 In this episode, we talk about how both of us are refocusing on execution. Here's the full topic list: Tyler is trying to focus everyone at LACRM on the top priorities including: Having the devOps team do a bit more normal software engineering work. Offering customer service people a chance to work on marketing and sales. He himself is starting to code again.   Rick explains how LegUp Health is focused on execution and it seems to be working. Rick/JD hired a sales coach. Rick talks about what he learned from the book Amp It Up. Tyler poorly explains why LACRM is going to work on a feature that isn't the top priority. We talk a bit about how to optimize a support team Rick is starting to think about how he can contribute to marketing.

In this episode, we talk about how both of us are refocusing on execution. Here's the full topic list:<ul> <li>Tyler is trying to focus everyone at LACRM on the top priorities including:<ul> <li>Having the devOps team do a bit more normal software engineering work.</li> <li>Offering customer service people a chance to work on marketing and sales.</li> <li>He himself is starting to code again.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Rick explains how LegUp Health is focused on execution and it seems to be working.</li> <li>Rick/JD hired a sales coach.</li> <li>Rick talks about what he learned from the book Amp It Up.</li> <li>Tyler poorly explains why LACRM is going to work on a feature that isn't the top priority.</li> <li>We talk a bit about how to optimize a support team</li> <li>Rick is starting to think about how he can contribute to marketing.</li></ul>

Execution eats strategy for breakfast

In this episode, we talk about Rick’s early signs of success getting out a sales rut, and much more.Full topic list: Rick gives an update on how he and JD are getting out of a sales rut. Rick is busy and has absolutely zero free time. Tyler talks about how he's considering web forms and automations as possible features for LACRM. We discuss an alternative approach to freemium. We brainstorm how to use the "engineering as marketing" approach for LegUp Health, but don't really get anywhere.

In this episode, we talk about Rick’s early signs of success getting out a sales rut, and much more.Full topic list:<ul> <li>Rick gives an update on how he and JD are getting out of a sales rut.</li> <li>Rick is busy and has absolutely zero free time.</li> <li>Tyler talks about how he's considering web forms and automations as possible features for LACRM.</li> <li>We discuss an alternative approach to freemium.</li> <li>We brainstorm how to use the "engineering as marketing" approach for LegUp Health, but don't really get anywhere.</li></ul>

Getting unstuck

In this episode, we talk about how much optimization should be done before you have demand generation figured out.Here's the full topic list: Rick is back from parental leave, and he has things to say about what it's like to take care of two kids at once. We discuss what our perfect days look like. Tyler talks about how LACRM had a bit of crunch mode, and how they stayed calm. Rick talks about a sales slump, and what he's doing about it. We talk about how LegUp Health migrated from no-code to full-code. Tyler gives an update on LACRM's growth the first half of the year. We talk about switching from Google Analytics to Fathom. LACRM is considering how to price a feature that has some extra infrastructure costs. Tyler is reconsidering a feature he's been talking about for years. Literally. Years.

In this episode, we talk about how much optimization should be done before you have demand generation figured out.Here's the full topic list:<ul> <li>Rick is back from parental leave, and he has things to say about what it's like to take care of two kids at once.</li> <li>We discuss what our perfect days look like.</li> <li>Tyler talks about how LACRM had a bit of crunch mode, and how they stayed calm.</li> <li>Rick talks about a sales slump, and what he's doing about it.</li> <li>We talk about how LegUp Health migrated from no-code to full-code.</li> <li>Tyler gives an update on LACRM's growth the first half of the year.</li> <li>We talk about switching from Google Analytics to Fathom.</li> <li>LACRM is considering how to price a feature that has some extra infrastructure costs.</li> <li>Tyler is reconsidering a feature he's been talking about for years. Literally. Years.</li></ul>

You can't optimize nothing

In this episode, we talk about what Less Annoying CRM is doing to handle sales tax compliance worldwide.Here are all the topics: Tyler has officially signed the partnership agreement with Rick and LegUp Health! Rick is wrapping up a position/brand/story project LegUp Health has updated their mission and core values Things are a bit hectic at LACRM Tyler is considering merging his personal blog back into the LACRM blog LACRM is probably switching from Stripe to Paddle Rick shares what he's learned servicing the early LegUp Health group insurance clients We talk a bit about ChatGPT and how it can be useful for no-code/low-code apps Tyler rants about how we talk about priorities

