If you want to launch a product, build it quickly and ship it. Too often we get caught up in perfectionism and self-doubt, and end up over-engineering our MVP. Don’t spend months in a vacuum making something perfect that nobody wants. It would be much better to release something imperfect that has potential, and iterate […]
Products are a game of problem solving. Find a problem, then build a solution. Sometimes you just want to build a cool thing, but you don’t start with the problem. If you have a perfect solution to a problem nobody has, you lose. The sooner you lose the better, because then you can get to
Products Must Solve Problems Read More »
In January of 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a shiny piece of metal in his Sacramento lumber mill. He showed the metal to his boss John Sutter, and the two discovered that it was gold. Sutter tried to keep the discovery a secret in order to avoid endangering his agriculture business. He failed. In the
A Brief History of the WordPress Product Business Read More »
Being a business owner who codes is an advantage in some ways, but also a major disadvantage. It’s great to be able to build your own products without paying someone else, and do it on your own timeline. The problem is that it’s nearly impossible to pull yourself away from the code when it’s time
Marketing: What Works and Doesn’t Work (For Me) Read More »
Earlier this month my sales counter app for AppPresser ticked over to 7 figures. This is pretty exciting for me, it’s a major milestone for my career in selling products. It took us about 3 years to get to 1 million (not counting other revenue), and and it feels really good to reach this milestone.
2016 brought a lot of change in the WordPress product space, and lots more is coming in 2017. Companies are getting bigger and more mature, hosts are pushing their weight around with acquisitions, and new players are entering the game. Established products are still doing well, but new products by old companies are gaining momentum.
2016 WordPress Business Review Read More »
It’s true. No one wants to use your product, and it would be better if they didn’t have to. This is not just about crappy products, it’s about great ones too. Using your product is a necessary evil, because a better way doesn’t exist yet. It would be better if I didn’t have to use
It would be better if your product didn’t exist Read More »
Reading good blog posts is one of my favorite ways to learn about business. There’s a lot of noise out there, lots of blogs are not worth reading. When your time is limited, it’s important you get to the good stuff quickly. Here are the blogs I get solid, actionable business advice from consistently.
My 5 Favorite Business Blogs Read More »
Most companies start when someone has an idea, and they start making something: a product, a consultancy, a SaaS app, or whatever. In the early days, the founder is really involved in making the product. If you are a technical founder, you write a lot of code, build your website, setup email marketing and other
The Most Important Thing a Founder Does Read More »
“Real artists ship.” –Steve Jobs “If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version you waited too long.” –Matt Mullenweg You’ve probably heard of an MVP, it stands for Minimum Viable Product. The term was popularized by Eric Ries, It means that you should ship when you reach minimum viability, not a moment before
The Minimum Viable Product Read More »