San Kim

I quit my job with $15K in savings to start my company. To survive in NYC AND build my company, I had to radically cut back on my expenses (I’m talking ramen multiple meals per day, and sneaking flasks into bars).

I also had to get as much stuff for my startup for free. Luckily most of it was actually free (i.e. EC2 hosting, Dropbox, Google Analytics). However, some of the software and tools I desperately needed were quite expensive, and I didn’t have much cash in the bank. In those cases I had to get “creative.”

Here’s how I got what I needed for my startup.

Books/videos

This is a no-brainer. I was a novice to building a web startup, and I had to learn fast. There are tons of excellent books and videos out there, and nearly all of them exist on Bittorrent sites. I downloaded and learned from:

• Lynda.com videos tutorials for Illustrator, Photoshop, HTML/CSS, Javascript, PHP
• Steve Blank’s Four Steps to the Epiphany
• Jessica Livingston’s Founders at Work

Software

Bittorrent sites are lousy with design and development software. I downloaded, amongst others:

• Adobe Creative Suite (for Photoshop and Illustrator)
• Coda (my favorite coding app)
• Screenflow (excellent screencasting software)

Adobe software was the toughest nut to crack by far; it as a ton of anti-pirating provisions built in, so it was super annoying and time-consuming to crack them, but I eventually prevailed. It was the effort; I desperately needed them to create our first mockups, and didn’t have thousands of dollars to throw around.

Removing Watermarks

I needed stock photos for our landing page, but I couldn’t find high-quality pictures that didn’t have a big X-shaped watermark across it. So I found this clever little hack to remove them:

http://www.instantfundas.com/2010/04/how-to-remove-watermark-from-image-or.html

Odesk and Elance

Not technically free, but insanely cheap if you use it well. I don’t recommend it for coding or design - in my opinion you should either learn to do it yourself or find a cofounder. I used Odesk for a variety of data entry and other rote tasks. 

I tried a bunch of different workers in various countries, but found the Philippines to be most reliable: they were insanely cheap (sometimes $2-3/hr) and spoke pretty good English.

Copying other products

This is maybe the most useful hack out there, and it’s technically not illegal (to an extent).

Come across an especially slick signup form UI? Copy it, and use the same design in yours. See an HTML button you like? Fire up Firebug, and copy the code wholesale. 

Copying from other products not only gives you potentially valuable ideas to use in your own product, but also saves a bunch of time, which is by far the most valuable resource for the startup.

With very little design/coding experience, I was able to throw together a relatively nice-looking product, relatively quickly.

What’s more, this isn’t even that unethical. Cross-pollination happens all the time on the web; even big sites get inspiration from other sites and adopt new conventions. In fact, it’s the very reason conventions exist!

(I discuss this further in my Design for Hackers talk: http://www.slideshare.net/sk2185/design-for-hackers)

Anyway…

Since we got funding, I’ve stopped pirating. All my software is legit and paid for; not only that, I’ve bought additional copies for our team and recommended it to others.

I don’t advocate pirating when you don’t have to, and I hate to take away money from good companies; but when you have to, you have to. Hopefully when your company hits it big, you’ll find a way to give back to the ecosystem.

As you develop your product, don’t just pay attention to which features your users request; but also who those users are, and how passionate they are.

Are they just casual users on your site, or do they depend on it daily? Do they talk about it on Twitter? Do they get their friends to sign up?

The most passionate early adopters are extremely important to your company’s early growth. Make them happy, and they’ll pay you back in kind.

Of course, you should always be cautious when building niche features that are geared to a small sliver of your audience. But if these users are that passionate about what they want, and are willing to push you over and over to implement them, that’s should count for something.

Sometimes these users are the canary in the mine, signaling a need before the rest of your audience catches up to it.

We talk a lot about early adopters, people who are first to try a new product. But what about early believers, those who believe in the product, and sign up to use it before there’s anything to adopt?

One of our early believers was a NYC-area tutor named Karen Ishii. I had posted on Craigslist to get feedback on an early concept, which eventually became ShowMe, and Karen jumped on board head-first. Soon she was giving us all kinds of feedback, first over the phone, and eventually in person at our office.

