I'm somewhere between Survival and Stability stage. I should (and do) focus on building a business around the product. Pumping out features alone will not make T1 sustainable. There is much more around it and I feel the pain of not focusing on it earlier.
I just finished Zero to Sold by @arvidkahl - here's what I got out of it for me personally, to apply on my efforts to build https://t.co/wRlOaEKfD2 👇
I'm somewhere between Survival and Stability stage. I should (and do) focus on building a business around the product. Pumping out features alone will not make T1 sustainable. There is much more around it and I feel the pain of not focusing on it earlier.
I think I did an OK job last year to build, validate and grow the project. It was validated when the first customer entered their credit card details, and it continued from there.
From 42€ payout, to >8000€ in 9 months.
Documenting Standard Operating Procedures so my current and future team and helpers can onboard quickly and support me. It uncovers automation possibilities and it clears up my head by not having all of this manual stuff in there.
Getting on this soon 💪
I have to do a better job of defining and communicating it. It's hard though. >10k users are on T1 and I'm still struggling with clearly defining why... which makes me feel really stupid.
I thought I'm already quite good on this one but especially on SaaS accounts I still use my personal github login a lot. Will separate to a service-account soon so I can share it with a team, etc. It makes onboarding much easier.
I have to take a close look at retention vs acquisition. Both numbers aren't great on T1 but it's more important to reduce churn (=> increase retention) than acquire more users. We will start to reach out to churned customers soon to learn more.
Not for outsiders, but for me. I had something similar but I have not followed standard practices - which I do now.
Will update my P&L statements once a month get a quick and true overview of the financials of the business.
I don't want to sell T1. Nonetheless, building a business as if you would want to sell will make it so much more maintainable.
It's like building a codebase as if you want to open source it. The docs, processes & tests will be better and automated, I promise you.
While I have rejected all outside investment-opportunities, it's still valuable to talk. Especially since there are many nice alternatives to classic VCs now, like @earnestcapital or @tinyseedfund. I've closed my eyes too much in 2020.
That's the dream.
Thanks @arvidkahl 💞
More from Culture
OK. Chapter 7 of Book 4 of #WealthOfNations is tough going. It's long. It's serious. It's all about colonies.
We can take comfort, though, in knowing that the chapter #AdamSmith says is about colonies is, in fact, about colonies. (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Colonies were a vexed subject when #AdamSmith was writing, and they’re even more complicated now. So, before we even get to the tweeting, here’s a link to that thread on Smith and “savage nations.” (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets
The reason for the ancient Greeks and Romans to settle colonies was straightforward: they didn’t have enough space for their growing populations. Their colonies were treated as “emancipated children”—connected but independent. (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
(Both these things are in contrast to the European colonies, as we'll see.) (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Ancient Greeks and Romans needed more space because the land was owned by an increasingly small number of citizens and farming and nearly all trades and arts were performed by slaves. It was hard for a poor freeman to improve his life. (IV.vii.a.3) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
We can take comfort, though, in knowing that the chapter #AdamSmith says is about colonies is, in fact, about colonies. (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Colonies were a vexed subject when #AdamSmith was writing, and they’re even more complicated now. So, before we even get to the tweeting, here’s a link to that thread on Smith and “savage nations.” (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets
We have to pause now, because we have to have a whole new tweet thread on #AdamSmith and \u201csavage nations,\u201d because he\u2019s going to keep using this kind of phrase, so we need to talk about it. #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
— @AdamSmithWorks (@adamsmithworks) January 4, 2021
The reason for the ancient Greeks and Romans to settle colonies was straightforward: they didn’t have enough space for their growing populations. Their colonies were treated as “emancipated children”—connected but independent. (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
(Both these things are in contrast to the European colonies, as we'll see.) (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Ancient Greeks and Romans needed more space because the land was owned by an increasingly small number of citizens and farming and nearly all trades and arts were performed by slaves. It was hard for a poor freeman to improve his life. (IV.vii.a.3) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
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1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
Next level tactic when closing a sale, candidate, or investment:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) February 27, 2018
Ask: \u201cWhat needs to be true for you to be all in?\u201d
You'll usually get an explicit answer that you might not get otherwise. It also holds them accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
