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How we blew our shot at beating
 Spotify, spending two metric
 truckloads of cash doing it
 by Espen Dalløkken




JavaZone 2010, 8. september, Oslo, Norway
Who was I?


●
    Espen Dalløkken, Folldal
●
    Chief Technical Officer of Ezmo
●
    Part of the Ezmo leader group
●
    Became the owner of the Ezmo Wii



These are all my own subjective
opinions and might differ from
others...
                                      WTF??
The Time line


●
    2006 - FAST had developed mDisk and
    worked on mMusic
●
    January 2007 - mMusic became a
    separate company: Ezmo
●
    May 2007 – official launch of Ezmo
●
    Autumn 2007 – lawsuit in Denmark(!)
●
    March 14t 2008 – Ezmo shut down
Your friends, your music: Anywhere




                              PC / Mac / Linux

                  Ezmo            Mobile


                                  Wii, ++
Your friends, your music

        You                       10 friends




                           Ezmo
The Stack



                    Player                 Uploader

                         Ezmo Web Application


     Trans coders    FAST Service Delivery Platform
                                (SDP)

                                                      SAN
                               Databases
How we'd make money


●
    Recommendations from friends is the #1
    reason for music purchase
    ●
        Recommendations from friends in the player
    ●
        Automatic recommendations
    ●
        One-click buy option in the player
●
    Advertising
    ●
        Contextual advertising of music
●
    Storage costs limited when detecting duplicates
    with finger print matching technology
The original Plan for user growth



   Users




                                    Time
Actual user growth



   Users




                     Time
User origins




               Total users: 32555
Active users




               Total active users: 2265
Friend pr user




                 Total users: 32555
Numbers do not lie (well, not these ones..)


●
    We did not convert traffic into users
●
    There was no viral effect, people did not
    invite their friends
●
    Those who created accounts, were not
    active
So what the f**k happened?


●
    None of us played enough golf
●
    We weren't a real star-up
●
    Failed to understand what it takes to
    innovate
●
    Lack of a clear market leader and
    competitors
●
    Our timing, in hindsight, was not the best
●
    We lost focus
The only sane thing about golf is...


●
    Penalty strokes are added to your score
    when they happen
    ●
        Our over all Plan was not adjusted the first
        time we knew it was flawed
    ●
        We kind of ignored The Plan, while our
        investors kind of did not
    ●
        Recruited people according to The Plan
    ●
        We should have faced the music upon our
        first failure
Internal start-ups


●
    You might end up living in a make believe
    world
●
    You're not feeling the pain you should
●
    Your legacy will hold you back, they don't
    care as much as you do
●
    You should break all ties (but don't burn all
    bridges)
Innov
      ation
Monthy Pythons Flying Circus:
  The Four Yorkshiremen




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13JK5kChbRw&feature=fvw
http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2007/the-book-the-myths-of-innovation/
The original quote



     "If a man has good corn, or wood, or
     boards, or pigs to sell, you will find a
     broad, hard beaten road to his house"
     Ralph Waldo Emmerson 19th century intellectual




http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1996/6/1996_6_90.shtml
The American dream



     "If you build a better mouse trap, the
     world will beat a path to your door"
       The movie “Field of Dreams”




http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/
The entrepreneur's motto



     "Build it, they will come"




http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2007/the-book-the-myths-of-innovation/
No path to Easy Street when innovating


●
    All the stories you hear about usually
    mention the good things
●
    Innovation happens through hard work,
    dedication and sacrifice
●
    Just having an amazing ideas has never
    been enough
http://www.coburnventures.com/About_CHANGE/The_Change_Function.html
The Change Function =
f( The Perceived Pain of Adaption, User Crisis )
Our competition
No real market leader


●
    We where battling iTunes+iPod
●
    Became a problem as investors did not
    see how our company placed it self in the
    marketplace
●
    Most of our competitors are now either:
    ●
        in permanent hibernation
    ●
        or got swallowed by some weird company
    ●
        everyone except Spotify, who rule!
Te
   ch
      no
         l og
              y
Chose technology best suited for the problem
you're trying to solve and disregard your own
competency
The technology was not quite there...

