I went to juwo.com when you first posted here and thought "huh, that's kind of funny that there's nowhere where you can actually use the product..." You're competition is going to have a chance to copy your ideas at some point or another anyway- it's a simple fact of business- even if you do have a patent. And no amount of miraculous outside funding will help that. Take a risk [ http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/01/death_by_riskav.html ].
Get the product into as many people's hands as quickly as possible, as massively as possible. If there's a chance that some hacker is willing to do some of the work to make it work with other media formats, then for heaven's sake open source the product (or part of it like pg said). What do you have to lose? You're product is more than just a list of features. Believe it or not, many people will not do a point-by-point comparison of your product with other products- there's the coolness factor, loyalty to you and your company, the subtle touches of your product, the way you support it and it's users, the vision you have of how it can be used to enrich someone's life, how frequently you respond and update it, etc. etc.
None of that will matter if no one is using it. Start a following. It may fail either way- that's got to be part of the reason you still have a day job, but it has absolutely no chance of success if no one is using it and spreading the word about it.
jwecker: I had a demo page up that I took down upon other people's advice.
I just returned from an enterpreneur meeting here in Kansas City and a wise man with 6 startups under his belt told me when I said I am considering giving it away, "Dont give it away because then it's gone".
But then contrast it with, "Cast your bread upon the waters and after many days, they shall return to you".
I don't understand his logic. It's catchy, but it means nothing. The only time that would make sense if there is a very small finite market for your product- for example- if there are only 50 people on the planet who will pay for your product and there's a reasonable chance they'll know where to find it, then yah, don't give it away. When is that ever true, though? When you sell nuclear submarine technology to 1st world governments? It sounds like you've put a lot of sweat and guts into this. I would suggest you read http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php (it applies even if yours isn't a web app) and Crossing the Chasm http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060517123 which goes into the mechanics of your market. If you took down the demo because it made your product look bad because it was incomplete, complete a smaller subset. If you took it down because someone said someone would steal your idea, welcome to startups- know that they'll steal it and move on and do it better.
I really appreciate the advice from you all. To those who posted on this page, I can send you the demos, an executive summary and competitive matrix - if you are interested. IMHO juwo is a useful everyday tool.
However, you would have to give me your word that (sorry, I dont know how to put it diplomatically) you will not rip off any new ideas.
In return, perhaps, I can share a percentage of any profit from juwo - for a certain time eg. 1 year with those who will help out with concrete help.
There is a lot of money in it if it catches on. Think of youtube using it for their audio/video.
Feel free to email me anil AT juwo DOT com.
thanks,
Anil Philip
jwercker has some great advice - you need to get this out there. The other products are pulling ahead because they're actively building a community. You aren't!
Adding to that, you may want to take some time to invest in a communications "strategy". After reading your post and checking out the website, I don't think I have much of a clue as to what your product does, other than maybe allowing me to organize media in some way... how will that benefit me? How is it better than the products your competitors have released?
You need to build the community, but in order to do that, you need to communicate how your product is going to improve that community's lives in some way - and you need to do this on the front page of your site.
Release it. I once worked at one startup that decided that their product sucked too much to even put into the hands of beta customers and went about rewriting it. The VCs canceled the rewrite 2 months later and shut the company down 6 months later.
A little later, I was at another startup whose product IMHO sucks *more*. They, however, are profitable. They manage to get customers to fork over several hundred thousands dollars to use the product.
There's almost *always* a buyer if you look hard enough. Entrepreneurs are usually the most critical of their own product; they ought to be, that's what makes them improve. But chances are, somebody somewhere really wants what you're making, and your job is to find them.
Thank you pg.
No, it's not divided into layers.
Since it is a GUI, anyone can play with it and copy a feature they lack - that is the problem.
In the finished product, there was to be a Viewer and an Editor that viewers would upgrade to upon paying $5. But I would feel comfortable charging only on a finished product.
Giving away a Viewer makes sense only when I have a multimedia customer. For example, if Paul Graham wants to 'broadcast' his audio talks.
