Interview with Molly McDonald, Screeniac

Written by Allen Stern - November 19, 2006

Screeniac is one of those sites I check out every couple of days. Molly McDonald, the founder, creates video reviews, or screencasts, of Web 2.0 tools. Besides the fact that she has a very relaxing voice, her reviews are also stellar. I thought it would be great to find out more about Screeniac so I gave Molly a ring. Below is the transcript of our discussion.

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Allen: Can you provide a brief background about yourself?
Molly: I'm 28 and I live in Seattle. I started working for my brothers last spring after they called me up and pitched the idea of screeniac to me. I thought it sounded like a great idea so I immediately dove into learning about the software I was going to be using and spent a lot of time getting over the fear of my own voice. Talking is one thing, but recording myself and putting it out there for other people to hear was hard for me at first.

Allen: Where did the idea for Screeniac come from?
Molly

Molly: The idea itself came from my brothers who own and operate VPOP Technologies. I think the reasoning behind it came from the fact that all of these new services were coming out, but there was nothing new about how these companies were making them more user friendly. Sure there are help pages and screenshots, but why did it seem to end there? Screencasts allow you to get your point across in a much more user friendly way.

Allen: Can you share some information about your users?
Molly: We don't ask for information about our users, but most of the feedback left in comments or sent to us via email, are from the owners of the sites I am reviewing. I think the rest of the users are just thankful they don't have to give their personal information out to get a glimpse of what these services are all about. I've already done that for them. They like the fact that they can watch a two or three minute demo and grasp onto what the key features of the service are and then make a decision if it will be useful to them.

Allen: How do you monetize Screeniac?
Molly: The goal is to create help sections for a companies new service. These will be screencasts that are easier to understand, therefore making these services more user friendly and reduce support costs. I only do a quick overview of what services do in my reviews on screeniac. Some companies will, hopefully, pay to have custom screencasts made. We already have done some custom work based on the services featured on screeniac. This does not show up on screeniac.com which will keep the reviews and demos separate from what a paying customer would receive.

Allen: Funded or self-funded?
Molly: Self funded. Screeniac is owned by VPOP Technologies and is intended to produce some revenue in the future.

Allen: What tools do you use to create the screencasts?
Molly: I'd say the most important tool is the software I use, Camtasia Studio. (www.techsmith.com) Other than that all I need is a microphone, a computer, and an internet connection.

Allen: How do you determine which tools you will create screencasts for?
Molly: There is no predefined formula. Just like it says on the about page on screeniac.com, "we provide screencasts of cool things we find on the web". I also have a page for suggestions, just in case one of my users has found something really cool that I may have missed.

Allen: Who are your competitors?
Molly: A competitor to screeniac.com would be any other blog talking about up and coming web technologies. But I haven't really found many blogs using screencasts to describe these technologies. Demodemo.com, however, could be considered a competitor to our goal of producing custom support screencasts for paying customers.

Allen: What's next for Screeniac?
Molly: Hopefully, soon we will have more visitor interaction possibly including a rating system, group discussions, etc... We will also be putting more time into getting traffic to screeniac.com and creating custom screencasts.

Allen: What has been the biggest mistake that you have made since starting Screeniac?
Molly: Not putting the earlier screencasts up in flash format and not communicating with my visitors more.

Allen: What are the top 1-2 things you have learned since starting Screeniac?
Molly: Getting traffic to your site is a lot harder than it seems and people prefer screencasts over screenshots and written help pages. All of the feedback pertaining to screencasts has been positive leading me to believe it is a much needed service.

Allen: What are the most important things that a startup must have to be successful?
Molly: I don't consider screeniac "successful" yet, so I often ask myself that same question. I think you need to communicate with your visitors so you know what they are expecting to get out of your service. Another important key is making sure your service works properly and if it doesn't, fix it quickly. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to review a service that claims to have just "launched" and the sign up process doesn't even work. I always send a quick note letting them know about the problem, and the services that respond and fix the problem, always get a return visit from me. Funding, of course, is probably at the top of the list for most startups as well.

Allen: Which web apps from the ones you have "screeniac'd" do you think hold the most promise?
Molly: I only make screencasts of services that I like so it's hard to make that call myself. I will say that mybloglogs.com has hooked me up with some blogs that I never before would have seen, as well as driven more traffic to my site. For me that is huge.

Allen: Where do you see the Web moving in the next year?
Molly: I think more people will be using web based applications and abandoning "offline" software. More and more people are latching onto things like Google Calendar, Myspace, and Youtube, but they have no idea how to operate software like Excel or Photoshop. Pretty soon, I don't think you'll need to.

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