Ok, so it's not the same as the classic Montell Jordan song, This is how we do it, but we are celebrating a bit here. We got the new website up for Parallel Kingdom and results have been good. We are going through and tweaking things still but it is exciting to see everyone's work go up. And here's your teaser: there will be more to come, if only we had a rumor's site so you kids could debate what that will involve...
Anyway, speaking of parties, it's time for part one in a series of Lessons from the Couch. The couch being referred to is the beloved orange couch that we have at HQ. The goal of this is to share some of the lessons that we have learned from our startup experience, ranting could be involved so hopefully it will be fun.
The first lesson: launching a product.
Launching a product is much like hosting a party. You get everything ready beforehand: you get the beverages, you prepare the food, you spend hours making the perfect playlist, and maybe you have a deck of cards or a party game on hand just in case the conversation gets awkward. In the product analogy, this is development. Then, you wait.
You wait for the first people to come, usually your close friends. They are willing to take a bullet for you because they know that they are going to be the first ones there and things probably aren't going to be fully set up, in fact they will probably help to run and get the ice that you forgot. They are there for you, conversation is easy so no worries about awkwardness. These are your early adopters, they love new things and when they are interested they end up making a huge difference in how the product turns out.
Next is when things start to get rolling, the second tier of friends shows up. You know them fairly well but much more casually or maybe your friends called them to help pick up the tempo, this is the critical point of the party. If this transition goes well, then you are golden much like when the early adopters start telling their friends and you start to develop a significant following.
The last group includes the people that come just because something is going on. They heard about the party from a friend of a friend or maybe heard the noise while walking by. Now the party or the product is in full steam and you have something pretty fun on your hands.
If things fail, it's usually at the transition from your close friends/early adopters. Then what do you do? Be happy you don't have huge mess to clean up, thank everyone for coming, and maybe let Lesley Gore sing you to sleep. Then try again next weekend.
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