Hot Koehl

This post is part of a series for new entrepreneurs looking to get their first business idea off the ground. Don’t get investors or build the prototype just yet, sit down and answer some basic questions. All it takes is a pen and paper. Looking for the entire First Step Q&A?

1. What does your product actually DO?

Put your idea down on paper. If it takes more than a few lines to succinctly define, you need to refine your description or the idea itself. Remember, the ultimate goal is to get someone to buy something, which means you need the would-be customer to understand exactly what you’re selling as fast as possible. Long, drawn out explanations feel unreliable because you’ve crammed so much new information into the message, leaving the recipient in a daze going, “Wait, what was that again?”

The reality is that no matter what you’re selling, from elephants to electronics, you have to immediately hook a customer before going into greater detail. Therefore you’re answer doesn’t have to cover every feature, function, and benefit. Think “cornerstones,” the core of your product. Answering Question #1 for a car might look something like this:

My product is a personal vehicle that can comfortably carry several people across great distances faster than walking.

Note all the stuff I’m NOT discussing: seat colors, the size of the trunk (or even what a “trunk” is), gas mileage, the shape of the vehicle. They’re all details superfluous to the core product, which is a mode of personal transportation. Hook them on the core idea, then sell them on details once you have their attention.

If you are selling a radically new idea, take extra care to ground your it within current experience. Back to our car example: what if the automobile hadn’t been invented yet, and I had come up with the idea? Most people would respond to me by saying, “But I already have horses.” That’s why the car was initially called a “horseless carriage,” it immediately drew to mind the benefits over the horse and buggy.

Trouble on Question #1 comes in two forms: either it’s way too long, or way too short. In either case, it’s likely that your idea is not refined enough. In the web sector, I see a lot of ideas laid out in mountains of copy, but don’t amount to much more than “it’s a website that people will visit and do stuff.” Get out of the ivory tower! You have a good idea, now how can you practically apply it to the market? Find that answer and write it down.

Once your core product description is a few lines long, stand in front of a mirror and sell it to your ideal customer…in less than 60 seconds. The rules of the elevator pitch generally allow 2 minutes, but that’s misleading: an elevator pitch not only presents the customer with the idea, but also provides information on what to do next, i.e. “call my office,” “check out our website at…”, etc. In a real elevator pitch situation, you don’t get to offer next steps until the product is laid out.

Several would-be entrepreneurs reached out to me at the end of the year, seeking advice on how to get started with their business ideas. In the course of those conversations, I realized that ideas and expectations were all over the place: they had some pieces in place, while skipping crucial steps in others.

The exercises made me realize that while there’s no end to “starting a business” advice, very little of it explains what you do immediately after the “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if…” moment (probably because that stuff is uninteresting and doesn’t fill a publishable book). Yet it’s crucial that you make those very first steps and not skip ahead, because the answers will rear their heads down the road, whether you considered them or not. I figured some were revving up for New Year’s resolutions, which made me realize that there’s probably others out there looking for the same answer.

So, you have an idea. Awesome! How do you evaluate the idea? What’s the first step? Come up with valid answers to these 8 questions:

1. What does your product actually DO?
2. What pain point are you trying to solve?
3. Who is your target audience?
4. How will you make money?
5. How will you reach your target audience?
6. Identify your first customer. Name the person/company.
7. Lay out your prototype – MINIMUM product features necessary to deliver to the first customer.
8. Name your competition.

Why do I consider these questions “The first step?”

Every startup is different, and comes with a lot of unknowns, doubly so if you’re a first-time entrepreneur. But for all their differences, a number of foundational characteristics remain constant. These questions represent that bare essential information necessary to make any startup successful. You absolutely MUST have answers to these questions, or your setting yourself up for trouble down the road.

I’ll cover each question over the coming days, but you are encouraged to take a shot at answering them.

