I have well over 10 customers. I want to take my startup to the next level

http://www.greengar.com/2010/08/10-customers/

36 20 16 years ago

drtse42• 16 years ago

Since it looks like that all your apps are free, do you use iAds somewhere? If you plan to build new paid apps, what about promoting them to your existing user base?

PaulJoslin• 16 years ago

There is at least one premium app there, brain tuner premium. That has 87,000 'new customers' (whatever it means by new?) so around $87,000 revenue.

drtse42• 16 years ago

That's definitely not bad considering that from what i read is not so easy anymore to sell apps in the store. But considering that the app is on the store since '09 it isn't one of those big instant AppStore hits, so i guess that the OP is aiming at seriously start building an app that has some potential to become one of those. Additional info would be appreciated.

revorad• 16 years ago

He charges for at least four of his apps -

http://itunes.apple.com/app/wordbreaker/id322472501?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/app/pitch-pipe/id290029129?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/app/opensesame/id336671252?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/color-identifier/id363346987?...

ctb9• 16 years ago

I believe the concept of 10 customers, as used (invented?) by Jason Cohen, refers to willingly-paying users for some type of premium/freemium service.

That said, you seem awesomely successful, and I love the idea of taking your venture to the 'next level' by recruiting and training others to join you.

dLuna• 16 years ago

This post makes me wonder what question the author is posing. Yes, you want to take your startup to the next level. Do you want help? Do you just want to tell us? Do you want recommendations?

Sounds like some really successful apps. Add some ads or start charging, and you are set.

greengarstudios2• 16 years ago

Help and recommendations are appreciated :)

My apps already contain some ads, and I have some paid apps as well.

michael_dorfman5• 16 years ago

Even though most of them have only used my free apps, I technically have millions of customers

No, you don't. Really.

You have millions of users. "Customers" are the people who have paid for your apps.

Keep this distinction in mind.

StavrosK• 16 years ago

Yep, exactly. Customer = person who paid for your stuff.

jacquesm3• 16 years ago

I'm not so sure the line is that hard. A customer is someone that you are making money of, or maybe even someone that you intend to make money of.

Not someone that pays for your apps, and where would that leave services, goods and other things that people pay for?

If you're in a long term relationship with a large number of people and they don't pay you but you are making money off them in a different (for instance indirect) way they are as critical to your bottom line as paying people would be.

Free does not always mean you have no customers, free can mean you have customers but the price is $0.

So, technically the guy has a sales funnel with 1 million people in it that need to be converted to paying customers.

If that distinction did not exist we'd never have to use the word 'paying' attached to customers in that context.

tomjen3• 16 years ago

I can sort of understand why you would say that in a fremium situation every person who signed up is a customer, but if you make money via ads, your customer is whomever pay you for the ad space - not your users.

michael_dorfman5• 16 years ago

A customer is someone that you are making money of, or maybe even someone that you intend to make money of.

Where I come from, we call the later a "prospect."

Not someone that pays for your apps, and where would that leave services, goods and other things that people pay for?

I was speaking in the context of app development. Obviously, if you are a shoe retailer, your customers are the people who buy your shoes. If you are a publisher, your customers are the people who buy your books. Note that the people who read your books in libraries are not, strictly speaking, your customers-- although the acquisition librarians are.

So, technically the guy has a sales funnel with 1 million people in it that need to be converted to paying customers. If that distinction did not exist we'd never have to use the word 'paying' attached to customers in that context.

I'd argue that the "paying" in "paying customers" is pleonastic-- it is used as an intensifier, as in "my personal friend".

nadam• 16 years ago

The issue here is not really the abstract definition of the customer. Every user has a certain value to the business regardless what the business model is. If you have a free ad-based application then maybe this is only some cents per user. In this case it does not hold that the 'first ten customers' is what is important. Maybe the first 10.000. On the other hand if you are selling dirt expensive stuff then the first 10 customers is a big deal.

michael_dorfman5• 16 years ago

Every user has a certain value to the business regardless what the business model is.

Sure, but in some business models, that value is negative-- take the case of a non-paying user who demands a lot of support resources, for example.

If you have a free ad-based application then maybe this is only some cents per user. In this case it does not hold that the 'first ten customers' is what is important. Maybe the first 10.000. On the other hand if you are selling dirt expensive stuff then the first 10 customers is a big deal.

I disagree. Having ten (paying) customers is a good milestone, regardless of the cost of the product. (Remember that in an ad-based application, ten paying customers would mean ten advertisers, not ten users.)

The point of the original article is that if you haven't reached that ten-customer milestone, you haven't really validated your customer development work. "If you build it, they will come" is a cute phrase, but hope is not a strategy. If you build it, and ten people come and pay, you're on your way.

dglassan• 16 years ago

What exactly do you mean when you say "I make what customers want, not what they say they want."

If what they say they want isn't actually what they want,, then how do you know what they want?

greengarstudios2• 16 years ago

I learn what they want by observing them and considering their desires. I look at what they do and how they behave. Add in some intuition and luck, and that's pretty close to what I've done so far.

I have well over 10 customers. I want to take my startup to the next level

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