Balsamiq Blog

Balsamiq: Week One Recap

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 26th, 2008 under Company / Business — 1 Comment

Hi everyone. It’s been now a full week since my official launch, and my what a ride it has been! I know the adventure is just getting started, but I wanted to put together and share some quick stats from Balsamiq’s 1st week in business.

You can see a full list of anything that I run across that mentions Balsamiq here: http://del.icio.us/peldi/balsamiq_press

7 Product and Company Reviews

• CarolsVault
• Web Worker Daily
• Profy
• The Atlassian Blog
• LiveBusiness.ru
• FreshAirApps
• KillerStartups

4 Other blog mentions

• D.Y.I.StartupNews (just my pitch)
• Social Interaction (mention)
• SocialMedia.jp (short review)
• Webware (mention)

22 Twitter mentions

Here’s a Summize Twitter search for Balsamiq

Some of my favorites Tweets:

alucking: Used Balsamiq’s Mockup application to throw together some layouts for a web app I’m cooking up. Its pretty awesome.

geechee_girl: @balsamiq can’t stop playing with your software long enough to finish my review. Love it. It’s coming…. lol

doubletough: Balsamiq Mockups is a freakin’ great Adobe AIR application.

ninjamonk: mocks ups is the best AIR App I have seen http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups/desktop I might actually buy this.

2,300+ Site visitors

• 2,362 visitors came from 81 countries/territories and saw 9,316 pages
• 11 people subscribed to the newsletter
• 11 people downloaded the JAR (there could be more here I’m not tracking)
• over 235 people downloaded the Desktop demo version (again, I’m not tracking everything here yet)
• over 700 people watched my quick YouTube demo (the number is higher since this is the new, cleaned up version) and over 300 watched the Mockups for Conluence demo video.

Feedback received:

• I got incredible feedback, as always, from the awesome software entrepeneurs on the Business Of Software forums. If you are thinking of starting a software company, you MUST subscribe to the BoS feed. Here’s my post with the feedback below it.
• I also got direct email feedback from a few people. I am so touched that you took the time to write me such long and detailed emails with your thoughts about Mockups. Thank you so much, you know who you are.
• GetSatisfaction has also been a good source of feedback and ideas, it seems like the conversation there is starting to take off. I’m excited for more.

I received one complaint that both GetSatisfaction and my JIRA bugbase require registation in order to post. I wasn’t aware of that and I apologize. I updated my support pages to mention that you can always email me with any feedback or bug report you might have.

22 Free Licenses Handed Out

• 8 given to do-gooders (desktop version).
• 1 Confluence Plugin given to an open source project.
• 5 given as a thank you for feedback or other valuable input.
• 8 given to bloggers, journalists and other mavens: I’m looking forward to reading these reviews!

11 copies sold

• Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop: 10 copies
• Balsamiq Mockups for Confluence: 1 copy (team edition)

Total revenue (net of Paypal fees): US$1,339.60 – this is way, way above what I expected.

See my customers page for some names of customers and do-gooders.

Steps taken this week

• I quickly released a new build two days after shipping to fix the biggest bugs and incorporate the most pressing issues: details here.
• I spent some time answering emails of potential customers – I really enjoyed doing this, as it gives me an invaluable insight on people’s needs, problems and expectations.
• I started tracking “UI prototyping” related discussions on the web and adding comments advertising Mockups whenever it fits with the conversation (I hate blog comment spamming as much as the next guy).
• I investigated and addressed issues with the Linux build: new installation instructions for linux can be found here.
• I added to and reorganized my TODO list – it’s a lot longer now!

My General Mood

I am ecstatic with the amount of feedback received. This makes me think that I somehow managed to ship just at the right time in the development cycle: good enough that people like it (and some buy it), but early enough that it elicits feedback which helps with the product’s future direction. That was lucky!

I’m happy about the generally positive reviews, though I was naively hoping for more coverage on Thursday (I had contacted maybe 20-25 bloggers in preparation for the launch).

In general, things are off to a good start, word of mouth is starting to happen, and I have enough work planned for the next two months (at least). I am quite amazed with the sales so far and very much looking forward to the next week, and the one after, and the one after!

Next Steps

I plan on releasing a 1.1 release in a month or so, with one or two of the most requested features in it, plus fixes to anything else that comes up.

You can follow my progress here via RSS or on Twitter for updates along the way – I tweet more than I blog these days, but I have a couple of blog posts in mind so stay tuned.

Onward!

— 1 Comment

 

 

 

New micro-release!