In this episode, we talk about what Less Annoying CRM is doing to handle sales tax compliance worldwide.Here are all the topics:<ul> <li>Tyler has officially signed the partnership agreement with Rick and LegUp Health!</li> <li>Rick is wrapping up a position/brand/story project</li> <li>LegUp Health has updated their mission and core values</li> <li>Things are a bit hectic at LACRM</li> <li>Tyler is considering merging his personal blog back into the LACRM blog</li> <li>LACRM is probably switching from Stripe to Paddle</li> <li>Rick shares what he's learned servicing the early LegUp Health group insurance clients</li> <li>We talk a bit about ChatGPT and how it can be useful for no-code/low-code apps</li> <li>Tyler rants about how we talk about priorities</li></ul>

Handling sales tax as a SaaS

In this episode, we talk about Less Annoying CRM’s producthunt launch, and a lot more.Here's the full topic list: Tyler takes a look back at LACRM's growth history, and explains their new approach to growth. Tyler explains how the recent Product Hunt launch went. Rick has cleared a lot off his LegUp Health plate and is starting to focus on new types of work. LegUp Health had its first partner meeting. April was a record month for LegUp Health. LACRM has their designer back with more hours than ever. Rick is looking to target CPAs as customers. The LACRM coding fellows have started. We discuss how to deal with the low points of being an entrepreneur.

In this episode, we talk about Less Annoying CRM’s producthunt launch, and a lot more.Here's the full topic list:<ul> <li>Tyler takes a look back at LACRM's growth history, and explains their new approach to growth.</li> <li>Tyler explains how the recent Product Hunt launch went.</li> <li>Rick has cleared a lot off his LegUp Health plate and is starting to focus on new types of work.</li> <li>LegUp Health had its first partner meeting.</li> <li>April was a record month for LegUp Health.</li> <li>LACRM has their designer back with more hours than ever.</li> <li>Rick is looking to target CPAs as customers.</li> <li>The LACRM coding fellows have started.</li> <li>We discuss how to deal with the low points of being an entrepreneur.</li></ul>

Recapping the Product Hunt launch

In this episode, we discuss some changes to LegUp Health, the end of Tyler's sabbatical, and more.Topics in this episode: Tyler is back from his sabbatical LACRM is getting ready to launch a major redesign Rick gives updates on how the LegUp Health/Benefits plan has changed Because of the changes, we renegotiated Tyler's compensation and involvement in the company Tyler talks about the difference building a product that customers don't expect to use regularly vs and every-day productivity tool. Rick gives an update on working with a marketing coach We talk about Seeyafuture.me 

In this episode, we discuss some changes to LegUp Health, the end of Tyler's sabbatical, and more.Topics in this episode:<ul> <li>Tyler is back from his sabbatical</li> <li>LACRM is getting ready to launch a major redesign</li> <li>Rick gives updates on how the LegUp Health/Benefits plan has changed</li> <li>Because of the changes, we renegotiated Tyler's compensation and involvement in the company</li> <li>Tyler talks about the difference building a product that customers don't expect to use regularly vs and every-day productivity tool.</li> <li>Rick gives an update on working with a marketing coach</li> <li>We talk about <a href="https://seeyafuture.me/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seeyafuture.me</a> </li></ul>

Pivots and renegotiations

Come on, you know what we're talking about. It's all anyone is talking about. Sorry, we don't make the rules.

Come on, you know what we're talking about. It's all anyone is talking about. Sorry, we don't make the rules.

Yet another podcast about AI

In this episode, we talk about the very early stages of building LegUp Benefits, and a bunch of other stuff. Topics: Rick has hired a marketing coach for LegUp, and we discuss how to get the team talking to each other more instead of having everything flow through Rick. Tyler gives some reflections on leaving LACRM for 6 weeks, and the early days of his sabbatical. Tyler describes a new positioning idea at LACRM. We discuss the early work on LegUp Benefits including customer validation and learning a new tech stack. Rick gives an update on his new group insurance efforts. We talk about Silicon Valley Bank even though we don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said.

In this episode, we talk about the very early stages of building LegUp Benefits, and a bunch of other stuff. Topics:<ul> <li>Rick has hired a marketing coach for LegUp, and we discuss how to get the team talking to each other more instead of having everything flow through Rick.</li> <li>Tyler gives some reflections on leaving LACRM for 6 weeks, and the early days of his sabbatical.</li> <li>Tyler describes a new positioning idea at LACRM.</li> <li>We discuss the early work on LegUp Benefits including customer validation and learning a new tech stack.</li> <li>Rick gives an update on his new group insurance efforts.</li> <li>We talk about Silicon Valley Bank even though we don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said.</li></ul>

An inside look at building a new product

 In this episode, we talk about how bootstrappers can win against companies that have raised massive amounts of money.Full topic list: We give an update on the compensation negotiations we discussed last episode. We've agreed on terms for Tyler to work for Rick on LegUp Benefits! Rick had his first annual offsite and shares a ton of great learnings. LACRM had a great month in February. There was absolutely nothing to learn from it. LACRM's major redesign is getting closer. Rick has streamlined bookkeeping and other financial tasks to save time. Tyler is thinking through when it makes sense to do custom work for a large client. We tackle a listener question: How do bootstrapped companies compete with funded competitors.

