Typical errors when creating an Internet startup. Experience of the project "I love cinema"
The experience of the loud and completely unrealized project I love cinema (ILC) turned out to be a good lesson for its creators and can be such for any startup starter. Although before the start of the conversation with the producer of the project Yaroslav Greshilov, I did not plan that the conclusion would turn out exactly like this. A little earlier, material on this topic was already published, but I considered that there was a basis for a larger study, and I was not mistaken. The results of the conversation can be summarized in the list of errors that can make any project, as well as Yaroslav’s vision of future prospects - both the project and its own. Italicized words of Yaroslav, my thoughts go in plain text.
Error 1. Attempt to do everything at once
Of those who deal with startups on a serious level, few people repeat it now, but this is precisely what ruined the ILC.
“By that time, they hadn’t read the book Getting Real :) and tried to do everything at once.”
After all, it was originally an idea to make a similar resource for books. “At one point, I realized that there would not be enough resources for both projects. And then the desire disappeared - the idea froze. Although there are no projects of this type right now: there is Livelib , which is not very successful and as a social service is inefficiently built, there is Imhonet - they suffer from universality (not only books). But in general it is an interesting attempt at cultural service . ”
The reasons for this error are as follows:
For these reasons, the error is put first, because they are peculiar to most of today's Internet-startup startups. Error 2. Release out of time and not with the functionality It follows from the first error. " The decision to release was not deliberate, but caused by the pressure of circumstances.
“We were released on February 15, 2007, by this time there was already some tiredness of the ongoing development, the management wanted to see something. The resource started in a fairly damp form; earlier than it should. We released what was most ready (but not what was most needed - PN) - as a result, there was no mass service on the project. 80 percent of the functionality remains unfulfilled. ”
In addition, the release date was associated with the plans for the advertising campaign "- and it is even more strange to see that it is not the content that determines the time when to start promoting it, but, on the contrary, the content is adjusted to the advertising plans.
Two others are associated with this error.
Error 3. Unrealized user expectations At the time of launch, an extensive discussion took place , the project was presented as something unimaginable ... but in fact it did not make a stunning impression. In the stream of constantly emerging new projects, those who say "We will do a great thing" can be treated as if everything has already been done - and this plays a disservice.
The fact that the hype had a negative effect was noted by Yaroslav himself: "The resource looked clumsy." Plus, inaccurate positioning also played a role. In the discussion on the link above, the resource was announced not only as a “community of cinema lovers”, but also as a “Russian IMDB”, which is not entirely correct: “After all, there is already kinopoisk ”.
ILC did not plan to be Russian IMDB from the point of view of positioning: " IMDB is a content project, and we were interested in something else - people interact with each other. In general, the mention of IMDB was remembered from our attempts to explain what we were going to do, we described it as IMDB + Wikipedia + Livejournal. But “hooked” precisely to IMDB . " Error 4. The project team for part-time employment " The problem with the lack of experience was not only in terms of promotion, but also in development.
Stick in the wheel inserted the lack of normal communication with the leadership of the Expert, and the decision to do the project within this structure, I consider a mistake. This distracted them from the main affairs in the main direction, but we did not get enough attention. Again, we didn’t have our own development department, all those who worked on the Expert site worked on ILC. “When a manager hears about the“ half a year of development, ”it is difficult for him to understand that the stretched terms are caused by the fact that developers are busy with current tasks. This is what causes the“ early release ”described above.
The fastest survive among startups, because ideas are not patented, and as soon as you enter the market with something worthwhile, they immediately try to copy it. And if you constantly get distracted by an unrelated routine, you will soon be overtaken. Unless, of course, they consider the prospect doubtful, and the race - unnecessary.
The problem of part-time made itself felt in the sales of advertising: “ It was done by the Expert’s sellers, and they worked with those whom they knew and offered, in fact, an addition to the media plan. That is, with the hottest customers - film distributors - they We also worked on partner programs: in particular, with Webflix, a DVD rental project (a clone of the American Netflix, which has already closed). The problems remained the same - there was a shortage of developers to successfully implement these programs. " Error 5. Incorrect advertising campaign.
