4个人做了一款年入百万美元的邮件客户端

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"strong"}],"text":"本文最初发布于Missive官方博客，经原作者授权由InfoQ中文站翻译并分享。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"五年前，我们推出了Missive，这是一款新颖的、但有点难定义的电子邮件客户端。四月初的时候，我们的年度经常性收入（ARR）达到100万美元。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"image","attrs":{"src":"https:\/\/static001.geekbang.org\/infoq\/86\/86113b8b83216a4bcf1150df5be95448.jpeg","alt":null,"title":null,"style":[{"key":"width","value":"75%"},{"key":"bordertype","value":"none"}],"href":null,"fromPaste":true,"pastePass":true}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在Missive成立早期，我们推出第一个公开版本的时候"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我相信我们的旅程是非常吸引人，有以下几个原因："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"bulletedlist","content":[{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们是自筹资金"}]}]},{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们是一个由三个联合创始人和一个雇员组成的小团队"}]}]},{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们建立了一个基于云的协作式电子邮件客户端（也就是说这并不容易）"}]}]},{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们从来没有在市场营销上花过一分钱"}]}]},{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们非常有韧性"}]}]}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"自筹资金"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Missive是依靠自己的力量，即我们未从投资者那里拿过一分钱。我们用其他业务的现金流提供运转资金。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"没有稳固的资金支持是不可能开始一个新的电子邮件客户端的。要知道，很多电子邮件初创公司已经进了坟墓。我们对此有深深的认识。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"长话短说，我在位于加拿大魁北克市的联合办公空间遇到我们联合创始人，并结识了其他志同道合的人。他们成立了一个Web开发工作室，而我则通过做一些有趣\/有创意的小项目来学习编程，并尝试不同的商业理念。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我在组织一个游戏开发者聚会后产生一个想法。作为一名组织者，我为所有的与会者、评委、赞助商等设计和打印胸牌。这个过程真的很痛苦。我曾设想过一种类似Vistaprint的胸牌服务。我一开始是独自创建了它，然后很快就请现在的联合创始人与我一起开发这个项目。ConferenceBadge.com于2013年推出，并迅速实现盈利。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在一年半时间，它创造了足够的收益，这让我们可以全身心地投入到产品中。话虽如此，我们对专门致力于在线胸牌服务的想法并不感到兴奋。我们集思广益地讨论了我们在创建会议徽章时遇到的问题，Etienne想到创建一个协作式电子邮件草稿编辑器来简化支持。这个想法很快就演变成一个成熟的协作式电子邮件客户端。于是，Missive诞生了。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们花了一年时间构建原型，又花了一年时间才开始收费，又花了一年时间才拥有一些真正的客户，又花了一年时间实现盈利，最后又花了一年时间达到100万美元的年度经常性收入。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"如果没有CB支付账单，我们就不可能负担得起在Missive上花这么长时间。生活就像一场角色扮演游戏；由你构建。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"小团队"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在过去5年里，团队的全职成员从未超过4名。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"以下是我们各自承担的角色："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"image","attrs":{"src":"https:\/\/static001.geekbang.org\/infoq\/ae\/ae16b815d958409834f7c6ac7b897fc3.jpeg","alt":null,"title":null,"style":[{"key":"width","value":"75%"},{"key":"bordertype","value":"none"}],"href":null,"fromPaste":true,"pastePass":true}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Etienne和我熟悉90%的代码库，主要专注于特性开发。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"另一方面，Rafael掌握所有代码。他会审查提交到不同项目的每一行代码。他要确保服务器是健康的，并且数据库能承受每天运行的数十亿次查询。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Etienne利用他无穷的Web技术知识，在所有平台（Electron、Cordova、Web）上提供快速、安全的HTML\/JS体验。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Luis设计了公共网站，维护其内容，撰写博客文章，并为客户做演示。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我个人负责管理工资、开支、办公室、会计和长期财务计划。这些任务通常只占我一小部分时间。