Karen was clearly passionate our project, and let us know it by volunteering tons of time and effort. Knowing people like Karen existed let us know that we were truly onto something.

Over a short period of time, we had built a relationship of mutual trust. We trusted her to give us unvarnished, honest feedback; and she trusted us to eventually build a product that would help her.

Early believers are precious commodities. Seek them out. Once you find them, ask for their help. Early believers often have a better vision of the product than the founders themselves. In a sense, they are more important to your company than any employee.

I got an email today from a CU student named Jan, and I thought it would be helpful to post my answer since I get this question a lot. Below is my reply, below that is the original email.

If anyone has additional suggestions for Jan, please leave comments and I’ll edit.

Update: I forgot to mention Hacker Hours, “Office hours for programming help,” which was started by the awesome @aidanfeldman. Check it out: http://www.jux.com/surround/global/users/~aidan/quarks/~www45

Hey Jan,

Great to hear you’re proactive with learning this stuff; it is invaluable for sure, and college is the perfect time to develop these skills.

Coding is broken up into to general areas: 1) front-end and 2) back-end. 

- Front-end code is what you see when you visit a website - how the page is laid out, the font sizes, colors, backgrounds, signup forms, etc. Front-end code is done with HTML and CSS.

- Back-end code is the stuff behind the scenes - taking the login information you enter and put it into the database, displaying dynamic content like personalized recommendations, local content, etc. There are many web programming languages/frameworks that address this, but Ruby and Rails and PHP seem to be the most popular these days.

If you want to be self-contained as a programmer, you should try to do both. Only knowing front-end means you’ll have to work with an actual programmer to make the site work. Knowing both means you can take your idea and develop a proof-of-concept that works, and can put in front of actual users to validate your idea. This is especially powerful, because the faster you can test your ideas, the better your chances you’ll find one that works.

Front-end coding is much easier to learn though, and if you do know other programmers you can split the work for a project cleanly. Incidentally this is what I do at ShowMe; my partner does back-end and I do front-end.

For resources, I’d highly recommend Lynda.com videos (kind of expensive but you can pirate them pretty easily :)) For HTML and CSS, w3schools.com is a handy resource. Also I’m sure you’ve heard of codecademy - it’s a super fun/easy way to get your feet wet.

Hope this helps!

San

On <date>, <email> wrote:

Hey San,

I’m a freshmen at Columbia who attended the panel last Tuesday and I’m very interested in the start-up scene. It was pretty clear though that coding is an essential skill, and I have zero previous experience (I’m an intended statistics major). After some research I found that opinions vary quite a lot and I was just wondering if you had some advice on what language(s) would be good to know/start with and if you happen to know any resources.

Thanks!

Jan Leibbrandt

I was working at a real estate company in 2007, after having bounced around as a musician, part-time teacher, and general underachiever.

When I saw Steve’s keynote presentation for the original iPhone, I was transfixed. Apple had brought to life something that no one had imagined, something that would have been thought impossible a day before.

I started following Apple religiously after that, dogged by the thought that there was something in the trajectory of this visionary company that might serve as a clue to my own purpose and vocation - despite my not having any technology, business, or design training.

I didn’t pursue my venture right away; it took a year or so for me to prepare myself for the entrepreneurial leap. But when I did, I did it all-out. I quit my job with no safety net and no prior progress, driven solely by the notion that I too could bring something meaningful into this world – very hungry, very foolish.

Steve Jobs showed me that what might at first seem out of reach could be realized with enough conviction and persistence. That it was precisely these kinds of impossible dreams that end up changing the world. 

Reading the first ever writeup about Facebook on 2/9/2004, just days after its launch. Overall it’s a fascinating time capsule with tons of gems (the subtitle is “Facemash creator seeks new reputation with latest online project”).

On Harvard’s own efforts to create an online facebook (what would the world be like if Harvard had been quicker on the ball?):

“There is a project internally with computer services to create a facebook,” [Director of Residential Computing Kevin S. Davis] said. “We’ve been in touch with the Undergraduate Council, and this is a very high priority for the College. We have every intention of completing the facebook by the end of the spring semester.”