“ We planned to attract the largest number of users from the“ banner bombardment ”of existing cinema resources where there is no social component. The campaign was unsuccessful and did not produce the planned results. If the release had the same mass service, the results would be different.
In addition, the mass service would allow self-propagation, “word of mouth” to advance, when existing users would attract others — their acquaintances, friends — to the resource. And when the community is the main thing in the project, as in the ILC, the risk of such a banner campaign is that the people who come after it blur the existing one. As a result, there will not be this snowball itself. "
What's next?
A possible development scenario could be the sale of the project to the investor, but with the only real offer, the seller and the buyer could not agree on a price.
The crucial factor for the success of the project Jaroslav sees the speed of development, because the question of sales arises after the planned plans are implemented. " Three promising services are understandable: a recommendation, a personal poster and a personal film library. They need to be implemented, but in the current situation, God forbid they can do it in a year ."
The implementation of new services will increase attendance, and it is the key for subsequent sales: " We didn’t reach up to 10,000 a day - then the resource would begin to pay for itself. With the current attendance of 7-8 thousand visitors a day, selling advertising is quite problematic. "
Yaroslav himself left the project at the end of 2007, but does not leave hope to deal with it again. Now he is engaged in the analytical-theoretical part in the InVenture incubator, about which there was also a separate article .
" In the summer I participated in a study on investment funds, one of the conclusions of which was the understanding that today non-investment type structures are needed in RuNet, mainly because of a shortage of projects. I consider the most effective form to grow projects, providing people with ideas with the necessary resources This is what InVenture is now . "
We talked before the Internet Communities-2008 conference, in his report on which Yaroslav essentially presented the results of his work: " In RuNet, everyone now speaks in different languages ​​and in one word they call different things ." Jaroslav, it turns out, acts as such a translator, a link.
" It was just such a structure, like InVenture, that the project team lacked. If we had such a structure 2 years ago, we would have succeeded (we must think - due to the transfer of experience to the project team. - PN) And the question of the controlling stake which in current conditions remains with the fund, would be secondary.
An incubator is a structure for those who feel a lack of something. The share of the incubator relies for the investment of the missing: time, experience and resources. And she is being discussed.
And if the project has enough, we can simply recommend Russian Media Ventures, which owns the incubator, to invest in the project. "
Prepared by Pavel Nosikov
Audio recording
Error 1. Attempt to do everything at once
Of those who deal with startups on a serious level, few people repeat it now, but this is precisely what ruined the ILC.
“By that time, they hadn’t read the book Getting Real :) and tried to do everything at once.”
After all, it was originally an idea to make a similar resource for books. “At one point, I realized that there would not be enough resources for both projects. And then the desire disappeared - the idea froze. Although there are no projects of this type right now: there is Livelib , which is not very successful and as a social service is inefficiently built, there is Imhonet - they suffer from universality (not only books). But in general it is an interesting attempt at cultural service . ”
The reasons for this error are as follows:
- lack of experience in implementing such projects,
- overestimate of their own capabilities (in terms of having time to realize everything that was planned at the right time).
For these reasons, the error is put first, because they are peculiar to most of today's Internet-startup startups. Error 2. Release out of time and not with the functionality It follows from the first error. " The decision to release was not deliberate, but caused by the pressure of circumstances.
“We were released on February 15, 2007, by this time there was already some tiredness of the ongoing development, the management wanted to see something. The resource started in a fairly damp form; earlier than it should. We released what was most ready (but not what was most needed - PN) - as a result, there was no mass service on the project. 80 percent of the functionality remains unfulfilled. ”
In addition, the release date was associated with the plans for the advertising campaign "- and it is even more strange to see that it is not the content that determines the time when to start promoting it, but, on the contrary, the content is adjusted to the advertising plans.
Two others are associated with this error.
Error 3. Unrealized user expectations At the time of launch, an extensive discussion took place , the project was presented as something unimaginable ... but in fact it did not make a stunning impression. In the stream of constantly emerging new projects, those who say "We will do a great thing" can be treated as if everything has already been done - and this plays a disservice.
