What I’m Working On (2024 Q1)
This article is really for me but I like to share it publicly just because it keeps me accountable and helps me organize my thoughts so I can execute better. Also if any family/friends are interested they can get a better understanding of what I’m doing.
Finding Product Market Fit for VibeTrack
I just finished a new app called VibeTrack.
I initially built it as an onboarding tool specifically for podcasters, since I want to launch a podcast myself.
I’m a big believer in building for yourself, and I thought since I want to launch a podcast, and I prefer to meet in person, I would build a tool for myself.
So at least I have one user (myself), and if adoption is slow at first (it always is), I can keep improving it and solving problems for myself along the way, until I have a really great product (easier to market).
However, I’m not fully convinced that podcasters want and/or are willing to pay for a tool like VibeTrack.
So right now, I’m running 2 “campaigns”. One campaign is targeted toward podcasters. The other one is more of a general campaign, which is targeted toward professionals who require or prefer in-person meetings.
Basically, my thinking is that the “bigger picture” with VibeTrack is to be a scheduling tool that is focused on in-person meetings.
While current scheduling tools make it easy to meet digitally, VibeTrack will be different by 1) focusing on in-person meetings and 2) improving the quality of meetings.
This may seem like a super niche idea, but I think there are a lot of professionals and hobbyists who fall into one of 2 camps: 1) they can meet digitally but prefer to meet in person or 2) their profession requires them to meet in person, but they don’t have a scheduling tool that quite fits their nuanced needs (e.g. they are not tied to a single, physical location).
So with VibeTrack, I’ll see if the product resonates with podcasters or another profession/hobby. Once it catches on with one group, then I’ll start building features that solve problems for that group. And from there, either keep building for that specific group or build features for a more general in-person scheduling tool.
SnackDial as a Growth Agency
SnackDial is a web app I built to run a snack business. But SnackDial only has one customer right now, and it’s been that way for a while.
Over the past few months, I’ve been adding features that solve problems of launching and growing a snack business.
I realized that while SnackDial solves problems for running a snack business, it doesn’t necessarily help you launch and grow.
And because the software for running a snack business is somewhat commoditized (e.g. website builders like Shopify/SquareSpace, or food delivery platforms), there needs to be features that help you grow.
In other words “SnackDial will grow your revenue by 30%” is a much easier sell than “SnackDial will make it easy to run your snack business” because running the businesses is the relatively easy (commoditized) part and growing is hard.
I’ve recently read and listened to 100M Offers by Alex Hormozi. In the book, he talks about solving every problem a customer may have (because people will always find a reason to not buy), and making offers so good that people feel stupid saying no to.
SnackDial now solves a lot of problems for running a snack business. And if SnackDial can grow revenue and/or profit for snack businesses consistently, then I think it becomes an offer so good that people would feel stupid saying no to.
So in the past few weeks, I’ve added in a few growth/marketing features: vendors can create reward programs, and they can also have affiliates who earn commissions on customers they refer.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be implementing these growth features and see if I can help my first customer get more revenue. Specifically, I plan to run an ad campaign on LinkedIn and target local businesses that may want to purchase smoothies from my first customer.
If it works, then SnackDial may be a service so good that snack business owners will feel stupid saying no to.
Business Hunting
Not having a steady income for a long time is hard to deal with psychologically.
Because my business projects aren’t growing, it’s sometimes tough to stay motivated. Even though I have enough cash to be comfortable for now, I still have a fear of not making decent money.
Buying a business solves this problem I have of the combined stress and fear of not having an income.
While I’ve contemplated buying a business for a while now, and I keep up to date on businesses for sale, I rarely find one that fits my criteria.
Since I’m not actively building a lot of software for the next few months, I will try to be more active in business hunting. Ideally, I’d like to buy a software business since I don’t know where I’d like to live permanently, and also my skills are in software/web apps.
But if the opportunity is good, and it solves some problems for me (steady income, connection to others, enough free time, a product/service I’m proud of), then I’ll consider a physical business.
Bigger Picture
I quit my job 18 months ago with a plan to go all in on SnackDial.
When I look back though, in a sense I’m actually glad SnackDial didn’t gain traction. The quality of the code is much worse than what I’m capable of today. There are definitely times when I look at the code or the design of the system and cringe.
Had SnackDial gained traction initially, I would have had a lot of angry and frustrated customers. And ultimately, what matters to me is delivering a good product/experience.
VibeTrack may not ever be successful, but I know that the product (the code) is much more maintainable and scalable. And my execution is more simple (better). With SnackDial I got too carried away in adding too many features that weren’t needed.
I now realize that there’s a sort of art and strategy to building software. It must meet the requirements for today and be flexible enough to meet future requirements. So the goal with starting a new software product (or any product really) should be to build something better, different, or cheaper than comparable products in order to attract initial users, with the least amount of complexity.
Be different for one reason, build upon one insight, market and communicate that, and wait to see how it plays out. This is my current strategy with VibeTrack.
Being different is the best advantage in my opinion since customers cannot directly compare you to other businesses, and therefore they can’t price compare and just choose the cheapest option (as explained in 100M Offers). In the beginning, it’s just hard to be outright better than existing options for most domains (especially in software), and being cheaper than other options attracts a price-sensitive customer that will likely leave as soon as you raise prices. Having low prices also makes it harder to invest in the growth of your business (less revenue means less cash to invest in marketing, product, etc..).
Next (Tech) Project
I built VibeTrack partially because I want to get more “reps in” and push out more products since I realized that the key to getting better is doing more. Instead of trying to perfect one web app, or one podcast, or one album, it’s much better to just push something out and learn from your mistakes.
At the same time, it can take a lot of time for a product to gain adoption or traction.
So my strategy with software is to try and start more projects, and not abandon any previous projects unless there’s a solid reason (my underlying assumption changes, or I need to free up time to focus on something else).
I also want to avoid building just to build. I don’t want to build anything that isn’t based on an insight. I also have a strong bias against any idea that my conscious brain comes up with, I prefer ideas that my subconscious delivers since that’s the true supercomputer.
Essentially, my strategy is just to do the highest leverage action that I can come up with. I would love to focus on just one thing, but I haven’t reached the point in any of my projects where I feel confident about doing that yet.
Conclusion
In the next few months, I’ll focus on making SnackDial into a growth platform for snack businesses. I’ll do this by helping my first customer gain more revenue. If I’m successful, then I’ll focus on marketing SnackDial with the results (e.g. we grew revenue by 30% for customer X).
I’ll also try to get initial users for VibeTrack and try to find product-market fit. In the meantime, I’ll use VibeTrack for my own side projects (like starting a podcast or just meeting with people).
I don’t expect these projects to take a lot of time, so I’ll also be actively researching businesses to buy that would help get some income in.
Fundamentally, I’m just trying to do work that I can be proud of, have ownership in, and connect with others through.
I recently listened to a podcast on the founder of Red Bull. His approach to business was that it should be fun, and this was a big reason for the success of Red Bull.
I want to take the same approach to business. I think business can solve multiple problems for you, not just the problem of more money. It can be a way for you to connect with the world, do work you’re proud of and feel good doing, and become a better, more skilled person overall.
And if done right, it can be fun. It’s just a matter of taking a creative approach to business, having a bias toward action, and creating (and delivering on) offers so good people feel stupid saying no to.
