“We can’t sell it.”

This is a story of letting go, feeling the pain and persevering for a brighter tomorrow. I’m writing this to help any startup going through the same thing, or thinking about it.

Here goes.

“…we can’t sell it.”

Only those who coded it can feel the level of profoundness of what this means.

Software, much like art, is made up of thousands of small decisions aimed at a target. When you look at it, you see the tip of the iceberg. You can’t see the thousands of hours practicing, learning and fussing to get ready for such a mountainous undertaking. Not to mention the time invested actually crafting this application. Ignoring family gatherings, letting friendships slip or allowing your love life to erode away.

Pardon my rant.

You did you do it with your eyes wide open. You did it because you love the thought that one day, someone will use this thing you’be built. It has the potential to change the world. You are the creator and it’s up to you to make this real. It’s the maker’s calling.

“…we can’t sell it.”

After 2 years of pouring everything into a solution, it’s time to abandon ship. A company isn’t one if it doesn’t make money. “It’s like pouring water in a basket” I hear my Dad say.

If there’s one thing that feels like a cold a shower to a developer it’s knowing you are coding something that will not be used or thrown away.

So, if you can’t sell it, let it go.

Ever feel like the ground has been taken from under your feet?

For anyone in this position, pick your head up, look around you and grab hold of something that inspires you.

For us, it was a fellow startup that was having issues with their name and they brought in an expert, Pauly Ting, to guide them through coming up with a new name.

Here’s why I’ll always support a co-working space with startups at different stages.

We benefited from the process they went through called a “design sprint”. Championed by companies such as Google and Ideo, here’s what it entails.

5 days from idea to sales, or at least a memorandum of understading.

We’re not sure how well they followed the framework since they used it to come up with a new name, but we were “drinking from the hose” for those 5 days. We knew we needed this processes ourselves.

It was an easy sell for the team. We were all on the same page and eager to figure out how to pivot and save the company.

We had an idea that needed a mobile app. So our first move was to hire a consultant using a government program that was going to help build the app. She was also asked to act as the facilitator of the design sprint since she was external to our team.

We also hired a second consultant as a designer. We knew we would be needing a professional feel to the prototype for sales purposes.

Here’s how we did it and used this framework.

Day 1 — Discover the user

We knew enough about our new target user by the pain we experienced trying to sell our first concept. This deep learning was key to how well this process went.

We identified a user, what kind of company she works for and why she would use our solution. We took the time to figure out what else she is using instead and what value we’re providing her. We also confirmed that she would be using a mobile app and her manager would need a dashboard.

Giving this a whole day, each of us had the time to put our facts and ideas on the table, debate our points and reach consensus.

We felt confident and could move forward coming out of day 1.

Day 2- Play the day

Starting the day all on the same page, we played out our user’s work day.

What is she doing before using our app and after? What brought her to needing the app? What does she know already? What does she need to know before using the app? What does the app give her as far as output? What does she do with what the app gives her? What does the rest of her day look like with what the app provided?

Same deal. We all had time to debate and understand each other’s points. We felt good about who she is, why she needs the app, what she gets from it and where she’s going because of it.

As we went along our sessions, we created an initial list of functionality she would use to get through the app and draw value from it. We tried hard not to go into details. It wasn’t easy. That’s for day 3.

By the end of day 2, the team was much stronger because of the meaningful discussions, respectful exchanges and amount of heart we all poured into it. After all, we all understood the importance of this “live or die trying” challenge we were facing.

Day 3- Screens

So now that we knew the play by play outside the app, it was time to do a play-by-play inside the app.

The day consisted of going from the moment she opens the app to the moment she puts her phone away.

We used the previous day’s list and tried to cut it down and order it into single functional moments in time. I’ll refer to these as frames.

We took each frame and played something we called “crazy eights”.

Here’s how it works. Take a piece of paper, fold it in half and half again and half again. You end up with 8 lined off sections when you open the paper back up. Each of these sections is an opportunity to draw what the user is looking at and can click on. Words are not allowed.

For each frame listed, the team took 45 seconds to be as crazy as possible to depict what the user is looking at. After 8 x 45 second tries, it’s time to present to the group. Each person explains what they drew and others can ask for more details. They have 2 minutes total for the show and tell. A timer is a must.

It’s brilliant. Not only does everyone get to voice their ideas and explain them, but by drawing 6 or 7 you’re out of normal ideas and awesome craziness happens. In fact one person drew fish because ‘people like to see animals’ and someone said, oh, like a porpoise, get it?! We all went ‘porpoise/purpose’ and started laughing and rhyming off slogan after slogan. And so, that was the spark for our new brand. Porpoise.com

After an exhaustive but hilarious session, we cut up, ordered and finalized the list of screens and thus functionality to get ready for day 4.

Day 4- Prototype

Using our designer and mobile developer, we took the day to build a clickable, graphic only prototype that allowed anyone to get a very good idea of how the app works and the value it brings.

Meanwhile, others in the team contacted potential clients fueled by knowing exactly who needs this and how they will use it.

Day 5- Sell it like it’s hot

Unbelievably, the prototype, new branding and narritive was ready including a list of features and benefits for us to use while meeting with potential clients. It was a long day of meetings! But we got MOUs!

In the end, how did it turn out?

Well, from our stand point, this stands to be the single best move we did to date.

We changed our name to Porpoise, we got our first corporate clients signed up, we created a roadmap of features to build and we had direction. Since we all participated in building the roadmap, the whole company was aligned and rowing in the same direction.

And now, we can sell it!

So, although we’re not experts, we have lived through a true a major pivot using the Design Sprint and the company lives to tell the tale. Please reach out anytime at denis@getporpoise.com.

It really takes a village to raise a startup!