BE COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE
Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it’s a small price to pay for living a dream. - Peter McWilliams
how to get your first 1000 users
build a splash page. user “unbounce” to create one, collect email address. email these signups when these prototypes are ready.
add link to email signature. with a tagline “collect your travel momentos, yettogo.com”
create a demo video
be a full entrepreneur. promote all the time. talk about it.
get on techcrunch and other blogs.
hackernews.
facebook ads.
start a company blog.
-vinicius vacanti
how to keep your first 1000 users
focus on a niche. groupon focused on local deals in chicago. foursquare focused on new york. facebook harvard, yelp san francisco. yettogo: uber global travelers.
become a super user. upload lots of tips, user the service, make ur friends super users too.
wow users. treat users like friends and make contacts personal. contact them for feedback, understand every unsubscribe. throw parties for first users. reward best users.
get on the users social graph. make these users very happy.
- vinicius vacanti
It’s the journey that matters
- Taste of real meaning of: enjoy the journey. Ycombinator in 2 weeks! Believing is half happening.
back to school
going to meet-ups, talking to new people, brainstorming creative ideas - the last few weeks seem like the first semester of university all over again. i feel like i’ve just enrolled myself to a entrepreneur degree and we have two more weeks to find a third team member before we get disqualified for the school project and get kicked out of school. its only been one month and i’m exhausted, but its FUN, its EXCITING and i’m working with my best friend and sharing this experience together =)
sheung wan
there’s something very charming about sheung wan. only a minute’s tram ride away from central and you enter into a plethora of family run local businesses that have been there for years & decades. my current office is located here and every morning i buy a juice from the little fruit store downstairs, or a cappuccino from the corner coffee shop or a fresh-from-the-oven bun from the chinese bakery. no branding, no labels, these stores simply specialize in delivering the best of what they have. every shop has its own character, and every shop owner a personality. what makes these stores special is not its name or its ‘branding’ that so many corporate stores attempt to attach to its “brand label”, but the genuineness and unpretentiousness in both the products and the service. these shops come with its own eccentricities, that you develop a certain kind of love for, and with that also, a warming familiarity. the barista at the coffee shop knows exactly how i have my cappuccino dry and without cocoa, the fruit man makes fun of morning sleepy unkempt look and the bakery girl knows my name. i love sheung wan and i hope these small lovely businesses will be able to stay for decades to come.
making a better place
one realization that has surfaced since starting this project is that what drives us is not the money or the possible revenue that this could potentially make. its more the possibility of how we can change the way we live or make our lives a little bit better. we strive to solve problems and design & make a product that people really love. that’s the ultimate goal of yettogo. its the same as making someone smile, making someone happy… making a better place. its nice to feel appreciated.
we see the potential of how tech can really change the way we live and communicate - facebook being the most obvious one - and we really want to be a part of that future possibility.
logo + namecard!
auvol design will be creating our logo and namecards this week! very excited about the week to come. extremely useful & honest meeting with alan today. most start-ups are unsuccessful and very few even get to the end of phase 1. its only been 3 weeks but already feels like 3 months. so many challenges ahead, but its exciting, and i look forward to the adventure ahead!
Brain Drain
Insightful meeting with John and Mathais at Classified. Facebook integration, MVP, user incentives - more areas to really explore. I think next stage will be wire frames and really understanding what platform or app we are building. Exhausting week of meetings almost over. Really need a day off for brain to recover. So glad it’s Friday tomorrow!