On the connection to Friendster, then the dominant (only?) social network:

“Just as with the popular website Friendster, which Zuckerberg said was a model for his new website, members can search for people according to their interests and can create an online network of friends.”

On the course feature, which is I believe the most significant feature cut from the original site:

“Zuckerberg said that the most innovative feature of the site is that people can search for other students in their classes so that they can branch out to form friendships and study groups.”

On privacy:

Zuckerberg said that the extensive search capabilities are restricted by a myriad of privacy options for members who do not want everyone to be able to look up their information.

“There are pretty intensive privacy options,” he said. “You can limit who can see your information, if you only want current students to see your information, or people in your year, in your house, in your classes. You can limit a search so that only a friend or a friend of a friend can look you up. People have very good control over who can see their information.”

On revenue model and other features:

While Zuckerberg promised that thefacebook.com would boast new features by the end of the week, he said that he did not create the website with the intention of generating revenue.

“I’m not going to sell anybody’s e-mail address,” he said. “At one point I thought about making the website so that you could upload a resume too, and for a fee companies could search for Harvard job applicants. But I don’t want to touch that. It would make everything more serious and less fun.”

Original article: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/2/9/hundreds-register-for-new-facebook-website/

Full details on the Designer, Front-End Dev positions: http://www.showme.com/careers/

ShowMe is designing the future of learning, one that is open and social instead of stardardized and static, and we are doing it through innovative and thoughtful design. 

We are not just designing a product; we are designing a community. We need someone who can conceive both.

We’re looking for //

An interaction designer with 3 years’ experience building awesome products. You must be a student of human-centered design, familiar with web/mobile standards & best practices, and comfortable using data to aid/test product decisions. Above all you must be smart, curious, and constantly learning.

As the company grows you will be responsible for recruiting and managing the design team.

About us //

ShowMe was started two years ago by a couple guys who wanted to change the way people learn. Today we have over 150,000 users, and have gotten funding from an amazing group of investors including Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, betaworks, Learn Capital, Naval Ravikant, and BOLDstart.

We work at General Assembly, the heart of the NYC startup scene, where we interact with entrepreneurs, investors, creatives, and other awesome people on a daily basis.

Summary //

This is a unique opportunity to drive the vision for something truly innovative, one that will have a profound impact on the way we learn. If you’re up for the challenge, send us the following:

• Examples of projects you’ve worked on, and your role in each. 
• Cover letter
• Resume

Compensation is extremely competitive, and includes weekly happy hour drinks and the occasional free lunch. If you’re not in NYC, we’re willing to help you out to get here.

When we started ShowMe, we targeted a very specific audience, and built features that addressed their needs. As we expand to more user types, we work to “generalize” the product, and often this means removing features.

The less structure you put around your product, the more people who will find your product useful (Twitter is the ultimate example).

Do more by doing less.

After you launch, you’re asking: how are you using X app?

Before you launch, you’re asking: how do you imagine using X app?

In the last few days I’ve learned an incredible amount via the latter question. They say early adopters have a better vision for your product than you do, and my vision has dramatically improved as a result of talking to them.

Entrepreneurs are in the Vision business.

They stake out a company based on their vision, they build products that embody the vision, and the inspire others to join them in pursuing their vision.

Of course, sometimes the vision is a bit off. It may not fit the market, it may not produce enough value or revenue - many times it’s just flat out wrong.

But what’s great about being an entrepreneur is that your “eyesight” improves over time. As you grow and inevitably fail, your experience helps you see much clearer: helping you picking out the right vision from the bunch, and even when you’re wrong, allowing you to refocus your vision quickly.

It’s a wonderful paradox: our eyesight gets better with time.

This is why I love being an entrepreneur.

After trying out a bunch of sketching and mockup apps, I was tired of all the clutter they put on the screen, like toolbars, buttons, or other elements. In my mind, these just took up valuable screen real estate and made it cumbersome to just draw.

I didn’t need fancy pen colors, line thicknesses, shape tools, etc - just a whiteboard I can fire up instantly and start jotting down my ideas (time is of the essence when inspiration strikes).