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在大多数日子里，客户支持约占我们工作时间的33%。尽管我们在发展壮大，但这一点并没有改变。我们花了很多时间使应用程序更容易使用，并改进文档以减少每个客户的请求。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们为自己提供的支持水平感到自豪；我们的客户经常对我们帮助解决问题的速度感到惊讶，特别是来自竞争对手产品的客户。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们相信，只要我们四个人，就能再增长100%。规模小让我们在产品决策上更灵活。我们首先是产品构建者，而不是管理者，我们希望尽可能长时间地保持这种状态。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"构建基于云的协作式电子邮件应用"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"至少从我们的经验来看，比起我们的其他产品，我们之所以花了这么长时间才实现盈利，原因之一是我们所选择的领域非常复杂。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"构建一个协作式电子邮件客户端非常具有挑战性，回报也很高，但在拥有一个最小可用产品之前，你需要处理的事情非常多。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"你需要平衡投入的时间，使之与现有的产品和创新工作保持一致。我们的大多数竞争对手都筹集了数千万到数亿美元，这并不奇怪；这个领域很难做。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"到目前为止，我们的大多数架构决策都经受住了时间和发展的考验。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们早期做出的最疯狂的决定之一是在所有平台上"},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/medium.com\/missive-app\/our-dirty-little-secret-cross-platform-email-client-with-nothing-but-html-aa12fc33bb02?fileGuid=RozyD4CEiWEY8kDH","title":"","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"构建并部署一个JavaScript\/HTML代码库"}]},{"type":"text","text":"。我们知道，以我们的团队规模，不可能在所有主要平台（Windows、Mac、iOS、Android和Web）上使用多个代码库推出电子邮件客户端。用 JavaScript 编写移动电子邮件客户端是我们唯一能参与竞争的方式。我们不仅成功地在手机上创造了速度惊人的体验，令我们惊讶的是，苹果在App Store上多次推荐我们的应用。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"直到今天，我还是相信，这个决定是我们能与拥有大量投资的初创公司进行竞争的主要原因。我们拒绝了三个来自独角兽创业公司的收购要约；他们都对我们在所有平台上使用一个代码库进行交付的技能和经验感兴趣。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"寻找客户"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们最初的用户大多是早期的技术采用者，他们正在寻找一种新的创新型的跨平台电子邮件客户端。我们是通过在不同的技术探索社区（如ProductHunt）上发帖来发现这些客户的。这些早期的独立用户想要的功能与最终真正成为付费客户的中小型企业不同。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"这在一段时间内误导了我们，创建了越来越多并不符合我们愿景的功能。例如，我们开始提供阅读跟踪，因为它是早期采用者最需要的功能之一。许多用户为此升级到付费服务；他们对应用提供的任何协作功能都不感兴趣。这些独立用户的流失速度远远超过真正的团队，而且我们每挣一美元就需要付出更多的客户支持\/服务器资源。在某个时候，我们意识到了这一点，于是决定完全专注于团队。我们抛弃了阅读跟踪，因为它是为了吸引那些需求错位的客户。我们的客户流失率直线下降。这个惨痛的教训告诉我们：要有勇气说不。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们从未在市场营销上花过一分钱；在我们的领域中，获取用户的成本非常高。我们无法与获得风投支持的公司竞争。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"（我们的要价比竞争对手低。）他们的价格更高，而且通常是一年协议。合同到期后，价格会大幅上涨；这时，他们的客户就会寻找替代选项，并找到了我们。我们让风投支持的初创公司用大量的广告来建立市场，而我们则耐心地等待更好、更实惠的产品。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"韧性"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们在大多数决定上都是保守的。为了长期保持这个小型团队的创新工作，我们会节约时间和金钱。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们做出的决定总是会确保我们仍然能够将66%的时间分配到产品上。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们的工作日和五年前没什么不同。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们不设定目标或长期路线图。每天，我们都在做那些似乎可以很好地利用时间的事情，就这样。长期计划令人厌烦，而且对我们这样的团队来说，一直是毫无用处。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"对于Missive过去五年的发展，我们得出的最主要的结论是什么？韧性，我们能从任何困难中恢复过来，以新眼光看待我们的工作，并保持动力。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"我们的故事不是冒险，而是坚持不懈的工作。我相信，我们工作的复合效应可以与风投支持的、全面出击的初创公司相媲美。"},{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"strong"}],"text":"保持韧性"},{"type":"text","text":"。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"原文链接："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/missiveapp.com\/blog\/how-we-built-1m-arr-email-client?fileGuid=RozyD4CEiWEY8kDH"}]}]}