In this episode, we talk about how bootstrappers can win against companies that have raised massive amounts of money.Full topic list:<ul> <li>We give an update on the compensation negotiations we discussed last episode. We've agreed on terms for Tyler to work for Rick on LegUp Benefits!</li> <li>Rick had his first annual offsite and shares a ton of great learnings.</li> <li>LACRM had a great month in February. There was absolutely nothing to learn from it.</li> <li>LACRM's major redesign is getting closer.</li> <li>Rick has streamlined bookkeeping and other financial tasks to save time.</li> <li>Tyler is thinking through when it makes sense to do custom work for a large client.</li> <li>We tackle a listener question: How do bootstrapped companies compete with funded competitors.</li></ul>

How to win against well-funded competitors

If you’ve been following along, you know that Tyler is about to temporarily join Rick’s startup to help build their new app. In this episode, we talk about the compensation proposal Rick just came up with. Full topic list: Rick already has a new group insurance client after deciding to give that a shot in the last episode. JD is visiting Rick in Utah next weekend. Tyler is having success with delegation, and finds himself with a lot of unstructured time on his hands... ...and Tyler is having to re-learn what to do with unstructured time. LegUp Health got hit with a bunch of spam contact forms. Tyler is planning the new office layout for LACRM. Apparently design debt is a thing. Tyler is having trouble getting started on the LegUp Benefits project. Side projects are hard. Rick brings up Youtube Premium, Quora, and NotionAI Big topic: We discuss the compensation proposal that Rick just sent Tyler.

If you’ve been following along, you know that Tyler is about to temporarily join Rick’s startup to help build their new app. In this episode, we talk about the compensation proposal Rick just came up with. Full topic list:<ul> <li>Rick already has a new group insurance client after deciding to give that a shot in the last episode.</li> <li>JD is visiting Rick in Utah next weekend.</li> <li>Tyler is having success with delegation, and finds himself with a lot of unstructured time on his hands...</li> <li>...and Tyler is having to re-learn what to do with unstructured time.</li> <li>LegUp Health got hit with a bunch of spam contact forms.</li> <li>Tyler is planning the new office layout for LACRM.</li> <li>Apparently design debt is a thing.</li> <li>Tyler is having trouble getting started on the LegUp Benefits project. Side projects are hard.</li> <li>Rick brings up Youtube Premium, Quora, and NotionAI</li> <li>Big topic: We discuss the compensation proposal that Rick just sent Tyler.</li></ul>

The one where we negotiate Tyler’s compensation

Two founders talk about how to build software businesses that are meant to last. Each episode includes a deep dive into a different topic related to starting, growing, and sustaining a healthy business.

I notice most podcast have a scripts where the host goes on and on. What I love about this Podcast is the dialogue and how I feel almost included as Tyler and Rick work through the topics. This is a great podcast if you like to get into the mind of a young, practical CEO who&#39;s not your average software tyrant!

Unique approach!

I started listening to podcasts with Indiehackers. Startup to Last has a different forma. But it has the same level of quality and thought provoking discussions. Keep up the good work Rick and Tyler!

Quality software business inspiration

Startup to Last

In this short bonus episode, we talk a bit about why we started this podcast and what we hope our listeners can get out of it

Why we started this podcast

How to improve a customer referral program

It's impossible to cover the entirety of this topic in one episode, but there were some key takeaways that should apply to pretty much any startup: A financial model is something that takes inputs (e.g. historic data and assumptions about the future) and gives outputs (e.g. how much money might you make this year). It can be as simple as some notes on a piece of paper, or it can be much more complicated. There's no standard model that everyone should follow. The key is to figure out what questions you have, and build a model that will answer them. In some cases you'll want more than one model. For example, you might make a specific model to help predict what your customer acquisition could look like in the future, and then use the output of that as an input of a higher-level model predicting what your overall profit might be. The complexity of your model probably depends on the complexity of your business. Don't compare yourself with other companies. Having said that, you might find the process of building a model helpful as a way to force you to think through your business. If you're trying to raise money, your model needs to communicate information to them which you might not otherwise be interested in. Things can get more complicated at that point. Understanding all of the above, building a model is just a matter of opening up Excel, entering the inputs, and doing your best to generate reasonable estimates for the outputs. Each model is different, so it's hard to be more specific than that.

