Case Study: From zero to profitable business in 3 months
Hey Indie Hackers!
Finally, my first post here :) I want to introduce you my project for the next 3 months, a case study where I will document my journey to a (hopefully) profitable business. I have also just published this post to Medium and I have shortened this article a bit for you.
If you want to read the complete post with all details, check it out here:
📝 INTRO
As many of you have probably noticed, recently many of these “Startup Challenges” are appearing. These challenges are motivating to a degree and a good thing because they show how to get started and work lean, but they really only show the tip of the iceberg.
I have done such a challenge in a startup competition back in 2014 which was a challenge over 30 days / 1 month. We were pretty successful and in the end this startup also got an investment in a six-digit range. But the real work started after this month!
🤨 MY BACKGROUND
Since 2014 I have been participating in various startups and since 2016 I'm professionally freelancing in fullstack web & mobile development.
During that time, I have developed many skills and methods besides my professional skills in fullstack web & mobile development: innovations method, lean startup, design thinking, different tools such as business model canvas, creativity techniques for ideation, (rapid) prototyping for MVPs, identifying critical hypotheses, designing experiments for these hypotheses and validating / testing them, personas, etc.
🚀 THE CASE STUDY
The goal: From nothing to profitable business within 3 months without a team and investors.
I think there are enough 24 hour startup challenges. What I want to do is a case study which shows all facades of the process, going from ideation to launching a fully functional product (not a hacked together CRUD MVP).
I have cancelled my freelance contracts so that I can completely focus on this project.
Here is what I will document during the case study:
⚙️ The whole process: Ideation, research, building a business model, prototyping / MVP, validating & testing, design & UX, developing, deploying, marketing, launching, monetising
🏋️ All the pains and gains, ups and downs
👨🏫 Applying of my existing knowledge, mainly in fullstack web & mobile development
📚 New learnings gained while building a profitable business
🛠 All the tools that I will use in order to create such a business
📈 Raw numbers such as sign ups, conversion rates, revenue etc.
Format:
🏁 Start / End: 01.10.2018 (Today) — 31.12.2018 (end of year)
🌀 Working cycle: I will work in weekly sprints
✍️ Content types: In order to give you a clear picture on what is happening every single day, I will choose different channels in order to provide different information: Text / Blog posts through Medium and website (coming soon); Short-term updates, thoughts etc. through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and maybe weekly live streaming where you can watch live what I am doing and can ask me questions.
By being transparent, I want to draw a very clear, honest and realistic picture what it takes to do such a project.
🙌 How can you support me?
For me, this is a huge project and takes a lot of discipline. I hope this case study will help people to build their own businesses.
It would help me a lot, if you could support me with some things:
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GIVE ME FEEDBACK: What do you expect of such a case study? Do you have any feedback? Tell me your opinion!
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SPREAD THE WORD: Share this anywhere if you like it or think it could be relevant to some people.
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FOLLOW ME If you want to get all updates, thoughts and content, follow me on Medium, Twitter and Facebook which also helps me to reach out a larger audience.
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SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER: Here you can sign up for the newsletter so that you don’t miss any post of the case study: https://mailchi.mp/1e6c3dd35f22/from-zero-to-profitable-startup-within-three-months.
Thanks in advance!
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/1e6c3dd35f22/from-zero-to-profitable-startup-within-three-months
Medium: https://medium.com/lyghthaus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lyghthaus
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LyghtHaus-1618369874867003
Instagram: Coming soon
Website: Coming soon
Best,
Tobias Scharikow