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 21st, 2008 under Mockups, Release Announcements — 2 Comments

I want to write a “launch post-mortem” entry tomorrow, but for now I wanted to encourage you to go download the new release of Mockups, as there are some pretty cool enhancements and bug fixes all around:

Bugs Fixed

• UI controls now end up where you drop them (again, this was an injection)
• “Text Paragraph” became “Paragraph of text” and “Text Label / String” became “Label / String of Text”, for better Quick Add behaviour
• Checkmark for “Show UI Library” works properly again
• Undo/Redo menus tell you the name of the action again
• Hitting Return after selecting all the text or dropping a control on the stage no longer deletes all the text. The previous text is now used instead (i.e. it’s like hitting the escape key now)
• Icons are black by default (not that weird blu-green-ish color)

Feature Enhancements

• Mockups for Desktop: I now trap a click on the “x” and prompt for save if necessary
• All versions: The “selected” overlay is a little darker, no longer blends with the gray so much
• All versions: added background color to DataGrid control
• All versions: added background color to Tree control
• All versions: removed modal overlay from text editing mode, it wasn’t needed and it made for flickering screens
• Removed the “welcome to Balsamiq Mockups” starter-mockup from every version other than the demo on the web.
• Mockups for Desktop: now using native menus!!!
• Mockups for Desktop: all keyboard shortcuts work now and are OS-dependent (apple key on the mac and CTRL key on win).

Web Site Enhancements

• cleaned up the audio of the demo video on the Mockups home page to remove lip-smacking and other mouth sounds. Also republished at higher res.
• added secondary navigation for the Mockups pages right under the breadcrumbs. Hopefully this will help some
• fixed a typo and the “wonky-ness” reported in IE6 (I think. Let me know if it’s still wonky)

So what are you waiting for? Head over to the Mockups home page and try it, download it or buy it!

— 2 Comments

 

 

 

Launch: Balsamiq is Open For Business!

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 18th, 2008 under Company / Business, Release Announcements — 1 Comment

What’s happening: Balsamiq Studios LLC is launching today.

What it means to you: Balsamiq Mockups 1.0 is now officially for sale, both as a Confluence plugin and as a desktop application.

The website copy has been tweaked, the screencast redone, features have been added, features have been cut, bugs have been found and fixed. The company incorporated, the EULA written and reviewed by the lawyers. The online store has been integrated, the bloggers have been alerted.

It’s time to put a stake in the ground and say “Hello World, I am here”: welcome to Balsamiq Studios, a new tiny startup focused on adding flavor to Web Office suites.

Balsamiq was a dream, then a small idea, then a hobby, then a night-time job, and now it’s for real, my little startup company. I am fully committed and terribly excited; I feel like a kid about to get on a roller coaster ride.

I believe that software today is too complicated, that customer service is the new marketing and that once you experience the power of Web Office you’ll never want to go back.

Feel free to explore, I hope you’ll like what you see.

Any question or comments, I’m all ears.

— 1 Comment

 

 

 

Mockups Demo: over 100 downloads in 6 days

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 18th, 2008 under Company / Business, Mockups — No Comment

So I uploaded Mockups for Desktop to the Adobe AIR marketplace on Monday, and already it’s showing 102 downloads of the demo app, plus my entry page is generating a bunch of traffic for my site.

Not bad for a product that hasn’t officially shipped yet (tomorrow is the big day, stay tuned!). Hopefully some of those 100+ early adopters will like it enough to decide to buy a copy!

I am glad I chose to use AIR for porting Mockups to the desktop, it’s a beautiful platform to work on, and lucky for me, is getting a lot of attention on the web these days.

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Adobe AIR as a bridge between now and the future

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 14th, 2008 under Company / Business, Development / Technical — 1 Comment

So I went to the Adobe AIR tour Milan yesterday, which was fun and well organized. Adobe AIR is a “bridge product” in many ways: it lets you sync data between online and offline state, it lets you use web app development models for desktop apps, it lets you extend your web apps with desktop features like notifications and file-system access.

One kind of “bridging” that didn’t occur to me but hit me over the head is that AIR is a bridge between the software of today and the software of the future. When I started developing the AIR version of Mockups I did it because it gave me a good story for customers who wanted to work on their UI mockups in the rare occasions in which they were offline, and it only took an hour or so to do (about 95% of the code of Mockups for desktop is shared with the web or plugin versions, so it was really a no brainer).

The surprise that hit me over the head is that everyone I showed the Balsamiq site to told me roughly the same thing: “I like Mockups but don’t have any of the Web Office suites you support, or any at all for that matter. Can I just buy the desktop version?” – I didn’t intend to make money from the desktop version when I developed it, and to be perfectly honest the idea of selling shrink-wrapped software to individuals didn’t really appeal to me, living as I was in the the wonderful world of SaaS. So I resisted the idea at first, but the more people I spoke with, the more I realized that Web Office and SaaS in general won’t be mainstream for maybe another couple of years, and that desktop apps will always have their appeal.

