The document is a slide deck for a lecture on software products. It discusses how to develop a successful software product by understanding people and their needs/behaviors. It covers topics like the layers of a product, major software platforms, what startups do, founder goals, and external resources. The overall goal is to teach how to turn an idea/technology into a product that delights users and becomes a profitable business.

1. 1 — Products
Software Development
From Code to Product

2. Is this a restaurant?
Tasty,
nutritious
food
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 2 gidgreen.com/course

3. Is this a product?
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 3 gidgreen.com/course

4. Some leading products
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 4 gidgreen.com/course

5. Lecture 1
• About this course
• Products and people
• Layers of a product
• Software platforms
• What does a startup do?
• Founders and goals
• External resources
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 5 gidgreen.com/course

6. Course objective
“Learn how to turn a core
technology or idea into a software
product which delights users,
succeeds in the marketplace and
becomes a profitable business.”
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 6 gidgreen.com/course

7. Our assumptions
• You can program
• You are web savvy
• You know English, ish
• No other experience
• Technical founder(s)
• No investors (yet)
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 7 gidgreen.com/course

8. Syllabus
1
2 Products + Process
3
4 User Interface + Localization
5
6
7 Business models + Analytics
8
9
10 Marketing + SEO
11
12
13
Desktop, web, mobile
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 8 gidgreen.com/course

9. We won’t cover…
• Raising money
• Forming a company
• Recruiting
• Legal issues
• Enterprise sales
• Management
• Exit strategy
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 9 gidgreen.com/course

10. Lecture 1
• About this course
• Products and people
• Layers of a product
• Software platforms
• What does a startup do?
• Founders and goals
• External resources
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 10 gidgreen.com/course

11. Products are for people
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 11 gidgreen.com/course

12. People are physical
Brain Eyes
Hands
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 12 gidgreen.com/course

13. People are emotional
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 13 gidgreen.com/course

14. People are impatient
“The vast majority of people who visit
your site… will arrive with their finger
poised on the Back button… So your
site has to say: Wait! Don't click on
Back. This site isn't lame. Look at this,
for example.”
— Paul Graham, Y Combinator
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 14 gidgreen.com/course

15. People are irrational
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 15 gidgreen.com/course

16. People are self-interested
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 16 gidgreen.com/course

17. People are skeptical
“The average American is exposed to several hundred ad
messages a day and is trying to tune out.”
— Prof. Philip Kotler, 2005
“On average, Americans are subject to some 3,000 essentially
random pitches per day.”
— Inc.com, 2005
“Not too long ago, the average American was exposed to over
three thousand advertising messages in the average day. Today,
you get that many before breakfast!”
— Newspaper Association of America, 2002
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 17 gidgreen.com/course

18. People are followers
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 18 gidgreen.com/course

19. People are short on cash
$30,000
$25,000
US Inflation-Adjusted Median Income
$20,000
1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 19 gidgreen.com/course

20. Lecture 1
• About this course
• Products and people
• Layers of a product
• Software platforms
• What does a startup do?
• Founders and goals
• External resources
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 20 gidgreen.com/course

21. What is a software product?
Code that solves problem
+
Inputs and outputs
+
User packaging
+
Can generate cash
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 21 gidgreen.com/course

22. Layers of a product
Less unique
eting
Less technology
But more visible
to end users
Mark
Core
(in general…)
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 22 gidgreen.com/course

23. Layers of Microsoft Excel
e
Offic
soft
Calculation
engine
Micro
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 23 gidgreen.com/course

24. Layers of Google
…,
Maps
mail,
PageRank
PR, G
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 24 gidgreen.com/course

25. Code Breakdown Example
48%
13%
14%
5%
9%
11%
Algorithm
Core
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 25 gidgreen.com/course

26. What’s the core of PayPal?
• High volume transaction processing?
• Integration with external systems?
• “…PayPal is: a security company
pretending to be a financial services
company” — Max Levchin, Founder
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 26 gidgreen.com/course

27. An ideal core
• New
• Clever
• Invisible Objective:
• Hard to reproduce Barrier to
entry
• Research-based
• Optimized for speed
• Improve with usage
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 27 gidgreen.com/course

28. An ideal core interface
• New Familiar
• Clever Simple
• Invisible Obvious Objective:
• Hard to reproduce No barriers
to usage
• Research-based
• Optimized for speed
• Improve with usage
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 28 gidgreen.com/course

29. Combining the ideals
Product Technology Interface
Desktop P2P + VoIP Config-free
Web Messaging 140 characters
Mobile Super effects Instant posting
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 29 gidgreen.com/course

30. Lecture 1
• About this course
• Products and people
• Layers of a product
• Software platforms
• What does a startup do?
• Founders and goals
• External resources
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 30 gidgreen.com/course

31. Major platforms
PCs Web Touchphone Tablet
Initial adoption 1977 1993 2007 2010
2011 shipments 350 million — 250 million 50 million
Jan 2012 users 1.4 billion 2.3 billion 350 million 60 million
Annual growth 10% 12% 100% 150%
Core platforms
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 31 gidgreen.com/course

32. Historical user growth
2 billion
PCs Web
Touchphone Tablet
1 billion
0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 32 gidgreen.com/course

