All > Monitoring and Controlling

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Now that our PMP Flashcard application is live, we’re doing AB testing to see what works best to get new customers.  When building v1.0, we decided to embrace the “freemium” business model.  We offer basic access to our product, for free, while charging a reasonable price for advanced or special features.

We started out by offering 20 out of our 2000 flashcards for free.  This really didn’t offer much to users but we figured they would want the premium account, after seeing the value of it.   The site Certification Tips by Deep Fried Brain then recommended we increase the number of free cards to 200.  This looked like a perfect opportunity to do some AB testing.

Would you be more apt to sign up for a $9.99 (one-time fee) premium account after getting 20 free flashcards, 50, 100, or 200?  We wanted to know so we’re systematically changing the amount of free flashcards being offered with the free account.

A few days ago I was asked if I would be interested in being on the “Jason’s Shark Tank” segment of This Week in Startups.  Being the L.A. Times reported there to be 100,000 weekly views of the show and because I’ve been a fan of Jason since first hearing him on “This Week in Tech” (TWiT) with Leo Laporte, I wanted to jump at the chance.  Unfortunately, when I’m not moonlighting as a startup entrepreneur, I’m busy advising a federal client.  The scheduling conflict prevented me from accepting the very welcomed invitation.  Hopefully, I’ll have another opportunity to be on the show.  I don’t underestimate the benefits of getting to talk to Jason Calacanis directly.

For those who are not fans of the show (and the segment), the caller has 60 seconds to pitch Jason and the others in the studio.  They rate both the pitch and the idea and then provide feedback.  Refining the 60 second pitch is crucial for any startup company.  As we prepare to scale the business, any feedback from Jason would be welcomed.

graphic by sharkpix.com via Flickr

One of the final puzzle pieces we envisioned for the initial release of HueCubed was an affiliate option.  The affiliate implementation didn’t make it into v1.0 but it was quickly scheduled for v1.2.  The affiliate module was deployed last night.  What is really nice about the implementation is it allows people to sign up for affiliate accounts, get links or buttons, and deploy them wherever they want.  It’s very self-serve.  When the affiliate link or button is deployed, it lets the affiliate know how many clicks they are getting and from where.  Thank you JROX Technologies for making such and awesome product.  Their installation guide was excellent.  We’re hoping to see our buttons and links at a website near you.

So, do you want to be an affiliate?  If you sign up, you’ll initially have access to PMPrepFlashcards buttons.  We’re building them as fast as we can.  If you have a need for a specific color pallet or size, please send us an email.  Because we’re still populating the flashcard database on K12Flashcard.com, we’ll probably start an affiliate offering on that site in the next week or so.  We actually see more potential in affiliate marketing with in the K-12 market.  PMP flashcards is a pretty niche market.  There are less than 4000 Project Management Professionals (PMPs) certified monthly.  Kindergartners through 12th graders, on the other hand, number over 53 million in the United States!  I can see teachers or students wanting to set up affiliate accounts and tell everyone they know, to make some extra money.

Because implementing Facebook connect is taking longer than expected, we decided to deploy it with v1.3.  Until then, we’ll continue to simplify the UI of the HueCubed websites and start pumping out some more K-12 questions and answers.  Thank you to those who have provided feedback of the websites.  Feedback is good!

We are happy to announce an addition to the family!  On July 1, K12Flashcards.com went live.   Wait a second, you thought HueCubed only did PMP Flashcards?  Actually, PMPrepFlashcards.com services the very niche market of nearly 4,000 new Project Management Professionals (PMPs) certified monthly.  K12Flashcards.com was launched to service the extremely broad market of over 53 Million* K-12 students.

Both sites will charge a flat free of $9.99 for unlimited access.  PMPrepFlashcards has 2,000 PMP® flashcards.  K12Flashcards only has about 100 flashcards.  We will be loading data over the course of the next few weeks.  If you know someone Kindergarten through the 12th grade who needs an inexpensive study solution,  K12Flashcards is a low risk solution.

*Data Set: 2006-2008 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates
Survey: American Community Survey