Lessons Learned From Sproutbuilder Shutting Down
February 16, 2010
Don’t trust the cloud.
Or I should say, don’t trust the cloud alone.
Sproutbuilder is a service that was recommended to me by a friend to check out. Since they had been around a couple years, it seemed a good fit for a few projects so I signed up for a monthly subscription. Well, Sproutbuilder is shutting down in the next 45 days, and so all the work we’ve done on that platform is going to be lost (and we will have to spend time re-creating).
Look, I get the need to focus the business. Although ditching everyone who pays less than $3,000 a month when you had service offerings that were less than one tenth of that seems quite a stretch, I get it. I understand you gotta focus. However, there are lessons to be learned and I will NOT consider paying Sprout’s ransom to keep my account. I’d rather spend the money in time recreating things than to be locked down.
Subscribers of the service cannot download or keep any of the materials they create. Even with this losing of service, everyone is screwed because Sprout is not allowing you to take the stuff you created, so many people are just going to be out of luck completely. In our case, that’s my fault for choosing a service like that, even though at the time it seemed like the perfect fit. I should have remembered my lessons.
Lesson One: If You Can’t Take It With You, Don’t Use It
Sproutbuilder locks you into their proprietary files, and you can’t download and save your work locally. This is why I will not even consider spending $3000 for a service from a company I obviously cannot trust, because they’ll just pull the plug with little support. It’s not just Sproutbuilder – you should never trust cloud services on their own. If you cannot keep a local copy or mirror of your stuff, do not use it. You’re putting your business fate in the hands of others without a backup plan.
Lesson Two: Companies Will Fail
Even the biggest of companies can fail, and you cannot have yourself be exposed to it. We’re losing quite a few hours of work because we can’t bill recreating stuff, but we have to do it, because we’re living up to our responsibilities even when Sprout did not. Again, easily solved if one could take what you created with you. Sprout Inc. and Sproutbuilder is a customer relations failure because they don’t let you do that, and they’ve erased any trust I might have to pay them $3,000 per year.
Lesson Three: You’re Going To Have To Pay More In The Future
I personally think the days of inexpensive or free services that are reliable are coming to a close. Outside of ones funded by Google, I don’t think that there’s a possibility for these services who start free to have a future. Very few (if any) have shown that they can make the transition from free to paid. The real route to success is having a paid product or service to begin with so it has an established a value with the consumer.
Sproutbuilder was a free product at the start, and I think that monetizing from free to a subscription is simply a hard road to go down and I would not invest there.Much better is to just charge from the beginning – what’s the point if you have a half million users if you’re losing money on them, unless you’re a charity?
Why Freemium Doesn’t Work For Almost All Businesses
The reason why the transition from free to paid doesn’t work is psychology. Although you love your product or service and it may have value, outside of the tech bubble if you set your price at “free” the monetary value by the purchaser is zero, no matter how much they rely on you. Convincing more than a very small percentage of people that it’s worth more than free is extremely hard, and even harder is getting them to pay an amount that makes money. Bits are free, but people are not.
Logically, if that convincing users to the paid product had occurred in sufficient numbers in the case of Sproutbuilder, they wouldn’t have discontinued the service levels. It’s always easier to lower your prices than to raise them.
I’ll take any of your recommendations in the comments for other services and Sprout or Sproutbuilder alternatives. The work we need to recreate is relatively small, and of course, we’re willing to pay for the service. I also hope there’s a general lesson remembered (at least on our part) that if you can’t take it with you, don’t use it.
Co-Working Done Right in Michigan
February 9, 2010
Today I had the fortunate experience of getting a day pass at the Workantile Exchange, 3,000 square feet of coworking goodness in Ann Arbor.
If you don’t know what co-working is, it’s where groups or individuals work on their individual projects, but in a (usually) shared space. There are basic amenities, like coffee and really good wifi, as well as chairs and desks meant for getting the job done as opposed to the usual coffeeshop fare.
Professional Without Pretension
I walked into this place in downtown Ann Arbor, needing a place to “get it done” for a few hours.. and found a welcoming guy who ran the place. I plunked down my $15 for a day pass and there was a big orange mug for coffee discounts, decent working chairs and a desk that was just the right height (so much so, I’m going to adjust my home desk to that height). I knew no one, but could jump in a conversation that interested me, or jump out as needed. No harm no foul – we’re all there to get things done but also have a little social interaction.
There are two levels to this place, with what seemed to be three conference rooms on the lower levels. You can get full-on dedicated desks or offices upstairs at a reasonable rate according to the info I picked up – which if I lived there or the business was based near downtown A2, I would totally do.