33. Other platforms
• Mainframes
• Supercomputers
• PC servers
– Linux, FreeBSD, Windows Server
• Game consoles
– Wii, Xbox, PlayStation, handhelds
• Other mobiles
– Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 33 gidgreen.com/course

34. Lecture 1
• About this course
• Products and people
• Layers of a product
• Software platforms
• What does a startup do?
• Founders and goals
• External resources
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 34 gidgreen.com/course

35. What does a startup do?
• (Raise money)
• Development
• Monetization
• Marketing
• Publicity
• Biz dev
• (Exit)
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 35 gidgreen.com/course

36. Baseline scenario
Steady growth by word of mouth
Revenue
5% per month = ~80% per year
Time
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 36 gidgreen.com/course

37. Monetization
Revenue
More revenue
per user
Time
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 37 gidgreen.com/course

38. Business development
Lose
Revenue
Gain
partner partner
Time
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 38 gidgreen.com/course

39. Marketing
Revenue
users
of extra
tant flow
Cons
Time
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 39 gidgreen.com/course

40. Publicity
Diminishing
Revenue
returns
Depres
Euphoria
sion
Time
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 40 gidgreen.com/course

41. Example: Not so Cuil
Didn’t Kill Google
Launched as
Google Killer
Raised Raised Relaunched
$8m $25m as Cpedia Dead
Mar 07 Sep 07 Mar 08 Sep 08 Mar 09 Sep 09 Mar 10 Sep 10
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 41 gidgreen.com/course

42. Everything but the Product
Revenue
Revenue
Time Time
Revenue
Revenue
Time Time
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 42 gidgreen.com/course

43. Product development
growth rate
Revenue
Increasing
Time
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 43 gidgreen.com/course

44. Word of mouth
• Sharer:
– Helping their friend
– Building social capital
– Thanking you
• Recipient:
– Saving time
– Is “in the know”
– Becoming a sharer
• Also: word of web
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 44 gidgreen.com/course

45. Growth by word of mouth
Monthly 1 year 2 years 5 years 10 years
3% 1.4x 2.0x 5.9x 35x
5% 1.8x 3.2x 19x 349x
7% 2.3x 5.1x 58x 3358x
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 45 gidgreen.com/course

46. On marketing schemes…
“The one thing we learned over 5 years is
that nothing works better than just
improving your product. Every minute,
every developer hour we spent on any one
of these crazy things… was nothing
compared to just making a better version
of the product and releasing it.”
— Joel Spolsky, Fog Creek Software
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 46 gidgreen.com/course

47. Lecture 1
• About this course
• Products and people
• Layers of a product
• Software platforms
• What does a startup do?
• Founders and goals
• External resources
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 47 gidgreen.com/course

48. Startup founders
• 2 or 3 people
– If just one, get lots of advice
• Complementary skills
– Vision + Product
– Technology
• Friendship + trust
• Shared goals
• Everyone vests
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 48 gidgreen.com/course

49. Founder goals
• Make money
• Have fun
• Be free
• Create something
• Do good
• Get famous
• Make money
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 49 gidgreen.com/course

50. How much annual income?
$1,000 Feel good
$10,000 Extra money
$100,000 Lifestyle
$1,000,000 Working rich
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 50 gidgreen.com/course

51. How big an exit?
$2 million Something neat
$20 million Team + technology
$200 million Scaled business
$2 billion Scare someone big
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 51 gidgreen.com/course

52. Lecture 1
• About this course
• Products and people
• Layers of a product
• Software platforms
• What does a startup do?
• Founders and goals
• External resources
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 52 gidgreen.com/course

53. Books
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 53 gidgreen.com/course

54. Some websites
Hacker News Links to news news.ycombinator.com
Mashable Social media news mashable.com
Mixergy Interviews Interviews with founders mixergy.com/interviews
OnStartups Answers Q&A for startups answers.onstartups.com
Quora Q&A popular with startups quora.com
ReadWriteWeb In-depth startup blog readwriteweb.com
TechCrunch Leading startup blog techcrunch.com
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 54 gidgreen.com/course

55. Thought leaders — Entrepreneurs
37 Signals Ruby on Rails 37signals.com/svn
Steve Blank “Customer Development” steveblank.com
Jason Cohen SmartBear Software blog.asmartbear.com
Seth Godin “Permission Marketing” sethgodin.typepad.com
Dharmesh Shah HubSpot onstartups.com
Joel Spolsky Stack Overflow joelonsoftware.com
Eric Ries “Lean Startup” startuplessonslearned.com
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 55 gidgreen.com/course

56. Thought leaders — Investors
Chris Dixon Founder Collective cdixon.org
Brad Feld TechStars feld.com
Paul Graham Y Combinator paulgraham.com
Guy Kawasaki Garage Technology Ventures blog.guykawasaki.com
Dave McClure 500 Startups 500hats.typepad.com
Mark Suster GRP Partners bothsidesofthetable.com
Fred Wilson Union Square Ventures avc.com
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 56 gidgreen.com/course

57. And check these out
From Code to Product Lecture 1 — Products — Slide 57 gidgreen.com/course