TapeRecorder: “The Only Thing Essential Is Your Market.”

Describe TapeRecorder in 50 words or less.

TapeRecorder is a service for a mobile applications. What we do is simple yet very powerful, we help you convert your own application users into your application testers. We do that by recording user interaction within your application. Here you can watch sample video that can clarify this a bit.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

Well I do admire dreamwalkers, so there’s that. As for the TR, story starts when I was part of the Cinexio team. We always wanted to have better user engagement in our application. At that time we were experimenting with some tutorials and of course we spent considerable amount of time on their development. Unfortunately, they didn’t work out as intended. Our analytics and other external solutions proved to be insufficient in telling us “why?”. So in my free time I started to work on the alternative solution. When I had something substantial I showed it to the rest of the guys and they liked the idea. We started working on TR and soon after that TR was integral part of our analytics. TR proved to be of great help to us and I asked the guys if I can separate it into another project. They said yes and TR startup was born. So I guess you can say that it was like natural progression.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

I’d like to think of us as one of the main future reasons for a shift in a current paradigm regarding the application testing. For instance developers, they know when something doesn’t work, they have enough tools to tell them that but they mostly have no idea why. We want to change this situation by providing visual proof of what went wrong, where and most importantly why. We also want to provide genuine feedback from your own users because the one you get from professional testers is rarely constructive, mostly emotional and certainly biased. And of course it costs money. Even the analytics, and I know this from personal experience are, in the end, just graphs and numbers that everyone can interpret differently but when you have visual proof of your stats, well then you can have deeper understanding which helps you develop better insight into your own users.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

Somewhat hard to describe a typical day since working in a startup company is anything else but typical. Mostly in a good way. A calm day would start with some number analysis and writing a few reports. This is followed by the team meeting where we quickly go through the results and planned activities (marketing, sales, development, etc.). Since we are a small team each member of the team is prepared to do any of those mentioned activities. This is how we try to follow something that resembles Scrum methodology and principles.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

“We need an instrument to take a measurement”, goes the song. At this moment, my idea of success is to work on something interesting and meaningful which would also help me in my professional development and at the same time to be surrounded by people with same motivation. As long as I see those people around me I know I am on the right track. Not very different from my college years.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the service like you imagined it in the beginning?

I am pretty sure everyone is well aware how startup ecosystem can be a highly volatile place so pivots are normal and sometimes a necessary thing for companies existing in such an environment. Of course, in the beginning, we had our own ideas about the product and our business model but we also wanted to test this before we fully engage the market. This is why we soft launched via Product Hunt. Upon receiving quite a lot of feedback, and based on that feedback, we had to adjust our ideas and our perception of the market around us.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

Short time after our soft launch on Product Hunt we were invited to participate in the Long Weekend event organized by LAUNCHub seed fund. We certainly learned a lot just by participating and the event was challenging and well organized. Our pleasure was even greater when we heard that we won our seed investment. So yeah, right now we are fueled by our seed investment but certainly hope to change that with revenue from customers.

What were the biggest challenges you faced building your startup?

There were two of them. Actually I think these are ongoing challenges for every entrepreneur out there. First one is to find the perfect balance between your own ideas about your product/service and the ones expressed by the market. Second one is how to successfully build your team. Although there are some general guidelines how to approach these challenges I believe there are too many variables involved in each specific case to point out one simple solution.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

Compared to traditional companies startups have somewhat limited resources at their disposal. Consequently you are forced to broaden your definition of resources and how to use them. Creativity plays the biggest part in this process.

In our case we always try to find best possible way to expand our reach while closely watching all the related metrics. I also have to mention that we offer very specific service for very specific clientele which is why we are focused on building a community around our service hoping that we grow as our community grows. During our soft launch we learned how important it is to have close connection with our customers. We also learned that the best customers are the ones that give you something in return, something beside paying for your product. Something from which you can learn, adapt and grow.

What do you look for in team members?

Hard working, adaptable, great communication skills, team player etc. Qualities of a good employee are well known. Beyond the obvious we insist on two things. One must be fully aware of what it means to be working in startup ecosystem and the other thing is additional value. One must contribute with some additional value that goes beyond the skills required by the job.

Why would a talent join your team?

We are just at the beginning of what I hope to be a long journey. Our team is small and horizontally structured and our work is based around some pretty advanced technologies. We are open to flexible working arrangements and we offer equity. These are all, more or less, the usual job perks. The point is, as I already mentioned, if you want to work on something interesting and meaningful which would also help you in your professional development then we could be great environment to achieve just that.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

So much has already happened, it’s really hard for me to point out just one moment. Our soft release via Product Hunt and server troubles that came along with it, the whole Long Weekend event in Sofia, news about investment, setting up the company and all the legal work…

Many memorable moments, each one of them special in his own unique way. To be honest, it feels a lot like a ride on a roller coaster where you can’t stop and appreciate the moment but instead you appreciate the whole ride.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

Although it’s certainly helpful for your product/service to be something new, something innovative and creative it’s not really necessary. The only thing that I find essential is your market. What I mean is you should have “customers” even before you start selling your product. Like some kind of a preorder deal where they subscribe using real credit cards and you charge them nothing until you go out with your beta phase.

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