Button – Chris Maddern
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About the Episode
How do you take your ideas to a product then a product into an actual business? Well today’s guest has sold three previous companies and was an ex-Venmo engineer and he shares his process for turning ideas into winning businesses. Also, if you’re thinking about selling your company then listen to the part of the show where he shares his advice.
Chris Maddern is Co-founder at Button Inc.
Show Notes
Taking Ideas to Product, then Product to Business
Chris is one of those appreneurs who can actually conceptualize, materialize and realize from idea to product to business. He does this by building bridges to drive meaningful commerce across the net. For example, his first app, Button, was an app that had an SDK card so that, based on what topic a user just pulled up, a button will appear with related products to the topic just opened by the user. For example, a user is reading about Taylor Swift, apropos to this, perhaps he will be interested to see a concert of Swift’s. A button pops up allowing the reader to select a concert schedule and options to buy a ticket. To fulfill the commerce, the app Button allows the reader to buy a ticket. Then it is a business.
A winning business, in Chris’ opinion, must have both vision and tactics. Vision because this is the change you want to happen and where you want to go with the product. Vision is not changeable; it is your guide. Tactics is the method of achieving the vision. He recommends that a good tactical planner must be a good listener and must always hear the market. Tactical planning also must have a way of validating a product through measurability. He recommends creating a hypothesis, such as behaviour, sustainability and need, and taking it one step farther by constantly checking the hypothesis through verifiable and measurable data.
What advice would you give to someone looking to sell his company?
Chris’ advice is to qualify the targeted buyer as either technology-oriented or profit-oriented. A profit-oriented company will look at how much money a product can make. So a seller should come up with numbers such as number of users, number of repeat users, and number of years the product will be in use. Technology–oriented companies are harder to stereotype. Chris advises consulting people who specialize in this field.
Show Mentions
– Fav app ->
- Inbox: (iTunes | Google Play)
- Venmo: (iTunes | Google Play)
- Foursquare: (iTunes | Google Play)