zakharov: Not yet, but right now you can observe how our user has placed 50,000 on himself - he wants to throw off 20 kilograms in 2 months. We have not yet fully launched the “price of the word,” landing pages will soon be ready, and we will begin to promote this technique.
Panfilov: How will you check this person? He can lie that he dropped the weight.
Zakharov: Well, the moderators will watch what the person wrote all this time. If he suddenly throws 5 kg over the last day, then there will be doubts. But, in the end, we are adults, he appoints the price of the word for himself, not for us. We will take the commission in any case.
Panfilov: Speaking of users, articles on profile resources are cool, of course, but for stable growth, you need something more serious, what do you plan / do in this direction?
Zakharov: Growth due to word of mouth is already yielding results. Our audience is quite loyal. Plans to reach a more serious income and run advertising in major blogs.
We are still ready beta version of the application for iPhone, now we are registering in the App Store. And they also started doing Android. We order development on outsourcing, I also compose design.
Panfilov: Cool, what other plans?
Zakharov: Now one of the main tasks is to replenish the base with new templates and improve existing ones. The plans to implement on the project MindMap, because these cards are closely related to the subject of our service and will be another tool to help structure the information on the objectives.
Panfilov: I didn’t quite understand your gamification - there are levels, and you can score points - but what does it give? And how to score points?
Zakharov: The site has a system of experience and levels, and the levels are non-linear. At level 5, the user chooses a scenario for the development of his character, from level to level he receives various bonuses. Thus, the game mechanics is projected onto real life with one big difference - in the game, people pump their virtual hero, and on SmartProgress themselves and their skills.
Experience can be obtained for achieving the goals and for the advantages in rating the goals of the user and his comments. Here is our level table .
Panfilov: That is, bonuses are now, in fact, an opportunity to put a plus sign. Then it is somehow modernized, can there be some prizes?
Zakharov: Yes, if the user earns level 10, he will receive an endless pro-account.
Panfilov: Do you have any analogues in Russia or abroad?
Zakharov: In this form, as we have - no. Mostly all success boards or dream boards. There is such a service abroad, there you can also publish your goal and communicate with users, that's all. Their audience is 300 million. In Russia, there is still such . We learned about it after we launched our project.
Panfilov: Do you consider your system universal? After all, all people are different, I used to read a lot about GTD and all sorts of target systems - many come to the point that it’s enough to use a notebook and pen. That is, most likely, it is impossible to come up with something that will suit everyone.
Zakharov: No, there are no systems that suit everyone. Someone like BMW, someone Infiniti. Some people like to plan everything, measure indicators, others do everything intuitively.
Panfilov: By the way, about Infiniti - what are you driving on?
Zakharov: I travel very little around Moscow, I am faster on the subway. Until now, there was no need for a car.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/198004/
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