The Exchanges

Q more obvious with AI tools like Lovable and Rissell and Cursor, uh, is distribution and marketing was, Always the hard part. Actually getting the customers. Building was the easy part. Um, but let's talk about how you got customers. How'd you get the first, uh, handful? Did you, uh, have friends with businesses? Same problem? Did you, uh, share it somewhere? Like what did the, the initial spark look like?

A Yeah. So it was all very boots on the ground, um, at least in the digital marketing world. So no Facebook ads. We didn't spend a single dollar on marketing. Um, we, uh, Facebook groups, So, uh, we were in several Facebook groups, just like for our industry. So, um, you know, water damage, mold remediation, business owners, um, and basically just shared our story on there. Somewhat of a testimonial, but very natural, very like, you know, someone from this industry sharing their experience that's dealt with, um, you know, marketers that don't have your best, your best interests in mind that overcharge, you know, we had a very digestible Monthly subscription cost. Um, but yeah, Facebook groups. I think we made four posts across, um, across, across different groups and had roughly 22 customers that we acquired, um, from those four posts. So, um, yeah. And then it got to the point where it was like, after those customers came on board, we were tweaking things, editing things. And, uh, yeah. So all Facebook groups, Um, yeah, never spent a single dollar on, uh, on Facebook ads or anything like that.

AI assessment note: “we made four posts across... different groups and had roughly 22 customers”

Q That is, that is incredible. Uh, did you ever have any issues with the production version of this? Did you kind of crack open, say, the lovable version at one point, and move it over to, uh, one of the more, like, custom tools, or did you just completely vibe-code this and release it?

A Yeah, so this was completely vibe-coded, um, never made its way out of lovable, which, like, I think looking back on it, um, now since the platform's been, been acquired and sold, they've moved it to, I think it's like Vercel, um, like a platform that's actually more customizable. Um, but yeah, it lived solely in lovable and, um, you know, at production, there was definitely some things that, uh, you know, I would say needed tweaking. Um, and you're kind of working from behind trying to get those tweets as you're hearing from customers. Um, and, you know, seeing some of the bugs that are taking place, you can't check for everything. You know, we wanted to get it out there as soon as possible to at least get that feedback, offer discounts if people are having issues, things like that. Um, but, but yeah, I think at full production, lovable's capable. Um, I think scaling it and taking it beyond that, um, you know, you probably want to look, you know, maybe somewhere else.

AI assessment note: “this was completely vibe-coded, um, never made its way out of lovable”

Q Uh, tell me about why you decided to sell. You kind of touched on it where it was taking up a lot of your time. Uh, was that the sole reason?

A Yeah, I think it was, it was kind of two pieces. So, definitely, like, a lot of time. I, I'm a perfectionist, so, like, when it comes to, like, building something like this, there's no ceiling. Like, you can just keep adding things. You can keep making tweaks. Um, and I find out, you know, I have a lot of, like, pleasure in doing that. A lot of, a lot of fun in building. Um, and it did. It got to the point where it was, like, I was spending half of my day Doing that for, for pretty, I mean, you know, not to, uh, like belittle, I guess, like, you know, the success or like, you know, to build a recurring revenue like that, but, you know, compared to other things that, that I was working on or, you know, businesses I own, it was just a lot of time for, you know, not the same amount of reward. And, you know, then I started thinking like, man, this is something that there's good value here. I would love to have You know, give somebody else the opportunity to take this and really scale it and be able to kind of sit back almost as like a consultant in some regard. Um, you know, answer questions, help post sale and just kind of watch somebody else, you know, take this, especially somebody maybe more technical. Right. Um, I felt pretty capped out with like moving it to another platform and like furthering, um, the functionality. I felt like I, I was capped, um, and wasn't at the point w…

AI assessment note: “Yeah, I think it was, it was kind of two pieces.”

Q How did you build the platform? I assume AI, uh, what specific tools did you use?

A Yeah. So it was a stack of a, of a few different tools. Um, kind of the, the baseline was lovable. Um, so just a vibe coding platform. Um, and in conjunction with that, I felt like I was a genius at the time starting to use Claude code and using Claude to actually like, um, build out I'm not a, I've never written a line of code in my life. If you offered me ten million dollars and said, I need you to write one line of code, well, I wouldn't make ten million dollars. Like, there's no way. Um, so yeah, relied almost entirely on, on Claude code, Claude, um, just prompting and then taking that and building it into, into lovable, um, just ideas to, uh, to paper and then That into, into lovable, and you know, two months later, you have something that works. Um, yeah, so.

AI assessment note: “the baseline was lovable... in conjunction with that... Claude code and using Claude”

Q I mean, that's, that's an ideal night as a dad. Yeah. Um, if you were talking to a founder and they were looking to sell their business, do you have a couple of pieces of advice you'd give them?

A Yeah, definitely. I'd say, I'd say the biggest one is just his patience. Um, um, Patience and waiting and finding the right buyer. If you're serious about selling your business, um, you only get one chance to do it. Right. And, um, making sure the terms of that offer are to your liking, being realistic with those terms too. Um, you know, knowing if you're expecting too much from those terms or, or too little, um, but really taking the time there, um, even more so on, you know, larger businesses. Um, yeah, patience. You're, you're going to have money thrown at you and Um, it's going to seem really appetizing to, you know, take that first offer. Um, but usually that first offer is, uh, you know, the terms are, it could be great, but yeah, you just want to be patient and see what, see what all the offers look like, um, what the different arrangements look like, um, and try to remove money from the equation, um, until the very last, the very last stretch, I'd say. Um, and

AI assessment note: “I'd say the biggest one is just his patience. Um, um, Patience and waiting”