Shabda: Would you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get about interested in startups? How hard or fruitful has the journey been?
Paras: I had been interested in computers since my 9th grade when my dad brought home a PC. I remember playing with VB 6.0 and it was fun times. I think I got introduced to the startup world when I was trying to learn PHP/MySQL and started developing small web-apps. I came across Hacker News, read Paul Graham's essays and got hooked to the startup world. I always knew I would have a startup of my own. Journey has been extremely fun!
Shabda: Visual Website Optimizer is not your first startup. How did you make the decision to drop/defer your previous startups? How hard was the decision?
Paras: I'd say previous ventures were totally focussed on idea/concept without any insight into marketing and business model. It wasn't hard at all as every one of the ideas gave insights into what makes money and what doesn't.
Shabda: What kind of customer development did you do before starting VWO?
Paras: I contacted lots of folks on Hacker News individually and asked them to give feedback on beta. When their reaction was: 'Holy crap! this is amazing' I knew I was onto something. So started incorporating their feedback one by one.
Paras: Tested different aspects of pricing page. We earlier did not have Free Trial listed as a column in plans page and had a $729 plan listed on the page. As you can guess, we do a lot of testing!
Shabda: I bought some Sitepoint books recently, and they had a VWO coupon as part of their Christmas bundle. How did you get on that bundle? What are some other marketing strategies you have tried recently?
Paras: Sitepoint is one of our customers and they simply contacted us to ask if we want to be in the bundle :)
Shabda: Are there any particular country specific hurdles which startup in India face? How did you overcome those?
Paras: Yes, I think there is no advantage in projecting VWO as an Indian startup since our primary customers are in US, UK and Europe. So, I listed London office address there instead of Delhi address.
Shabda: How did you get your first 3 customers?
Paras: Had a free beta running for 7 months, so when the tool came of out beta, naturally some converted to paid users.
Shabda: What are the two web based and two non web based tools you can not live without?
Paras: Web based: a) Gmail; b) Clicky Non-web based: a) Putty; b) Skype
Shabda: What is the one sentence you would say to someone starting a startup?
Paras: Don't focus on idea, focus on market first. If the market is big enough and your implementation is good enough, you will definitely make money.
Shabda: Startup or Travel? Pirates or Ninjas?
Paras: Startup for now. Travel later. Pirate for sure :)
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Thats all for now, and we will be back with more articles and interviews soon. Stay tuned or follow us on twitter.
Interview with Paras Chopra of Visual Website Optimizer
By : shabda
Shabda: Would you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get about interested in startups? How hard or fruitful has the journey been?
Paras: I had been interested in computers since my 9th grade when my dad brought home a PC. I remember playing with VB 6.0 and it was fun times. I think I got introduced to the startup world when I was trying to learn PHP/MySQL and started developing small web-apps. I came across Hacker News, read Paul Graham's essays and got hooked to the startup world. I always knew I would have a startup of my own. Journey has been extremely fun!
Shabda: Visual Website Optimizer is not your first startup. How did you make the decision to drop/defer your previous startups? How hard was the decision?
Paras: I'd say previous ventures were totally focussed on idea/concept without any insight into marketing and business model. It wasn't hard at all as every one of the ideas gave insights into what makes money and what doesn't.
Shabda: What kind of customer development did you do before starting VWO?
Paras: I contacted lots of folks on Hacker News individually and asked them to give feedback on beta. When their reaction was: 'Holy crap! this is amazing' I knew I was onto something. So started incorporating their feedback one by one.
Shabda: How did you go about testing YOUR pricing page (https://app.visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/signup.php)?
Paras: Tested different aspects of pricing page. We earlier did not have Free Trial listed as a column in plans page and had a $729 plan listed on the page. As you can guess, we do a lot of testing!
Shabda: I bought some Sitepoint books recently, and they had a VWO coupon as part of their Christmas bundle. How did you get on that bundle? What are some other marketing strategies you have tried recently?
Paras: Sitepoint is one of our customers and they simply contacted us to ask if we want to be in the bundle :)
Shabda: Being based in India, has it been to run a global company? Your CrunchBase profile lists a London address (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/visual-website-optimizer). Is this related?
Paras: My partner is based out of London.
Shabda: Are there any particular country specific hurdles which startup in India face? How did you overcome those?
Paras: Yes, I think there is no advantage in projecting VWO as an Indian startup since our primary customers are in US, UK and Europe. So, I listed London office address there instead of Delhi address.
Shabda: How did you get your first 3 customers?
Paras: Had a free beta running for 7 months, so when the tool came of out beta, naturally some converted to paid users.
Shabda: What are the two web based and two non web based tools you can not live without?
Paras:
Web based: a) Gmail; b) Clicky
Non-web based: a) Putty; b) Skype
Shabda: What is the one sentence you would say to someone starting a startup?
Paras: Don't focus on idea, focus on market first. If the market is big enough and your implementation is good enough, you will definitely make money.
Shabda: Startup or Travel? Pirates or Ninjas?
Paras: Startup for now. Travel later. Pirate for sure :)
-----
Thats all for now, and we will be back with more articles and interviews soon. Stay tuned or follow us on twitter.