It's impossible to cover the entirety of this topic in one episode, but there were some key takeaways that should apply to pretty much any startup:<ul> <li>A financial model is something that takes inputs (e.g. historic data and assumptions about the future) and gives outputs (e.g. how much money might you make this year). It can be as simple as some notes on a piece of paper, or it can be much more complicated.</li> <li>There's no standard model that everyone should follow. The key is to figure out what questions you have, and build a model that will answer them.</li> <li>In some cases you'll want more than one model. For example, you might make a specific model to help predict what your customer acquisition could look like in the future, and then use the output of that as an input of a higher-level model predicting what your overall profit might be.</li> <li>The complexity of your model probably depends on the complexity of your business. Don't compare yourself with other companies.</li> <li>Having said that, you might find the process of building a model helpful as a way to force you to think through your business.</li> <li>If you're trying to raise money, your model needs to communicate information to them which you might not otherwise be interested in. Things can get more complicated at that point.</li> <li>Understanding all of the above, building a model is just a matter of opening up Excel, entering the inputs, and doing your best to generate reasonable estimates for the outputs. Each model is different, so it's hard to be more specific than that.</li></ul>

Building a simple financial model

The role of a CEO

Here are some takeaways from this week's episode: Marketing can be broken down into two categories: (1) bringing new people into the top of your funnel and (2) optimizing the conversion rates within your funnel. A lot of technical marketing projects are more about the second than the first. This can be helpful, but there's a ceiling to how effective marketing can be within increasing the top of the funnel. Increasing the top of the funnel is all about figuring out where your potential customers are, meeting them there, and telling your story. This can be done via inbound marketing (content creation, SEO, etc.) and outbound marketing (advertising, trade shows, participating in online communities, etc.) In order to know where to target your outreach, it's important to understand your existing customers. Where did they come from? What was their buying journey. This can be done by having one-on-one conversations with them, but it can also be automated by having analytics on your website, asking questions when someone signs up, etc. Because Tyler is interested in technical projects that help with marketing, a good approach is to build technology to help collect the right information about existing leads/customers so that the non-technical members of his team can understand where to focus their efforts to drive more people into the top of the funnel.

Here are some takeaways from this week's episode:<ul> <li>Marketing can be broken down into two categories: (1) bringing new people into the top of your funnel and (2) optimizing the conversion rates within your funnel. A lot of technical marketing projects are more about the second than the first. This can be helpful, but there's a ceiling to how effective marketing can be within increasing the top of the funnel.</li> <li>Increasing the top of the funnel is all about figuring out where your potential customers are, meeting them there, and telling your story. This can be done via inbound marketing (content creation, SEO, etc.) and outbound marketing (advertising, trade shows, participating in online communities, etc.)</li> <li>In order to know where to target your outreach, it's important to understand your existing customers. Where did they come from? What was their buying journey. This can be done by having one-on-one conversations with them, but it can also be automated by having analytics on your website, asking questions when someone signs up, etc.</li> <li>Because Tyler is interested in technical projects that help with marketing, a good approach is to build technology to help collect the right information about existing leads/customers so that the non-technical members of his team can understand where to focus their efforts to drive more people into the top of the funnel.</li></ul>

What programmers can do to help with marketing

How to know when a product is minimally viable

We considered having this conversation privately, but since almost every business should have a conversation like this, we decided to record it in the hopes that the discussion is helpful for others. As expected, this ended up being a bigger topic than we could cover in a single episode, but we did start narrowing down on some ideas and constraints around the idea of starting up to last: Traditional entrepreneurship is already set up well if your goal is to become as rich as possible. Startup to last companies should probably have some other motivation such as enjoying the work, feeling fulfilled by the impact the company has, etc. Despite needing to be motivated by something other than money, sustainability is key to survival, and that means that every business needs to at least make enough money to make it worthwhile for the founders. That's the first priority, and then once that "enough" number has been reached, it's time to start focusing on non-monetary goals. It's only possible to run a company this way if all shareholders are on board. It's not hard to get founders, employees, and customers aligned. It's harder, but maybe not impossible, to get investors on the same page (venture capitalists specifically are unlikely to want this approach). This is why bootstrapping is common among these types of companies. Because the goals of startup to last companies are different so are the rules. We didn't get too deep into how this might impact how you operate the business, but there's a lot to discuss there. It's helpful to think about the company as a place you'll work for the rest of your professional life (even if that's not true). That will help you prioritize sustainability, enjoyment and fulfillment. Companies that expect to exit soon can justify burnout-level work environments because they know it doesn't have to last.

