1. Startups 101: Creating Your Own Business Andy Harris, Harvard ’14 Scott Crouch, Harvard ‘13 Saturday, July 16, 2011

2. Developing a Business Idea - Software Startups Creating a Winning Website Validating your Business Technical Debt

3. DEVELOPING YOUR IDEA

4. Solve a Problem Opportunities vs. Ideas

5. Better/Cheaper/Faster

6. Your Audience Some Business Terms: B2B – Business to Business B2C – Business to Consumer

7. Your Market Do Market Research! Size Your Market Saturated Market! Use it to your advantage

8. Software Business Models

9. What Is it?

10. CREATING A WINNING WEBSITE

11. Navigation Make Your Site Dynamic! One Column Layout

13. Create and nurture a bond with your customers! Present concise product information that no consumer can deny is desirable Give the consumer a compliment and use statements that they can easily appreciate and support

16. Testimonials, Endorsements and Referrals Comparisons Make a Promise to your Customer

21. TESTING AND VALIDATING YOUR IDEA

22. Goal: Test the viability of your business without major development costs. Method: Trick the user…

23. Entice the user Act like the product already exists. Pictures! Forms, FAQ and Contact Us. NO PRICES

25. Now it’s time to be honest! Talk about your product and how it is a work in progress. Include a submit form to get their feedback and to answer any of their questions Discounts

26. Create a control Play with different strategies, and pricing Change your marketing approaches and see which ones work

27. Signups are higher for B2C Upgrades are higher for B2B Aspirational services will have higher conversion rates Things to think about: free trials, requiring billing information at signup Onboarding

28. Does using a third party sign-in (Facebook Connect, etc.) help/hurt conversion rates. Should you offer multiple sign-in options. Does asking for more info after login hurt conversion rates?

29. PayPal/Other Third Party Payment Systems -> Lower Purchase Rate Browsers vs. Searchers? Who is buying Accounts?

30. Entering via homepage or individual deal? Be very careful with your UX (User Experience)! Does cloning Groupon help or hurt? Display previous deals?

34. Smart vs. Cheap and Quick