Down the Rabbit Hole and Back Again: The Story of Flowtown | Hacker News Reader

Down the Rabbit Hole and Back Again: The Story of Flowtown

maplebutter.com

80 pointsbenwyrosdick7 comments

For me, the exciting thing here is not so much the story of what these guys went through (though it's amazing and totally an inspiration!), but once again the headsmacking move of taking an old offline idea, and pulling it online with a twist (free promotional materials as marketing materials).

What I'd be really interested in is this:

1. What's the growth strategy longer term?

2. Has anyone on the team got any offline old-school marketing experience (direct mail etc)?

3. What related activities could be pulled in with this as a value-add to the consumer? A blog category interviewing users of the service and how they've used it would be invaluable, and a great way of generating great testimonials, for example.

4. You could potentially end up with a massively valuable data set in terms of looking at what is resonating with consumers, which could be collated and published in some form quarterly. This'd be a huge boon to market researchers, and marketers who deal with broad selections of clients across dozens of market sectors. Hell, I'd pay for it.

5. I'd be interested in knowing how the 60% reduction was made, and what decisions were taken at that point, plus the rational behind those choices.

</braindump>

(To clarify re. old ideas moved online, I'm thinking LinkedIn, MailChimp, Google Maps style services, which traditionally existed, being pivoted on)

Pete,

Thanks for the comment and great questions.

In regards to the future and what we're planning - we try and let the product speak for itself. That way if were wrong, no one knows ;), and it gives us an opportunity to delight and surprise our customers.

re: background - my first startup was MaritimeVacation.com and I used direct mail as my primary marketing channel. Our team has deep DNA in marketing in general - kind of my area of study. http://www.udemy.com/social-marketing-for-startups/

re: 60% reduction - Let go of our customer coaches / contractors - Everyone took 50% pay cut - Cancelled any accounts that weren't critical - Stopped any payable = no money out unless needed to keep the lights on.

I've been doing startups for a while, and from experience, if you need to cut - make it quick and deep.

Hope that answers some of the questions.

Thanks for taking the time to reply! Best of luck with the new venture!

Great story; definitely an example of why many investors focus on teams rather than ideas.

I'd be curious to learn more about the company's current plans and product; if any of the company's founders are here and willing to share.

sawyer, we've always let our product explain itself so not much to add (easier that way ;). if you've registered to join - I'll be sure to send over an invite.

our investors definitely invested in the team and were grateful for having them on board. super supportive and amazing.

Hi Dan, I remember listening to you on Mixergy many months ago. One day you should go back and discuss why you pivoted (when you get through this patch).

Small businesses are difficult customers. They are difficult to acquire.

'product gifting will become a dominant channel for finding new customers'... interesting premise.

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