I had the great fortune of being interviewed by the guys over at MO.com earlier this month, discussing Fwd:Vault and what I’ve learned about starting a business in general. Who’s MO.com? From their website…

MO.com interviews entrepreneurs from all walks, across all industries, and from around the world. We focus on their habits and methods; what makes them tick. The primary focus of MO.com is entrepreneurship.

M.O. is the abbreviation for Modus Operandi or Method of Operating and we interview entrepreneurs to learn about their methods and to share their strategies and business philosophies with our readers.

The interview is pretty in-depth, which is cool in and of itself. However when you look at the company I’m keeping — the likes of Luncinda Holt (CEO of ClickEquations), Aaron Wall (Founder of SEO Book), and Neil Patel (Founder of KISS Metrics and Crazy Egg) — I’m pretty flattered that they talked to me!

My favorite pull-quote:

Fwd:Vault is all about simplicity and access, so this is something we work on every day. When you build and run any kind of web service, user feedback is absolutely key. A single user can find more bugs, usability snags, and other problems in a single visit than you as the author could find with a week of dedicated review. Most developers fear and loathe dealing with customer support, however those phone calls and emails are a treasure trove of potential improvements, fixes, and new ideas.

Read the full article.

My friend Tim Murphy recently launched entrepreneur-startup-guide.com to chronicle his adventures in starting his own company, and one of his first pieces recounts a conversation we had over lunch.

So many people have helped me get started on my journey, I was ecstatic at the opportunity to pay it forward. Apparently he actually found something of value there, and I hope you do too.

Fwd:Vault’s been listed on the startup review site Discovering Startups, which is cool in and of itself. However they also run a monthly contest for most popular startup, and the winner gets front page facetime on their site. All you have to do is click the badge below to visit our review, then click the “Vote” button in the upper righthand corner. No site registrations necessary.

And tell your friends to hit the site as well! It only takes a second, and you’ll be helping out the little guy!

Update: We’re out to an early lead! Make sure you vote from work and home!

I’ll be down on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville this week showing off Fwd:Vault at the Innovation Expo at Global Finals, the year-end celebration event for Destination ImagiNation. Our expo participation kicks off our new partnership with DI. The event is closed to the public, but if you’re an attendee, I’m looking forward to meeting you!

We have events planned throughout the weekend, and I’ll be chronicling them over on the Fwd:Vault blog. Keep an eye on that Thursday through Saturday for videos, pictures, and writeups.

I’ve been in event planning mode for weeks now, hopefully I can get back to the rest of my life afterward and enjoy the warm weather.

In my off-hours, I tutor a very talented young man on computers, programming, and IT. Our work is usually short exercises, but every now and then we drum up something that might be of use. The download today is one of those unique pieces. It started by simply playing around with installers, which by design create and delete files. In the process we found the hooks for file metadata, and played around with those. It eventually turned into a nice GUI on the file properties window, which we wrapped up in an installer.

FileTime allows you to edit the Created, Modified, and Last Accessed date/time for any file on a Windows system. After running the installer, right click on any file, choose “Properties,” then click the “FileTime” tab.

It’s pretty straightforward from there…

It’s definitely one of those programs that is worthless to the vast majority, but pure gold to the one with a specific need. I honestly have no idea if this would be useful to anyone, but have been doing this way too long to assume that it wouldn’t be useful to someone, somewhere.

FileTime has only been tested on Windows XP. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users are on your own.

Download FileTime installer
Download FileTime DLL (advanced users only)

I found an article today describing the things that really lousy clients say that make their said lousiness obvious. I did a lot of head-nodding, but was disappointed that they didn’t include tips for avoiding these situations. Indeed, the comments contained horror stories of clients who literally ran roughshod over the freelancer, gouging work out of them for little-to-no payment.

I shuddered while reading their stories. The events themselves were bad, but my awareness that a freelancer can always avoid them made it even worse. While firing a customer can be a delicate process, screening a customer and covering your butt are super-easy, you just have to bring some business mindset to the table.

