The Exchanges

Q Well, how did you actually build that audience? So let's say a year before launch, you were speaking at an event. What would you do at the event to start building that waitlist for, for right?

A Yeah. So we did have a, we had a very simple sales page that was basically just a explainer of what we're building with an email opt-in. And what I would do is whenever I'd go on, whether it be on a stage or on a podcast or whatever, I would just Point as many people to there. We didn't really have an incentive. I didn't have like an email course or a lead magnet of any sort. It was basically just a, if you like what, if you like what you just heard and you want to follow along with what we're building, go here. So we built up a few, I think we were at 2000 or so when we launched.

AI assessment note: “whenever I'd go on, whether it be on a stage... I would just Point as many people”

Q Okay, 2017. And do you remember how you got your first couple of customers?

A Yeah. We built up a list. So we, um, basically we're doing a lot of, we were sending out a lot of content just over email telling people what we were building in the open. And then we did a big launch kind of info product style when we, when we went live, um, sold annual plans that got us, I think to about eight K MR or thereabouts, uh, pretty much a week into it. Um, and then, yeah, I mean, that's how we got the first, uh, a lot of those people frankly came from, I'd been doing guest posting and podcasting and stuff on the topic. I spoke at a lot of events and that just kind of built up an audience of people who are eager for it.

AI assessment note: “We built up a list. So we, um, basically we're doing a lot of”

Q Interesting. Okay. Good way to see the company. Now have you continued to stay bootstrapped or have you raised capital?

A We did raise some money. We raised about a half a million from, uh, people like Nathan Berry of ConvertKit, um, anchor of Teachable, uh, Paul Sing and others, um, just friends of mine, frankly, who wanted to fund us. Uh, we did that more for strategic purposes. So we integrate with ConvertKit. We also integrate with Drip and we raised from them too, or from Rob Walling. Um, so we raised a bit of money just to kind of get up, get us off the ground, but we're operating as bootstrappers. I mean, we're not chasing, you know, the next round or anything like that. Right now we're basically operating as bootstrappers who had some R and D money up front.

AI assessment note: “We did raise some money. We raised about a half a million”

Q Okay. Look, that's healthy. And then, you know, do you, are you looking or actually using things like lifetime value yet to actually guide the business or is it just, it doesn't mean enough to you yet?

A I mean, at this point, LTV fluctuates so greatly it's between two to 3000 right now says barometrics. So, um, we're not really right now. We're just focused on really Intimately understanding why people pass and how does, how do we then incorporate that into our marketing? Uh, so we're still, we're definitely still learning about, you know, what the different channels that are, what channels are working. What's one of the issues that we have is we build a platform first, which you can literally change anything on your site, given any condition. And the issue we're having is there's a lot of education that needs to go into teaching people how to do this. Cause they're not switching from another competitor. They haven't done this before. They've never personalized their website. So The sales cycle is a little more interesting because we need to educate people about what to do with it. And it's, it's like, kind of like email marketing back in the mid 2000 where no one really had done it. Right.

AI assessment note: “LTV fluctuates so greatly... So, um, we're not really right now.”

Q Would you ever raise debt capital so you guys can preserve your equity, but give you some more runway to run some experiments?

A I'm not sure. Um, to be honest, I've always been a bootstrapper, so the whole money thing is still relatively new to me, if that makes sense. Um, so, you know, I'm, and again, I, this could be something that we're making a mistake at, but I'm very focused right now on, uh, not, not trying to think in terms of chasing capital, whether it be debt capital or raising another, say, safe round or whatever else. I don't even know if you can do that after you've Uh, all that stuff, to be honest. But, um, yeah, I mean, right now, I'm just trying, the two of us are focused on trying to reposition ourselves the way we need to be, because I don't think we're there yet. And then once we get there, and once we start to see the churn issues being eliminated, and we know, we know why we're churning. It's, it's an education problem. We've asked people, we've talked to people, and what we're being told again and again is we, we completely, 100% believe in The outcome that you're promising us, but we need help on the strategic side. Like, how do we actually go about setting things up correctly with the software? So that's the big thing that we're trying to tackle at this point. Um, and I, I would just be very hesitant if, if that makes sense to like, you know, raise money and then throw money at solving that largely education problem that we have, I think.

AI assessment note: “I'm very focused right now on, uh, not, not trying to think in terms of chasing capital”

Q So, so how do you go, you know, if we talk a year from now, how do you go from 30 grand a month to 60?

A So what we're focused on now is once we figure out, so we've been doing a lot of more manual selling. So a lot of our customers have come through just a lot of kind of like educational stuff that we've been doing on the back end. So articles, case studies, us talking to them. Um, what we're really trying to do is I, I wouldn't say that we've hit product market fit in the sense that we have a really good way, a compelling way, Of showing somebody why they should switch from, say, Sumo or OptiMonster or whoever to us. So we're working on that. And long term, our goal in the next year is just going to be to continue, continue. I mean, that's what we're, you know, Shai's actually here in Virginia this week. He lives in London. And we've been just heads down, talking with customers, trying to really figure out that positioning so that we can hopefully get to the point where We can be past this learning stage and really start to buckle down on.

AI assessment note: “talking with customers, trying to really figure out that positioning”