4
6 Comments

Our business on a napkin - your feedback needed!

Hi all,
could you check enclosed napkin diagram? The goal is to explain in plain language and simple terms what we do (it is Data Engineering). Is that understandable? Any comments and suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks
Lubo

  1. 1

    Hi Lubo3,

    I would be inclined to agree with @jvalanen. I think being more specific will probably be more helpful to you and your customers at least at first.

    Data engineering services could cover lots of things. On the one hand, I think you are wanting to convey that you can help with lots of types of problems. But as a potential customer, I'd have to wonder if my specific problem is one with which you can help me. I would have to contact you just to see what was feasible. I think that adds a barrier to getting customers.

    I would consider maybe taking 3 to 5 different data engineering solutions you did on past personal or professional projects, and see if you could "package" them into Productized Services. That way, potential customers would know that if they provide you with abc input files, they can expect xyz deliverables at a specific price point.

    You can certainly always have a catch-all consulting tier for projects that don't fit into the productized services. And perhaps you'll learn enough from those customers to create new services?

    Good luck!

    1. 1

      Hello damag3dgoods,
      thanks for your insights. You are right that describing some business scenarios would help prospects to relate better.

      Regarding productized services you have suggested. That's something we've been thinking about but we didn't come to an agreement how exactly it should look like. My idea was to have catch-all services first and create new services after learning what customers request most.

      It is interesting how simple diagram can spark so many conversations. Friend of mine came up with his idea how Data21.io should be presented. But another friend thinks that particular schema looks too "corporate". ¯\(ツ)

      1. 1

        Doing the catch-all/consulting services first might be worthwhile as a way to learn where your customer's problems are. Basically, you could get paid while doing customer research.

        Maybe instead of productized services, simply having some specific examples in a portfolio of the types of work your team has done would be a good way to convey to customers what they can expect. A summary like:

        1. The customer's goal
        2. The kind of data they had
        3. The process your team used to generate a solution
        4. The deliverables to your customer
        5. How long the entire process took
        6. Maybe some cost/benefit analysis showing how much time/money your team was able to save the customer

        Is there a particular industry you are targeting? Medical, government, military, civil works, enterprise, etc.? Yet another way to narrow focus. So many choices!

        1. 1

          I agree, we should have some specific examples of work we have done. Thanks for you suggestion.

          Currently, we don't plan to focus on any particular industry. We've already narrowed our focus down to Python and SQL. But who knows, maybe the customers would convince us to target some specific industries. ;)

  2. 1

    Hey,
    sounds pretty simple and as I happen to be familiar with all those technical "buzzwords" it makes sense and didn't take more than 30s to read / go through.

    At the same time it looks pretty generic and abstract. "All kinds of data" is converted to "all kinds of pdf, jpg and png". Some more concrete / specific use case would make it more catchy and memorable.

    And also I started to think if you have some kind of product or do you sell your work per hour?

    1. 1

      Hi @jvalanen,
      thanks for your comment.

      I agree, having more specific use cases would be better. Original idea was to have just one diagram. Now it seems we would need a sketch for each use case.

      The "product" is data engineering services for flat monthly rate.

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 55 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 29 comments My Top 20 Free Tools That I Use Everyday as an Indie Hacker 18 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments