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Javelin by Lean Startup Machine — All-in-one platform for building products people want
Javelin helps you test startup ideas with potential customers and gives you data to guide your decisions. Record and transcribe customer interviews, test landing pages, and use pre-designed surveys to analyze the most important feedback.
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Really impressive the amount of testing tools they have packed in here. In particular, I'm impressed you can set up calls with target customers and transcribe interviews. Super useful.
@harryraymond thanks Harry! That's one of the most powerful parts of the app :)
@harryraymond Thank Harry! We built it to help entrepreneurs like you, let us know any time how we can improve it :)
We used Javelin to quickly test some assumptions when we were pivoting our startup. This is an extremely useful tool and forces you to have the discipline you need to succeed. Congrats on the launch!
@rickyyean Thank you Ricky! It's an honor to have an entrepreneur like you find value in using Javelin. I know you hate to be complimented, but it's the truth!
Super slick ui. What were your hypotheses and how did you guys go about validating them for this product?
@fotoflo we started out with the hypothesis that people wanted help DESIGNING experiments, that was our first product (the old Javelin) which we raised $1.5M and signed several big enterprise customers. It turned out that was not true, because almost no one used that product on an ongoing basis. Then we tried to validate if people wanted help RUNNING experiments, this was through a new product called QuickMVP which was a landing page builder. That product took off right away, but in the end it didn't provide enough value. Thousands of people invalidated their ideas but they didn't get enough feedback from customers, they didn't know how to pivot or what to do next. So we did a Zoom-Out Pivot to focus on the current Javelin. Actually, at this time we ran out of money so it was a really difficult period. With the new Javelin we focused heavily on helping people do customer interviews before launching a landing page test. It's taken us a couple years to get to this point since we ran out of funding, but here we are and we are proud of what we have built! The feedback has been super positive and we are also using the new Javelin to pilot our own pre-accelerator with SOSV (the #1 most active early stage investor globally).
@to so to be clear, the current hypothesis is that people want help doing customer interviews AND launching landing page tests?
@fotoflo "People want help with the heavy lifting of conducting customer interviews, validating their solution, and measuring/tracking Product/Market Fit"
Essentially, they want in all-in-one tool that helps simplify the process of going from idea to product/market fit.
We also validating this from a solution standpoint with the video you see above and a landing page test... but this was a few years ago. It took us a long time to get the UX and frontend of the product to be where it is now.
I also have an unfair advantage which is that I started Lean Startup Machine for myself and have always been the #1 customer. This is part of the reason why I think it was successful. For QuickMVP, it wasn't something I would use from beginning to end for my own ideas. I would have done interviews first. My first test for Javelin is to have it pass my own test. It's not quite there yet but should be there soon after we iron out the kinks in this pilot.
@fotoflo just did a full blog post on all of our learnings/efforts for the past 5 years: https://medium.com/startup-grind...
I've tried the previous iteration of Javelin and I didn't stick. I'm constantly doing interviews, and I really dig the new structured approach to formulate assumptions and interview directions.
Pros:It's like having a guide to help you fill out the assumptions you want to test
Cons:I have not gone through the entire interview cycle to have an informed opinion
Thanks Ray! Your feedback going forward would be invaluable for helping us take it to the next level.
I have been working with early stage startups for the past seven years. Having a tool that can assist with validating your assumptions before you spend your time and money is SUPER helpful. Trevor and Grace have become experts in the field and watching them work over the years has been an influence on the way I mentor and work with startups. This product is a must try! Great work!
@saltzmanjason Thank you Jason! Couldn't have survived without your support over the years. AND hosting our launch parties at ALLEY was incredible. Sending you love from Shanghai.
@saltzmanjason Thanks for your support and all that YOU do for the startup community. Much love
Trevor and Grace are well known experts in bringing products from idea to market. This software allows companies to leverage their knowledge and insights at scale.
I was an early beta user of this product and have worked with Trevor and Grace since 2012.
Looking forward to seeing the next generation of great ideas and business models that are developed now that Javelin has reached 1.0.
Pros:If you're looking for a low risk way to test new product innovations, Javelin gives you a framework designed by experts.
Cons:It will be even more powerful with lots of users. So sign up :)
@aashaymody thanks Aashay! Been too long brother. We need to pick up where we left off asap.
Congrats on the (re)launch @to ! The customer call feature is pretty cool. Are these people opting in? Or random cold calls?
@r44d Thanks Raad and great to hear from you man. The customer call feature uses a third-party database provided by Amazon, but we're also working on creating our own internal database of different customer segments, which would include entrepreneurs and users of Javelin who opt-in.
@grace @trevor @cathnotey Thanks Cath! It will help you understand customer needs, identify opportunities and better solve them. Let us know your feedback anytime Cath!
@stephenalan thank you Stephen! Means a lot. Please let us know what feedback you have on Javelin :)
Keeping an eye on this project since 2015, happy to see it finally happen.
Pros:All set up, just try it with a project, real or fake, even for testing or educational is a great tool
Cons:not anyone by now
I'm an ex-PM of Yelp/Ning/Microsoft. I've taken a workshop from Grace & Trevor years ago and I found the framework they developed from Lean Startup (Eric Ries) to be extremely simple yet powerful. I've applied the methodology on many projects both work & personal. Excited to see them launching a product to streamline the process!
@jtlai Thanks Joseph! Great to hear from you and looking forward to your feedback on Javelin :)
@the_gambardella Javelin is free to use for your first project. You can also join an unlimited number of projects where you are a team member (instead of the owner). For $11/month you get up to 5 projects and a bunch of advanced features. The pricing page is www.javelin.com/pricing
I'm just getting back on after their absence. More to come...
Pros:It's a great way to get to product market fit and truly be honest with yourself about your product or service
Cons:I'd like to see it integrate into other tools and solutions
Thanks everyone for checking out Javelin! Would love to answer any questions you have.
Making innovative products is difficult. You have to find the right early adopters and solve the right problems in the correct way.
Having a business plan is not enough. You need to go out into the real world and talk with your customers to understand who they are and what is causing their current problems. Javelin connects you with customers to interview, while also providing you with tools that make recording, organizing, and analyzing their feedback simple and easy.
Setting up a landing page to test your idea isn’t very difficult, but with Javelin, we take this concept a step further. Javelin gives you the ability to test multiple landing pages, track multiple customer acquisition channels, and compare your website copy and conversion rates, in order to provide you with a clear vision to which path will make you and your idea the most successful.
On top of all of these features, once you begin your beta testing, Javelin can measure if your product is a MUST HAVE, (hand gesture or tone change) something that people can’t live without, or a NICE TO HAVE, meaning it will be difficult to scale.
@to @abadesi Yes, this is a methodology and process that works for any idea. We help connect you to potential customers to interview, help you analyze the interview data and calculate the business metrics for different ideas so you can easily decide which customer to focus on, which is the biggest problem to address, and which is the best solution to solve it.
@to Does your testing work in any other country outside of the US? We're in New Zealand and it's a different market.
@tricia_fitzgerald Hi Tricia, you can use Javelin anywhere in the world. For the On-Demand Interviews, there are many customers in the database in the Australia/New Zealand area. I'm not sure the exact number offhand but I will look into it for you! Also--we don't have the ability to target by location yet, but that will be coming very soon.
@to Thanks - would love to know numbers and have the ability to target by location and share that with local social enterrpises.
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