Just a quick update on the PlansForUs business. We have been really excited about our growth so far. In fact the internal target that we set for number of users going into September was surpassed by nearly 3 times. However, we still have our issues and we continue to receive and prioritize the feedback of our users. For those who have provided feedback, thank you. While you may not necessarily see your feedback on the site yet, rest assured that it is in our development queue and Steve is hammering on it.

This discussion of growth and incorporating user feedback brings us to a post from On-Startup’s which I just reread depicting two go-to-market strategies. Take a look below and take a wild guess as to which one PlansForUs has adopted.

The “Big Bang” Strategy

1. Have idea
2. Raise Capital
3. Code like crazy in “super stealth mode”
4. Hire VP of Marketing to plan big launch
5. Hire PR agency to launch
6. Launch!
7. Success!(?)

Sony, Microsoft and many others seem to use this strategy to marginal effect.

The “We’re Only as Smart as our Users” Strategy

1. Have idea
2. Bootstrap / Beg / Borrow
3. Tell the World
4. Release product to the unsuspecting
5. Get feedback
6. Iterate, iterate, iterate!
7. Success!

PlansForUs would add the following caveats. The 3 B’s in Step 2 endure for awhile. We’re hoping that we can curtail step 2 after the first “iterate” in Step 6 (investors we’ll be talking soon) and we actually flip flopped steps 3 and 4. We released the product to the unsuspecting and are using the product and some elegant 8 sentence pitches to tell the world.

Well I guess I answered my own question, sorry to ruin the fun. We of course are working hard to get to that step 7. As always let us know about how we can improve.

by Tyler, CEO