Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

Mistakes*

Avatar for Ian Landsman Ian Landsman
April 26, 2014
Business
2
750

 Mistakes*

A look back at some of UserScape's more noteworthy mistakes and some lessons learned.

Avatar for Ian Landsman

Ian Landsman

April 26, 2014
Tweet

More Decks by Ian Landsman

See All by Ian Landsman
Open Source & Your Business
Avatar for Ian Landsman ianlandsman
4
1.1k
How to Slay the Customer Support Beast
Avatar for Ian Landsman ianlandsman
3
2k

Other Decks in Business

See All in Business
Morght 会社紹介資料_LAST UPDATED 2025.7
Avatar for Morght Co., Ltd. morght
1
4k
ラッコキーワード サービス紹介資料
Avatar for ラッコ株式会社 rakko
0
69k
会社概要_DataLabs
Avatar for DataLabs inc. datalabs
0
150
三菱商事ロジスティクス_コンサルティング事業紹介
Avatar for MCLOGI mclogi
0
530
SlackでDMを使わない方が いい理由を説明してみた
Avatar for WalkerSumida walkersumida
1
1.2k
株式会社10X - Company Deck
Avatar for 10xinc 10xinc
89
1.5M
2024年度PoliPoliインパクトレポート(β版)/Impact Report 2024
Avatar for 株式会社PoliPoli/PoliPoli.Inc polipoli
0
310
5 Best Way to Find QuickBooks Enterprise Support Number
Avatar for josey quickbooksenterprisesupport
0
100
株式会社Domuz会社紹介資料（採用）
Avatar for Kimpachi Kadoike kimpachi_d
0
36k
6 Fast and Easy ways to contact Quickbooks Desktop Support
Avatar for nalix91224 nalix91224
0
170
エンジニアのための事業貢献入門/A business introduction for engineers
Avatar for Daisuke Sato dskst
85
23k
株式会社kubellパートナー 会社説明資料 (MINAGINE事業版)
Avatar for 株式会社kubellパートナー kubell_partner
2
820

Featured

See All Featured
It's Worth the Effort
Avatar for 3n 3n
185
28k
A better future with KSS
Avatar for Kyle Neath kneath
238
17k
Gamification - CAS2011
Avatar for David Bonilla davidbonilla
81
5.4k
The Straight Up "How To Draw Better" Workshop
Avatar for Dennis Kardys denniskardys
235
140k
Statistics for Hackers
Avatar for Jake VanderPlas jakevdp
799
220k
Visualizing Your Data: Incorporating Mongo into Loggly Infrastructure
Avatar for mongodb mongodb
47
9.6k
Design and Strategy: How to Deal with People Who Don’t "Get" Design
Avatar for Morgane Peng morganepeng
130
19k
CoffeeScript is Beautiful & I Never Want to Write Plain JavaScript Again
Avatar for Sam Stephenson sstephenson
161
15k
Build The Right Thing And Hit Your Dates
Avatar for Maggie C. maggiecrowley
37
2.8k
Java REST API Framework Comparison - PWX 2021
Avatar for Matt Raible mraible
31
8.7k
Templates, Plugins, & Blocks: Oh My! Creating the theme that thinks of everything
Avatar for Michelle Schulp Hunt marktimemedia
31
2.4k
Optimizing for Happiness
Avatar for Tom Preston-Werner mojombo
379
70k

Transcript

  1. Mistakes* * and silver linings

  2. ian landsman

  3. http://bootstrapped.fm
 http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm

  4. UserScape

  5. Support Tools

  6. None

  7. • product mistakes • business mistakes • Personal issues

  8. * Never do two different talks eight days apart

  9. Product mistakes

  10. * ᓣܴ Α͏ͦ͜ ยินดีต้อนรับ

  11. support utf8!

  12. $x00,000 lost ☹

  13. $x0,000 to fix ☹

  14. Market Focus ☺

  15. code within our means ☺

  16. * Saas vs On-premise

  17. None

  18. userscape zendesk Profits to date: low millions losses to date:


    -$64,000,000

  19. never be a billion dollar business ☹

  20. less consistent revenues ☹

  21. ☹

  22. Profitability! ☺

  23. code within our means ☺

  24. lets us be niche ☺

  25. Should you Saas?

  26. Business mistakes

  27. * I ❤️ Profits

  28. None

  29. Revenue 2005 2006 2007 2008 $488K $264K $123K $15K

  30. * 2008 - 2012 The lost years

  31. don’t miss the big transition

  32. you’ll work too hard ☹

  33. growth will slow ☹

  34. product stagnation ☹

  35. happy it didn’t sink the ship ☺

  36. * we didn’t hire early enough

  37. Full time vs freelancers

  38. you’ll work too hard ☹

  39. growth will slow ☹

  40. * I forgot to raise prices

  41. $x00,000 lost ☹

  42. You’re not charging enough @patio11

  43. * the right order matters

  44. None
  45. None

  46. lost time ☹

  47. $x0,000 lost ☹

  48. perseverance ☺

  49. * risk aversion

  50. “You can't lose what you don't put in the middle.

    ! But you can't win much either.”
  51. None
  52. None
  53. None

  54. none of these are “profitable” ☹

  55. Snappy • reclaim small teams • diversification • Saas experience

    ☺

  56. ☺ Laravel • give back to open source • hiring

    advantage • fun!

  57. ☺ podcast • forces reflection • personal branding • fun

    + Guerrilla marketing

  58. make yourself uncomfortable

  59. * we forgot to do marketing

  60. product + support

  61. ? ☹

  62. ! ? ☺

  63. None

  64. Personal issues

  65. * doubt in myself

  66. None
  67. None
  68. None

  69. perseverance

  70. engage your community ☺

  71. * the horrors of Working on the internet

  72. sitting all day ☹

  73. alone ☹

  74. your poor eyes ☹

  75. I’m home so I see my family more ☹

  76. * overworking

  77. None

  78. physical problems ☹

  79. family problems ☹

  80. • make time for exercise • limit weekend work •

    summer hours ☺

  81. * working in product

  82. the customers never stop ☹

  83. saas is even worse! ☹

  84. stress ☹

  85. make sure product is for you

  86. None
  87. None
  88. None

  89. Thanks!

  90. Ian Landsman ianlandsman.com/talks @ianlandsman