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12 Comments

Sales still a WIP, but Tech is getting compliments

We have built a lot of the core features now for our automated website/webapp testing product and lately we've, at least internally, felt like we're right in the ballpark of feature parity with existing automated testing solutions (and maybe even better in some areas :) ).

Over the course of the 4 months we've been on Reflect full-time, we've oscillated between marketing/outreach/sales and product development. We never go exclusively on one thing, obviously, but we'll have weeks where we shift focus between the two. After finishing Test Editing over the holidays, we're shifting into a period focused on outreach and sales.

The milestone for today is that in our latest batch of demos, our tech is shining and potential customers are noticing. This is an amazing feeling. This isn't a project we built to spec like we did years ago in school where if it passes the auto-checker you get an A and feel good about yourself. This is tech we just built to our needs and now it has apparent value.

First-time viewers/users are impressed with the tech and the conversations seem to be changing in nature from skepticism, or polite detachment, in the past to real critical thinking about how they can use this tech at their company. It's kind of become a non-question that this tech can be of value for automating their manual regression tests. So, while we're still figuring out the sales process for this industry and product, the tech has value.

It's not so much a huge rah-rah moment, as much as it is quiet validation of this vision and our consistent effort. Slow and steady wins the race. Just keep swinging that axe and eventually the tree will fall.

  1. 2

    Looks awesome -- a few things I really liked

    • The whole top of fold content and explanation. I understood immediately what you are providing
    • The demo animations (though I agree with @craftworkgames that they could probably be higher on the page and sequentially, without disrupting the 'story' of the page)

    One thing I'd really like to see on one of the pages is more of what the dashboard looks like, and as well as how tests are created. That might also give me clarity on what '1000 test runs' means -- i.e. if a test run is a single test/check for selector or behavior, or if it's more like an E2E test where 1 run is something like checking the user login flow.

    Really, really cool stuff though! Impressive and I think the site is well done!

    1. 1

      Thank you so much @SimplySteve for the thoughtful comments. The animations took some time but we felt they were key. As for more screenshots, we both agree wholeheartedly. We've been iterating on the actual webapp UI almost continuously for the last 2 months. We're now at a pretty good spot, so it's a good time for us to put more images of it into the site.

      I hear you on the uncertainty about "test runs". A test run is the full end-to-end execution of multiple test steps from start to finish. So it would be multiple selector checks, clicks, input texts, etc.

      Thank you again for the feedback and let me know if you're interested in a trial account!

  2. 2

    Very cool looking tech. I feel like showing a video or animation at the top of the page would go a long way. I did notice you had them further down, but the whole time I was scrolling I was thinking "let me see how it works".

    1. 1

      Yup - good call. Todd (co-founder) actually just said that yesterday hah. We think a few more screenshots will make it "click" even more for people. "Here's my set of tests, here are the steps in this specific test, here's the historical executions for this test, etc." Great point.

  3. 2

    This is my first time seeing this product and while I can't comment on the implementation, I've got to say the concept looks absolutely amazing! Hoping to get budget approval to try this out in an application soon.

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      Thanks @juanloco! I'm more than happy to give you a demo and/or get you set up with a free trial. Feel free to get in touch: [email protected] or [email protected]. Keep hacking!

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        Hey @fitzn, I'd love to get a demo. I'll email you today and we can set something up. I'm hoping that a trial might help with buy from the rest of the team.

        1. 1

          Definitely. Sounds good!

      2. 1

        Hi there, I just signed up to try it out. Is there a chance I could get an extended trial? I am looking to set it up for a client of mine but want to see if its a good fit before making a recommendation. I signed up with hello[at]tharshan.me

        1. 1

          @viperfx - we're flexible on trial duration :) At this point, active user feedback is still extremely valuable to us. I'll send you an email now to activate your account. Let us know what you think!

  4. 1

    Hi Fitz! This looks like a very useful product - I've been thinking of evaluating a few such options recently myself. Am adding this to "my list" right now (this being the first one) so that I can get to it as soon as I have some time.

    1. 1

      Thanks, @joyed! Let me know whenever you are ready. I'm happy to walk you through it and get you set up with a trial account.

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