We considered having this conversation privately, but since almost every business should have a conversation like this, we decided to record it in the hopes that the discussion is helpful for others. As expected, this ended up being a bigger topic than we could cover in a single episode, but we did start narrowing down on some ideas and constraints around the idea of starting up to last:<ul> <li>Traditional entrepreneurship is already set up well if your goal is to become as rich as possible. Startup to last companies should probably have some other motivation such as enjoying the work, feeling fulfilled by the impact the company has, etc.</li> <li>Despite needing to be motivated by something other than money, sustainability is key to survival, and that means that every business needs to at least make enough money to make it worthwhile for the founders. That's the first priority, and then once that "enough" number has been reached, it's time to start focusing on non-monetary goals.</li> <li>It's only possible to run a company this way if all shareholders are on board. It's not hard to get founders, employees, and customers aligned. It's harder, but maybe not impossible, to get investors on the same page (venture capitalists specifically are unlikely to want this approach). This is why bootstrapping is common among these types of companies.</li> <li>Because the goals of startup to last companies are different so are the rules. We didn't get too deep into how this might impact how you operate the business, but there's a lot to discuss there.</li> <li>It's helpful to think about the company as a place you'll work for the rest of your professional life (even if that's not true). That will help you prioritize sustainability, enjoyment and fulfillment. Companies that expect to exit soon can justify burnout-level work environments because they know it doesn't have to last.</li></ul>

What it means to startup to last

How to balance building new features vs. maintaining existing ones

Here are some takeaways from this week's conversation: It's easier to optimize interactions with existing customers rather than new customers who are onboarding because with new customers, every change is more likely to mess up your onboarding funnel. Existing customers have more isolated support events. Start by collecting data from the support team on what they're spending their time on. Iterate on that to find insights about why support interactions can be low value. Identify the types of customers who aren't going to be a good fit in a self-service way (e.g. a form when they schedule a phone call) so you don't waste both sides' time with a call that doesn't need to happen. Put more information on your marketing site to let people disqualify themselves before signing up for a trial. This is a big topic. All you can do is collect information, form a hypothesis, and test it. Do that over and over forever.

Here are some takeaways from this week's conversation:<ul> <li>It's easier to optimize interactions with existing customers rather than new customers who are onboarding because with new customers, every change is more likely to mess up your onboarding funnel. Existing customers have more isolated support events.</li> <li>Start by collecting data from the support team on what they're spending their time on. Iterate on that to find insights about why support interactions can be low value.</li> <li>Identify the types of customers who aren't going to be a good fit in a self-service way (e.g. a form when they schedule a phone call) so you don't waste both sides' time with a call that doesn't need to happen.</li> <li>Put more information on your marketing site to let people disqualify themselves before signing up for a trial.</li> <li>This is a big topic. All you can do is collect information, form a hypothesis, and test it. Do that over and over forever.</li></ul>

Optimizing a customer service team

How an employee handbook can help with recruiting

How to recruit interns

Planning a marketing site redesign

Takeaways from our conversation: Starting a new job is stressful, and one of the main goals should be to make the new employee feel safe. One way to do this is to set expectations are that (a) small enough to be achieved over a short time period and (b) not related to actual job performance at first.In the case of LACRM, expectations will be set around trust. The goal of the first month is for the new hire to feel safe and trust the rest of the team and the company. This way they know they don't need to worry about their job performance during training.  It's valuable to give new hires a lot of context about the business (e.g. the history, who you serve, why, etc.) but this can be hard for employees to retain because they're learning so much at once. One way to help with this is to build everything into the same narrative.In the case of LACRM, because "trust" is the theme of onboarding, it might make sense to center all the other company lessons around that same concept. Instead of teaching new hires about 20 random concepts, explain how each of those concepts leads to trust.  Most importantly: explain to the new hire why you're doing things the way you are. Just giving them info won't be helpful (and might actually be hurtful) if you don't contextualize it. This should be a topic for the first day, or maybe even before the first day.In the case of LACRM, focusing on trust might actually give new hires a reason to distrust the company if it's not explained why trust is so important (they might wonder what happened in the past to cause trust to be such an emphasis). 

