Newspaper Club: not as disappointed as you wanted us to be

Back in November I gave you a quick update on how things were going at Newspaper Club. For anyone unfamiliar with the Newspaper Club, they're a 4iP funded company helping people to create their own newspapers

Back in chilly November, Russell Davis (VP Marketing) was up to his usual tricks. Things were looking promising with users keenly signing up for the beta and larger clients like Wired UK, the BBC and Penguin paying up before the service went live. But Russell, keen to keep his pushy investors expectations low, reminded us that ‘it won’t be as good as you’re imagining’. Well time's up - we wont have them pull the wool any more.

Melanie and I basking in the Club's glory

Since my last update The Club gone on the launch the beta, win the graphic design category for the Brit Insurance Design of the Year generate revenue, get glowing write-ups and investigating a US launch. So just for the record we're not disappointed. We're delighted and things are better than we imagined. I won't bore you with all the reasons why, from an investor's perspective, they're a joy to be involved with. But I would like to quickly focus on why from a product development perspective they've been successful.

Firstly, and most importantly they developed a product that people wanted. No, more than that they developed a product that they KNEW people wanted and that they KNEW customers were prepared to pay for. Sadly, this separates them from many start-ups who have nothing more than an untested vision developed in isolation from the customer.

Newspaper Club didn't start life wanting to be a start-up. It started life as a newspaper called Things Our Friends Have Written On The Internet, created, published and distributed by Russell, Ben and Tom. The overwhelming reception and the number of emails and calls they received asking them if they could publish newspapers for others demonstrated a real user need.

Next, and this is one of the finest qualities of Newspaper Club, they took their time. They certainly didn't set a go live date and work towards that. They had an idea for a online service but they didn't start building. Instead they talked to lots of the potential customers that had expressed an interest about their idea. Throughout this process the product evolved in subtle but important ways. Only once they were sure they product hypothesis stacked up did they start building.

Next they launched their private beta. The beta wasn't about testing the user need but about execution. Lots of clever people have wonderful ideas for star-ups but an idea is never enough. You need execute brilliantly and arguably this is harder. Step forward VP Eng. Tom Taylor. I won't tell you how reassured I felt when over coffee a few weeks into the beta he told me he'd chucked away all the code and started over. Anyone privy to the private beta can testify that the difference between the product then and now is enormous. The team weren't afraid to say we're wrong and start again.

So these are perhaps some of the reasons why Newspaper Club has made some impressive early headway and why I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. However, it's still early days and success is far from assured. Now, over a lukewarm tea at the shepherdess I'll be asking questions about user acquisition, conversion etc. Sorry about that but remember we're really not disappointed!

Comments

[Coach outlet]

still love every scrap I have left in my stash and ever project I've done with it! Thanks for sharing.
People are always telling you what to do, but what's right for them may not be right for you.

[Supra Footwear]

I just got off the phone for something unrelated and we were talking about the self-service revolution in the workplace, How can a customer care rep comments on a restructure or capital raising?
The falafel, the hummus, the whole weird wonderful waffleizer idea. Love this, yes I do.