Ill give you my product if you let me interview you (New Climbers)

I'm in the beginning stages of creating a climbing product for new climbers and I'm interviewing 150 new climbers (i'm also interviewing advanced climbers as well).

I'm willing to give you my new product when i create it for a trade of 15-20 minutes for a phone interview.

If you don't mind and would like to then here's what what I want you to do:

1. Click on my name (profile) then click the contact Keith link on the left hand side
2. Send me a private message with a good time to contact you (please include your timezone), phone number and your favorite hero (whether fictional or real) :-)

(Quick edit - If you would rather take a simple survey online then You Can Take the Survey HERE )

Thanks I appreciate it

what's the product and when is it coming out?

Its a full on, super high quality (and effective) program (online info product on a memberships site) for new climbers. To basically start from zero to leading 5.10's. I have a lot of ideas, resources and plans, however I want to do 150 interviews to make sure that I produce a product that is incredibly valuable, effective, and and an absolute no-brainer for a new climber to invest in. I also want to make sure that its something people actually WANT and would pay for.. (because it will be a lot of hard work, planning, and time commitment).

When it will be available is an unknown. If I can keep my butt over the fire, stay productive and accomplish my goals then by the end of this season.. September/october ish.. (however I know I want to go through a couple of review processes and clean up anything that I miss or overlook on the first go around). It will definitely be fully available by next spring.

Keith Decker wrote:Its a full on, super high quality (and effective) program (online info product on a memberships site) for new climbers. To basically start from zero to leading 5.10's. I have a lot of ideas, resources and plans, however I want to do 150 interviews to make sure that I produce a product that is incredibly valuable, effective, and and an absolute no-brainer for a new climber to invest in. I also want to make sure that its something people actually WANT and would pay for.. (because it will be a lot of hard work, planning, and time commitment). When it will be available is an unknown. If I can keep my butt over the fire, stay productive and accomplish my goals then by the end of this season.. September/october ish.. (however I know I want to go through a couple of review processes and clean up anything that I miss or overlook on the first go around). It will definitely be fully available by next spring.

Wait...this already exists.

Step one: Go climbing.
Step two: Repeat step one until you can climb 5.10.

Bump the grade to 5.11, and I think you'll have more buyers.

+1 to both Ryans. 5.10 may not be an easy grade, but it`s a skill dependent one, not a strength or training dependant one. Pretty much regardless (tr, sport or trad). How is this better than New Alpinism, the Anderson brothers new thing, etc?

If you need interviwees I'll happily talk with you, god knows I flail on 5.10 trad routes, but if this is an important project, or worse yet, an actual project, you might reconsider.

i am confused what you are offering. the proposed product does not yet exist. Is that correct? Are you offering people a figment of your imagination....

that said, i'm in. maybe it would be helpful to give us an idea of what you want to talk about

I'd be willing to do your interview. However, I don't see the point of the vague product description. There are a multitude of free resources to help improve climbing, most notably(apart from actually climbing) were videos of the pros. When the camera man shows them making a move, looking at their subtle shifts of weight(moving the hips, etc.) were far more helpful than the multitude of videos at the gym. I mean having someone tell me to drop my knee on steep walls didn't help me climb nearly as much as watching adam ondra spider around on an overhang, wonder why he moved 180deg around a handhold to only grab another a foot away and repeat.

Eliot Augusto wrote:I don't see the point of the vague product description.

I'm guessing he wants to do customer development without publicly disclosing his idea for fear of being ripped off.

5.10 what? Gym? Sport?

People need a program for that? I mean, yeah, go for it, you'll be rich soon!

lots of negativity on this forum. if you can find some angle that allows you to get paid for doing what you love to do then you just achieved the American dream. go for it, dude! it beats workin' for the man, which is what the majority of the nay sayers do or will do.

Thanks guys. I always appreciate honesty. I don't care how brutal it is, I can handle it. (Thats me. There is however an art to being honest, giving valid feedback while using tact.. I find using tact gets more results.) Your feedback is appreciated.