Takeaways from our conversation:<ul> <li>Starting a new job is stressful, and one of the main goals should be to make the new employee feel safe. One way to do this is to set expectations are that (a) small enough to be achieved over a short time period and (b) not related to actual job performance at first.<ul><li>In the case of LACRM, expectations will be set around trust. The goal of the first month is for the new hire to feel safe and trust the rest of the team and the company. This way they know they don't need to worry about their job performance during training.</li></ul> </li> <li>It's valuable to give new hires a lot of context about the business (e.g. the history, who you serve, why, etc.) but this can be hard for employees to retain because they're learning so much at once. One way to help with this is to build everything into the same narrative.<ul><li>In the case of LACRM, because "trust" is the theme of onboarding, it might make sense to center all the other company lessons around that same concept. Instead of teaching new hires about 20 random concepts, explain how each of those concepts leads to trust.</li></ul> </li> <li>Most importantly: explain to the new hire why you're doing things the way you are. Just giving them info won't be helpful (and might actually be hurtful) if you don't contextualize it. This should be a topic for the first day, or maybe even before the first day.<ul><li>In the case of LACRM, focusing on trust might actually give new hires a reason to distrust the company if it's not explained why trust is so important (they might wonder what happened in the past to cause trust to be such an emphasis).</li></ul> </li></ul>

Onboarding a new hire

First off, sorry about the terrible audio this week. This is probably related to the fact that Tyler is recording from his apartment instead of his office due to COVID-19. We'll get this figured out before next week.Here are some takeaways from this episode: There are three possible audiences for a startup manifesto: customers, founders, and employees The customer-facing version is very different from the founder/employee version because it should focus more on the problem that your company is trying to solve. Write that type of manifesto can be a great way to get people interested in your company before you have a product. It's mostly a marketing play. The founder version is mostly useful as a way of keeping you focused on your core values which makes it easier to make decisions. It is especially helpful for knowing what not to do. When you hire your first employee, that's probably a good time to take an informal founder version and write it up in more detail so that you can share your vision with employees. Because Rick isn't primarily focused on marketing or internal culture right now, he's going to wait to spend time on a manifesto. Instead, he's going to write a press release about what his product might look like in a few months. This will help unblock his product work, but it's not really the same as writing a manifesto.

First off, sorry about the terrible audio this week. This is probably related to the fact that Tyler is recording from his apartment instead of his office due to COVID-19. We'll get this figured out before next week.Here are some takeaways from this episode:<ul> <li>There are three possible audiences for a startup manifesto: customers, founders, and employees</li> <li>The customer-facing version is very different from the founder/employee version because it should focus more on the problem that your company is trying to solve. Write that type of manifesto can be a great way to get people interested in your company before you have a product. It's mostly a marketing play.</li> <li>The founder version is mostly useful as a way of keeping you focused on your core values which makes it easier to make decisions. It is especially helpful for knowing what not to do.</li> <li>When you hire your first employee, that's probably a good time to take an informal founder version and write it up in more detail so that you can share your vision with employees.</li> <li>Because Rick isn't primarily focused on marketing or internal culture right now, he's going to wait to spend time on a manifesto. Instead, he's going to write a press release about what his product might look like in a few months. This will help unblock his product work, but it's not really the same as writing a manifesto.</li></ul>

Writing a startup manifesto

Tyler King

Interview with Tyler King, co-founder and CEO of Less Annoying CRM

This week, we wanted to take some time to reflect on what happened in 2019 and set goals for 2020. We created a series of questions that Rick and Tyler both had to answer. Here are the answers... What happened in 2019? In our personal lives Rick: Took 7-8 months of to figure out who he is and what his goals are, especially with his new marriage. Tyler: Figured out a sustainable diet   In our professional lives Rick Figured out what he wants to do after leaving his previous job of 11+ years Started LegUp Ventures which is a holding company for his various ventures:  GroupCurrent - Outsourced member management Startup to Last - This podcast  RickLinquist.com - Rick's personal writing  LegUp Health - Reducing healthcare-related anxiety for people without job-based insurance     Tyler Started the year working on a new project called Sparse which was abandoned in February The rest of the year was spent on a major redesign of Less Annoying CRM which included two major new features: Custom fields and Outlook Calendar Sync This was the best year for the LACRM product team     Biggest accomplishment Tyler: Finally built a real product team at LACRM Rick: GroupCurrent turned around the business model of their first client and got it to sustainability   Biggest disappointment Tyler: Sales in the second half of the year were below expectations Rick: Wasn't thoughtful enough about getting his wife's buy-in when starting his new ventures     Looking forward to 2020 Personal goals Rick: Get to a point where he and his wife feel comfortable having kids Tyler: Get a dog   High-level professional goals / the theme of 2020 Tyler: Continue the product teams momentum and establish a rhythm of regularly shipping updates to LACRM Rick: Calm growth. His life is calm right now, and as his ventures pick up, he doesn't want that to change.   Biggest worries / what's keeping you up at night? Rick: Making enough personal income to be able to sustain his ventures Tyler: Growth at LACRM needs to pick up eventually   Three specific goals for 2020 Tyler Exercise moderately three times per week Write code once per week By the end of the year, average 50 paying users per month joining LACRM through the referral channel   Rick Play more sports. He has an exercise routine, but it's boring and doesn't involve games or play Be ready to start trying to having kids Get distribution revenue from LegUp Ventures to $10k/month   Shared goal: Get this podcast to 250 subscribers   Make a prediction for 2020 Tyler: Starting a software business without venture capital will become much more mainstream over the next year Rick: An all-in-one leader will emerge in the no-code industry   What do you want to read in 2020? Rick: Too many to name, but wants to read a lot about emotions. Tyler: The unicorn project and Obviously Awesome     

