fundle this

An Apollo 13 Moment

We are all familiar with with what happened during Apollo 13. A “standard” launch of a space capsule en route to the Moon went horribly wrong when several explosions occurred on the exterior of the vessel. This changed the situation on board from one of excitement and by-the-book success to one of terror and need-a-book failure. No one knew whether the astronauts were going to make it back to Earth in one piece. 

But the ground crew worked tirelessly and the flight crew executed flawlessly to get everyone home safely. The incredible feat was not landing on the Moon, but piloting a severely injured spacecraft back to Earth successfully.

Fundle recently experienced its own sort of Apollo 13 moment. Shannon and Rob have decided to leave Fundle, for very respectable reasons. But that means that I, Mike, have been left in this space capsule all alone trying to figure out how on Earth to get it back to Earth.

The feedback we’ve received from the first beta round has inspired the creation of a much more intuitive design. It’s in the conceptual stage now, but this new design will make it very easy to split the cost of multiple items between multiple people during multiple time frames and in multiple configurations. What that mouthful of a sentence means is that Fundle will be the easiest way to buy anything with anyone; even easier than tracking things on a spreadsheet!

Stay tuned; Fundle is just now on its way around the Moon!

This or That?

The thing I love about startups is that when you’re faced with a fork-in-the-road scenario, YOU get to choose which route to pursue. It’s not decided by anyone else.

The thing I hate about startups is that when you’re face with a fork-in-the-road scenario, YOU HAVE to choose which route to pursue. There’s no burying your head in the sand.

So how do you decide?  A few things I’m working on right now:

1. Narrow your priorities.  6 or 7 items are not priorities.  That’s a list.  Cut it down to the very most important things to help you decide.
2. Go with your gut.  There’s something to be said for it. This article (by Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide) gives some of the reasons for why it seems that at times we can comprehend things at a subconscious level better than at a conscious level.
3. Don’t just pursue the sexy. Sure, the sexy factor is great. Who DOESN’T love the new two-seater convertible? But when you need to go to the grocery store and your trunk is the size of a bread box, you wish you still had that trusty Toyota Camry. All that to say, making decisions based in practicality can be (and is usually) quite good.
4. Decide with confidence. Go big or go home.

Recruit Your Mom

Recruit your mom to test your product. Seriously. I did it for Fundle and it was the single most-informative conversation I have had during this beta process because it challenged all of my assumptions and helped in four big ways.  

1. My Ma’s a rad lady - She’s not the most tech savvy but willing to try and opine in the meantime. She represents someone for whom we want this system to be simple and easy. And for the record she doesn’t always look this confused - it’s just how I imagine her while she was going through the Fundle process.
2. My Ma helped me step away - I was too caught up in Fundle to remember what it felt like to look at Fundle for the first time. When the word “pending” shows up on the Fundle dashboard, why the heck would she know what that means?
3. My Ma doesn’t know how PayPal works - PayPal’s a pretty clutch part of the Fundle system. And by clutch I mean absolutely imperative. Part of my learning process was figuring out how to usher her along in a clear way as a lead fundler. We found that one of our biggest gaps in beta version 1 was in the lack of communication as to how the payment process actually works.
4. My Ma organized the first legit fundle! She stuck with it after many conversations with me and emails with Mike. I’m not sure anyone else would have. Maybe she felt obligated because I’m her offspring but still … she did it and now my sister, my sister-in-law, my mom, and I all successfully purchased a baby shower present.

So if you have a good idea, see if your mom gets it. If it’s really good, then she should. And then listen to what she has to say.

We are listening!

Our beta has been available for certain users for a two weeks now. In this short amount of time, we’ve received many emails with suggestions about how to improve the functionality and the design. One beta user was even gracious enough to present us with some mockups of what that user thought some of our screens should look like. (HUGE help and going way above and beyond!)
 
