It used to be that when you made a deck it was for sharing on a projector or on a laptop screen only. Part of what we learned along the way is that there’s this huge opportunity to change the way people share this kind of story. We built a prototype and after two weeks of talking to customers it became clear that they wanted to look at a presentation on an iPhone but the idea of sitting on a bus and trying to tap out a deck, that was not something that resonated with customers. We first started on the iPhone, mostly because that’s where the most people were. Talk me through that decision process to launch first on the iPad? “It was a little bit of trial and error. You guys are doing something completely different, you’re launching first on the iPad. Then maybe three years ago they would’ve created a web application. This intrigued me in part because back 10-15 years ago someone would try and compete with PowerPoint by creating a piece of software. We were a little nervous that people were going to freak out about that but we haven’t had a single complaint yet!” We actually don’t have a bullet point feature in the app. So what about my 30 bullet points per slide? Are you telling me that’s not good practice? “I hate to break it to you, but if people are reading your slides they’re not listening to your words. This notion of one idea per slide and consistent look and feel, so that in the end you create a flawlessly beautiful deck.” In addition to that, we’re deploying best practices from presentation experts. You type your words into Haiku Deck and we go out and find beautiful creative commons imagery that match your words. What we wanted to do was bring a fresh set of eyes and new thinking to the experience. I say this from a position of authority only because I was an Office product manager 18 years ago. Not enough has changed since the advent of mobile and tablet computing, or the interent even. What we say was that the whole category for presentations was ripe for an overhaul. It’s a presentation tool for creating beautiful decks. You’re essentially trying replace PowerPoint in some ways but in a much sexier, cooler way right? What is Haiku Deck? “It’s a tool for communicating. I’m really proud of the team, they did an awesome job making an awesome app.” It’s more like qualifying for the Olympics than it is like winning a medal because now we have to live up to the expectations of geting lots of downloads. I feel like I’m interviewing someone after a big baseball game! How does it feel? “It feels good to know that we’re there…I’m a little terrified frankly. Getting featured is a big deal and we just found out that we’re featured on the homepage of New and Noteworthy for iTunes. Specifically in iTunes it’s difficult because the window into the ocean of apps is so small. It’s tough for a number of reasons, not the least of which is getting distribution and getting noticed. How about you share what that is? “So the app business is notoriously tough. So, you just found out something really really cool about your app. If you missed the show, or just prefer text, here are edited highlights from the conversation. We invited Adam Tratt, founder and CEO of Giant Thinkwell, to be on the GeekWire podcast last week to chat about how Haiku Deck is different, where they see the presentation market going, and even how they might stack up against Microsoft’s PowerPoint. They were also one of the few startups that Valley celeb Robert Scoble interviewed while in town. We covered the team of three - Adam Tratt, Kevin Leneway, and Marc Kamaka - and the launch of their iPad-based presentation tool earlier this month. Giant Thinkwell’s latest product, Haiku Deck, has been getting quite a bit of attention over the last few weeks.
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