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I think what I'm missing is a value proposition

Looking around IH there are a lot of cool products. Reading the interviews and seeing the landing pages makes it clear - the successful projects have a very clear value they are offering you. It really clicked with Michael Bruny-Groth's post. He had strong insight into an industry and paid clients to prove it. But he still failed to make a successful product. Only after learning more about the audience did things change.

Of course his link to Sales Safari was a huge inspiration (buying that course i guess) too.

Anyway. I have a solution looking for a problem. Again. What is this, the 5th time? I started Bashboard with a very clear audience in mind: Startups who need a funnel metric from multiple 3rd party sources. I built a generic service that covers that usecase, but also a lot more. My landing became a generalist mess. The product tries to be in too many places at once.

Going forward I'm going to practice Sales Safari on multiple audiences. Find one with a pain that I can actually solve with my already made product, and switch my landing and efforts there. Perhaps... perhaps this will work. Giving up is not an option so either this or the next idea.

Oh I forgot. Another source of inspiration was talking to you guys. Specifically comparing the not-yet products to the money-earning ones has been enlightening. Take Charts Factory for example. Insert data, export a chart? Who needs this thing? Yet people do and he's building a business around it. So crazy. It just proves I know nothing about anything :)


Looking at the fact that I'm writing here, not my own blog - I must be enjoying this place a lot. Thanks IH!

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    Also - who's this @8bit character. He seems to be killing it in here. A lot of activity and helpfulness.. Community first - it's inspiring.

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      Loving @8bit's contributions atm! I'm bias towards community stuff, but I honestly believe that not enough people see the value in it.

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        lol

        lol. that's my attempt at high-fiving you. ... with myself. 🤦🏻‍♂️

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          Hah!

          What do you use to make your gifs?

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            i have a small chrome extension that i wrote for myself. i've been meaning to post it to the store, but, i'd have to really work out the kinks.

            hmm...

            there's a small macOS app too that i've used... this wasn't terrible.

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      honestly, i'm just kinda obsessed with this website and community — it's hit me at just the right time and i'm digging everyone that i'm meeting!

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    Hey @krister thanks for sharing. There are many ways to arrive at a product. Some via personal or other people's pain points and some through experimenting or trying to make cool shit. Anyhow, as marketer / strategist I'm more the former. Find a pain and then solve it. I really love what Steve Blank says here https://steveblank.com/2014/03/18/get-the-heck-out-of-the-building-in-founders-school-part-2/ and it's something worth watching and learning from. The other things is the lean canvas model to determine if you've got a business or not. If you speak to anyone they're full of ideas... but rarely are those ideas taken further and become a business. Anyhow. Good luck.

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    i'm glad that you've found a place to share your thoughts! even though i'm still running a daily blog, i've found the time (and creative juices) to do some original content here as well — i'm enjoying that, for sure!

    keep going!

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