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Lessons Learned
Connectsy has been pulled from the Android Market, and the server has been taken down. This was a difficult decision for us, but we feel strongly that it was the right decision.
When we started Connectsy, we were green. We had built a few products for other people, and knew we had it in us to make an awesome product of our own. Those projects didn’t make it to the public due to powers out of our control, and we were hungry to make something wicked and get past first base.
So we started getting together and brainstorming ideas. A few ideas came up: location-based chat, finding people to get together with nearby, getting together with friends easily. With these ideas swirling around we mapped out a product and started to build it. Bootstrapped at first, and then with some friends and family money, we had visions of Silicon Vally in our heads; we were now players.
So we went to the valley, to TechCrunch Disrupt, to show off our new product. It was rushed, and the vision was a little half-baked, but we launched, and pitched, and got some great feedback. The experience was incredible, and made us believe even more that we had what it took. But when the event was over and we got home, we had no users.
Disheartened only a little, we pulled that version of Connectsy and rethought all our assumptions about the product. The problem we were solving wasn’t tight enough. The app wasn’t simple enough. We were trying to solve more then one problem. We worked through all of these issues and arrived at something that was elegantly simple, focused on getting together with friends on short notice. It didn’t have all the features we wanted, and it was still only available on Android, but we knew it was a good product.
So we launched at SproutUp, to great fanfare. We put on a good show, and got a fantastic response. We were written up in the National Post, the Torontoist, and we were on Webnation. We were high on the hype. And yet, when the dust settled, we still had no users.
It was around that time that we got in contact with the folks at Year One Labs. As we started to have conversations with them, some things were becoming clear to us. This culminated in a trip to Montreal, where we spend the day in their space, and were taken to school. They had us pick use cases and target markets for Connectsy and reshape the vision based on those. What came out of those exercises was a revelation. It was much clearer what the customers problems were, and how to solve them. The solutions we were coming up with weren’t Connectsy.
We returned to our office, with a mix of disappointment and promise. We knew that Connectsy as it stood wasn’t going to work, however we could see a way forward. In the coming month we learned that what Year One was espousing was the Lean Startup methodology. Understanding your customer and their problem in order to design a solution that they want and will use. It seems obvious now.
So what next? We are working on something new, and we think you’re gonna love it. We’re using our past experience and lessons learned to do it right this time. We don’t have a launch date just yet, but stay tuned.
Matt and Aron,
Connectsy
We’re not on the 2010 list but we’ll be doing our best to make the 2011 list. Thanks to Erin Bury for the mention at the end.
3 new startups connecting you with friends, services and employers. A nice blog post by Erin Bury. Thanks Erin.
A rough video of us presenting at Sprout Up. We decided last minute to record it and fortunately for us, our good friend Phil was front row with his iPhone. Thanks Philly.
Presenting at Sprout Up November 2010. Thank you Erin and Sarah for giving us the opportunity to demo Connectsy.