THIS Is The Droid We’re Looking For In Michigan
Considering the outrageous rent most office real estate folks want to charge, and the ridiculous restraints by governmental or quasi-governmental business “incubators,” THIS seems to be the right choice for the seasoned solo-preneur, the virtual company, or guy who wants to get something started on the side but there’s not enough space (or too much distraction) at home.
It’s an incubator or home for a business that doesn’t have all the pretension and overhead of some targeted program, or the unnecessary trappings of an executive suite.
As someone who has looked into official incubator space earlier in my career, and have been pitched it by various locations I shall not name, I can be frank in saying none of thos spaces meet the needs of many entrepreneurs. They are either too expensive for the market, have lots of useless amenities, or is completely missing the mark on the social and intelligent collaboration aspect (I believe required in today’s economy).
At the WorkEx, from the real bamboo bathroom floors, to the exposed brick and orange colors, the place was fun yet professional. It looked creative but also like a place where you could do some business and be taken seriously, especially the three conference rooms and training loft. I stole away for a phone call (half needing to make the call, half getting a good excuse to check it out on my own) and the WorkEx would do the trick without it seeming childish.
It’s Walkable!
The double awesome? It was in the middle of an urban, walkable downtown with plenty of mass transit and easy, cheap parking just around the corner.
Lunch? A few steps away. Lots of retail nearby for diversions and creativity, and excellent architecture. Although Ann Arbor does not have the signature buildings of some cities, it’s kept its 1880’s-1920’s era buildings in tact for the most part without “missing teeth” (empty lots breaking up a streetscape), and if there has been some torn down, the area has been filling them in creating a cohesive, consistently walkable, visually interesting space.
The place is independently owned, between some techs and who’s obviously a skilled builder who refinished the space.
I wish these guys the best of luck. Check’em out, they’re worth the money.
Photo Credits: Sourced from their site, Workantileexchange.com.Burning Out.. And Rekindling The Fire
January 19, 2010
When you’re passionate about your field, what you do, or create.. whether a web worker, entrepreneur, artist, or any other idea generator – sometimes, life throws you curveballs and can, for whatever reason, make you lose some of that spark.
I’ve seen it a lot, and it happened to me earlier in my career. You work for a long time, aspiring for a goal or “dream job,” only to find when you get there it’s a disappointment. It’s not just that it’s harder than expected – that’d be a challenge to be embraced in most generators’ eyes – it’s that the impact you were hoping you could have to change, to improve, to further yourself just didn’t materialize.
It can be demoralizing, spending months or years pursuing a goal that you found you didn’t want. I’ve come to believe that anyone who’s got an ounce of ambition has been there before.
What are ways to deal with it? Here’s a few I’ve found and I strongly encourage you to post yours in the comments.
1) Consult Your Mentor(s)
Who are your mentors? If they’re really your mentors, you can tell them the situation, and see what they would do to either remedy the situation, or to help you get your energy back. They’re your mentors for a reason, after all, and usually are glad to help. It can be hard – and sometimes feel like weakness, but we all go through periods of not feeling like we want to be our best.
2) Remember Why You Love (Loved) What You Do (Did)
Why did you love what you do? What was the real thing you were looking for in that dream job or assignment? Especially working in a field where you’ve got a lot of teaching and culture-shifting to do, it can wear on you. When moving forward to your next opportunity, what are the things you liked? What is the part of the dream you REALLY wanted, regardless of the organization?
3) What Is Your Passion Outside Of Work?
There’s so many things outside of work that can be inspiring. A pet, a lover, a piece of art, great music.. go experience it full-boar. For instance, if you like music and can spare it (or be a no-cover master and get on the guest list) go see the next show of one of your favorite bands. The key, to me, is getting the bounce back (but I’ve been described by quite a few as a “Tigger” in the personality spectrum (compared to Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Eyore from “Winnie the Pooh”).
So what are your tips? Leave’em in the comments.
Blinders
January 14, 2010
I don’t normally write my blog entries aimed for other social media professionals. After all, there’s a lot of knowledge out there – I aim to distill things to my audience, which I know is more executive and marketing related but not necessarily in the digital space. If a fellow SMP gets value, awesome, and I welcome you – but my reader base generally isn’t you.
But this post, I’m going to address you, fellow Social Media Professionals, and hopefully give value to my typical reader.
Take Off The Blinders.
I’m noticing some things falling through the cracks – people hyping different things as if it were the second coming of Steve Jobs, but at the end of the day, not producing desired results. It’s almost as if many SMPs out there have decided that social media can do no wrong, and that THE way to do it is the way they and their techno-elite friends do it (by the way, I’m one of those technophiles, for sure).