The future is hybrid, with desktop app that sync with the web and work both online and offline. Google is trying to morph the browser into a platform, or look at MobileMe for instance. We shall see, but clearly the games have only just begun.

In the meantime, I welcome the eye-opener and anyone who thinks my little Mockup tool is valuable enough on its own is welcome to buy it, with many thanks from yours truly.

— 1 Comment

 

 

 

Weekly update – one week to launch

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 12th, 2008 under Before the Jump, Branding / Marketing, Company / Business — 1 Comment

Hello there. As usual, I’m a little late with the weekly update (I might have to find a different name for it). This has been a busy 2 weeks. First off, ConnectNow shipped as part of Acrobat.com. I have never worked harder on a project before, and I am extremely proud of the reception it’s getting in the blogo/twitter-sphere. The ConnectNow team at Adobe is a spectacular one and I will always be proud to having been part of it.

On a related note, today is my last day at Adobe, after 6 and 1/2 years to the day. I know I brought this upon myself by leaving to start Balsamiq and relocate to Italy, but I can’t help being sad about not being able to work with all the amazingly talented people there day in and day out. Everything I know about making software and caring for the end user I learned there – Macromedia’s “Experience Matters” is one of my deepest beliefs to this day. It was an amazing 6-job-titles-in-6-years ride, and let me tell you it’s fun to be able to shape the future.

Balsamiq-wise, it’s been a busy two weeks: as always, Twitter is the best way to know what I did when. Next Thursday (June 19th) is launch day, so most of my efforts have been on cleaning up the website and contacting bloggers who might be interested in covering the launch. We’ll see what happens, I am really curious how much attention a single person with a laptop and a small idea can get these days, we shall see.

I have a couple of small bugs to fix and have to redo the Mockups intro video, but other than that I feel ready for the launch. I expect it will be a crazy few weeks after that, fixing bugs and responding to feedback as fast as I can. I am already planning a 1.1 release for mid-July, just in case. As long as each build is better than the previous, things should be ok. I am just starting so hopefully people will be understanding if I mess something up…

I am also closing down my private beta program today, as I have nothing more to hide. We can move all conversations to GetSatisfaction. To the beta testers: THANK YOU! Your feedback has been invaluable. Please keep it coming, you guys are the Balsamiq Mockups experts now!

I think that’s it for now, wish me luck!

— 1 Comment

 

 

 

Thanks for your feedback

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 6th, 2008 under Branding / Marketing — No Comment

Last week I posted the following on the Business Of Software forums:

Free Software in exchange for quality website feedback
Hi there. I am less than a month away from the launch of my first micro-ISV (Balsamiq Studios) and I think the time is right for me to get some honest feedback on my company’s website:

http://www.balsamiq.com

I have always been impressed at the quality (and quantity!) of website feedback here on BoS, so I’m looking forward to your honest opinion – don’t be shy, I can handle it.

The 10 of you who send me the best feedback this week (here or via email/twitter/facebook) will receive a free license for Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop as a thank you – a $79 value.

IMPORTANT: please focus ON THE WEBSITE, COMPANY AND BUSINESS PLAN ONLY – basically anything non-software on balsamiq.com. I’ll send a similar request for feedback on the software itself at a later date.

Thanks so much, I’m excited (terrified?) for the next few hours.

Peldi
Founder, Balsamiq Studios, LLC
Giacomo ‘Peldi’ Guilizzoni
Monday, May 26, 2008

I only got a few responses, but their hav been great – see some of them here.

I have been incorporating the feedback on the site and I have lots more to do (it’s a constant battle, tweak forever!), but I wanted to publicly acknowledge the people who took the time to answer my plea:

• Bob Walsh, the man himself! 47hats.com
• Robert Cameron of Pos.biz
• Dan Harper of LeopardCRM
• Tomas Vetrovsky

As promised, I already sent them a personal license key to Balsamiq Mockups For Desktop.

Thanks so much guys!

— No Comment

 

 

 

MessageFirst website: wow.

by Peldi Guilizzoni. June 5th, 2008 under Branding / Marketing, Links — No Comment

I just stumbled upon www.messagefirst.com today.

All I can say is wow. It’s been a long time since a website impressed me, so I had to share.

Notice the balanced, clean, readable design. The whole site is on ONE page, just good copy, to the point – no links other than their email address. View the page source for more impressive features: a little script that encodes their email address to fight spambots and a hidden div with what looks like a site-map for search engine optimization.

Very impressive, especially if you compare it with how heavy, slow-loading, over-the-top advertising and portfolio websites usually are.

Chapeaux to MessageFirst!

— No Comment