5 Startup Lessons From Hosting a Booth

Over the weekend, my co-founder and I headed to the biggest book sale on the west coast, the @FriendsSFPL book sale in @FortMasoninSF. Squeezing in 3 full days at an event in the middle of spring break for two parent founders is a challenge but nothing makes you sit up and pay attention than learning from people at a booth at an event!

Five important lessons learnt over the weekend…

1. GET OUTSIDE: Even the most outgoing founder/co-founder who plans to meet at least some customers every week struggles. Its a question of priorities (product? marketing? legal? taxes? Brainstorm? Meet vendors?). When you make the time for 3 days of simply meeting people who are in your target demographic, its the kind of qualitative research your budget cannot afford but is worth every minute.
2. Discover things you didn’t think about: Parents/families/dads — we have that demographic down. But when a grandparent comes to you and chats about her grandkids and joyfully signs up, it increases what we know about our target market.
3. Amazing conversations money can’t buy -Like the worldly wise 10 year old kid who sighed at the lollipop table to say “Grown ups. I can never figure them out!” or the sweet old grandma who shared her story about being a librarian. Those stories? You won’t find them on the best blogs of the world.
4. Redefine the art of hustle — Being on the grounds teaches you a different sort of hustle. How do you get parents to pause and chat? How do you explain your product in minimal words to get interest? How do you attract people without a Facebook ad? Worth pausing to think about these things!
5. Its the offsite that isn’t — To me, the best lesson was that we got to talk about stuff that we never get around to while plugging away at our desks. Its the best offsite experience a scrappy little startup can afford.

We will be at many events in the Bay Area in 2016. If you see us, stop by and say hello! Until then, head over to www.xyzanews.com to learn about our effort in bringing news to kids.

Cheers,

Sapna Satagopan

Co-founder, xyza: news for kids.