Author: chen_h
Micro Signal & QQ: 862251340
micro-channel public number: coderpai
Last week, ConvertKit annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeded $ 15 million. My first dream is to get $ 600,000 ARR, so I'm very excited! In the past six years, I have studied and written many courses, but the memories of those moments are always very interesting, the strange thing is, most of these highlights from the most difficult period.
1. The focus is the focus of everything
You can spare time to start something, but if you want to turn it into a real thing, you need to move to the center of focus. A few years ago, I decided to devote himself to the work ConvertKit, transferred from part-time to project my only project.
Without this decision, ConvertKit would not be here today.
Whenever someone bragging about how much business they run, I would cringe. I would rather take one thing and do it well. I'll serial entrepreneur jobs for those scattered, or really want someone more talented than I am.
A few days ago a friend told me that he was surprised I was still only operating ConvertKit project. At this point, I have an incredible team, available funding and influence the audience. Why not start something else running in parallel it?
Because I know myself.
Focus is where I booming. Focus is where I get results. Focus is everything.
2. Select an appropriate direction
Choose the right direction is most likely to give recommendations, we recommend the most difficult to adopt. When you do not have traction, it feels like a choice can only accommodate a small number of people entering the door. In fact, when we choose to "professional blog author's email marketing", everything changed.
Messaging became clear product roadmap also been streamlined, and a list of potential customers is almost filled.
We eventually expand to "e-mail marketing for creators," now including podcasts, actors, YouTuber, writers, artists, musicians and so on. Even if extended to a larger audience, we are still more focused than the competition for all small businesses.
3. Use word of mouth sales begin
Word of mouth is the best way to develop the company, but you need to start engaging recommended. This is a source of direct sales. And achieved by selecting a suitable market, listing your potential customers directly in touch with you, you no longer need to wait for them to come to you.
Each dialogue, even if most of the dialogue are to deny ended, but will teach you a lot. It began as a customer. Then five. Then ten o'clock.
You'll soon find some vital things: recruit customers more than just the door of the customer quality. Why did you leave the next product to those who stumble upon the product that you create it?
But customers want to sell out. Then ask them to recommend. Finally, when the reputation of the beginning, they will be the right people.
4. Find and repeats effective method
Webinar we found the first truly effective scalable growth channel. My initial idea was to do those things and continue to look for the next thing ...... but then I realized that we should focus on things in play. We frantically testing and iteration, but once return, we will go all out.
In the past three years, with many partners completed hundreds of webinars. They are very hard, time-consuming and laborious. But it is very effective.
All experiments were run, test, analyze the data. Once you find a workable method, go all out.
5. Establish infrastructure to support more growth than expected
We spent a lot of effort to rebuild our server infrastructure. It was originally supposed to be a simple, plans and mutual understanding of the moment, but we have turned into an all-out battle to make our product stay online.
I thought we would spend almost all the time for customers to create great new features. But instead of doing things customers are most concerned about: to ensure that the foundation is working properly. E-mail sent on time required, the subscription needs to work flawlessly.
There are many software can solve these problems, and you just do other things. E-mail marketing is not. It is the core business, and reliability is everything.
In support of 1,000 clients and build infrastructure will be 10,000 for the foundation. It is important to take the time to support growth.
6. Financial is optional
At present, we should raise A $ 25 million round of financing. Or at least this is our peers have done. On the contrary, we do not have a dime to raise external funds. I invested $ 5,000 to start the project, and then I doubled the use of ConvertKit time and spent $ 50,000.
Venture capitalists refused to be one of the best things I have ever experienced.
Our own way and values to build ConvertKit. Every line of code by the creator of the services we provide funding. I have no other way.
7. team thinking may be more than most people think
Today, ConvertKit, we have 38 outstanding team members. For $ 15 million ARR, each team member nearly $ 400,000! Much higher rate than any of our peers. At this stage, there are 75 employees is normal.
We are not trying to solve all the problems as soon as possible, but deliberately handling the right thing. Constraints require us to say no, do not disperse themselves, only the highest leverage work.
It also means we can invest more for each team member, and carefully build cultural need, rather than just focus on the total number of employees to achieve the goal.
There will always be trade-offs, perhaps we can move faster, creating more products and better support customers. Therefore, we are still trying to find the right balance between team size, efficiency, and total output.
8. Culture is everything, this is not what you think
As ConvertKit team, we have a lot of strange habit: Talk about someone in the third person, as if they do not like long walks in pairs, allowing only one person to speak, and then ask directly, "red, yellow, or green?" into the difficult conversation.
This is because for us, culture is not bean bag chairs and free lunch, but an environment, in this environment, kind and direct conflict, clear expectations and most importantly trust.
Our culture has ConvertKit version became a place where we all want to work.
9. Share profits
The ConvertKit operation as efficient financial company has two important factors:
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Transparent financial situation. Every dollar spent can see the entire company through our open books.
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Profit sharing. We share more than 50% of the company's profits and the whole team.
The result is effectively encourage everyone to spend money.
Our team asked: "Would you like to go to San Diego or Costa Rica for the next group to build?"
Everyone says Costa Rica.
Therefore, we conducted a study and found to be higher than the cost of Costa Rica about 50%, because the increase in housing costs and increased travel logistics. With the full program, we again asked the team.
The San Diego won by a landslide.
When everyone uses their credit card company, this attitude will continue. Not just the company's money or their money. And accordingly they spent it.
In the past few years, we have allocated more than $ 1,000,000 profit sharing to the team. Everyone is investing heavily in growth. I'm really proud of it!
10. Always pay your debts
No, I'm not talking about financial debt. There is another cause more damage to the software company's debt: technical debt.
The code works fine in $ 15,000 in revenue, it appears to be in a $ 15 million opening joke. It does not mean that you should spend the time to perfect from the start to build it - this is a fool behavior, but on the contrary, each shortcut you take are increasing debt. The longer you wait, it will generate more interest.
We have to spend a lot of time and money to reconstruct all the old code. This is an extension part. Each software companies have to do this, but if we do not expect it and have a planned and systematic manner to repay it, it would be too frustrating.
Original Source: https://nathanbarry.com/15-lessons-15-million/?utm_source=wanqu.co&utm_campaign=Wanqu+Daily&utm_medium=website
