JCI invited Spidergap® entrepreneurs Alexis Kingsbury and Paddy Mann to present and discuss their lessons learned at a recent evening event attended by over 40 JCI London members and guests. Attendees have said that this was a highly informative and inspirational talk, covering the presenters’ experiences from deciding to set up through to their exciting current activities - tweaking the solution and model to turn a great idea into a great money-making business.

Alexis and Paddy are the creators and owners of Spidergap® - an easy to use online tool for gap analysis (gap analysis works by comparing two views - for example 'where we are at' and 'where we want to be; the results allow you to prioritise actions and measure improvement). They also run a management consultancy as a way of funding their goal of creating scalable products (such as Spidergap) that will support their shared vision of a better quality of life.

Paddy and Alex presenting some of their lessons learned from starting an online business. You can watch a video with highlights from the first 20 minutes.

The presentation, for which we've captured video highlights from the first 20 minutes, used the results of a gap analysis to highlight the stages and major steps of creating, running and optimising their business - in this case comparing how well they believe they're doing against how they were doing in May 2010 when the company was founded.

Paddy and Alex reviewed their own performance as a start-up. You can view these results  or try the assessment . Contact paddy@spidergap.com if you would like to use a similar assessment yourself.

They started the company with a shared vision on what they wanted to achieve, something they believe has served them well. Quoting Paddy, "in the second year we found we were making a lot less money… but we knew what we were trying to do – this was the right tool, we were heading in the right direction".

They then looked at each area in turn, with varying reviews of their performance! As the Spidergraph shows, they have managed to optimise their tools and processes, yet monetizing success is an area where they are performing less well now than they did at the start. They reflected on receiving over 1000 unique visitors every day, yet failing to convert these to paying customers – so far. A solid understanding of the path a customer needs to take, along with statistics highlighting where they need to improve, gives them a base on which to prioritise changes and turn Spidergap into a money making product.

Interested in more? You can…

·         Watch video highlights of the first 20 minutes

·         Check out their gap analysis results

·         Try their assessment

·         Contact paddy@spidergap.com if you would like to use a similar assessment yourself (perhaps changing it to compare your current performance with where you would like to be in 6 months)

·         Contact alex@spidergap.com or paddy@spidergap.com for more information on the talk, for feedback on your own ideas, or for any more information about their product or services.

·         Visit the Spidergap homepage