A sniff and some geekery

Let’s get straight to it. The most uplifting part of the week was my first proper meeting with an investor. That’s a stone cold investor with no prior knowledge of the product or familiarity with my credentials (or lack of them) and background. The meeting came from that LinkedIn post I mentioned a couple of weeks back, so I guess there was a mutual connection at least, but nothing more.

Regardless, it was convivial and positive. We talked through the product and confirmed it could do the kinds of things the (potential) investor had deduced from the teaser and presentation. It stayed relatively high level — we spent just over an hour together over lunch — but I think that was enough for him to judge that it merited being shared with his fellow angels. I got the impression that between them, covering the entire raise wouldn’t be an issue, provided there’s sufficient enthusiasm. I’m sure there will be hurdles to overcome yet, but I should at least get an indication of further interest next week. Gulp.

Under construction

A chunk of the week was spent putting finishing touches to a website for testing purposes. I’ve pasted the entire thing in below. It’s a big old file so hopefully it doesn’t slow this page down too much, but I thought it would be a nice thing to save for posterity.

Of course there’s more I could have done to improve it, but at some point you just have to publish and be damned. Right now the original Race.Radio website a.k.a. holding page, is still live, but in a week or two it’s going to look a lot more like what you see below.

Anyway, the reason for getting this done was so I could start getting some broader feedback via an online survey (feel free to partake if you’re a cyclist and you see this before the end of November 2019). The most interesting bit of this has been the price sensitivity analysis using a model called van Westendorp’s Price Sensitivity Meter.

In short, you ask respondents to answer four questions:

1. At what price do you think this product is a bargain?
2. At what price do you think it’s getting expensive, but you’d still consider it?
3. At what price is it getting so expensive you would no longer consider it?
4. At what price do you think it’s so inexpensive that you’d question the quality?

Then you plot them on a graph to get something that looks like this (based on 14 early responses).

Price Sensitivity Analysis for Race.Radio Remote

Based on where the plot lines intersect, you can deduce an acceptable price range, in this case, £38 to £55 per remote. Also an optimal price, in this case £45. This is remarkably close to what I was thinking — just as well given the cost base and my financial model. It’s somewhat comforting to feel there’s some science backing up by hunch, although the experts are keen to stress this should be taken as a guide and peoples’ willingness to pay a given price depends on a number of factors. The range actually illustrates the extent to which value is subjective, with some people thinking £80 would be a bargain, while others think it too expensive to consider at £40. Fascinating, don’t you think?

I need to cook some dinner. The family is going hungry.

Over and out.