That is an interesting thought - can I get this in front of Paul Graham right now? :)
Right now, your competitors have a product. You have a list of features, as jwecker put it. I do remember reading your posts on juwo here a couple times, and still I am unsure on what exactly it does.
You sunk a lot into this and giving it away would yield you 0 return. I understand that. But don't let regret and hindsight turn into future mistakes. Get it out there and get yourself a user base.
if you would like to run a demo, please read my reply to jwecker an do contact me. (sorry for the repeat posts, but there doesnt seem to be email notifications or even highlighting of new posts).
Websites tend to grow exponentially, meaning that for the first few months mainly the earlier adopter types will be the ones playing with it. Does your website currently do anything that creates value for them? If so, release even if it's buggy and unfinished. People will expect it to improve. On the other hand, if people go there and see that it doesn't solve their problems or make their life easier, they probably won't go back a second time. So if it doesn't yet solve a problem, wait until it does this.
if you would like to run a demo, please read my reply to jwecker an do contact me. (sorry for the repeat posts, but there doesnt seem to be email notifications or even highlighting of new posts).
Releasing new software products to a market and being successful may seem to be timing, luck or good marketing? But the pro's know better and know there is more to it than that. The answer to your question is not as cut and dry as you think.
ASSUMPTION?: I'm assuming your product is a shrink wrapped binary to be released to one operating system for single users (from what I've read on your product).
COMMUNICATION: I cannot really view your software, but it looks like its a binary application. Unlike its web counterparts, your audience cannot simply use your software. This is by far the biggest hurdle. If your audience cannot use or see your software they will judge (rightly or wrongly) by what information you offer. Do you show on your website, blog or other forms of communication the following?
* product summary?: simple sentence explaining problem solved
* why better/product comparison: how is your product than competitor(s)?
* features: list of things the software does
* scenario: small stories of how certain problems are solved
* images: screenshots of major forms
* blog: meta behind the scene view of product (my favourite as you can really
guage the product process) & how real users solve their problems (hopefully with your software)?
* forums: what problems people are having
* price: what is the price of your software? No price, even if its alpha still give a hint
DELIVERY: Are you going to have your software on your website? Or are you going to look for the best couple of sites that offer downloads for new & categorised binary software like Tucows or Cnet.com? The ranking and categorising of products make it easier for users to find new & interesting software and also makes it easier for developers to find their markets. From here you can work out important things like pricing, feature matching etc.
'... Your first set of problems revolve more around business & distribution than software and engineering. ...'
CONCLUSION: Notice I've not added any development problems here (release planning, defect processes, etc ...) Your first set of problems revolve more around business & distribution than software and engineering. Since you have invested time & money and you want to protect your investment consider the following. Go back to marketing 101.
Invest the time (not money) to see how you can improve the communication of your product on your site. Then concentrate on placing your product with Cnet. At the same time maintain your job (and income) & improve the existing code but not new features.
There are other alternatives, explore those. I do not suggest you open source the product. If you have created a site that communicates the benefits of the product. Found a way to deliver the product to consumers. Then you can work on selling. This is going to take longer than you probably think.
It is not shrink wrapped, it is via viral distribution via web.
if you would like to run a demo, please read my reply to jwecker an do contact me. (sorry for the repeat posts, but there doesnt seem to be email notifications or even highlighting of new posts).
Get the product into as many people's hands as quickly as possible, as massively as possible. If there's a chance that some hacker is willing to do some of the work to make it work with other media formats, then for heaven's sake open source the product (or part of it like pg said). What do you have to lose? You're product is more than just a list of features. Believe it or not, many people will not do a point-by-point comparison of your product with other products- there's the coolness factor, loyalty to you and your company, the subtle touches of your product, the way you support it and it's users, the vision you have of how it can be used to enrich someone's life, how frequently you respond and update it, etc. etc.
None of that will matter if no one is using it. Start a following. It may fail either way- that's got to be part of the reason you still have a day job, but it has absolutely no chance of success if no one is using it and spreading the word about it.