This week, we wanted to take some time to reflect on what happened in 2019 and set goals for 2020. We created a series of questions that Rick and Tyler both had to answer. Here are the answers...<ul> <li>What happened in 2019?<ul> <li>In our personal lives<ul> <li>Rick: Took 7-8 months of to figure out who he is and what his goals are, especially with his new marriage.</li> <li>Tyler: Figured out a sustainable diet</li> </ul> </li> <li>In our professional lives<ul> <li>Rick<ul> <li>Figured out what he wants to do after leaving his previous job of 11+ years</li> <li>Started <a href="https://www.legupventures.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LegUp Ventures</a> which is a holding company for his various ventures:<ul> <li> <a href="https://www.groupcurrent.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GroupCurrent</a> - Outsourced member management</li> <li>Startup to Last - This podcast</li> <li> <a href="https://www.ricklindquist.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RickLinquist.com</a> - Rick's personal writing</li> <li> <a href="https://health.legupventures.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LegUp Health</a> - Reducing healthcare-related anxiety for people without job-based insurance</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li>Tyler<ul> <li>Started the year working on a new project called Sparse which was abandoned in February</li> <li>The rest of the year was spent on a major redesign of <a href="https://www.lessannoyingcrm.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Less Annoying CRM</a> which included two major new features: Custom fields and Outlook Calendar Sync</li> <li>This was the best year for the LACRM product team</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li>Biggest accomplishment<ul> <li>Tyler: Finally built a real product team at LACRM</li> <li>Rick: GroupCurrent turned around the business model of their first client and got it to sustainability</li> </ul> </li> <li>Biggest disappointment<ul> <li>Tyler: Sales in the second half of the year were below expectations</li> <li>Rick: Wasn't thoughtful enough about getting his wife's buy-in when starting his new ventures</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li>Looking forward to 2020<ul> <li>Personal goals<ul> <li>Rick: Get to a point where he and his wife feel comfortable having kids</li> <li>Tyler: Get a dog</li> </ul> </li> <li>High-level professional goals / the theme of 2020<ul> <li>Tyler: Continue the product teams momentum and establish a rhythm of regularly shipping updates to LACRM</li> <li>Rick: Calm growth. His life is calm right now, and as his ventures pick up, he doesn't want that to change.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Biggest worries / what's keeping you up at night?<ul> <li>Rick: Making enough personal income to be able to sustain his ventures</li> <li>Tyler: Growth at LACRM needs to pick up eventually</li> </ul> </li> <li>Three specific goals for 2020<ul> <li>Tyler<ul> <li>Exercise moderately three times per week</li> <li>Write code once per week</li> <li>By the end of the year, average 50 paying users per month joining LACRM through the referral channel</li> </ul> </li> <li>Rick<ul> <li>Play more sports. He has an exercise routine, but it's boring and doesn't involve games or play</li> <li>Be ready to start trying to having kids</li> <li>Get distribution revenue from LegUp Ventures to $10k/month</li> </ul> </li> <li>Shared goal: Get this podcast to 250 subscribers</li> </ul> </li> <li>Make a prediction for 2020<ul> <li>Tyler: Starting a software business without venture capital will become much more mainstream over the next year</li> <li>Rick: An all-in-one leader will emerge in the no-code industry</li> </ul> </li> <li>What do you want to read in 2020?<ul> <li>Rick: Too many to name, but wants to read a lot about emotions.</li> <li>Tyler: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unicorn-Project-Developers-Disruption-Thriving-ebook/dp/B07QT9QR41" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The unicorn project</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers-ebook/dp/B07PPW5V9C/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Obviously Awesome</a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li></ul>

