‘A lot of hot startups were losing users as quickly as they get them, like people who get on a bus and then get off in the back,’ said Botha. ‘But they retained their users.’17

about 15 taxi drivers for breakfast at a café and restaurant called Smiths of Smithfields. They were all keen to give us a round of colourful weekly feedback: ‘These buttons are way too small, gov,’ said one driver. ‘I think your fingers are just too fat,’ replied another driver. I couldn’t disagree – he did seem to have pretty fat fingers.

minimum viable product). At this point you want to focus on only the parts that are absolutely necessary to show why your app delivers something new and novel – something that wows your users. For Hailo it was focusing on how a user could see nearby taxis on a map, then hit the ‘Pick Me Up Here’ button and have a driver accept the hail. We also add

Finding a cofounder is a lot like dating.

Everything starts with Version 0.1 – it’s the very first iteration, the prototype, of your app (Version 1.0 is reserved as the first version shipped to the public). In this version you want to focus on the most basic set of features that will make your app unique, useful and different. It’s often called the MVP (or the

ENTERPRISE IS HOT. This is something very exciting – and ripe for opportunity. The characteristics of billion-dollar enterprise startups lean towards raising a lot less capital (typically, they require only 40 per cent of the investment that a consumer-focused startup does), thereby increasing returns not only for investors but for founders and emp