I'm considering building the product, and if I decide to pull the trigger and invest all the time and effort into creating it, I'll give you my product for free. I find that 5.10 is a big deal for a lot of people, just because we climb higher grades or much higher grades doesn't stop the fact that they would LOVE to climb 5.10. I say learn all you can in order to climb 5.10 and who knows how much they will improve afterwards.

I want to do as many interviews over the phone as possible, but if people would prefer taking it online they can take a similar survey, they can Take my survey here

Thanks guys

Keith Decker wrote: To basically start from zero to leading 5.10's.

I think a lot of the negativity comes from the fact that most informed people are naturally negative toward products that promise results via some type of shortcut, mostly because 99% of those types of products are garbage. There are very few activities in life where you can put little in and get a quality product out. Most people learn to climb 5.10 by putting in the effort and time to train via the "long route."

I dont think anyone really needs a training plan to climb 5.10 as 5.10 is not particularity difficult (unless you are in the Gunks). Constant practice and a positive attitude is sufficient for almost anyone to learn how to climb 5.10, especially if we are talking about 5.10 sport which is what most new climbers would be focusing on. A new climber in average shape should not have much problem leading solid 5.10 in the gym within six months. With dedicated practice, it is possible to do this in three months.

^^ This. I put in as much effort as I could and it took about 4 months for the gym, and 6 for sport. Now who knows how long it will take for 11s. But I also don't think any special training or product could help me get there. I feel like it will be long, hard and rewarding because of that.

This is good feedback. I ask a lot of new climbers what grade would they feel would be just AWESOME to climb and a super common answer is 5.10 (and for most new climbers, some exceptions, leading 5.10 seems scary, at least until they are ready for it.) So I found tht that is a good beginning goal... what are your thoughts/feelings?

I'm not going to put a product out unless it is awesome (thats more of a personal pride thing :-) . Maybe I should ask new climbers what the highest grade they can ever see themselves red pointing some day.. maybe I might get answers like 5.11 and 5.12... who knows maybe even some 13's..

Obviously results will vary for everyone who goes through my course, but in my head I had planned on giving way more value than they thought they would be getting. For example, we all pretty much know that if you have more energy, strength/endurance, mental clarity and technical ability than a climb requires to be red pointed (assuming climbable conditions), Then you will be able to red point. Every climber has different levels of these four things. I planned on giving them the right information so they could climb 5.11's in each area, so lets say a climber lacks one of those four and is decently advanced in the other three they can still red point almost any 10 they come across. But if they were to apply everything we teach them in the program, they could just as easily do 11's.. Maybe this should be communicated.. maybe not..

Lets face it though that WE ALL (I'm totally including myself) can learn, and learning is only learning unless it changes our behavior, anyway, we all can learn things in climbing that could dramatically change our climbing. If we were exposed to them in the right way and applied them then we could all see huge improvements and results. Thanks again, and thanks to everyone who has taken the survey online!

Also, one more quicky.. Most beginners aren't really thinking about grade chasing yet, they are worried about being safe and just getting up the wall at first.. its not until they get a foundation that they begin grade chasing (grade chasing isn't a bad thing either). So for a true beginner, the grade isn't as important. This is what i find, and i'm always trying to keep my mind open.

Who are you to be teaching others how to climb? Why would anyone trust you?

Ryan Watts wrote: Wait...this already exists. Step one: Go climbing. Step two: Repeat step one until you can climb 5.10.

hahaha

Keith:

I am assuming this is you.

youtube.com/watch?v=E5IK6H4…
Be Present. How to improve your rock climbing and life

Are you sure you shouldn't be in ministry instead of coaching rock climbing?

Based on the video, I'd wager that Keith doesn't give a shit about your opinions of him. As long as his initial customer development works out and he's willing to pivot, his idea has a chance. For all we know, he could be getting hundreds of replies to his request...all from people wanting to break into the 5.9 level. We don't know.

Ryan Watts wrote: Wait...this already exists. Step one: Go climbing. Step two: Repeat step one until you can climb 5.10.

Bwaaahahaha! Yep..I was thinking the same thing...or you could go buy the book. Just for God's sake don't send them into a frickin gym, and tell them they are rock climbing