jonw

1x husband, 3x father, 2x founder, 1x exit. ex @adidas and @ibm - co-founder EventMagic - @fiestacommunity - VentureRanch - in/jonwerner

[jonw @jonw]

I just published EventMagic Insights 2nd Edition - Meet More, Forget Less. Check it out here https://t.co/DFZeftCWHi via @kit

[jonw @jonw]

@Dixie202021 @CalltoActivism Then why do they come here illegally?

[jonw @jonw]

Clever. #machineworks #x #twitter

[jonw @jonw]

@Jason Welcome to Austin. We’ve been expecting you. Don’t mind the scorpions, there are more dangerous creatures out in the hill country. 😜

[jonw @jonw]

@thomasknoll Make it rain.

[jonw @jonw]

@andruyeung 🙋‍♂️

[Courtney Ruth @courtneyruthw]

I've been challenging myself to pitch Gift N' Stick daily. It's day 6 days and I've pitched 46 key people/businesses to date.

33 people didn't reply & 3 people said variations of "No Thanks." On Thursday, things started taking a turn:

📦sent a package to a micro-influencer
💝scored a dream Valentine's Day collab with a florist 📲scheduled a call w/ a potential affiliate
🏬sparked interest in a boutique store in CA
💌currently in talks with a dream card company

This journey highlights the power of asking!

On the topic of asking, does anyone know of any retailers/stores or boutiques that might be interested in @giftnstick? 🤗 We are now on @faire_wholesale.

[jonw @jonw]

What he said.

[andrew chen @andrewchen]

Every time you ask the user click you lose half of them.

(AKA why tutorials, splash screens, and lengthy signup flows are a bad idea)

If you’ve been building apps for a long time and have seen the results of a lot of A/B tests, you quickly realize that people are a flighty bunch. Ask them to download an app and 80% will bounce right on that page. Ask them to sign up and 90% will hit the back button to avoid putting in their email and password. Ask people who’ve arrived from Google to read an article, to subscribe and get more updates, and 99% will head back to find the next article.

In the early days of Uber the only way to sign up was to give your email address a bunch of other fields and also your credit card number. Some of the big early winds in acquiring customers was just to make it so that you could sign up with a phone number and a password, and put in your credit card lead in the flow. If memory serves me right, these were increases on the order of +50%.

You get the drift of what I’m arguing.

So what happens when your designer has the fantastic idea of a stark and beautiful homepage for your new product that takes a few clicks to sign up, followed by a lengthy tutorial to explain all the features? Sometimes this becomes a life and death decision, because rather than signing up thousands of users into your private beta, which provides the traction to raise your next round of funding, instead only a few hundred make it through.

This is why, when I get feedback on a critical flow within a product, I always start by minimizing the number of clicks and steps. I asked whether each field in a sign-up form is really needed, or is optional. I ask the question of whether you need to user to do something now versus having them set it up in the future, when they’re more bought into the product. I ask to remove all the glitzy, visual steps that explain things and just ask the user to hit next. I move the sign-up form to the first experience, whether that’s on the homepage, or the opening screen of an app. If there’s a call action, while the user is doing something else, like reading an article, my theory is that you should be very upfront with it and make it a blocking modal, or not do it at all. No half measures.

The point of all, this, of course, is to get people into the magic of your product. The magic is not in filling out forms or watching cute videos about your product, it’s about using your product as quickly as possible. As a result, the only acceptable forms of friction are ones that ultimately enhance the users ability to have a great experience. Thus product is much better experienced as an app, where you have a notifications channel and a richer experience, then, by all means, ask the user to download something. If a product is much better, when used with colleagues or friends, that it might make sense to take a lower conversion rate during the sign-up flow in exchange for some sharing or inviting functionality, that brings more people into the app. Ultimately, it’s all a trade-off, where every click drops off a huge number of users, so you need to spend that user intent very very well.

Ironically, it can also be an anti-pattern to not ask users to sign up or install or do anything at all, because once they bounce, which they will inevitably, do, you have no way to get them back. That’s why it’s all a trade-off, and one of the trickiest things about the user growth discipline is knowing when to add friction, and when to take it away.

Also, interestingly enough, as you make it easier and easier to sign up to reduce friction the quality and intent of the users also decreases. If you double the number of sign-up typically, you do not get twice the number of paying customers.

Nevertheless it’s an important thing to remember: Every time you ask the user click you lose half of them. Be careful.

[jonw @jonw]

Momentum 📈

[Courtney Ruth @courtneyruthw]

We have our first local wholesale partner! They ordered 20 units, just in time for the holidays! 🤗

#buildinginpublic

[jonw @jonw]

@courtneyruthw This is so exciting to hear!

[jonw @jonw]

@andruyeung @cheriewerner who started @fiestacommunity

[jonw @jonw]

@rafithorssen Paperstreet works well. It has open metrics and email segmenting.

[jonw @jonw]

🌟 Exciting Announcement: FIESTA Pitch Lineup for June 20th Revealed! 🌟

Frank E. with MoneFi. 
Natalie Poindexter, MPH, CHES with Authentic Inclusion
Zainab Ghadiyali with EatCookJoy and now launching Gatherings
Mark Goldhardt with Bestie
Sergio Nunez with Fixi
Kate Ginsberg with Queen of To Do
Melissa D. Andrews with HostHelper
Diego Raigoza with Celebrities
Joe Zaghrini with Kizzi
Gabriel Rucker with Founding Titans

We have an exciting new direction for pitching at FIESTA, starting this August. In addition to the founders' pitches, we will have two esteemed investors who will generously share their time, insights, and expertise while selecting the best pitch of the month. The winning entrepreneur will not only receive a small cash prize but also gain the opportunity to advance to a FIESTA pitch competition.

It's worth mentioning that our past pitch presenters have achieved remarkable milestones. Some have secured investment $$$, while others have found valuable co-founders and talent to strengthen their teams. And those are just the success stories I'm aware of – I'm certain there are countless more waiting to happen!

Attention all investment professionals – whether you work in a family office, venture capital firm, private equity, or any other investment field – I invite you to reach out to me if you would like to share your services with our passionate founders. Additionally, we are seeking future pitch judges to join us at our large, vibrant monthly gatherings. It's an excellent opportunity to connect with remarkable entrepreneurs and be part of their journey towards success.

#FIESTAcommunity #Startups #PitchCompetition #InvestmentOpportunity #Networking #entrepreneur #startuplife #opportunity #venturecapital #privateequity

[jonw @jonw]

@andruyeung We are gearing up @fiestacommunity to expand out of Austin and are looking for partners in other cities. Love your passion and action in this space @andruyeung

[jonw @jonw]

@andruyeung We use QR codes to help create an automated follow-up so folks can focus on the convo and not the LinkedIn dance. Also provides space for sponsors to help pay for the event.

[jonw @jonw]

I see what you did here @Tesla / @elonmusk

[jonw @jonw]

@CarleyDeardorff @cheriewerner @givekoya @fiestacommunity What kind words! Thank you and we look forward to seeing you tonight at @fiestacommunity!

[jonw @jonw]

@andruyeung How about in South NYC (Austin)?

[jonw @jonw]

@andruyeung The LinkedIn share connection dance sucks time away from actually getting to know the person right in front of you.

[jonw @jonw]

If you found value last night at FIESTA, take a moment to retweet a response.

[FIESTA @fiestacommunity]

AMAZING turnout for our February FIESTA #meetup!! 🎉🫶🪩🥰 Thank you to everyone who came out!

If you missed it, be on the lookout for recaps soon!!✨