Amazed. Perplexed. Humbled. Giddy-beyond-belief.
Trying to find the right words for how I felt about the response to our very first Facebook Live event for Otherboard has been difficult! If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, give it a watch!
But if you don’t have time for that, here’s a quick recap.
Intro
We kicked off the Live by sharing a little bit about me, my background, and how much I like my wife (Melissa, who is amazing, btw) and my kiddos (too many to list, also amazing).
I shared a little bit of background on Otherboard – how long it’s been in development (about 6 months), how close we are to beta (about 2 months away), and when it will launch publicly (probably 3-4 months from now).
Fun Announcements
It’s always fun to be able to share fun announcements at these types of things. Exclusive little tidbits of new information always make me feel happy! We shared two fun facts:
- Beta testers will get their first SIX months free after we launch publicly. Woohoo!
- A referral/affiliate program is available now for anyone to use – everyone who signs up to our mailing list automatically gets a sharing link to use. Your BFF signs up for Otherboard with your link? We’ll send you $10.
Security
Next, we touched on security, privacy, safety. We talked about Role-based access control, how we handle sensitive information, and how different folks on your team might see (or not see!) sensitive data for your business.
Privacy and security are foundational to how we build everything we’re building. We recognize that the trust we work so hard to earn, as we help you make sense of all of the data around your business, can be lost in an instant.
Roadmap
When building a product like Otherboard – there are endless lists of potential features we could build. Having customer feedback to shape our priorities, our development efforts, and our focus as a team is invaluable. We’re not a startup with VC funding and investors to answer to – we’re a bootstrapped business, the only folks we answer to are you, our customers.
We want your input on existing features, and we want to hear about any new features you’re thinking about that we might not be! Our public roadmap is where all of that magic happens.
Speaking of our roadmap, we shared about a number of awesome things already set for the beta – as well as features on the Roadmap for the future. We discussed accessibility, core web vitals, and a variety of possible improvements down the line. Beyond the long-term picture, we painted a picture of some of the features we’re already building into Otherboard. Things like phase and team management, filtering, sorting and saving views, and the long list of tight, first-class integrations. Oh yeah, also, no Zapier required.
Pain Points
Transparency is also a huge part of how we run things around here. We shared a little bit about some struggles we’ve had along the way. Keyword volume research requiring hundreds of hours of additional development due to Google AdWords Terms of Use. Pinterest Integration being stalled for…who knows how long…because, well, Pinterest.
Wrap-up
Finally, we wrapped up by answering a few final questions (oh my goodness – so many good questions!) and mentioning that we’ll be sending out updates on development every two weeks. We’re so excited to continue sharing where we’re headed with Otherboard – we think you will be excited, too.
So thankful for all of you that made it Otherboard’s first Facebook Live. Not to worry, though, we have another one in just a few short days! You won’t want to miss it, I promise :).