●
    State of mobile technology was pretty
    bad when it came to multimedia
●
    Social media platforms weren't open for
    extension
●
    Cloud technology was still wearing
    diapers
●
    Adobe AIR was still in beta
Show me your 'assets' there young man

●
    Owning your core technology is very
    important
●
    “They” don't care as much as you do
●
    Investors look for this when evaluating
    your company
We didn't own our core technology


●
    Third party platform helped speed up
    development early on
●
    Ended up hurting/killing us in the long
    run
●
    We “only” had the brand, the people, the
    users, the knowledge and the player
Methodology
Methodology is just a way...
●




●
    ..of motivating people who aren't
●
    ..of making people who don't care, care
●
    ..of spending time on something which
    doesn't matter when you're a start-up
Democracy is overrated


●
    “Design should not be a democratic
    process”
    Paul Boag http://twitter.com/boagworld

●
    You need a champion / super star / (or some
    crazy guy with a turtleneck sweater who loves apples)

●
    Without clarity in decision making you
    end up wasting time
Do you really need a methodology?


●
    “Getting Real” by 37 Signals is all you
    need
    http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

●
    Provides more insight for start up
    companies than regular agile books
●
    F**k Scrum: our method was Cake and
    your iterations had themes based on the
    team reward
Ezmo Bug tracker™
Backlog or a long list of things to do


●
    Can be a distraction from your actual goal
●
    Can prevent you from changing decisions
●
    Instead: focus upon the vision, not the
    details of some list
In summary


●
    Internal start up? Leave the nest!
●
    Own your core technology
●
    When you mess things up, tidy up at
    once
●
    Innovation= blood, sweat and no tears
●
    Methodology? Totally overrated, daaah
I can't wait do something like this again..

●
    I realized that you can actually have a
    great job AND live in Norway
●
    There is no better feeling than working
    with what you think is the coolest thing
    ever
●
    Having failed once I know a few things
    that I won't do again, which puts me one
    step ahead of you other guys & gals
That's it! Thank you very much for coming
  and I hope you all succeed where we failed!




Abuse, praise, money or whatever you like:
  espen@dallokken.com
  http://dallokken.com/espen
  http://twitter.com/leftieFriele




               Images provided by flashbacks.com

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How we blew our shot at beating Spotify, spending two metric truckloads of cash doing it