The fact that the hype had a negative effect was noted by Yaroslav himself: "The resource looked clumsy." Plus, inaccurate positioning also played a role. In the discussion on the link above, the resource was announced not only as a “community of cinema lovers”, but also as a “Russian IMDB”, which is not entirely correct: “After all, there is already kinopoisk ”.
ILC did not plan to be Russian IMDB from the point of view of positioning: " IMDB is a content project, and we were interested in something else - people interact with each other. In general, the mention of IMDB was remembered from our attempts to explain what we were going to do, we described it as IMDB + Wikipedia + Livejournal. But “hooked” precisely to IMDB . " Error 4. The project team for part-time employment " The problem with the lack of experience was not only in terms of promotion, but also in development.
Stick in the wheel inserted the lack of normal communication with the leadership of the Expert, and the decision to do the project within this structure, I consider a mistake. This distracted them from the main affairs in the main direction, but we did not get enough attention. Again, we didn’t have our own development department, all those who worked on the Expert site worked on ILC. “When a manager hears about the“ half a year of development, ”it is difficult for him to understand that the stretched terms are caused by the fact that developers are busy with current tasks. This is what causes the“ early release ”described above.
The fastest survive among startups, because ideas are not patented, and as soon as you enter the market with something worthwhile, they immediately try to copy it. And if you constantly get distracted by an unrelated routine, you will soon be overtaken. Unless, of course, they consider the prospect doubtful, and the race - unnecessary.
The problem of part-time made itself felt in the sales of advertising: “ It was done by the Expert’s sellers, and they worked with those whom they knew and offered, in fact, an addition to the media plan. That is, with the hottest customers - film distributors - they We also worked on partner programs: in particular, with Webflix, a DVD rental project (a clone of the American Netflix, which has already closed). The problems remained the same - there was a shortage of developers to successfully implement these programs. " Error 5. Incorrect advertising campaign.
“ We planned to attract the largest number of users from the“ banner bombardment ”of existing cinema resources where there is no social component. The campaign was unsuccessful and did not produce the planned results. If the release had the same mass service, the results would be different.
In addition, the mass service would allow self-propagation, “word of mouth” to advance, when existing users would attract others — their acquaintances, friends — to the resource. And when the community is the main thing in the project, as in the ILC, the risk of such a banner campaign is that the people who come after it blur the existing one. As a result, there will not be this snowball itself. "
What's next?
A possible development scenario could be the sale of the project to the investor, but with the only real offer, the seller and the buyer could not agree on a price.
The crucial factor for the success of the project Jaroslav sees the speed of development, because the question of sales arises after the planned plans are implemented. " Three promising services are understandable: a recommendation, a personal poster and a personal film library. They need to be implemented, but in the current situation, God forbid they can do it in a year ."
The implementation of new services will increase attendance, and it is the key for subsequent sales: " We didn’t reach up to 10,000 a day - then the resource would begin to pay for itself. With the current attendance of 7-8 thousand visitors a day, selling advertising is quite problematic. "
Yaroslav himself left the project at the end of 2007, but does not leave hope to deal with it again. Now he is engaged in the analytical-theoretical part in the InVenture incubator, about which there was also a separate article .
" In the summer I participated in a study on investment funds, one of the conclusions of which was the understanding that today non-investment type structures are needed in RuNet, mainly because of a shortage of projects. I consider the most effective form to grow projects, providing people with ideas with the necessary resources This is what InVenture is now . "
We talked before the Internet Communities-2008 conference, in his report on which Yaroslav essentially presented the results of his work: " In RuNet, everyone now speaks in different languages ​​and in one word they call different things ." Jaroslav, it turns out, acts as such a translator, a link.
" It was just such a structure, like InVenture, that the project team lacked. If we had such a structure 2 years ago, we would have succeeded (we must think - due to the transfer of experience to the project team. - PN) And the question of the controlling stake which in current conditions remains with the fund, would be secondary.
An incubator is a structure for those who feel a lack of something. The share of the incubator relies for the investment of the missing: time, experience and resources. And she is being discussed.
And if the project has enough, we can simply recommend Russian Media Ventures, which owns the incubator, to invest in the project. "
Prepared by Pavel Nosikov
Audio recording
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/22022/
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