Bootstrapper's Paradise

Dive into the world of high-touch SaaS with Vee24's CEO, Tomer Azenkot. From tech roles to CEO insights, explore how close customer interaction propels company success. Uncover the power of video chat in elevating the buying experience and why focusing your market strategy reaps rewards. Join us for a masterclass in customer-centric growth.

Here are a few topics we’ll discuss on this episode of the Product Launch Podcast.

• From coding to CEO: A tech journey
• The value of direct customer experience
• Video chat as a game-changer for sales
• Importance of focused market strategy
• Measuring SaaS success with precision

Resources:

• Vee24
• Podcast Chef
• NxtStep

Connect with Tomer Azenkot:

• LinkedIn

Connecting with our host, Sean Boyce:

• LinkedIn
• Email
  
  

Quotables:

• 04:45 - I'm not super technical or maybe I don't have an engineering background, so how am I gonna be able to like lead this team or this company or what have you? I end up finding it's almost the opposite of that, as in what you just described. If you follow more along the lines of that type of a path where you've, you've been close to the customer, you've been obsessed about representing them in certain situations and leading with that kind of data that can have a significantly greater positive impact, I would say, in terms of like the outcomes, successful outcomes or the success that we're trying to achieve with the companies that we're building. So huge advocate for it. I had to learn it the hard way. I skipped steps earlier in my career, I paid for it, but now I know how important. It's so appreciate you underscoring the importance. 
• 05:42 -  I'm not technical, but, or I'm not a salesperson, but it, I don't think that's a good answer. You have to be technical, you have to be a salesperson, you have to be everything, especially when you're in front of the customer. And, and using that as a scapegoat or an excuse is just doesn't cut it. Especially not when information is so available to us. You can, you can Google, you can, you can look things up real easily. You can ask someone for help. 
• 09:26 -  So in the world of retail, we focus very much on the high consideration purchases, so jewelry, cosmetics, high-end luxury products in general automotive. So if you're buying, buying a vehicle, you want to see the vehicle, you wanna maybe speak with someone and have a conversation with 'em that goes beyond something that you would ask a chatbot and financial services because seeing someone is really important in order to build trust. So it's not always about seeing the product over video, sometimes it's just about seeing another person on video like, like you and I are seeing each other right now over Zoom. 
• 22:00 - Definitely measure very carefully everything to do with EBITDA and cash. That's something that, especially in, in let's say the last year, year and a half, where fundraising is more challenging. Many companies have to last need their rounds to last longer. And I think many companies have gotten into trouble because they initially raise money for let's say 24 months, but now they need to make it work for 48. Being able to predict cash flow is incredibly important. And it's not always very simple because you can't predict whether customers will pay on time or not, especially when you're longer-term contracts and they pay annually and non-monthly. So I've actually, as of about six months ago, I've shifted our cashflow tracking to a weekly basis instead of a monthly basis. And that's actually helped a lot. It helped me understand much more how the business operates, both in terms of cash going in and cash going out. 
• 20:49 - Well one thing comes to mind, which is important for our, our investors and basically at the board level, I, I do a very good job, I think in measuring backlog of revenue. So beyond who's paying us today right now, based on what's committed into the future, we have kind of a chart that shows over time how much of that revenue is locked in for 12, 18, 24 months into the future. So that's something that not, I don't think everyone measures at, at this stage of a company. You know, when you're in, in your single digit millions in a RR something that I've measured always. And it's, it's good to show the investors, you know, we've renewed a contract with, with a particular customer and now they're locked in for the next two years of the next three years and that revenue is locked in and we can be very pre we can predict well the, the revenue into the future. 

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Join Sean and tech whiz, Melissa Kwan, as they unravel the allure and struggles of bootstrapping startups. Melissa dives into founding eWebinar and transforming pains into gains, all while crafting a business that perfectly suits her digital nomad lifestyle. She drops valuable gems on pricing pitfalls and the underrated power of slow growth. Don't miss these candid confessions!

Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Product Launch Podcast:

• Bootstrapping is a lifestyle, not just finance.
• Price on value, not just to compete.
• Growth is slow and steady, not instant.
• Solving personal problems can fuel success.
• Grandfathered pricing can be a trap.

Resources:

• eWebinar
• NxtStep
• Podcast Chef

Connect with Melissa Kwan:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Sean Boyce:

• LinkedIn
• Email

Quotables:

• 13:33 - Sean: So I'd love to hear you talk a little bit about why that strategy makes the most sense for you and how it compares to basically whatever type of situation you may have found yourself in if you were fundraising instead.
  Melissa: Yeah so my first company was Bootstraps because I didn't know that raising money existed so this was 13 years ago like all the tech stars and Y Combinators came after that like shortly after that. But like you know I'm from Vancouver so it wasn't a big tech community right back then it was just meetups and then I guess along the way I learned that you know people raise money and build companies on other people's money which actually seemed pretty cool at the time but I didn't really understand that concept.
• 5:44 - I think when you build a company it becomes so much of your life and you're spending so much time on it that you have to start with what makes you happy first. And that's what I didn't do in my previous two startups I was like this is an idea it makes money, let's do this. But for 10 years I was always discontented and frustrated because I didn't start from a place of love I guess, like and love for myself.
• 05:48 - So coming to eWebinar I didn't choose eWebinar as a business. I really sat down and I wrote 10 non-negotiables that I had to have in my next business so things that made me happy. For example, I have to have a completely remote team of contractors because I know I'm not really great at managing people hiring and firing and having those tough conversations I wanted a product that could be sold 100% through the internet I was so sick of going to conferences and sitting at booths and doing face-to-face meetings.
• 03:10 - So I ended up living the problem of doing you know repetitive trainings and onboardings and always wondered why there wasn't an incredible product that solved that problem. And I think being able to build a company that solves a problem that I know so well and one that I feel really connected to because you know freedom has always been my number one priority and that was a problem that was restricting me from living my life cause I was also also digital nomadding.
• 08:30 - And if you think about those things like Alibaba, for example, was like the eBay of China right. They didn't need to show the world eBay was successful eBay was already successful, like Word for example was not the first Word software so it's kind of along the same line. So I think first is like make sure it's something that makes you happy that you want to work on and especially if you're a bootstrap company don't go and try and start a blue ocean opportunity unless you know exactly what you're up against. Find something that you know you can improve and make that your business and you can probably cut down on at least two or three years of trying to get something new out there on the market.

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Dive into the journey of John Li, PickFu's co-founder, as he switches from tech giant to startup maven, revealing how keen insights and customer feedback fuel software success. Discover how PickFu's savvy use of AI revolutionizes consumer research, making it a game-changer for all seeking market savviness.

Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Product Launch:

• Insights on finding product market fit.
• AI integration and the future of PickFu.
• Co-founders quit Big Tech jobs.
• PickFu's evolution from side to main.
• Importance of the qualitative feedback.

Resources:

• PickFu
• NxtStep
• Podcast Chef

Connect with John Li:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Sean Boyce:

• LinkedIn
• Email

Quotables:

• 1:33 - We realized, we quickly realized that doing display advertising is not a fun game. It's not a fun industry to be in. And so we've built a number of products along the way. One of those things along the way that we built was PickFu. So initially Justin and I were trying to figure out ways to get unbiased feedback and also being just two co-founders trying to figure out a tiebreaker. And so being the engineers that we were, we didn't really want to talk to strangers at a coffee shop. So instead we built a tool to help us get unbiased feedback from a whole bunch of strangers on the internet.
• 4:13 - I wish I had a really good answer for you, but I think it was really more about, well, trying to see it as many industries as possible and seeing which ones, which ones got the most value, like which customer segments got the most value from our product. We've always built PickFu, it's a, you know, consumer research platform to make it as simple as possible for anyone to access a pool of consumers to get unbiased feedback for their creatives. So we try to make it industry-agnostic. It still is industry agnostic, but just sort of trying different customer segments like, hey, how do authors like it?
• 8:11 - For other places there might be more dots to connect, in which case it's much harder to make that value prop. Like for example, if you're a game developer, game developers use PickFu, like a kind of like a digital focus group to market test different character designs or different game concepts before launching. Now I think we provide a lot of value in that situation, but it's much harder to make a economic argument at that point. 
• 15:06 - I think we, we try to tell our customers, you know, you want to test before you invest, right? Like, and previously you don't have that capability, but PickFu does give you that opportunity to test the hypotheticals to test in a sandbox. I mean, we have software companies who are using PickFu to test their landing pages, their billboards, their, you know, their Google ads, all of this stuff. Because why wouldn't you wanna know how your market's gonna react before putting, you know, either launching it or putting a whole bunch of paid spend behind it.
•  21:53 - We hear that a lot from our users is that there's a nice magic moment of when they're actually seeing they, we try to make it easy to set up a poll so it takes like a minute or two, right? And then once you launch it, it goes out, it goes out to the panelists. The crazy thing is that those panelists start responding immediately. So it's almost a game of watching, hey, you know, there's another person coming right now and they're, what are they gonna say about, you know, what are they gonna say about my website or my, you know, or my creatives or so on. And it's, yeah, it's pretty addictive.

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Summary
Dive in with Sean as he spotlights the power of SaaS communities! Yearning for your feedback and eager to foster dynamic interactions, he unveils a thrilling offer for listeners to join his nascent community for free. Email or survey, choose your path to shape content that resonates with you. Hit play for an episode that bridges the gap between podcast and participation.

Key Points

• Build a SaaS community.
• Sean seeks listener engagement.
• Free community access offer!
• Use email/survey to respond.
• Help shape future content.

Quotes

• "I love creating the podcast. I love chronicling the things that I'm doing with my SaaS businesses and sharing those strategies with you. But part of what I don't get is feedback from you and questions from you."

Community

• If you're interested in joining the community, email me at [email protected]

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Summary
Dive into AI's rapid evolution with Sean's latest panel experience! Uncover why businesses lag in tech adoption, the SEO balancing act, and making smart tech choices. Plus, learn to leverage AI for operational efficiency and potentially create market-worthy solutions of your own!