Looking back at 2019 and forward to 2020

Takeaways from our conversation: In the early days, a founder can easily offer great customer service just because they're an expert on the topic and are empowered to solve every problem. Rick doesn't need to worry about this at first. For a low ARPU (average revenue per user) product, it's best to think of support reps as "coaches" so they can be more proactive and replace other functions such as sales and customer success. It's not viable to have separate teams for each function at a low price point, nor is it desirable. Rick's first move should be to do all the coaching himself until he has it systematized. Some of it can be automated with things like tutorial videos, but some of it will need to be manual. Once he knows exactly how to manually provide the best coaching and he has enough customers that he can't handle any more, it will be time to start building a team. Offering great customer service for a low ARPU product will hurt margins. This might mean that certain investors aren't interested in the business, but it's still possible to be profitable enough to bootstrap.

Takeaways from our conversation:<ul> <li>In the early days, a founder can easily offer great customer service just because they're an expert on the topic and are empowered to solve every problem. Rick doesn't need to worry about this at first.</li> <li>For a low ARPU (average revenue per user) product, it's best to think of support reps as "coaches" so they can be more proactive and replace other functions such as sales and customer success. It's not viable to have separate teams for each function at a low price point, nor is it desirable.</li> <li>Rick's first move should be to do all the coaching himself until he has it systematized. Some of it can be automated with things like tutorial videos, but some of it will need to be manual.</li> <li>Once he knows exactly how to manually provide the best coaching and he has enough customers that he can't handle any more, it will be time to start building a team.</li> <li>Offering great customer service for a low ARPU product will hurt margins. This might mean that certain investors aren't interested in the business, but it's still possible to be profitable enough to bootstrap.</li></ul>

Delivering awesome customer service for a low ARPU product

Rick Lindquist

Interview with Rick Lindquist, founder of LegUp Ventures

How to teach yourself to code a web-based application

Rick's new business is ramping up, and he's starting to think about how he's going to fund it until it's profitable. He definitely doesn't want to give up any equity at this early stage, so he needs to consider non-dilutive options. Here are some things we cover: There are a few main ways to fund a new business without giving up equity: Consult or work a normal job to make money and funnel that into your business Enter pitch contests and apply for grants Take on debt Make enough revenue directly from your customers to pay your expenses (this is ultimately what every bootstrapped company needs to do, it's just a matter of how long it takes to get there)   It's helpful to understand the different capital needs for different parts of your business. Some things might be risky and uncertain. Others might be proven. Rather than thinking "I need $x to run the whole business", break it down by expense type because some might be a better fit for debt (e.g. scaling proven customer acquisition channels) whereas others might need other types of funding (e.g. paying employee salaries). For each type of funding, consider how much you'll get out of it relative to the time it takes to get the money. The most obvious thing you get out is the funding, but there might be other benefits that are harder to measure. For example: Winning a startup pitch could help you earn credibility for things like raising money from investors or finding early employees. Making money directly from customers might be harder at first, but the effort you're putting in is moving you in the right direction vs. something like consulting which is probably unrelated to your startup's business model.    This episode of the Out of Beta Podcast discusses ways to think about raising debt

Rick's new business is ramping up, and he's starting to think about how he's going to fund it until it's profitable. He definitely doesn't want to give up any equity at this early stage, so he needs to consider non-dilutive options. Here are some things we cover:<ul> <li>There are a few main ways to fund a new business without giving up equity:<ul> <li>Consult or work a normal job to make money and funnel that into your business</li> <li>Enter pitch contests and apply for grants</li> <li>Take on debt</li> <li>Make enough revenue directly from your customers to pay your expenses (this is ultimately what every bootstrapped company needs to do, it's just a matter of how long it takes to get there)</li> </ul> </li> <li>It's helpful to understand the different capital needs for different parts of your business. Some things might be risky and uncertain. Others might be proven. Rather than thinking "I need $x to run the whole business", break it down by expense type because some might be a better fit for debt (e.g. scaling proven customer acquisition channels) whereas others might need other types of funding (e.g. paying employee salaries).</li> <li>For each type of funding, consider how much you'll get out of it relative to the time it takes to get the money. The most obvious thing you get out is the funding, but there might be other benefits that are harder to measure. For example:<ul> <li>Winning a startup pitch could help you earn credibility for things like raising money from investors or finding early employees.</li> <li>Making money directly from customers might be harder at first, but the effort you're putting in is moving you in the right direction vs. something like consulting which is probably unrelated to your startup's business model.</li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lending-wave/id1470198478?i=1000465356333" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This episode</a> of the Out of Beta Podcast discusses ways to think about raising debt</li></ul>

Raising non-dilutive funding for your startup

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