Shut Down
by Sam IvoryI've officially shut Quote Calculator down. After a couple of months of thinking back, I've come to the conclusion that while I believe I had a good product, I've fallen into the oh-so-common trap of not validating the market enough before investing countless hours into development.
The one thing I should have done before building such a large scale product is speaking to the target markets that I had identified, showing them wireframes and asking if people would use and pay for the service.
Another thing I would do is to try and take pre-orders, get 100% validation that the tool/service is useful and would be paid for.
While this didn't work out for me, I'm actively looking into another 'thing', whether it be SaaS, product or just a simple plugin. I've got the bug again and will be back.
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Thanks for this hard-hitting post. So sorry about the shutdown.
get 100% validation that the tool/service is useful and would be paid for.
Noted this. I am about to start working on a new project with a non-dev friend. Her idea basically. This line is gold for me.
All the super very best for the new "thing". 👍-
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Just a reminder that not all types of ideas allow for high levels of pre-product validation. The more you skew toward solving an explicit, well-known, and well-defined problem (usually for businesses), the more in-advance validation is available to be gathered.
If you're at the other end of that spectrum, you still end up forced to build the prototype on a hunch. Or you search for validation which can't be gathered for that type of idea, and then give it up even when it might have had legs.
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I do agree about the in-advance validation part you mentioned, and also the need for a prototype.
Here is what I have decided to do;
- Draw a process flow with the co-founder. (product is an HR-related service)
- Build a landing page with sketches of the solution, with an option to pay a nominal amount.
- Promote it to potential customers.
- Call known potential customers on the phone and sell the product. Convince them to pay.
- Deliver them in a completely manual way.
- Take feedback & improve.
- Repeat unless a decent amount of customers are hooked.
- Start building a system around the proven process, automating as much as possible.
- Keep selling.
- Delegate and observe.
Thanks a ton for your helpful words. :)
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Really great write-up here and it's so important to reflect like this. It'll be even better next time.
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Thank you for sharing your story. I think learnings like this are so valuable to read through. Best of luck on the next idea!
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Sam, wish you all the best on your next project!
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@QuoteCalculator_Sam Have you considered selling the product? Maybe someone would like to do the marketing piece
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I did but I’m not sure where to list something that doesn’t have any customers, and is basically just the product - any suggestions?
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@QuoteCalculator_Sam I could be interested in it. Do you have a demo I could test? Which tech stack are you using? My email is in my profile. Thanks!
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It's unlikely to be serious money in either case, but can give you a bit of beer money on your way out, if you're determined to shut it down either way.
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Is this service still operational? I’m love to talk about it
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It is, but not by me. I sold it on in 2019 through 1kprojects.com.
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I would think there is a market for quote calculators though. Too bad you're shutting down. Best of luck with new ventures!
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Hey @QuoteCalculator_Sam!
It's Rich, from Failory, a site where we interview failed startup founders. Would you be willing to share a little bit more about QuoteCalculator's in Failory?
Btw, I wish you good luck with the new thing ;)
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Thanks for the honesty. Most people only share the good days. Good luck on your new thing.
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You can do everything right and still something will happen that will make the idea non-viable. Don't beat yourself up - just get back up and go for it again.
