Business development was an ongoing process during development for me. I spent about a month in planning, and talking to businesses about their scheduling needs. Then throughout the development process, I'd be talking to businesses and showing off bits and pieces, getting them ready, and getting early feedback.
In the end, this product had a VERY short run. I think it was available to be used for two months.
I personally don't think business development should be begging people to use your product. You should be able to introduce the product, get people interested, help them in getting it set-up, and fill that adoption need. Particularly when it is a task they already do regularly and you're providing a better method, not something completely new.
I also think that a project should be more like a baby deer than a baby human. Deer can walk right out of the womb. They may not walk well, but they stand on their own legs and just need help moving along and with direction etc. If you try to stand your baby up a few times, and just keeps falling, maybe the problem isn't that you haven't given it enough time, maybe you don't realize that it doesn't have legs!
Not being facetious, but I agree some projects need a longer customer adoption cycle, and it is entirely possible that things would have been different if I had given it 6 months or a year. But I would have had difficulty going to a business and selling them the product I had, knowing that there was a free alternative to them that was likely better or at least as good as my offering.
I add to that the fact that the free offering still has nearly 0 traction more than a year later, and I am very pleased with my decision.
If you're really passionate about scheduling and think that is your purpose in life to bring scheduling to the world, great.
That isn't my goal. I built it as a business, and I can look back today and see that it doesn't appear anybody else has made a great business out of this market, I doubt I would have been any different.
In the end, this product had a VERY short run. I think it was available to be used for two months.
I personally don't think business development should be begging people to use your product. You should be able to introduce the product, get people interested, help them in getting it set-up, and fill that adoption need. Particularly when it is a task they already do regularly and you're providing a better method, not something completely new.
I also think that a project should be more like a baby deer than a baby human. Deer can walk right out of the womb. They may not walk well, but they stand on their own legs and just need help moving along and with direction etc. If you try to stand your baby up a few times, and just keeps falling, maybe the problem isn't that you haven't given it enough time, maybe you don't realize that it doesn't have legs!
Not being facetious, but I agree some projects need a longer customer adoption cycle, and it is entirely possible that things would have been different if I had given it 6 months or a year. But I would have had difficulty going to a business and selling them the product I had, knowing that there was a free alternative to them that was likely better or at least as good as my offering.
I add to that the fact that the free offering still has nearly 0 traction more than a year later, and I am very pleased with my decision.
If you're really passionate about scheduling and think that is your purpose in life to bring scheduling to the world, great. That isn't my goal. I built it as a business, and I can look back today and see that it doesn't appear anybody else has made a great business out of this market, I doubt I would have been any different.