Chris Frantz is the Co-founder and CEO of Loops, the email platform for software companies.

We get into why sending emails is still a big problem, his hilariously simple framework for building products, getting in to YC with a last minute application, and why they skipped raising a Series A.

We also talk through Chris decade of working in marketing, like when to lean into PLG vs Sales vs hype led growth, early stunts they did to get their first users, why they do no marketing now, and why Loops’ customer support team is all engineers.

Thanks to Ramp for supporting this episode. It's the corporate card and expense management platform used by over 40,000 companies, like Shopify, CBRE and Stripe. Time is money. Save both with Ramp. Get $250 for signing-up here: https://ramp.com/ThePeel

Try Hanover Park - the modern, AI-native fund admin https://www.hanoverpark.com/Turner

Timestamps:

(4:37) Email for software companies

(8:28) Why email is a big deal

(14:05) The future of email

(17:00) Product vs Sales vs Hype led growth

(24:33) Coming up with the idea for Loops

(29:36) Building one of the first GPT wrappers in 2020

(34:34) Lessons selling his first company

(37:13) Doing their YC app in 10 minutes

(40:53) Avoiding VC’s who add value

(46:58) Skipping a Series A

(51:37) Building in stealth for 18 months

(53:21) Marketing stunts to get the first waitlist sign-ups

(58:44) Four step cadence of building Loops

(1:01:58) Personally onboarding every new customer

(1:04:03) Balancing 996 with family

(1:11:11) Cleaning wasp nests with a shop vac

Referenced

Loops: https://loops.so

Careers at Loops: https://loops.so/careers

Curiosity: https://curiositystream.com

Snazzy AI / Unbounce: https://unbounce.com/product/smart-copy

Atlas customer support: https://atlas.so

Follow Chris

Twitter: https://x.com/frantzfries

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ctfrantz

Follow Turner

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/