Episode 14 – From Developer-Founder to Getting Acquired and Back Again with Derrick Reimer
Derrick Reimer shares his journey from developer to co-founder of Drip, getting acquired, then back again to building a product (Level) from scratch as a solo founder.
Show Notes
Episode 13 – Product Knowledge Bombs with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS
Get some amazing advice and insights about Revenue Growth, Sales Tactics and more with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS.
Show Notes
Episode 12 – Scott Bolinger’s Product Journey
See how Scott took an idea, executed and made it a reality. Plus see what other lessons he has learned along his product journey.
Show Notes
- AppPresser – Mobile Apps for WordPress Sites
- Holler Box – Lead Generation & FOMO Popups for WordPress Stores
- Scott’s Personal Site
- Scott on Twitter
- Ahrefs Blogging for Business course
- Sponsor: Coming Soon Page by SeedProd
Episode 11 – Streamlining Product Support with Kyle Brown
In this episode, Kyle Brown shares his experience learned from providing a support service to product founders.
Show Notes
- wpSaaS – WordPress Support-as-a-Service
- Kyle’s Personal Site
- Kyle on Twitter
- Help Scout
- Sponsor: WP Simple Pay
Episode 10 – MicroConf Vegas 2018 Recap
Learn what takeaways John and Phil got out of Microconf 2018.
Show Notes
- MicroConf
- MicroConf Recap – Talk summaries, slides, speaker info, etc.
- goodemailcopy.com
Episode 9 – What Drove John Turner to Have Success with Products
Tune in to hear co-host John Turner’s journey with products and how his business grew from the start to the point it’s at today.
Show Notes
Episode 8 – Inside the Mind of a Customer with Sara Dunn
In this episode, we sit down with Sara Dunn and try to get inside the mind of a potential customer of a WordPress product.
Show Notes
- Sara’s Agency – 11Web
- Sara’s Personal Site
- Sara on Twitter
- Sara’s YouTube channel
Key Takeaways
- For Sara, word of mouth is the biggest influence for purchase decisions, including from Slack and Facebook group discussions.
- Screencasts to show off a premium WordPress product’s admin is a big help.
- Step by step documentation is preferred for onboarding.
- As an agency, Sara strives to remove as many hurdles for her clients as possible, including purchasing WordPress products and activating their licenses.
- There should be an easier way to hand off licenses purchased by agencies to their clients down the road.
- Predictable annual subscription costs keep things simple.
- Most premium plugins don’t seem overpriced for Sara’s B2B client projects.
Episode 7 – Phil Derksen’s Product Journey
Hear co-host Phil Derksen’s backstory with products and how he got to where he is today.
Show Notes
- philderksen.com
- Phil on Twitter
- WP Simple Pay
- Founder Cafe
- 8 Years to Overnight Success – Startups for the Rest of Us podcast – March 2015
- Cashing Out (selling Simple Calendar) – Rogue Startups podcast – December 2017
- wpSaaS (WordPress support service)
Episode 6 – Challenges in Business with Matt Medeiros
Matt Medeiros joins the show to talk about running multiple businesses (products, services, podcasting, etc.) and the challenges faced along the way.
Show Notes
- Crafted by Matt – Matt’s collection of all the stuff he does
- Matt Report podcast & blog
- Matt on Twitter
- Matt Report YouTube channel
- Conductor plugin
- Slocum Studio – Matt’s digital agency
- Pagely – Managed WordPress hosting
Key Takeaways
- Blue-collar hard-working product creators can make a good living.
- Focusing on a smaller niche and staying small can work well, especially when starting out.
- Offset sales volatility of any single product by providing multiple streams of income (i.e. other services or products).
- When asking interview questions on a podcast, think about what questions the audience wants to hear.
Episode 5 – Lessons Learned Hiring and Firing with Brad Touesnard
Brad Touesnard joins Phil and John to discuss hiring, firing and growing a team around his software business.
Show Notes
- brad.ta
- Brad on Twitter
- Delicious Brains
- Mergebot
- Delicious Brains 2017 Year in Review post
- Zoom
- MicroConf
- WordCamp Europe
Key Takeaways
- As a founder don’t outsource the marketing tasks at first.
- Have an interview and trial period, but ultimately let your existing team approve new hires.
- You need to be able to rely on your team to communicate issues to you and each other.
- Pay attention to discontent amongst your team.
- Recognize when you, as a founder, are not satisfied with answers to your questions to team members.
- Attempt to warn folks when they aren’t living up to expected standards.
- Don’t wait too long to let someone go if they aren’t a good fit.