So I created Zen Sketchpad, an ultra-minimalist app with absolutely ZERO UI; literally a blank slate. Just shake to clear the screen, and Home+Lock to save to Photos.

Zen Sketchpad (App Store link for iPad and iPhone)

In startup world, “eating your own dogfood” is popular product development methodology. The theory is that if the product works for you, it will work for others.

Of course, this makes sense when you’re building a product that solves your own problems. But what if you’re building, say, a social network for the elderly? Or a learning app for toddlers?

It’s much harder to solve someone else’s problem than your own, but sometimes the hard job needs to be done. 

But how?

Gather qualitative feedback

If you can’t be your own guinea pig, get lots of other guinea pigs. And don’t just collect quantitative data; gather qualitative feedback as well. This means talking to them on the phone, even meeting them in person. Only then can you hope to understand your users’ emotional and psychological motivations, whose importance we often vastly underestimate.

Design with empathy

We often forget how much personal baggage we bring to product design. There are tons of subtle biases that dictate whether a certain color scheme looks good, or a certain copywriting style seems persuasive. Once you let go of your ego, you’ll realize:

• things that look good to you may not look good to others.
• things you find useful may not be useful to others
• things that might be effective for you may not be effective for others

Combined with actual user feedback, empathy will be your greatest product development tool. Learn to develop it early, or hire someone who demonstrates it.

In my last post I wondered: what if Twitter or Foursquare had done extensive customer development before building their prototype?

Lean Startup fans will know one of the most important things for an early startup is getting validation from customers early, often before building the product. The goal of a Lean Startup is to minimize waste, and pre-product customer development cuts down the risk of building a product no one wants: the ultimate waste of resources.

But are there startups that can’t be “customer developed” before having at least a prototype to show off?

For example, what would Twitter have learned from customers pre-prototype? Will anyone have told them they wanted, much less needed, this mysterious “microblogging” product?

And if in fact there exists such a class of startups, what do they share in common? A few guesses:

• Products that don’t solve a particular need, but rather rely on their “fun factor” (e.g. most games, Foursquare, Instagram)
• Super-innovative products that defy traditional behavior (e.g. Foursquare)
• Products whose value/appeal cannot be explained in words or even mockups (e.g. Twitter)

Admittedly this list is incomplete, and maybe not all that comprehensible. If you have any ideas please post in the comments below. I’ve also posted a Quora question on this topic. 

Hopefully we can gather some good ideas, and combined with some of the ideas for optimizing lean startups, determine when do invest in customer development and when to invest in product development.

Have you seen a straight object seem to bend in water? This effect is called refraction, where the path of a light ray bends upon entering a different medium.

The simplest way to explain it is that light moves faster in the open air than in water. Therefore, the light ray spans a great distance in air than in water, in order to make sure it gets to its destination as fast as possible - in other words, to optimize its path against its environment, which is comprised by air and water.

All startups share one trait in common: limited resources. They must allocate these resources carefully, knowing that the slowest-moving piece will often delay progress across the board. Often the direction of an early startup involves internal decisions, but sometimes external, environmental factors will come into play and influence resource allocation.

Our Environment

We spent the summer with DreamIt Ventures, an incubator program in Philadelphia. As part of the program, we worked out of a massive office with 15 startups doing super interesting things. It was a beehive of productivity and creativity, where 14-hour days just flew by. We were also away from home and friends, and thus had zero social life. 

In other words, it was the perfect coding environment.

Meanwhile, we faced a huge hurdle when it came to customer development. As an educational startup, our target users were parents and student, and we had previously relied on contacting schools to get connected to them. However, school was out for summer, and we had a tough time getting connected to students and parents.

These two external factors:

1) enhanced our ability to do product development (the DreamIt environment)

2) limited our ability to do customer development (school vacation)

Although we had always assumed that customer development up front would allow us to validate our core hypotheses quickest, these factors challenged that assumption.

Our approach

We decided to optimize against these external factors. Instead of doing heavy customer development up front, we decided to develop a working prototype and test it with actual users. 

We knew the DreamIt environment would enable to develop the prototype insanely quickly, and that, because of summer vacation, it would be almost impossible to gather a meaningful sample of students and parents.

