The Quick Start program for SaaS & Web Startups is ending Sunday 7/18/2010. Are you sure you don't want us to help you with the Pricing, Revenue Modeling, Marketing or Business Strategy for your SaaS or Web App? The program is going away after Sunday and at least for a while, if you want to work with us, it will be on a project or retainer basis! Remember, you just have to sign-up for a Quick Start session by Sunday - we will work with you on your schedule, at your pace.
So why are we getting rid of the Quick Start program if we love early-stage startups so much? The idea for the Quick Start program came about after having to turn away so many startups due to cost issues. We wanted to develop a way to work with SaaS & Web App founders who are smart, capable, and willing to work hard, but might lack some direction or need some guidance. For technical founders, for instance, Revenue Modeling & Pricing are two areas where they often lack experience.
So we figured out a way to work with startups, in a way that they could afford, didn't take too much time, and could send them on their way to bigger and better things. They would get one two-hour meeting with one of our consultants for only $500.
This worked well at first, but then we started making changes based on:
- Client feedback
- Observations of how our clients really want to work
- The realities of what can be accomplished in such a short amount of time
- The need to let ideas develop between meetings
- The need for additional research between meetings
- Our desire to provide as much value as possible
Since the introduction of the Quick Start program in March, we have:
- Split the single meeting into 2 1-hour sessions
- Then we added email communication / homework between meetings
- Then we added a third hour as a marketing gimmick after the Zendesk pricing debacle
- Then we spread the meetings over a few weeks to work at the client's pace
All of this has resulted in a much different service than the Quick Start program was originally designed to be - it has evolved to what it is today - which is what you will get if you sign-up on or before Sunday - and we've learned a lot from that process. It is a wonderful service that has proved valuable for many companies, including:
- MODx
- New Bamboo (Pusher & Panda)
- Loop11
- Metaconomy
- ProProfs
- Conductrus
- Threadbox
- And many others - hopefully you too!
But we need to take a step back and look at the program in the context of Sixteen Ventures' goals and direction, and even more important, address the fact that the one-size-fits-all nature of the program isn't the most efficient way to work, especially spread out over weeks or months. Different companies, at different stages have different needs.
So, the great news is that the Quick Start program will be replaced by multiple offerings more aligned with the way our startup clients want to work, the expected outcomes, and in a way more aligned with how we work, too. I am VERY excited about these changes even though exactly what the new offerings will look like - and when they will launch - has yet to be determined.
In an effort to make sure we help as many people as possible we didn't just want to end the program without at least letting everyone get in before its too late. So, if you like working with Sixteen Ventures in bite-sized pieces, think you would (and believe me - you would), or know of someone that would, sign-up for the Quick Start program on or before Sunday 7/18/2010 - we just don't know when the other offerings will become available and you don't want to miss out!
Author: Lincoln Murphy (@lincolnmurphy on Twitter)