Since launching at the DEMO Conference last February, we’ve received a lot of terrific emails from people all over the world that are passionate about Jambo and asking us if they can be early users.
This early feedback made us realize that we were on to something very big, yet it also made us more committed to our original market strategy. . . . . to ensure that we didn’t screw it up either. We’ve always been focused on places where users can experience Jambo in an optimal environment. Jambo works best when there is a network effect and we want everyone’s first experience with us to be positive. So, we have targeted markets where we can create a localized network effect such as university campuses and technology conferences. These are all places where WiFi is already deployed, and where people are already motivated to meet others around them.
Setting expectations is a must in any industry, particularly the tech industry, which is littered with companies whose early adopters had negative experiences with their products. Positive experiences help companies cross the chasm. However, the Internet has taught us that people can now mobilize very quickly around a common cause or interest. We have seen it with the Dean campaign, ebay, and countless others.
The more I think about it, I wonder if early adopters aren’t more understanding than we think they are. I’ve been an early adopter of many technologies and have accepted the growing pains that goes with it. Early adopters get excited about being among the first to use a new technology. They provide feedback out of self-interest so that the technology better meets there needs, which is the ultimate goal of any company. The more feedback they provide, the more committed they are to the company’s success. This feedback is important, because it makes the company stronger and helps it climb up the hill of the early majority. Early adopters now have much more power than they used to because they can now blog about a technology or send out invitations to all their contacts, enabling one user to reach hundreds if not thousands of other potential users.
So, if early adopters are asking for a product, should you feed their hunger or should you stay the course? Common business sense says go where the early adopters are. Yet, since our technology involves a network effect, it’s a little more complicated. Most startups struggle to find their early adopters and here we have early adopters knocking on our doors asking to use it and provide us with feedback that will make us better.
Jambo has listened to you and we’ve decided to open up our service to anyone that wants to download it and try it out. Just go to www.jambo.net, and create a bio, discover when those you want to meet are nearby you and then meet face-to-face. The more people you tell, the more value you will receive. The more feedback you provide us, the better we can customize it for your needs. We hope you enjoy it!
January 19th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Cool site of course people!