1. Idea Validation and User
Acquisition
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Idea

2. Syllabus
• Creating a quick prototype to assess the business quality
of my idea
• How to get the first users
• What can I know about my users and their opinions
• Is it BIG enough?

3. About Me
• 2006, Wikio, a Google News
competitor (France, now company
X, IPO 2015)
• 2008, Mikamai, a tech boutique for
fashion brands (sold to private
investors, 2012)
• 2013, Mapendo, mobile user
acquisition and performance
(Bologna)

4. Business models are
made up from data

5. • I can put up the simplest prototype of my idea
• People can test the prototype and even start to
generate some revenues
• Numbers help me evaluate the quality of my business
idea
• Later I’ll think about funding and scaling

6. Eat Your Own Dog Food

7. Don’t Do What
You Love
Chase the Market!

8. Sunday, the
28th
Monday, the 29th Tuesday, the 30th
Idea, prototype Gather data Analysis, revenues(?)

9. 1% Idea, 99% perspiration
Don’t Give a Sh@# About Ideas

10. The Simple Idea
• Tourism is Booming
• The Trip begins Online
• Visiting a City is About Having an
Experience
• Foreign Tourists have Money To
Spend
Sunday,
the 28th

11. • Can I get People’s Data Before They Arrive?
• Can I sell Services & Offers to People while They Visit
The City?
• Restaurant deals, Touristic Guides, Internet Connection,
Exhibition Tickets, Shopping
Sunday,
the 28th

12. Day 1
• Measure The Market
• Think a Lot
• Intercept the Prospects With a
Prototypal Landing Page
Sunday,
the 28th

13. • How Big is the Tourism Market in
Bologna?
• Compare the Market to Similar
Destinations and Cities
• Obviously There at Least 10
Similar Cities in Europe
Sunday,
the 28th

14. Is is Possible to Make
Money by Selling Services
to These Tourists?

15. What do People Look For?
Sunday,
the 28th

16. • Arrival/travel/transfer
• Accommodation
• Food/restaurants
• Points of interest/Tours
• Wifi/Internet Connection/Mobile Phones
• History
Sunday,
the 28th

17. • People search for what we are
trying to sell
• Actions that matter to people
generate transactions
• How do we prototype this?
Sunday,
the 28th

18. Landing Page
• Simple Web Page for Advertising
and Content Campaigns
• Describe and Sell a Service
• A/B Testing and Other Advanced
Marketing Techniques
• No Engineers Must Be Harmed
During this Phase
Sunday,
the 28th

19. I’m not Good
at Writing
HTML
I created a Simple Landing
Page in 20 Minutes
Sunday,
the 28th

20. • Instapage
• Landerapp
• Wix
• Landingi
Sunday,
the 28th

21. Day 2
Let’s Bring People In and Gather Some Data

22. How do I get People to My
Page?
• Paying for Traffic is not BAD!
• Advertising & Content
• Advertising is Quick and
Expensive
• Content is Slow and requires
Creativity
• Let’s invest 50 euros!
Monday,
the 29th

23. The Funnel
• You are About to Come in
Bologna
• Are You looking for the Best
Food Experience
• Do You want to Discover the
Hidden Gems of the City
• Do You need an Internet
Connection while you Tour the
City?
• Leave me Your Data!
Monday,
the 29th

24. The Channels
• Existing Databases (email addresses)
• Search Advertising (transactional!)
• Social Media (Interests & Profilation)
• Content
Monday,
the 29th

25. Search Advertising
• Target only Foreign Users
• Find carefully all the Keywords they Use
• Spend 75% of the Budget in 24 Hours
Monday,
the 29th

26. Social Media
• 25% of the Budget
• People are Shifting from Search
to Discovery
• Facebook knows about my
Interests
Monday,
the 29th

27. Day 3
Analyse Data & Assess My Idea

28. Insights
• 11000 Searches Covered with 30
Keywords
• Social Media needs more tweaking
(no useful results)
• 320 Visitors to my Landing Page
• 40 Email Addresses in my Database
• 45€ Spent
• Cost 1.1€ per contact
Tuesday,
the 30th

29. How do I make
Money?
Is the Market Profitable and
Scalable?

30. What I can sell
• Restaurant deals
• Tours/Exhibition tickets
• Internet connection
• Airport transfer
• Accommodation

31. I can also sell data
• Other companies might be
interested in sending profiled
information to the users
• Personal information is valuable
and pricey

32. Is the Business Scalable?
• 50 * 3€ (mean transaction fee) *
365 = 65700€ per year
• 2€ contact by selling data =
36500€ per year
• 20 cities > 1M€ revenues per
year
• Acquisition costs can be
optimised a lot
• Platform Cost 30%

33. What’s Next?
• Establish the Business
• Reinvent Technology
• Sign Partners to Sell their Services
• Structure the Acquisition Campaigns

34. Let’s Get Things Started!