This year I was doing the 12 startups in 12 months project. I started a lot of topics and learned a lot. Yesterday I came to a conclusion, which I will share in this article.
Strategies
During the 12s12m project, I learned about many different strategies and approaches to product development and definition. Each method is focused on a different approach. For instance, Marcin Osman speaks brilliantly about social media. Mirek Burnejko in the Courses Factory program has a system for serving the entire solution to the customer. In the year of hustle, Amy Hoy shows a way to design a product that solves only one problem. The marketing is built through 5-10 blog posts and a series of mailings. Maciek Aniserowicz works great in mailings. Most of the above include questions about readiness for payment, especially emphasized in the book Monetization of Innovation.
On the other hand, Peter Levels took the path of doing projects by solving his problems. He keeps very lean, launches fast, cuts corners, and check what sticks with the market. And I love this way.
How it affects me
I’ve been overwhelmed by these strategies. They’re brilliant, but lately, they’ve been challenging my approach to the project so often that I can’t finish it. I am still around some basic assumptions.
Counter Example 1 – Breathair
Now the interesting thing I noticed. My BreathAir project, which has achieved over 100,000 downloads in the play store and received good reviews (average 4.3 / 5), contradicts all of these strategies (except Levels way). My Mastery Model ebook – which is the only one of the 12s12m projects to earn, also rejects them. There was no market research, no complicated strategies.
Counter Example 2 – Mastery Model
The Mastery Model ebook – I wrote it over the weekend. More precisely, during the weekend, I wrote down my most important conclusions on the topic that I have been exploring for five years with great results (IMO). My whole premise was to have the entire process, finished product, and content as soon as possible. And then improve it.
The first version had no cover. But it sold herself. There was no marketing strategy, but I was talking via youtube and insta-stories. And it worked. Just sharing energy, doing micro-things, and then tweaking the process.
These were the only two things that I made that earned any money – even though the execution was messy, no marketing and process was on the micro-scale.
My way
In summary, I see it as my micro mix of strategies. Osman says, “small steps, but made very quickly” – I support this approach in 100%. Another thing that Andrzej Krzywda told me is following one’s flow. I find it critical, strategies are great to tweak your whole process (once you have it), but they can block you. Sticking to flow is like a nitro boost.
Typical process could kill something that sticks
For comparison, I try to validate my current projects beforehand. This often raises doubts, and if I have not asked someone about the willingness to pay for the Heat To Toe natural training application – should I suspend the project?
This thinking has one problem. Benita and Kamil, who has been running Natural Training locally for years. I got there on a recommendation – and I recommend it further. However, the natural training itself is hard to validate by asking about the need and willingness to pay, because it’s hard to find ideal clients. It is a small percentage of people exercising, but still a significant number and trend globally.
Moving on, I believe that most people follow Benita and Kamil because they once met them, and they liked the quality of the work they give. It was something “interesting” that attracted people.
It was the same with the Mastery Model. Nobody walked around and asked, “how can I be better at my job”. Most people don’t care about it. Most people don’t give a shit if they have a problem and are given a solution. But that does not change the fact that people who work on themselves will be happy to follow something and can be captivated when they hear something interesting and valuable.
Final thoughts
In the end, I love the path to be lean, do “many little steps, but very fast”, as Marcin Osman says. I love to keep with my flow, as Andrzej Krzywda pointed out. And the process works out best for me when I am extremely lean, release fast, and often. The possibilities of cutting corners are enormous if you are a developer. For me, it seems that other strategies are great tweaks for extending my basic projects.
Of course, pre-build product validation is essential, and I still have a lot to learn. But this whole article describes my eye-opening conclusion.