If you had a disaster client or two, but still wonder why you’d ever need to do your thing “like a business,” look at it this way: how does avoiding these morons sound?

Sound good? Okay, do this…

1. Interview your client
Approach the information-gathering stage as a possibility to interview the prospective client. What does the client do? How long have they been in business? How long has your contact been working for the company? What does the client hope to accomplish with your work, both immediately and longer-term? If they ask why you’re asking such questions, tell them you want to ensure that they would be a good fit to your business style.

This line of discussion does two things: makes you look better to professional clients and makes disaster clients a little uneasy.

Let’s quickly cover the benefits for good clients. Business people can talk business to anyone in business. These types of questions will reassure a knowledgeable client. Most professional clients recognize the need for a good fit in the working relationship. In general, they show the client that you have your stuff together, making the client feel more confident in the relationship.

It’s typically the exact opposite effect on disaster clients. People who have it together are intimidating to someone who does not. Plus, the questions themselves often bring potential problems to the surface.

2. Lay out your terms in clear, plain English
How much will the work cost the client? What’s your time estimate? How much money needs to be upfront? Do they need to pay in full before delivery? Answer all these questions straight up, with no fanfare. When everything’s out in the open, everyone’s comfortable. Conversely, when you nervously dance around the “money thing,” or speak in abstract buddy-buddy terms, you’ll set off alarm bells in the mind of the good client.

I was actually burned recently for not following this one. I hired a firm to do some work for Fwd:Vault, and they were pretty vague on the payment terms, beyond the total cost. But my point-man from the firm repeatedly reassured me that we were good as long as I paid, that he would “run blocking” for me with their internal accountants. When my first check ended up in a pile and not going out on time, that blocking ended up being about as effective as a 12-year-old girl facing the Eagles offensive line. After finding the check and sending it out, I get an email a few days later saying that they had the check, but were returning it and dropping me as a client to boot, vaguely describing internal billing issues associated with my delayed payment. Fortunately the relationship was on a trial basis, so there was no real harm.

This whole mess could have been avoided had they provided (or I required) a clean explanation of their payment terms. The irony that their accountants probably consider me one of those “lousy clients” is not lost on me.

When talking money, be clear, be concise, be confident, and all will be well.

3. Always have a written contract
You DO use contracts, right? Right? After you’ve laid out the costs and services to be rendered in plain English, every one of those points should make it into a written contract using valid legal mumbo-jumbo. Contract templates can be found for free around the web, and there are some sites that sell them. Either way, you’ll need to make adjustments to suit your business, and it should always be reviewed by a lawyer. I recommend finding a template, customizing it yourself, and then submitting it to a lawyer. You’ll save a ton of money on legal fees since he’s just reviewing it, instead of writing it.

I know lots of freelancers work on verbal agreements, but they don’t hold up in court. Don’t be dumb or lazy, get it in writing.

That one’s worth repeating: always get it in writing.

4. Require an upfront deposit
I do half up front, half on delivery for modest jobs, and thirds for bigger projects. Either way, I don’t do anything beyond the contract and simple prep without a deposit. It’s easily the most effective way to eliminate riff-raff. Going along with my point on clarity, make sure the client understands that nothing gets done until the deposit is in hand.

It blows my mind how many freelance designers and developers do everything off the cuff, eschewing any concept of business practices. Reasons I’ve heard include laziness, ignorance, even rebellion against the status quo and “the institution” (looking mostly at you “rebel” designers here). Business people are nothing if not efficient. Do you think they would waste their time on these hurdles if they didn’t provide an obvious benefit? These practices exist for a reason! If you’re still unsure, I’d urge you to save yourself future grief and listen to me now, believe me later.

I had the opportunity to exhibit at the Entrepreneur Expo in Philadelphia last week. As the first public showcasing for Fwd:Vault, I think it went pretty well. If you really want to hone your message, explaining it to someone in a very loud, crowded, busy room is awesome trial-by-fire practice.

