14 Sep, 2006
Business Building 101 - Users Are Your Best Resource
Posted by: Jason Drohn In: business building 101
When you are planning on starting an online company or a profitable website, follow the trend that has been successful for the big companies: Let your users test it out for you!
Google, Flickr and Firefox have adopted this principle and thrived. Google will allow users to come in and ‘beat on’ an application before it is officially released, Google Maps and Gmail for instance. Flickr and Firefox did and still do release their applications early so that they can be sure that when the final release comes, it will stand the test of time. Microsoft released their new operating system to millions of users to test it as well. In each case, the hope is that once the users get their time with it, the end result will be bulletproof.
A word of caution when opening up a beta version of a site. Users will know that the application is still under development and will ask for new features or changes. Be prepared to either implement those changes or have very good reasons why they won’t work. There is nothing worse than giving access to someone and then telling them no!
Have fun with it though. You are letting these users in on the ground floor! They will more than likely remain loyal to your organization and be your greatest assets.
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