Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup

Chapter 10. Get It Out There

Sean Corbett

Sean is one of the founders of HaveMyShift, an online service that allows shift workers to have more flexibility and freedom, and a graduate of the TechStars 2009 Boston class.

HaveMyShift is an online marketplace for the 74 million hourly workers in the United States. We allow them to trade shifts with one another, giving them options to choose a better work schedule for themselves. So far, we have helped over 5,600 employees in companies like Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Wegmans, Walmart, Ikea, Target, and Whole Foods trade over 44,000 hours of shifts.

When we started working on HaveMyShift, we consciously made an effort not to build more features than people wanted or needed. In fact, we launched the site within two weeks of the first lines of code. People have asked me how we've been able to go from idea to launch in two weeks. Well, it's because of my bike.

I didn't have a car, so I just got on my bike and rode around to several Chicago area Starbucks stores. I just started asking those employees and store managers what they wanted. I asked them what features our software would need to have for them to start using it. Not only were they excited about it, they helped me understand that if we could do one or two things well, then our software would be immediately valuable to them.

Early on, we struggled with our decision to get our half-baked product ...