Of course, we didn’t forgo customer development altogether. We talked to students and parents where we could, and collected some data about behavior, etc. However, we determined early on that we could only learn so much this way, and that we needed to relax our “customer development first” approach.

The Takeaway

The main goal in any Lean Startup is validating the core hypotheses about your business as quickly as possible. Although customer development up front is usually the fastest way to get to validation, there are exceptions to every rule. In our case, there were powerful factors made customer discovery less effective and product development more effective. Instead of applying one prescribed approach, you should optimize your approach to Lean Startup methodology to your particular circumstances.

Do any of these factors apply to you?

• Your environment (location, time, etc) makes it hard to find target users to interview
• Your product lends itself to an effective MVP that can be developed quickly
• Your product and value proposition can’t be described very easily (I wonder how easy it would have been to explain Twitter before building it - more importantly how many people would have said they “needed” it!)

—-

Special thanks to Brant Cooper and Steve Cheney for helping me think through this post.

Yesterday TechCrunch reported on Google’s gripes on Facebook’s limited data portability:

The feature lets you download content you’ve uploaded — photos, wall posts, videos, events, and messages. But the export feature leaves out the most valuable set of data: your contacts. Yes, Facebook will give you a list of their names, but it doesn’t attach any contact information: you don’t get their email address, phone numbers, or anything else another service could use to rebuild your social graph somewhere else.

TechCrunch followed up with their analysis of what’s behind Google’s actions, but the real issue here is not some high-minded concept of data protectionism, but Facebook’s killer competitive advantage: switching costs.

What is it like today to switch from one social network (say FB) to another? First thing you’d do after joining the new site is search for all your old friends who have joined already. Assuming you’re a relatively early adopter, you’ll only find a few friends there. And when an old friend does switch to the new site, they’ll have to 1) find you and 2) friend you.

But what if your friend can’t find you for some reason? What if you and your friend aren’t that close anymore? This is really awkward for both you and your friend. Ultimately you’ll won’t be able to retain all your old friends, and have to essentially build your social network from scratch.

With social graph portability, switching would be far less painful. You would simply import all your Facebook contacts, and just invite everyone to the new site at once. Plus with your social graph already built out, your old Facebook friend who joins the new site after you could be automatically “friended” with you.

This would singlehandedly destroy Facebook’s competitive advantage, maybe even Facebook itself.

And it leads me to think the recent events are part of a product strategy from Google’s “Project Social” team (assuming Google is in fact building a social network). This feature would be a huge boon to its early growth. 

If the features I mention above are implemented, that’s it. All Google would need to do then is built a better designed product. Not to downplay Facebook’s design prowess, but this is a much easier task than overcoming massive switching costs.

Facebook is right to cling on to data protection for dear life, and potential competitors should be very wary of entering the space in the current circumstances.

Back in April decided to produce an animated intro video for my startup, and spent a good week or so producing it. Below is part of the how-to email I posted to the NYC Lean Startup Meetup after I completed the video.

1) First of all, if you don’t have a 60-second intro video for your website, definitely consider doing it. It’s a great way to engage the potential user right away and get your message across. Here’s a great one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Q9MJdT5Ds

Seriously try not to go over 60 seconds - that’s a LONG time in internet world.

2) Do as much work up front as possible. I wrote a script, drew up a very basic storyboard on Illustrator, and timed the whole thing by reading it out load next to a stopwatch. I’m a firm believer in the hands-on approach; you’ll learn a lot about your product positioning and marketing by doing these things firsthand.

3) Try to find a close aesthetic fit between your animator and the style you’re trying to accomplish. This is a very nuanced and specific thing you’re looking for, and you don’t want to end up with something that doesn’t fit your company’s message or personality.

Now for the nitty-gritty:

I used two main channels to search for animators: job boards at design schools and Craigslist.

Design School Job Boards

Yielded even fewer results, and none of them that great. Students tend to lack an extensive portfolio, so you don’t really know what you’re getting unless they happen to have produced something exactly like what you’re looking for.

