Re: [scot lean circle] Bootstrapd - a conference for self-funded startups

[Matt Wynne]

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for all the feedback. I've put some thoughts inline. I'm also copying the bootstrapd mailing list.

On 26 Apr 2012, at 12:05, Gordon Guthrie wrote:

Let me put a bit more meat on this email that I sent previously.

The point about price is that it needs to be articulated against a
clear statements of benefit.

This is exactly what we did wrong when we tried to have a Lean Startup
Machine at the Turing Festival last year. It seemed 'obvious' to us
that the payback would be far in excess of the price (£200) for the
weekend. Failure to articulate that meant nobody signed up (except one
guy who bought a plane ticket from Milan or somewhere...)

This is a good point, and we're obviously not there yet with the material on the website. We have however had a few more sign-ups that just one crazy guy from Milan, so we must be pushing a few people's buttons at least!

In summary, I think the benefits are:

1) Getting to spend a day with other people from around UK / Europe / USA who also think it's worth £75 to spend a day swapping ideas, inspiring each other and solving problems about bootstrapping products. See the eventbrite page for a list of current sign-ups.

2) A well-facilitated open-space format that means you don't have to put up with canned sessions.

3) A great venue with room for 3 consecutive tracks of sessions (4 if the weather's good).

3) Food and caffeine on tap.

I fucking love open spaces, and I am really excited to see where this one goes.

The second thing is I have been assessing the budgets of a variety of
meetups like LSM, various Hacker days in Edinburgh, Seedhack and so
on.

Overwhelming the cost of doing them is driven by food. Seedhack was
over £60 per head for food which were just crisps and sandwiches.
Seedhack needed to cover £6,000 in sponsorship just to happen which is
crazy biscuits. As a person on £80 a week, paying £75 for sandwiches
comes over a bit steep to me.

Food onsite is 2/3 times as expensive as food offsite. I remain
unconvinced about the 'bonding' effect of having catered in food in
the Atrium.

Yep, I take your point here. I'm still juggling my time between consulting and bootstrapping, so I probably have a different attitude to spending £75.

We're paying £39 / head for the venue, including food. There are some other fixed costs too, meaning we'll break even at about 20 places, I think, and each place we sell after that will put £36 into the bar fund. Steve and I are risking our own money for the venue, and this was about the point we felt comfortable given we just had no idea how many places we'd sell. You can see the gory details here.

Given where the venue is, and that we've got people coming up especially for the day who may not know Edinburgh, I'd rather not have people having to faff about going off to buy their own sandwiches.

I do think there should be a cost to attend, either cash or effort (an
application process) to get away from yeah I'll go/oh I can't be
arsed.

It is not as bad here as in London where I have done free events where
less than 20% of the people who signed up actually turned up.

I've been pursuing other venue options this week, but I have limited time, and we need to commit to Abden House by the end of this week. We really wanted the price to be more like £35, but we just couldn't work out how to do it. I think the only option we have now is sponsorship, which we'd happily accept but don't have much time to pursue.

Have I managed to persuade you yet? I'm really looking forward to hearing your talk, which I presume is all about gypsy horses? http://www.gypsymvp.com/concierge.htm

Gordon

On 24 April 2012 16:45, Gordon Guthrie <gor...@hypernumbers.com> wrote:

Matt

I can do a talk on Worker Saving and Concierge MVP's and making

getting to revenue as the key part of your product dev strategy.

£75 is a bit fucking steep too BTW.

Gordon

On 24 April 2012 12:49, Matt Wynne <ma...@mattwynne.net> wrote:

Hi all,

I've been trying to bootstrap a product for the last year or so; I've also

got several friends who are either already doing it, or have recognised that

it's a better way to make a living than consulting / contracting for a daily

rate. I want to get everyone together so we can swap ideas and experiences,

and inspire each other.

So I'm organising a conference.

It's a simple, not-for-profit event, to be held in Edinburgh on Wednesday

27th June. More details here: http://bootstrapd.com

If you have any questions, please shout!

cheers,

Matt

--

Freelance programmer & coach

Author, http://pragprog.com/book/hwcuc/the-cucumber-book

Founder, http://www.relishapp.com/

Twitter, https://twitter.com/mattwynne

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Gordon Guthrie

CEO hypernumbers

http://hypernumbers.com

t: hypernumbers

+44 7776 251669

--
Gordon Guthrie
CEO hypernumbers

http://hypernumbers.com
t: hypernumbers
+44 7776 251669

--
This is an administrative/announcement list for meetings of the Scottish Lean Circle.

For discussion about tools, techniques and other practical advice we recommend that you subscribe to the main Lean Startup Circle list:
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cheers,

Matt

--
Freelance programmer & coach
Author, http://pragprog.com/book/hwcuc/the-cucumber-book
Founder, http://www.relishapp.com/
Twitter, https://twitter.com/mattwynne