Based on my experience with boring, time-wasting meeting, the original idea for SlideStacks was to improve the way that slide-based presentations were delivered to a decision-making audience. At first, my intention was to simply build a PowerPoint plugin that gave presenters new navigation tools, but over time the idea morphed into building a more fully-featured web-based presentation solution (pivot #1). With some minor tweaks along the way, that's what we built, what we brought to the Rice Business Plan Competition last month, and what our beta testers have been using for several weeks now. However, after combining the Rice experience with real user feedback, it became clear that we needed to take another look at how we are positioning SlideStacks as a solution.
After several weeks of reflection, we now believe that our next minor 'pivot' is to create a more intelligent way to measure and analyze the effectiveness of presentations and shared materials. We are making this shift because we believe that by collecting and presenting more extensive data, our customers can gain greater insights into the needs and thoughts of their audience which in turn will inform future presentations and improve the way we communicate with an audience. To some degree, our decision to focus more heavily on metrics is simply an extension of what we already have in SlideStacks (slide view reporting) which is why I put the word 'pivot' in quotes. The reason this is a 'pivot' at all is because this decision means we are trying to extend the utility of the product to a different use-case (document sharing) and potentially attract new and different customer segments (corporations).
After several weeks of reflection, we now believe that our next minor 'pivot' is to create a more intelligent way to measure and analyze the effectiveness of presentations and shared materials. We are making this shift because we believe that by collecting and presenting more extensive data, our customers can gain greater insights into the needs and thoughts of their audience which in turn will inform future presentations and improve the way we communicate with an audience. To some degree, our decision to focus more heavily on metrics is simply an extension of what we already have in SlideStacks (slide view reporting) which is why I put the word 'pivot' in quotes. The reason this is a 'pivot' at all is because this decision means we are trying to extend the utility of the product to a different use-case (document sharing) and potentially attract new and different customer segments (corporations).
To be candid, we don't know exactly how this decision will turn out. That's why we are planning to experiment with new features and see how our user base and potential customers react. If it works out well, great news for us. If we fail, hopefully we learned something useful and then we can 'pivot' again. Although it can be stressful at times, the culture of experimentation is part of what makes being an entrepreneur exciting and fun. Stay tuned for updates.
~Marc
