{"id":7837,"date":"2014-04-16T08:26:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T13:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=7837"},"modified":"2018-02-08T22:18:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T03:18:39","slug":"perilous-pivots-dream-meets-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/perilous-pivots-dream-meets-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Perilous Pivots: When A Dream Meets Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editors Note Cy is a friend of HostGator, currently pursuing entrepreneurial dreams in Silicon Valley. We have asked him to share his adventures. \u00a0If you missed it see Part 1 The Spark: A Startup Is Born.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Startups are inherently messy. \u00a0The media makes it appear as if home run successes happen on the first try. \u00a0In reality all progress is the result of founders careening for months between false fits and starts until they land on the idea that works. \u00a0\u00a0Contastic\u2019s story is no different.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The False Start<\/h3>\n

With a promising idea in hand I was accepted into the Lightspeed Venture Fellows program and provided a generous grant to build Contastic. \u00a0\u00a0During the summer, I met my co-founder Kevin and together we engaged with the top investors\/entrepreneur community around Silicon Valley. \u00a0This got us excited about the hot space that is mobile CRM taking the basic processes of managing a sales team from the desktop to the phone.<\/p>\n

\"CY<\/p>\n

Over the next two months we built our mobile CRM. \u00a0Investors loved it. \u00a0However customers weren\u2019t adopting the beta versions as readily as we\u2019d hoped. \u00a0We attributed the apathy to an incomplete product. \u00a0It was instead a sign of a flawed focus most people didn\u2019t want to write notes on their mobile phone.<\/p>\n

So, when we finally launched, it was bittersweet. \u00a0By that time we knew that the product wouldn\u2019t pick up. \u00a0So, we changed the name to PeopleNotes to preserve our company name and launched it. \u00a0\u00a0The app never got more than a few hundred downloads an App Store Flop:<\/p>\n

\"app
\n <\/p>\n

Rediscovering Relentless Focus on the Customer<\/h3>\n

So where did we go wrong? \u00a0We built for the people around us technologist and investors not our customers. \u00a0\u00a0We mistakenly let the most convenient information, from those around us, take the place of the most relevant information, from those customers we would need to seek out.<\/p>\n

Committing to focus on our customer to the exclusion of everything else was the turning point for Contastic. It\u2019s no mistake that this is what Mark Zuckerburg keeps on his desk:<\/p>\n

\"Zuckerburg<\/p>\n

Credit: Masahble http:\/\/mashable.com\/2012\/02\/01\/mark-zuckerberg-ipo-pic\/<\/i>
\n <\/p>\n

The Pivot<\/h3>\n

By pouring over the usage analytics from PeopleNotes we discovered that, while people did not like taking notes, they loved our automated emails to keep them in touch. \u00a0So, we doubled down on that pivoting from a mobile notes product to a web-based staying in touch product. \u00a0And over the next month we built what became Contastic.<\/p>\n

\"contastic<\/p>\n

There was no big launch or press announcement. \u00a0Just a quick post to Facebook. \u00a0Over the next two months we iterated with a small group of users and obsessively measured our funnel. Analytics told us what was wrong. \u00a0Then we\u2019d talk to customers to figure out WHY.<\/p>\n

\"whiteboard\"
\n <\/p>\n

Picking Up Steam<\/h3>\n

After twelve weeks of iteration we\u2019ve developed a clear idea as defined by our customers of what Contastic is and who it\u2019s built for. Contastic is an email personalization engine for salespeople.<\/p>\n

 
\n