[31] Launch, validation, and first customers for Bot Academy w/ Andrew Warner of Mixergy

Well, you know this guy… it’s Andrew Warner! This time around we’re talking something that maybe you are not so familiar with: Bot Academy, Andrew’s new company.

You probably expected me to say Mixergy, right? Well of course that’s going strong several years in. But we talk about Andrew’s new thing around Facebook Messenger bots. It’s still in early days and we cover the backstory of where it came from. Andrew shares a very smart way to validate ideas, how he got his first early costumers, the launch process, and also the process for delivering the service, which includes training at the same time.

Tune in to hear Andrew talk about this cutting edge marketing tool that can replace your email list.

By the way, Andrew also posted the video of this interview over on Mixergy, you can watch that here.  Enjoy!

Episode Notes

[1:50] Why Facebook Messenger bots took Andrew’s attention while trying to improve email open rates.

“I’m working on email because that’s the best thing I have, frankly. And still, no matter what I do I can’t get dramatic increases [in open rates].””

“I think there are two platforms for chat apps. Slack for business, and Facebook Messenger for anything else.””

[8:37] Evolution of building Bot Academy. Validating by fake charging instead of pre-selling.

“Lessons I learned from Mixergy is: if you really want to know if people really care about it, sell it.”

[16:31] Why Andrew got personally involved in starting a business around Facebook Messenger bots.

“I thought the direction bots were going, was wrong.”

“It’s just moving so fast, it’s such an exciting space to be, I couldn’t not do something here.”

“Checklists don’t get checked enough. But if you have a process that has a checklist built in, you are more likely to make it done.”

[27:41] Pros and cons of leveraging Mixergy brand for Bot Academy. Tactics to validate success without biases. Current challenges to scale and thoughts on how to evolve to a new business model.

[38:42] Best practices when setting up bots. How chat bots compare with email newsletters.

“Teaching is a great thing to do with your bot because it gives you a reason to come into someones chat app on a weekly basis.”

Links

Andrew Warner on Twitter

Andrew’s new project, Bot Academy

Mixergy

Mixergy Premium

Tam Pham

ManyChat

Chatfuel

Shane Mac – on Twitter – Assist (company)

Nir Eyal – on Twitter – Hooked (book)

CastBox.fm

Expedia