> Congratulations on getting this far and best of luck for the future, I had > some questions which I thought I might ask > > 1. How do you compare this with tools and resources like PageSpeed, YSlow and > other best practices. > https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/ > http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/ > http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html > > Also a side note make sure your site testivate.com is really really fast. > > Cheers > Nikhil > @Techies > http://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilsingh
On 01/11/2012, at 10:12 AM, Steven Noble <ste...@snoble.net> wrote: > Hi all, /*cross-posted to Ruby Or Rails Oceania*/ > > For two months I have been working full-time on a startup called Testivate > (http://testivate.com), which is in the website benchmarking business. > > Website benchmarking is typically an expensive, highly tailored consulting > process sold through lengthy face-to-face interactions, but I'm disrupting > the sector with an online product that you just click to buy. > > The secret sauce is a mixture of crowdsourcing and clever management of the > underlying benchmarking criteria. > > I've built what we have so far using Rails. I'm looking for a cofounder who > can lead on the technical side, but I hope we'd both be involved to an extent > in every part of the business. > > The details: > > PROGRESS SO FAR > > Using a lean/customer development approach, I've conducted a first round of > customer interviews, changed many of my assumptions, and begun a second round > of customer interviews to test my new views. > > Details here: > http://www.powerretail.com.au/insights/lean-start-up-theory-online-retail/ > > I've built a sales site using Heroku/Rails/HAML/SASS/Compass/Susy (see > http://testivate.com) but I haven't had time to start testing messages etc > yet via AdWords and Google Analytics as I plan to do. > > I've built a basic Rails app to manage the benchmarking criteria more > efficiently. It passes all my Cucumber tests but to be honest, in terms of > the fail/pass/refactor BDD development cycle, I haven't done as much > refactoring as I should have along the way, so the code definitely needs a > tidy up. > > I'm currently writing benchmarking criteria for our first product -- a Retail > Website Search Function benchmark -- and I'm using the basic Rails app to > manage and store these testing criteria as I create them. > > NEXT STEPS > > Apply for StartMate. > > Start split-testing the messaging on the sales site. > > Complete the second round of customer interviews. > > Finishing writing the benchmarking criteria for the first product -- the > Retail Website Search Function benchmark. > > OPPORTUNITIES TO GEEK OUT > > So far the tools I have been using are: Rails, Cucumber, Heroku, SASS/HAML, > Compass, Susy. > > There are so many opportunities to geek out as we push this further. Some > ideas: > > # Use of the http://houdiniapp.com to distribute questions to testers (I'm in > discussion with the founder) > # Use of whatever you like to build dynamic charts based on the answers (e.g. > Raphael.js or something else) > # Use of Nokogiri to build reports in HTML format based on the answers > # Use of print style sheets etc to turn these HTML reports into PDF format > reports > # Use of http://pin.net.au for payments (I have a beta key) > # Opportunity to work across the entire stack, addressing anything from > performance issues to analytics to user experience including the creation of > rich media > > LOCATION > > Anywhere really, thanks to Skype etc. But for face-to-face meetings: > > I'm currently living in the lovely surfing and dairy farming town of > Gerringong, which is on the Illawarra train line, and about two hours drive > south of Sydney. > > We have a spare single bed in the home office that I'm using to build the > startup. > > I try to get to Sydney as much as I can. > > At the end of 2014 I'll be moving to Wollongong, which is about half way > between Gerringong and Sydney, and which has a fast-growing startup scene > including a Fishburners-style space called StartPad. > > Wollongong to Sydney CBD is 90 minutes on the train. Wollongong to southern > Sydney is obviously a shorter journey. > > WORKING ARRANGEMENTS > > I'm a full-time self-funded founder with 18+ years of digital business > experience spanning media, marketing, research, consulting and startups. > > In particular, I understand the website benchmarking process and why it is > ripe for disruption. > > More about me: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevennoble > > I'd consider working with full-time or part-time cofounders. The main thing > would be that we felt we could commit to the project and each other. > > How does this sound? > > Feel free to forward this to anyone who may be interested. > > Thanks all, > > Steven. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more > > Forum rules > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs > > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more Forum rules 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
