On the surface this is about open startups. It’s really about a lot more. Another name? How to Profit from Transparency.
This is the free version of Trends PRO #0015 — Open Startups
Problem
Startups have to cut through noise to stay top of mind for customers. And prospective employees.
Solution
Open startups tell a story (mostly) with exhaust data.
Revenue, page views, salaries and more. Data generated from business activities.
This is a marketing strategy. Not only for customers. But prospective employees.
In 2013, Buffer listed staff salaries publicly. Job applications doubled. Jumping to 2,886 from the 1,263 they received 30 days prior.
Players
Open Startups
- Product Disrupt —> Metrics
- ConvertKit —> Metrics
- ScrapingBee —> Metrics
- Starter Story —> Metrics
- Remote Leaf —> Metrics
- Marketing Examples —> Metrics
- Gumroad —> Metrics
- Makerlog —> Metrics
Open Makers
Makers sharing metrics and stories.
- Gabriel Chuan
- Darshan Gajara
- Jack Butcher
- Steph Smith
- Pat Walls
- Fajar Siddiq
- Daniel Vassallo
- Alex West
- Karthik Puvvada (KP)
- Dianna Allen
Open Platforms
Predictions
- Exhaust data will become more publicly availableandaccurate.
- Site Traffic
- Foot Traffic
- Revenue
- Salaries
- We’ll see the rise of the Open Maker. These founders track and share their work. They are sawdusting. Gaining upside from exhaust data that would otherwise go unused.
Opportunities
- Remove information asymmetries and profit from transparency. Need ideas?
- Home Services
- Used Cars
- Flights
- Insurance
- Decide if you should run an Open Startup. Ask yourself…
- Do I have a moat? If not, you may reverse course like SnapShooter and Transistor.fm.
- Do my customers care? If not, why are you doing this? See the conversation between Amar Ghose, Patrick Campbell and I.
- Do prospective employees care? Will this attract talent?
- Do I need accountability? What gets measured gets managed. More so in public.
Links
- Transparency — This TED radio hour episode tells stories of transparency. Covering everything from salaries to CIA operations.
- The End of Asymmetric Information — Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok take a deep dive into information problems and their effects.
- Doubling Down Instead of Shutting Down — Nathan Barry is the founder and CEO of ConvertKit. In an interview with Eric Siu, he said “…another important thing for us is storytelling. I want you to buy ConvertKit not just because it’s the best tool for your business. I want you to buy because of the team and the story and who we are and what we’re building.”
- ‘100% copycat’ — Pierre de Wulf, co-founder of ScrapingBee, tweets about downside of sharing numbers. This is why moats matter.
- Research: Gender Pay Gaps Shrink When Companies Are Required to Disclose Them — Denmark required companies over 35 employees to disclose gender wage gaps and the gap to shrunk to 7% from 17.5% between 2003 to 2008.