  • 1. How we blew our shot at beating Spotify, spending two metric truckloads of cash doing it by Espen Dalløkken JavaZone 2010, 8. september, Oslo, Norway
  • 2. Who was I? ● Espen Dalløkken, Folldal ● Chief Technical Officer of Ezmo ● Part of the Ezmo leader group ● Became the owner of the Ezmo Wii These are all my own subjective opinions and might differ from others... WTF??
  • 3. The Time line ● 2006 - FAST had developed mDisk and worked on mMusic ● January 2007 - mMusic became a separate company: Ezmo ● May 2007 – official launch of Ezmo ● Autumn 2007 – lawsuit in Denmark(!) ● March 14t 2008 – Ezmo shut down
  • 4. Your friends, your music: Anywhere PC / Mac / Linux Ezmo Mobile Wii, ++
  • 5. Your friends, your music You 10 friends Ezmo
  • 6. The Stack Player Uploader Ezmo Web Application Trans coders FAST Service Delivery Platform (SDP) SAN Databases
  • 7. How we'd make money ● Recommendations from friends is the #1 reason for music purchase ● Recommendations from friends in the player ● Automatic recommendations ● One-click buy option in the player ● Advertising ● Contextual advertising of music ● Storage costs limited when detecting duplicates with finger print matching technology
  • 8. The original Plan for user growth Users Time
  • 9. Actual user growth Users Time
  • 10. User origins Total users: 32555
  • 11. Active users Total active users: 2265
  • 12. Friend pr user Total users: 32555
  • 13. Numbers do not lie (well, not these ones..) ● We did not convert traffic into users ● There was no viral effect, people did not invite their friends ● Those who created accounts, were not active
  • 14. So what the f**k happened? ● None of us played enough golf ● We weren't a real star-up ● Failed to understand what it takes to innovate ● Lack of a clear market leader and competitors ● Our timing, in hindsight, was not the best ● We lost focus
  • 15. The only sane thing about golf is... ● Penalty strokes are added to your score when they happen ● Our over all Plan was not adjusted the first time we knew it was flawed ● We kind of ignored The Plan, while our investors kind of did not ● Recruited people according to The Plan ● We should have faced the music upon our first failure
  • 16. Internal start-ups ● You might end up living in a make believe world ● You're not feeling the pain you should ● Your legacy will hold you back, they don't care as much as you do ● You should break all ties (but don't burn all bridges)
  • 17. Innov ation
  • 18. Monthy Pythons Flying Circus: The Four Yorkshiremen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13JK5kChbRw&feature=fvw
  • 20. The original quote "If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, you will find a broad, hard beaten road to his house" Ralph Waldo Emmerson 19th century intellectual http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1996/6/1996_6_90.shtml
  • 21. The American dream "If you build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door" The movie “Field of Dreams” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/
  • 22. The entrepreneur's motto "Build it, they will come" http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2007/the-book-the-myths-of-innovation/
  • 23. No path to Easy Street when innovating ● All the stories you hear about usually mention the good things ● Innovation happens through hard work, dedication and sacrifice ● Just having an amazing ideas has never been enough
  • 25. The Change Function = f( The Perceived Pain of Adaption, User Crisis )
  • 27. No real market leader ● We where battling iTunes+iPod ● Became a problem as investors did not see how our company placed it self in the marketplace ● Most of our competitors are now either: ● in permanent hibernation ● or got swallowed by some weird company ● everyone except Spotify, who rule!
  • 28. Te ch no l og y
  • 29. Chose technology best suited for the problem you're trying to solve and disregard your own competency
  • 30. The technology was not quite there... ● State of mobile technology was pretty bad when it came to multimedia ● Social media platforms weren't open for extension ● Cloud technology was still wearing diapers ● Adobe AIR was still in beta
  • 31. Show me your 'assets' there young man ● Owning your core technology is very important ● “They” don't care as much as you do ● Investors look for this when evaluating your company
  • 32. We didn't own our core technology ● Third party platform helped speed up development early on ● Ended up hurting/killing us in the long run ● We “only” had the brand, the people, the users, the knowledge and the player
  • 34. Methodology is just a way... ● ● ..of motivating people who aren't ● ..of making people who don't care, care ● ..of spending time on something which doesn't matter when you're a start-up
  • 35. Democracy is overrated ● “Design should not be a democratic process” Paul Boag http://twitter.com/boagworld ● You need a champion / super star / (or some crazy guy with a turtleneck sweater who loves apples) ● Without clarity in decision making you end up wasting time
  • 36. Do you really need a methodology? ● “Getting Real” by 37 Signals is all you need http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ ● Provides more insight for start up companies than regular agile books ● F**k Scrum: our method was Cake and your iterations had themes based on the team reward
  • 38. Backlog or a long list of things to do ● Can be a distraction from your actual goal ● Can prevent you from changing decisions ● Instead: focus upon the vision, not the details of some list
  • 39. In summary ● Internal start up? Leave the nest! ● Own your core technology ● When you mess things up, tidy up at once ● Innovation= blood, sweat and no tears ● Methodology? Totally overrated, daaah
  • 40. I can't wait do something like this again.. ● I realized that you can actually have a great job AND live in Norway ● There is no better feeling than working with what you think is the coolest thing ever ● Having failed once I know a few things that I won't do again, which puts me one step ahead of you other guys & gals
  • 41. That's it! Thank you very much for coming and I hope you all succeed where we failed! Abuse, praise, money or whatever you like: espen@dallokken.com http://dallokken.com/espen http://twitter.com/leftieFriele Images provided by flashbacks.com