Poligo Booming
Poligo went live in November 2008, and a small group of test users were invited to use the site and provide feedback. Currently we are in the process of refining and implementing what we learnt from our test users.
So far
The most excting result from the initial round of testing is that our projected numbers are now backed up by real sales data. Poligo has performed exactly as anticipated. All six of our initial requirements for Poligo have been met:
- Poligo is up and running. Although we have a long way to go, and a number of improvements to make, we have a functioning product in place that does exactly what we hoped it would;
- Poligo is built on Drupal and so, technically, our system is capable of handling much greater volumes of traffic than we predict. Further, initial testing has shown that a small core of staff can service a very large number of clients (in the range of 1:150 - 1:200).
- Poligo was started for less than price of a new iPod. You probably spend more on coffee in a day than we do in month on fixed costs.
- Poligo has been built and is run in our spare time. All of the team hold down other jobs. As such, Poligo is far from perfect, and has taken longer to build than we hoped, but functions well.
- Feedback on Poligo's quality of service and content and visual design has been outstanding. Initial user feedback has given us lots of ideas on how to make things better and easier for our users — ideas which are being implemented now.
- Poligo's greatest success so far is in terms of its profitability. Our pre-launch projection of gross profit has been verified. We are very happy, indeed.
And then
Poligo's next phase will concentrate on establishing partnerships with key organisations and building our base of customers. Our next goal is to reach 600 users: this magic number will enable Poligo to employ our required team of four full-time staff.