Craigslist

To my utter surprise, this was a great way to find animators. Important things to keep in mind when you’re posting: be VERY specific about what you’re looking for - describe the aesthetic and cite examples like the Google video above  - and EMPHATICALLY discourage submissions that don’t fit the bill. Here’s what I wrote:

IMPORTANT:

ONLY FREELANCERS MAY APPLY; NO COMPANIES/SHOPS/RECRUITERS
APPLY ONLY IF YOU CAN SHOW WORK THAT FITS THE AESTHETIC DESCRIBED ABOVE
IF YOU’RE APPLYING AS A STUDENT, INCLUDE “STUDENT” IN THE SUBJECT LINE

Yes, I used all caps. And then I prayed to the online etiquette gods not to smite me.

I got about 20 emails, 15 of which had relevant work examples. Of these, I really liked 3 of them.

Then, I did a phone interview with those 3, went over my storyboard and script, and most importantly, I asked each of them to submit a 1-2 second animation of a snippet of my storyboard of their choosing. I really wanted to make sure there was a fit aesthetically before committing to hiring. They were happy to do it - it would be like 30 min of work on their part.

Finally, I negotiated a flat project fee of $500-700, depending on what the scope ends up being. This is considered pretty low for a 40-second video (20 seconds will be screencasts produced by me), and most animators will quote around $1000-$1500 but I was able to demonstrate that:

1) The animation will be bare-bones and simple, much like the Google video

2) The storyboarding/scripting is pretty much done, so not much else is required beyond the actual animating.

Ace in the Hole: Personal References!

Still, I didn’t see anyone that was right enough to pull the trigger on.

It took a while, but I finally found an awesome animator through Spencer Fry. As with other projects, personal references seem to work the best for some reason. Check his stuff out here: http://pasqualedsilva.com/hire

Eventually I ended up with this video (LearnBat is no longer active, but not because of the video :))

I can’t stress how effective this little video was in conveying our message to students, parents, and other interested parties (it probably got us into DreamIt Ventures).

The Barebones Method

Since pivoting to another business model and changing our name, we’ve taken another approach for the intro video, the barebones screencast: http://easellearning.com/iPad/

Probably not as cool, but pretty effective, depending on what your products is. To make this happen, you need just one thing: Screenflow. Best screencasting tool out there, with awesome editing features built in.

Finally, whether you go for the barebones or animated method, you’ll need:

Professional Voiceover

It’s a once-off cost, and definitely worth the money in my book - I hate listening to mushmouthed CEO’s ramble through their intro videos.

Just go to voice123.com; you can listen to demos of EVERY voiceover artist and even have them record a sample “audition” script. For a 60-second video the job is gonna be less than an hour - definitely affordable.

Questions?

This is an almost verbatim reply I wrote to my girlfriend’s wonderful note expressing encouragement and support regarding my startup (and the stress it sometimes brings). I wanted to post it here for any entrepreneurs who struggle with the weight of their own startups. I hope it provides just a bit of inspiration.

Thanks for thinking of me and for the kind words.

I think a couple months ago I would have been able to relate to the article, but not so much anymore. I think the whole uncertainty I mentioned to you before is of a different flavor.

In general, I’m oddly not too worried about succeeding or failing. I’m not even stressed with the work itself, as most of the time, it doesn’t feel like work. I’m just sort of carrying out the momentum; the work is just “what I do” now. In a vacuum this would be immensely frustrating. But what makes it not only bearable but also sometimes interesting, even fun, is the support I have around me, with the DreamIt/Startl folks, fellow entrepreneurs, and most of all you.

Sure, sometimes frustration does pop up and get me down, like it did last week. But most of the time, the fact that I’m learning a great deal, everyday, outweighs all else.

What I mean to say is: don’t worry too much about me. I’ve got a healthy perspective about all this. No matter what happens, I’m going to treasure the work I’ve done and the lessons I’ve learned.

What I hated about my last job was that I knew for sure that not much was going to change day to day - that I could wake a year from now without having grown an inch professionally or personally. Compared to that, uncertainty is a breath of fresh air. It’s like being a kid again. It’s nice to finally dream crazy dreams, even if they’re crazy :)

It’s like I always say: change is always better than the alternative.

