Innovation accounting at BackupAgent v2
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Transcript of Innovation accounting at BackupAgent v2
Robbert van Geldrop| Founder and CTO
Innovation Accounting at BackupAgent (2013)
Lean startup principles put to practice
1
About BackupAgent
Vendor of Cloud Backup Software
• Based in Delft, The Netherlands
• Funded in 2007 by Solid Ventures
• Funded in 2013 by Runa Capital
No direct sales; exclusive through:
• (Hosting) Service Providers
• Telcos
• Cloud Service Brokers
Where are we
• Profitable business
• 400+ partners in 50+ countries
2
We build Cloud Backup Software
We sell our technology to service providers
We apply Scrum and Kanban
The key question is always what to build or improve next
3
Build
We have a lot to measure:
• Which features are customers
using?
• On which platform are they
installing it?
• Which features can our
partners sell best and why?
Business model:
• How to charge partners?
• How much customers are
they bringing in?
4
Measure
We measure software usage
through DeskMetrics:
• Features
• OSes
• Demographics
We keep track of our install
base through license
reporting:
• Increase of users
• Increase of TBs
5
Measure
We wanted to know if further improvement of our Exchange 2007
plugin would be a good idea:
Remember: we interviewed our partners about this too and they
confirmed this finding
6
Validation of features and improvements
7
Estimation of the opportunity of feature
‘A cohort is a group of people who share a common characteristic within a
defined period’
Cohorts can teach us about potential to scale and sustainability:
The hard part is how to choose your cohort
Do it yourself: http://www.alivelearn.net/?p=1240
8
Measure – Cohorts!
We wanted to validate the
sustainability of our partner model:
• Recruiting new partners is
expensive
• Not all of our partners are selling
our services successfully
A sustainable partner network
validates further investment:
• Increase marketing
• Develop new features faster
9
BackupAgent’s cohortsCohort analysis shows partnerships are very sustainable over time:
This includes churn, so successful partners outgrow churning
partners consistently.
Invoiced usage fees per cohort of activated partners per Q
Metrics validate scaling of marketing effort:• Average Lifetime Value (LTV) = ±12,000 EUR• Cost of Acquisition (COCA) = ±5,500 EUR• 100% recurring revenues
BackupAgent ALWAYS enriches data with in-depth interviews:
• You need to know about cause and reason that hides behind data
• These reasons and causes make the data actionable
Customer development is the best methodology for this
10
Measure – qualitative data
Learning is not a system:
• BackupAgent is only starting to embed the learning part
• It’s the softest side of Lean Startup
Active learning can be captured by the Business Model Canvas
It’s the process that goes behind making and updating the canvas
that really matters
Not all learning takes places at a time you plan for it, ideally
anyone could instantiate his/her own little iteration
11
Learn
12
Learn – BackupAgent’s Canvas
Your canvas will be a mess if you put all opportunities in the
model – so how do you deal with that?
We implemented the concept of ‘option cards’
• You draw a ‘mini’-canvas on a card symbolizing your option
• You do this for each opportunity
• By doing this you can log and track progress on everything
The deck of cards get prioritized and actions are agreed on weekly
basis
13
Learn – Converting your canvas into actions
The Option Cards Kanban:
14
Learn – Converting your canvas into actions
Follow us
@BackupAgent
facebook.com/BackupAgent
youtube.com/user/backupagent
linkedin.com/company/backupagent-bv
Questions?
Thank you for listening
Robbert van Geldrop
@rvangeldrop