Reger.com Strategy Status/Update

So here I am at the beach in Florida, reading The Tipping Point by the pool, thinking about Reger.com's future... and tomorrow's half ironman triathlon.

It's time for a strategy shift... for Reger.com... not for the triathlon training.

First, let me give a quick summary of the strategy to date: build a great product. I didn't want to play the whole vaporware, look-at-me, public relations game. I wanted to create something so great that people wanted and needed it. I didn't want to recreate something that everybody else had. I wanted to create something unique. This stems from a fundamental belief that to do business well you have to provide value. You have to have something of value. You can make money on a crap product, but to build a business that's contagious you need something of value. I want a business that's contagious... like Skydive Atlanta or All3Sports... I am so jealous of the owners of those businesses (my friends) because they have a thriving community of people who love their product and can't live without it.

I've spent six years building the technology of Reger.com. It's not, and probably never will be, to a point that I'm satisfied with it. I need to accept this fact. It's come a long way and now does something unique with its datablogging features. I've been slow to promote it. Frankly, I didn't feel it was ready. But over the last 12 months I've seen increasing excitement from people after demos. And something important has happened: the more people understang blogging, the more excited they get.

I've been heads-down in code for six years. About six months ago I enlisted my father and sister to help with sales. A few months ago my step father started helping with sales. We've got a major enterprise client and have proven that the technology can be installed remotely and that we can support it.

Also, despite my best efforts to keep things quiet, we've gotten some press, notably by Bob Cringely, John Robb and Dave Winer. It's been nice, but we haven't followed it up with any sort of momentum, by design.

I've known for a while that at some point I'd have to switch gears and turn to business development. Now it's time to switch gears. My efforts need to migrate to the business development side. The tricky part is that I can't let this happen at the expense of product development. My hope was that we could generate some sales which would make it possible to hire a developer, but that's not happening. I can't just abandon the wonderful users of reger.com... they make great suggestions and bug finds all the time and I will not simply ignore them. They are and must be of the highest priority.

I have a couple loose ends to tie off. The first is the XML Schema import/export piece which allows our kickass log type creation and blogging tool to play with other tool makers... even though there are no other tool makers who will use it. We must lead in this datablogging space with a strong implementation. The second is a set of social networking hooks that need to be added to the user interface of public blog sites to create more cross-site activity.

Once those are in place I need to hit the road. I need to look up conferences and blogging meetings and go to them. Road trip. Plane trip. Whatever. It's time to get the datablogging word out.

I realized today that instead of being sheepish about reger.com (despite cheerleaders all around me telling me to self-promote), I'm now finally very proud of what we have and ready to get the word out. It's a big change in my thinking and I'm happy that it finally happened. We have a great product and the world needs to know about it.

Timing is good for the switch in focus. We have the baby coming in early July. A month or so of baby-goo-goo-gaa-gaa action and then I can hit the road. The time at home will allow me to finish off the coding pieces and plan the promotion side of things.

Here's what I need to do:

1) XML Schema import/export of log types
2) Social networking ui hooks
3) Pick twenty conferences/blogging meetups between August and December 2005. Go to them.
4) Listen to people.

It's a simple enough plan. And it's really not much of a change in path. But today I had that realization that I'm ready to self-promote. The technology has massive value for corporations, individuals and groups. I'm not willing to sit by idly and wait for people to find it any more. I want to get the word out.

I'm a good translator. I've been told this many times. I float between marketing and technology easily. My challenge now is to explain the benefits of datablogging to a mainstream technology audience. I think I'll do this task well. Or better put... the technology does this well iteself.

From a business perspective, the hope is that the increased awareness generates leads that I can hand off to my father and step father. With a revenue stream going I will immediately invest in the following areas:

1) More open APIs
2) Developer program for third parties looking to extend/leverage reger.com datablogging
3) Quality assurance program
4) Documentation/help/tutorial improvements
5) Core product improvements
6) Advocacy in the structured blogging/datablogging space

Should that fail... rather, should I fail... to generate a revenue stream from the publicity, it's time to take on some funding to get the right people in to help out. Failing won't be an indication that the world doesn't want datablogging... it'll be an indication that I'm not the right person to communicate it to them. Datablogging will happen whether Reger.com is involved or not.

I've had a number of people wanting to throw money at reger.com for a while. I've always rejected them because I don't want to build a business starting off with debt. I want a sales-based business. Sales generates revenue which drives product development, marketing, support, etc. It has to be sales-based. Sales must be the driver. Not cool technology. Not marketing. Sales. Because sales are a tie to the users.

Companies generally take on funding to develop their product. I have a product that has proven value in the market today. So there's no reason to take on funding. Sales can be done today. And those sales can drive the company.

So, you may ask, why aren't you doing millions of dollars in sales? Right now we're stuck on one piece... lead generation.

We have the product. We can deploy it. We've proven people will pay for it. We can support it. We can present it and have all of the powerpoint and whitepapers to do so. We know how to talk about it and always generate interest.

The thing we're not doing well right now is generating leads. It's a numbers game. More calls equals more meetings equals more sales. Pretty simple.

Once we get in front of people they're excited. We're just not getting in front of people.

If I looked out and saw us screwing up in core areas like product development or core value proposition, I'd take on funding right now. But we're not. Funding is a crutch that should be used to take on a strategic advantage or overcome an unforseen business difficulty. Funding can't be the driver of your company. We're missing a small piece. I'm not willing to give up the nature of the company right now to get over a tiny hurdle. By taking on funding I'd be starting off on the wrong foot... spending to make as opposed to selling to make. Subtle but important distinction that has massive effects later on in a company's culture. By taking on funding we'd have a set of investors to worry about. I want to worry about the twenty year vision of datablogging as a multi-billion dollar industry, not some investor's 15% gain for 2006.

So we're going to try lead generation ourselves for a while. More networking meetings. More calls. And, for me, more presenting to conferences and the like.

If, after 2005, the word is not getting out then I'll admit that we still suck at getting the word out and I'll take on funding for the focused goal of generating leads. We'll bring in some experts who are familiar with the blogosphere and with the technology world. Not marketing guys and girls. People. People who get it and can sell it. Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople in The Tipping Point terminology.

So that's the plan for now. Reger.com's vision is ready to change the world... I've spent the last year and a half being self-unemployed learning that having a vision is only part of the game... sharing that vision with others is just as critical. I already knew that... but I didn't act on it. I need to step up to the plate and get the word out.

It'll be a challenge for me. While I am very gregarious and outgoing at meetings and conferences, my natural tendency is to stay at home and work on code, being somewhat introverted. Now my dream of reger.com must supercede my own personality. Ava's college fund should keep me motivated!

Ideas, input, thoughts, concerns, constructive criticism: always welcome. Sales leads: paid for. Flames: gracefully deflected with passive aggression.