I’m looking forward to the next year.

My friend Andres at Meetup.com coined the term “Malkovich Bias,” which he defines as “the tendency to believe that everyone uses products as you do.”

Every person in the world probably has this to some degree, but people who build products suffer most from it.

Building a product is a very personal process. Even when it’s done as a team, all of the builders’ tastes, biases, and personalities get “baked in” to the product itself. This is most apparent with the product’s cosmetic characteristics - color, font, etc - but is also evident in UI/UX design, and choices that affect the product’s usability.

So to combat this bias, many startups do usability testing. Get strangers in front of the computer, observe how they use your product, make changes accordingly. Sounds like an easy solution, doesn’t it?

STARTING USABILITY TESTING

The first usability test is almost always a disaster. This is because even if you know your product might be deficient, you don’t realize just how personally and emotionally invested you are in it. You’ve built this thing for months and months, and poured your heart and soul into it. So what happens when you show it to someone for the first time?

You get defensive. Because you identify so closely with the product, you mistake criticism of your product as criticism of you the builder. I’ve seen people raise their voices at users trying to defend a design choice they made, or dismiss their comments entirely. In reality, these people were just defending themselves.

You get embarrassed. You start disclaiming left and right, and rationalizing your choices. “Well, I put this logo here because I wanted it to be more prominent.” “Well, this feature is still in development, so that’s why it’s hard to use.”

This is not a fun process. In fact, it’s stressful as hell. You feel out of touch and out of control. Thoughts of moving back in with your parents flash through your mind. What do you do now?

LEARNING TO LET GO

Once you calm down a bit, it’s time to bring in the second user and do a few things differently:

Accept criticism, even encourage it. Remember, you’re trying to get people to find problems, so that you can fix it.

Own up to your product, even if it’s in “alpha.” Tell yourself as far as the test is concerned, this is THE app. This allows you to test much more objectively, and not skew the process by implanting disclaimers in your users’ minds. You don’t ever want them to thing “I see a problem, but I won’t tell them because they’re probably aware of it and working on it.”

Realize there’s no one way to use something. Everyone’s opinion is valid, because you’re building the product for everyone (or everyone within your target niche, but you know what I mean). Resist to the temptation to knee-jerk-dismiss comments as outliers.

THE ZEN MOMENT

When you truly let go of these hangups, something strange and beautiful happens. You sit there listening to people tell you everything that is wrong with your product, but instead of getting discouraged, you feel energized and inspired. You not only hear their critiques, but start to empathize with them.

In essence, you’ve become one with that user’s perspective and way of thinking, and can now see the world through his/her eyes - especially if you made an effort to connected with them personally during the session.

This perspective helps you judge not just the product’s usability, but its desirability. You can start to think like the user, and let go of all your biases. Even in the future, when building different features or even products, your ability to see them from many different perspectives will be invaluable.

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Usability testing is not easy. It requires not only a commitment to learn about your users, but an emotional separation from your product. Next time you start a session, check your ego and set your baby free. It will be safe in your users’ hands.

It really bugs me when people misuse statistics, especially to denigrate others. Journalists are the biggest offenders. The latest case: Chinese manufacturer Foxconn and it’s “rash of suicides” by its factory workers - 10 so far this year. Does this really constitute a “rash”?

Let’s do the math:

• Foxconn employs 420,000 people (btw that’s a lot of people!), 10 of whom have committed suicides so far.
• The World Health Organization says the national yearly suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 (this is conveniently hidden in a small paragraph near the end of the article).

What does simple Algebra tell us? Foxconn’s suicide rate is dramatically below the national rate! (expected value of suicides over the first 5 months, based on the national rate, is 19.25)

In other words: Foxconn saved 9 lives so far this year (and we’re only in June!)

We should really be asking what Foxconn is doing right, not what they’re doing wrong.

I’m all for employee rights, and I guess it’s a good thing that Foxconn is paying even closer attention to it now. I’m sure they have some holes in their policy, as most companies do. But it’s just wrong to unfairly vilify Foxconn and its executives and lump them into the “sweatshop” category. Most data - including the suicide figure - suggests otherwise.