Fwd:Vault was also 1 of just 10 exhibiting companies (out of a possible 40) selected to give an in-depth presentation. Following the format of the event, presenters told the story of their companies: the idea, getting started, challenges, successes, lessons learned, etc. In short, get up and say anything other than your sales pitch. It was a neat departure from the way presentations typically go at such events, and I was excited to participate.

My Flip cam was in attendance, so if you ever wanted to hear about how a solopreneur with no investor capital actually gets a company off the ground, enjoy!

P.S. The camera was angled to get the whole screen, but fell a little forward once I set it up. Sorry about that.

This one has dogged me for quite some time, but I finally figured out how to force users to turn on Javascript when using sites with a lot of mission critical Javascript logic.

Let me first begin by acknowledging that, yes, requiring Javascript flies in the face of site accessibility. Policy wonks for this sort of thing will tell you that Javascript should never be a necessity, that a page should “degrade gracefully” when Javascript isn’t enabled. This mindset is complete crap, in my opinion. Every site has a minimum browser requirement, and Javascript is built into every modern browser. I fail to see why we are still separating the two, and can make a darn good case for expecting Javascript on the user’s end. But that argument’s for another day. If you agree with me, read on.

The example
This example assumes you understand HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and makes use of jQuery, so you may have to adapt it to fit your Javascript framework of choice.

This technique could be applied across the board to an entire site, but let’s start with a single page. A login or account registration is a great choice, since they are already gateway pages to your site. Start by adding the following CSS definition to your page or stylesheet:

.enable-javascript{
  display:none
}

Next, open the HTML for your page and add the enable-javascript CSS class to the top level container containing the body of your page. You should try to leave the header and footer (and their accompanying navigation links) visible and accessible. For example, after my header DIV, the body of my pages are typically wrapped in something like this:

<div id="content" class="enable-javascript">
  [...]
  <div class="base"></div>
</div>

At this point, you’re looking at a blank page. Now let’s give our non-JS users something to look at. Place a <noscript> code block outside and above the body that you just hid. You can use CSS and elaborate HTML inside a <noscript> block, so feel free to make it look good. I actually duplicate my body wrap HTML so the look is similar:

<noscript>
  <div id="content" class="enable-javascript">
    Javascript is not currently enabled in your browser. <a href="http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=23852">You must enable Javascript</a> in order for this site to work properly.
    <div class="base"></div>
  </div>
</noscript>

Finally, make sure the jQuery library is loaded, and add this bit of code to the Javascript for your page:

$(function(){
  $('.enable-javascript').show();
});

What’s happening
We’re using the absence of Javascript to halt the user’s access to a page. By default, page content is hidden via CSS, and we use Javascript to reveal it. If the user’s browser does not have Javascript enabled, the reveal never happens. Visibility for the <noscript> block is handled automatically by the browser, depending on whether Javascript is running or not.

A live example
I’m using this technique on the Fwd:Vault login page. In order to see it in action, you obviously have to disable Javascript. You can use the Google support link to turn Javascript on, and Firefox users can use the Web Developer toolbar add-on to do this a little more efficiently.

A couple caveats
Javascript is a client-side language; it actually lives inside the user’s browser, and runs from the user’s machine. Javascript code essentially tells the browser to manipulate the static HTML of the page, and the server isn’t involved in the process at all (AJAX is something of an exception). This means that there is absolutely no way for us to look for Javascript on the server side using PHP or other server-side technologies.

In addition, since Javascript control is firmly in the hands of the user, you cannot trust Javascript for security. Your average user will be stopped dead with this technique, but hackers and code monkeys can easily circumvent it. This is the case with all Javascript effects, and all have the same countermeasure: scrub all incoming data regardless of Javascript rules enforcement.

Feel free to post comments or questions, and please link your own examples if you put this technique to use!