My lean startup experiment is an experiment I’m running to see if it is possible to launch a successful product (product = customer facing software system) without spending too much money and in a short period of time.
In phase 1 I had 5 product ideas and wanted to know in which should I invest.
In phase 2 I pick the idea with more interest from phase 1 and invested in creating the MVP (Minimal Viable Product), ContaCal, a calorie counter system.
My phase 3 objectives were:
- website launch
- online campaign (Google, Facebook, Orkut, etc.)
- real users feedback!
Website launch
I officially launched ContaCal on Sep 4th sending an email to all existing users plus the people who showed some interested during phase 1.
Online campaign
I used Google and Facebook. Both generate leads, but Google generated 3 to 4 times more leads than Facebook for my specific web application. Today I’m running a $30/day campaign in AdWords ($1500/month) and I don’t increase it because ContaCal still doesn’t generate any revenue. As soon as I find a sustainable revenue source for ContaCal I’ll certainly increase this investment.
During a certain period my web site was out for maintenance and Google suspended my AdWords campaign. It took 8 days and many emails sent with one or two replies for Google to resume my campaign. This hurter my new user subscription rate.
Real users feedback
I received tons of feedback. Some asking for additional features, some with difficulties in using the system and some thank me for the system! 🙂
Based on the feedback, I used some additional development as well as adjustments to the site layout. That costed me around $1000.
Some statistics
Below you can find some statistics about new users and how this number relates to certain events.
Total cost and time so far: $9,025 – 2 months and 3 weeks
- Phase 1 (idea funnel): $1,600 – 2 weeks
- 5 product ideas pages in unbounce: $50
- 5 Google AdWords campaign: $1,500
- 5 Domain registration: $50
- Phase 2 (MVP): $3,425 – 1 week
- crowd sourced logo: $310
- wordpress template: $35
- wordpress template adjustments: $80
- startup dev MVP development: $3,000
- Phase 3 (Launch + campaign + feedback): $4,000 – 2 months
- Campaign: $3,000 ($1,500/month)
- Application and layout adjustments: $1,000
Stay tuned for the next steps
- the search for a revenue stream!!!