Alpha launch retrospective
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This document summarizes feedback from an Alpha Launch event for startup teams. It discusses things that went well at the event like venue, panelists, and event coordination. Areas for improvement included not enough time for feedback, demos, and pitches. The document also provides summarized feedback for several startup teams on making their pitches and demos more clear and focused. Teams are encouraged to study competitors, prove out use cases, and consider narrowing their product focus.
Alpha launch retrospective
- 3. Hope you had fun at the Alpha Launch :)
- 4. Our team at SV.CO liked it a lot because it was a validation of our program & product.
- 5. Today, I’ll talk about: - Things that went right. - Things that can be improved. - Feedback for teams.
- 6. Things that went right.
- 7. 1. Choice of venue.
- 8. 2. Quality of the panelists.
- 9. 3. Girish.
- 10. 4. Overall event coordination.
- 11. 5. The practice pitch.
- 12. Things that can be improved.
- 13. 1. Not enough feedback.
- 14. Demo sessions, practice pitch sessions and the pitch itself was too short.
- 15. Incorporating a demo & a Q&A session into the pitch.
- 16. 2. Practice where you pitch.
- 17. We’d like to have some version where the pitch happens at a location similar to the final pitch.
- 18. 3. Demo Video versus Pitch Video versus Product Video
- 19. Teams are still confused as to what these mean.
- 20. 4. Wished more teams had a demo.
- 21. Every team learns at a different pace.
- 22. 5. Clear prior communication about day agenda + available setup + times.
- 24. This is my attempt to paraphrase and explain feedback that teams have got from the Freshdesk faculty.
- 25. + a few general points from me :)
- 26. Feedback: “Pitch was ambitious but use-case shown was trivial.”
- 27. Takeaway: Show impressive & real use cases or demos.
- 28. Feedback: “Sieving through a resume is a art not sure BOT can do that. Bot can help filtering the first level.”
- 29. Takeaway: Show real use cases & show customers. Show feedback from HRs.
- 30. Takeaway: How does an HR go through a resume?
- 31. Feedback: “Not sure, this looks more like a filter on Amazon.”
- 32. Takeaway: Value prop of the product is not clear. Say “it’s the X of Y”. “Youtube of Powerpoint” “Policybazaar but for mobile phones”
- 33. Feedback: “Bot based booking may not be superior to site based.”
- 34. Takeaway: Think of cases where site-based booking is superior. Then think of at least 1 case where bot-based booking is superior. Pivot the customer segment.
- 35. Feedback: “Market is there. Differentiation not clear.”
- 36. Takeaway: Study competitors and what they do well. Do at least a few things better. Learn from your customer segment. Deploy to customers & get feedback.
- 37. Feedback: “Overcrowded. Not enough moat for a new player.”
- 38. Takeaway: This is one of those opinions that talk about the market. Prove this wrong, or pivot.
- 39. Feedback: “Value from a digital solution over paper register vs complexity and cost added may not be that favourable.”
- 40. Takeaway: Do an honest tradeoff of paper registers. What can digital offer that is 10x better? Imagine a world 10 years from now. How will interaction models change?
- 41. Feedback: “ML as service is large. Pre-trained models may not be differentiation enough.”
- 42. Takeaway: Think: what could work as a differentiator? Analyse competitors in the space. Look at big & small players and what they are trying to do. Look at their clients.
- 43. Feedback: “Very high level, keeping the use cases generic makes the problem much harder.”
- 44. Takeaway: This is one of those cases where a narrower focus might be better. Can you reduce the scope of the product to build a better product for a narrower segment?
- 45. Feedback: “Just pricing may not be sufficient. Differentiating against full stack hiring platforms is important.”
- 46. Takeaway: Why is a niche solution in this space better? Why is it important to build a narrower solution? Can it integrate with larger apps in the space?
- 47. One last feedback from my end. Respect.
- 48. 2 pieces of feedback from my end. Respect. Curiosity.