But your target market, unless you’re selling tech to early adopters, probably has no idea what FriendFeed is. I explain Foursquare at least once a week. The value isn’t evident. There’s a reason way more people use Farmville than Twitter.
Non-techies get the point of Farmville, even though it’s much more complicated of an interface.
Because it’s not about the interface, it’s about the value proposition.
More people see value in having a fake farm than Tweeting.
Think about this.
Done? Next.
It Seems The Internet and Social Marketing Pros Have A Problem.
I recently saw a post that was all about how “Lands’ End isn’t visible.” Blinders completely. As of this writing Land’s End has 250,000+ Facebook fans and quite honestly a different demographic than Zappos, with 29k or so. Yah. 29k. On Facebook, at least, Lands’ End has almost NINE TIMES more fans than Zappos.
It just isn’t the social media elite demographic, highlighted out of the valley, so it was missed. But it was still in the minds of people. It’s humming along selling stuff. It’s popular. Obviously, raw fan numbers are not your only metric of success, but a lot of people have been missing the boat.
Seem as if we as a group don’t use it or it’s not OUR work flow or in our frame of “cool” visibility, we (royal we) denigrate and talk about how others “don’t get it” or it’s a “poor choice.”
You know what? I know success on the oft-maligned MySpace in certain situations.
I’ve worked with blogs who get tens of thousands of unique visitors but few comments – but high conversions. Most of the time, readers in non-SM circles call blog posts “articles.” I’ve seen it time and time and time again.
I know people who get 5,000+ word diatribes from other “experts,” but, although their blog isn’t designed to my aesthetic taste, it works for them apparently and gets them business. Bravo to her. I’m not her target market anyway. If I were, it’d be designed differently.
One of the biggest indie musicians’ sites is the definition of basic – but because he covers so many bases contentwise that countless zoom-bang flash sites do not, including showcasing his awesome – it helped him get relatively huge and make a real career sans label.
Or the pervasive myth that content has to be short at all times – sure, short content is great – but why are the biggest podcasts around long-form, sometimes easily exceeding an hour long? Because they’re good. It takes skill to be good for a whole hour or longer, regularly. And that’s why the previous example is making millions of dollars and in this next linked case have plenty of listeners and a loyal following.
A Parting Thought
I’ve always been fascinated behind the real reasons and incentives why things happen, as opposed to the hype of them. Many times, while one hand is dealing the cards, the other is distracting you from the real “magic” that’s happening.
What are the non-sexy methods that you find that work? What about newer tools and techniques that you’ve found make it happen for your strategy?
One click, Two clicks, Three clicks, Foursquare!
January 8, 2010
Two musings or tips for today. Some others have mentioned them as rules very kindly online, others have said they like’em – I don’t like to say “rules” but here’s how I operate.
Foursquare is a social tool.
It’s a social tool. I know I’ve violated this rule of thumb, but I don’t check in unless I want you to know I’m there. That means I don’t check in at gas stations, I’m not gonna check in at the shopping market, unless of course, I’m open to you meeting me there. The other night, multiple people lit up my foursquare with notifications all night long – with mom’s house. Gas stations. Everything. I realized that if MY notifications went that crazy and got annoying, it must be for other people. It’s actually not the post to Twitter that’s overwhelming for me, as it’s a flood of things anyway. But notifications, they interrupt. And thing is, I don’t want to turn them off because sometimes it’s useful.
Yah, I’ve been an offender. My bad. Will try to do better next time. I just don’t think you should get a “crunked” badge for checking in at the coffeeshop. Or for buying eggs. I’ve not ever gotten smashed on eggs.
Three clicks, and you’re out.
Part deux of my missive is websites who feel they need to bury their stuff down a rathole 4, 5, or 8 clicks down. The most excellent Bobby Mercader had a tweet pointing to SEO roundtable – for SEO, don’t make users go more than 5 clicks down. Well, SEO is nice, but frankly, I’m very concerned with the user experience.
Three clicks is the charm – One click, two click, BUY (or take desired action).
If you don’t know what desired action you want people to do on your site, then let’s not even talk about social media and review your conversion process. It’s a real shame when someone’s built thousands of fans and not one buys because your basics aren’t covered. I see it every single week, it’s a real problem and businesses, get your fundamentals down. I know social media is new and shiny and important, but fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, or the rest won’t work. Did I say fundamentals? Yah, I’ll say it again. Fundamentals.