Throughout these last two weeks we’ve learned that, after being so “involved” in the Fundle process for so long, we’ve grown accustomed to it and how it works. We don’t get to a screen and wonder which button needs to be pressed or what text to type where. But we have learned that for a lot of our users the solution is not very obvious.

We’ve also become aware of a few ways we can help you buy anything with anyone. Although it originally seemed “enough” to have a simple description associated with each Fundle, it seems as though there is some demand for the ability to enter “line items” on a Fundle. Several users have also requested the ability to split costs in a way that is not exactly even. We’re aware of some of the usability issues that you might be running into, as well.

Although new features or fixes may not be introduced immediately, you can rest assured that your feedback is very valuable to us and that we are listening. Every piece of feedback we receive will bring us closer to our goal of allowing you to buy anything with anyone.
So we’re working in the background, singing “Hi-ho Hi-ho,” and plan to keep improving because of your truly valuable input.

Arbitrary Goal?

When we first set September 1 as the go/no-go date for Fundle, it was somewhat arbitrary.  It wasn’t based on a feasibility study of what we thought we would be able to accomplish or a detailed timeline of progress.

September 1 was two-fold:

1. We were getting fed up as time kept passing.  We knew we had to make significant progress and fast in order to maintain our own motivation in the project. There needed to be a finite date to push us while still being realistic. 
2. We couldn’t walk away without trying everything.  September 1 meant we had to put all of our very best efforts toward the goal. I know I wouldn’t have been able to walk away otherwise.

And now here we are.  It worked out.  We’ve made significant progress.  We have a plan for the future.  We’re learning more and more ways to make our work mean something to others and make their lives easier. 

What initially began as a somewhat arbitrary date was the shot of “just get out and do it” that we so desperately needed. 

Baby steps

Yesterday marked the sending of the first private beta invites. It’s version one and has plenty of work to go but, as Rob put it at Startup Weekend Des Moines, “We need something to do on Monday.”

We’ve already come up with countless ways we can (and WILL!) make Fundle better.  Our priorities are: 1) functionality, and 2) design.  I think this portion of Mike’s email yesterday puts it so well (and hopefully shows our jump up and down, grin from ear to ear, say “oh my gosh oh my gosh” excitement).

We launched! We really really launched! I sent out invites to everyone on our beta list around 5:30 today, after getting the notifications spitting out at the right places and making sure things were working.

We have 66 total users (some of which are our own accounts), and a few of those that have been invited have already joined/fully registered. Last time I checked, 8 people had filled out the survey (the first of whom was Shannon). In other words, people are logging in and using it!

We made it! We totally made it! But we’ve got a long way to go.

It’s all a part of the importance of celebrating significant milestones along the way.  So now we’re back to that design work, which is where our roles convene and truly complement the others.  More beta invites to come in 2 weeks.  Stay tuned and thanks for the support!

Fundle at Version 1

Our goal in pitching Fundle at Startup Weekend Des Moines was to provide attendees with enough of a framework of what Fundle is that they could understand it and how it would work but leave room for them determine their own uses of Fundle.

But Version 1 isn’t Version 1 Billion - and that means we currently have limitations.  ”Then how can I use Version 1?” you say?  Well, I’m so glad you asked!

Group gifts

I have been inundated by weddings this summer.  Fundle would be the perfect way to go in with friends from college on a larger gift that you would perhaps purchase yourself.

Football tickets

Hawkeye football season is gearing up.  Buying group tickets can be cheaper than buying them individually.  Friends and friends of friends are looking to buy tickets to a game together.  Fundle’s perfect for that purpose.

Bachelor/bachelorette parties

You’re the best man and you don’t know half of these jokesters your friend wants to invite to his bachelor party.  How are you going to ensure you don’t get stiffed with the bill?  Fundle.

Hopefully this gives you some good ideas of how it will work in its infancy.  Soon we’ll be talking about versions 5, 12, and 60 but until then, Fundle up!