For service providers in particular – hairdressers, manicurists etc – scheduling is a real pain point. 

We decided to create a marketplace, called Utopia, to help solve this. First, by automating the scheduling/confirmation/changes/cancellation. Second, by allowing the service provider to prioritize customers based on their history in the marketplace. Also, the platform would help you find your customer alternatives that don’t negatively impact you (via white label relationships).

We built a scheduling platform in a subscription model of only $1 per month (via no  touch sales channels). Of course, for a marketplace to work we needed scale.

Why the idea didn’t progress 

• We were successful selling on calls, but couldn’t figure out how to sell no touch. 
  
• We are not marketing experts, and our messaging wasn’t good enough – didn’t answer the questions/concerns that came up from SMBs. 
  
• COVID started…

Validation

We started by targeting the Valley and had conversations with SMBs and they were interested. We also did a small MVP that worked well. But when we tried campaigns on FB, we found low engagement. We tried to improve the copy to increase conversion, but that didn’t work. 

We created an instagram page, with a bot, and had a newsletter with trendy topics relevant to our audience, and then reached out to people who read the newsletter.

Insights

1. Really important to understand the connection between GTM and ACV in advance. We saw positive signals in calls, but it wasn’t all that indicative. We were good sales people, but the idea was a no-touch product, so the success on the calls wasn’t indicative. 

2. I would have done a campaign much earlier to see if it works.

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