We create a product which no-one wants to use
We create a ResBoss.com The idea is to customers use an online booking page using voucher - validation form page (widget - connected with Groupon, LivingSocial API and booking platforms ) instead of calling a restaurant/venue. I contact more than 50 venues but no-one wants to use it?
Is it possible that nobody wants to use it, although they save them time and keep that process simple?
If you know some restaurants owner please could you ask them to try RB and save huge time on reservations with vouchers?
When they say no, you need to find out why. Have some follow up questions ready but be respectful of their time and very humble/thankful.
Very cool, looks and works great. Maybe it's just me, but I would live an undo button.
Very well could be the case. Are you getting any feedback on what the system is lacking / missing the mark on that could be corrected to get people to use it?
Seems like a fairly classic scenario where something was built prior to validating the want / need. I'd focus on collecting as much feedback as you can to help determine if what you built is even worth salvaging, or if there are other opportunities in the space / with the same customers and go from there.
They are probably very busy and ResBoss solve the problem but they just don't want to spend some time on integration... it seems that classic calls for reservations with vouchers work well for them...
This response right here ends up losing people money all of the time.
You built a product, and you brought it to the people you think are your customer, and they simply aren't biting. I'm not saying your product is bad, but being dismissive of what the market is telling you can lead to a vicious cycle of funneling more and more money, time and resources into something only to end up in the exact same spot you're in today.
Have any of your potential customers told you they don't want to spend the time on the integration? If not, then you're simply speculating. If that's the case, I'd press a bit harder to get tangible feedback instead of just assuming stuff.
Speaking from experience, it sucks to build something that nobody wants. The trick is to learn from the situation and figure out how to iterate and/or pivot to get you to product market fit.
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Ok, just that was a real problem for 3 London restaurants and they use it for a months
Having 3 restaurants using it is incredibly valuable for you - and significantly better than 0. Make sure you pay careful attention to the pain points that they say your software is helping with.
I would then focus on asking these restaurants to point you to 3 restaurants each.
Do this part manually - connect with the new restaurants deeply and take your time. Show them the social proof (the first 3 restaurants that are benefitting from you).
As you are doing that, you will have a list of 3 + 3x3 = 12 restaurants that have either used your software or have given you a solid reason as to why they are not a good fit.
With this, you will have a much clearer model of who your customers are. Now you likely will want to do the above process - try being a little less labor-intensive but still fairly manually till you get ~10-100 customers (depending on your price point).
At every stage, you can automate things more.
The main problem could be because we got Groupon API to validate voucher but on another side, there are thousand of booking engines... Every restaurant does not use OpenTable or 7 Rooms... also not only restaurants there. Everyone uses own booking platform. Ideas on how to solve that and automate that process?
Given that you already support it, perhaps just target restaurants that are on Groupon.
And keep a list of which booking platforms are requested for and how frequently so that you get a sense for the roadmap.