Key Points

• Most businesses lack an AI strategy
• Keep pace with SEO's AI transformation
• Overcoming tool selection anxiety
• AI as a tool for operational efficiency
• Building and marketing your own AI solution

Quotes

• "It's really interesting to get a sampling from folks out there in terms of where they're at related to artificial intelligence."
• "My best advice is to keep one foot in the old world and one foot in the new world."

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Summary
Dive into the seismic shifts challenging SaaS companies in 2023's economic terrain! Sean unpacks the OpenView Benchmarks report, reveals key survival tactics for SaaS founders and CEOs, and uncovers the profitable edge AI integration offers. Tune in for insider insights to pivot, adapt, and outperform in a financial squeeze!

Key Points

• SaaS trends from OpenView 2023
• Economic dip's impact on SaaS
• AI native companies excel
• Monetizing AI fosters growth
• Only 15% capitalize on AI

Quotes

• "'cause it was so cheap to access money. Money was cheap because interest rates were low."
• "But good news is there are pockets here where performance hasn't just beat expectations, but actually they're growing faster than anticipated."
• "You have a greater than three times likelihood of being an outlier in that growing faster than a year before if you are an AI native company."
• "What you need to do is figure out not just how to leverage it appropriately, but you have to figure out how to successfully monetize it."
• "If you can do that, you can dramatically increase the probability of better financial performance in a more difficult economic climate for your SaaS company."

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Summary
Join Sean as he decrypts the world of design patterns, focusing on the seamless authentication revolution of one-time passcodes (OTPs). Learn why rehashing old methods is out, and how adopting OTPs can be a game-changer for software innovation and security.

Key Points

• Design patterns simplify innovation.
• OTPs transform authentication.
• Password management made obsolete.
• Exponential improvement with OTPs.
• Guide to essential design patterns.

Quotes

• "What they (design patterns) are essentially is the modern day standard for how something should work."
• "You punch in your email. If you wanna go that route and it sends you a code, you punch that code in and you're good."
• "So if you can ever eliminate steps in the process and accomplish multiple things at the same time, that is, and what I refer to as an exponential improvement, or like a 10 x effect could be 10 times better than the previous design."

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Summary
Dive into the SaaS world with Sean as he unpacks OpenView's latest report. Discover why growth rates are plummeting and which outliers are defying the trend. Is it all about AI and vertical specialization? Tune in for insights on the evolving SaaS landscape amidst a shifting economic climate.

Key Points

• SaaS growth rates decline sharply
• Economic climate impacts SaaS
• Outliers defy downward trends
• AI-native SaaS sees success
• Specialization boosts SaaS growth

Resources

• https://openviewpartners.com/2023-saas-benchmarks-report

Quotes

• "Some, I would say a third is not all that uncommon based on the data that I'm looking at. Some of them are down by half or more than half, which is a pretty dramatic fall off from where we were previously just a year ago."
• "There's been a pretty dramatic shift in the macro economic climate that's predominantly been the catalyst of which I would say has been the steep increase in interest rates."
• "However, the remaining category, the outliers that I mentioned that makes up the balance, which is about 27%, those companies are growing faster than last year."
• "Now in the report, and I'm gonna dive into this in greater detail in future episodes, but they categorize anyone that's falling into this category that's growing faster than last year as, which probably won't become a surprise to many those companies that are AI native."
• "So the more specialized your SaaS product is, the higher growth rate those companies have seen as well."

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Summary
Ever excited about creating something groundbreaking only to overlook essentials? Sean dives into the innovation paradox, sharing epic blunders from tech history and tips to ensure new solutions don't leave users cold, or in some cases, literally cold. Tune in and learn to innovate without sacrificing the crucial bits!

Key Points

• Understand before innovating.
• Some legacy features are vital.
• When new doesn't always mean better.
• Costly redesign blunders.
• Innovate without losing functionality.

Quotes

• "What I mean by that is providing supposedly updated, arguably better solution, but missing something important, which ultimately means you take functionality away."
• "So we have, as a family had problems multiple times where it's too cold outside, we can't turn on the heat, it's too warm outside, we can't turn on the air conditioning."

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

Summary
In today's episode, Sean dives into the profits vs. growth debate, inspired by startup dramas from Silicon Valley. He analyzes the roller-coaster stories of WeWork and Uber, urging a pivot to profitability over reckless expansion. Tune in for a gripping discussion on sustaining software businesses through smart economics, and why growth for growth's sake can be a perilous pursuit.

Key Points

• Importance of profitability in SaaS
• Growth vs. solid economics debate
• WeWork and Uber's dramatic stories
• Pitfalls of growth for growth's sake
• Control and ownership through profit

Quotes

• "Now, I wanna talk to you about this from the perspective of a couple of drama series that I've dove into regarding kind of these spectacular successes and failures in the startup world."
• "Not a hundred percent sure why perhaps some precedents were set along the way, but it certainly appears that that is a flawed strategy for a bunch of obvious reasons."
• "But growth for growth's sake is severely flawed and it's ridiculously unsustainable at the same time."
• "The sooner you do that, the more you remain in the driver's seat, the more that you remain in control, the more that you remain largest percentage owner of your business..."

Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course

Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/