Small Product Lab: The Winner!

The Small Product Lab is a ten-day course that walks you through the creation, planning, and launching of a small product from scratch.

Over 2100 people went through or are currently going through the challenge. Of the 820 who were part of the inaugural contest (more on that below), 70 launched products on Wednesday, June 24th (the deadline). Yes. It’s legitimately and incredible hard to produce a product in such a short time.

We just finished our first Lab, and our first group of participants were eligible for a ridiculous prize package of software, tools, and resources. A huge thank you goes out to the businesses and individuals who donated to this trove of creative business goodness. Quickly: by continuing to read this post, you agree to not hold Gumroad or any of the following entities responsible for damages caused by jaws dropping to the ground. Here’s the prize package:

• Sketch 3 design software
  
• $200 in Canva Credit and 6 months of Canva for Work
  
• One year of Adobe Creative Cloud
  
• Sidebar sponsored link
  
• 3 months of Death to the Stock Photo Premium
  
• 3 months of ConvertKit
  
• Readymag’s Super Publisher Plan
  
• Hemingway Editor writing software
  
• Scrivener 2
  
• Scapple
  
• Symbolicons Master Bundle
  
• Kelly and Jeff Mindell’s Can’t Crop This Class
  
• Haugen Creative’s Videography Workshop
  
• Shawn Blanc’s Delight is in the Details
  
• Brian Casel’s Design for Conversions
  
• a mention in Justin Jackson’s Build & Launch Podcast
  

The criteria

It wasn’t just about the final product. It’s a team effort. We start the Small Product Lab in groups, because there’s power in community. So in addition to the product itself, we looked into participation on Twitter and Facebook—helping other participants, providing encouragement, completing the daily tasks, etc. And there’s the technicalities of whether participants signed up by June 15th, and whether the product (digital or physical) was published before 6pm PT on Wednesday, June 24th.

To everyone who finished

You are legendary. You created and launched a product in just 10 days. Can you believe it? We can. We always believed in you. For many of you, it was the very first product you ever launched. So what’s next for you?

And now… the winners

Yes. Winners plural. Because we couldn’t just have a single winner and leave it at that. So first we have some honorable mentions. All of these participants contributed heavily to the Facebook group and on Twitter chats, shared their progress, their highs and lows, and encouraged others along the way. And, as you’ll see, they launched some really cool stuff.

• Auto Layout Fundamentals for iOS by Jure Zove
  
• Budget Autopilot: Set a Course for Financial Stability by Ally Monroe
  
• Chaseera, a font by Niram Factory (Tharique Azeez)
  
• Help Is on the Way by Alliah
  
• Imvencible Comic Maker by Afonso Ferreira
  
• Mastermind Meeting Notes Template by Nicole St. Germain
  
• Only Ten Days by Robin Williams (a song about the Small Product Challenge)
  
• Printable Planners for Parents by Roderick Conwi
  
• RECORD & RELEASE: Learn How to Podcast in Just One Day by Christopher Hawkins
  
• The No-Brainer Email Set: Booking and Confirmation Emails for Online Teachers and Tutors by Kerstin Hammes
  
• Vegan Sushi: A Step-by-Step Picture Guide by Acooba Scott
  

And the overall winner… is…

D.J. Coffman!

D.J. created a small product that packs a huge punch. His Comic Drawing Toolkit for Photoshop includes a versatile comic template and six photoshop brushes (the ones he uses for all of his comics). Congrats, D.J.!

In addition to creating something incredibly useful at the intersection of art and tech, D.J.’s strategy toward his launch was something to look to for inspiration. He created a newsletter, with signups collected through a Gumroad landing page. He delivered value by sharing knowledge relating to the Toolkit leading up to his launch via some good tweets and a blog post.

D.J. tried a lot of things in terms of promotion and shared all of his strategies with the Facebook group. D.J., the title is yours. But remember. With great power comes great… prizes. Enjoy your prize package, D.J.!

A huge congratulations and thanks to everyone who went through the Lab with us. We’ll be putting out a Gumroad Collection of all of the products launched from this first round. As for the rest of you, will you join us for the next Lab? We’re launching on July 27th. Get on the waitlist.