Jolt

Today, I launched Jolt Block.

It took 4 months of hard but fun work, figuring out what I wanted Jolt Block to look like. Along the way, I:

• Almost took investor dollars (we couldn't agree on pre-product valuation which is just fine!)
• Completely changed the business model to align with my customers' goals
• Redesigned the core functions of the product
• Rebuilt the basic WYSIWYG editor 3 times
• Spent way longer than I thought before launching 🤦‍♂️
• Changed the long-term vision from just a blog layer to an engine for building an audience. We'll see how far I can push that.

I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but the pre-launch of a product, while I'm just in full development mode, is the LONELIEST time for me. I love to be able to talk to customers, receive feedback, share what I'm doing with real users, and find people that really love what I'm building.

Up until now, it hasn't totally felt real. It's time to start the real work (marketing/distribution). I think I may try what @yongfook mentioned he does and do 1 week developing new features, then 1 week marketing. That sounds really fun and would force me to stop and smell the marketing roses. 🌹

I've waffled back and forth between so many ideas in the past. I knew that if I was really going to succeed, I needed to really stick to one product and see it through.

So I committed to work on Jolt Block for at least 2 years, and I couldn't be more excited about it!

I found a really cool product space that is only crowded on the low-end of product pricing and quality - BLOGS!

I wanted to make sure that I was building something with really well defined and known channels, and bloggers definitely have that.

I've joined a bunch of blogging communities and spent some time validating the need for better blogging tools. And that is exactly what gets me excited about this one more than any other. It has strengths on the marketing channels side, so I can focus more on my own strength of product and less on biz dev.

Wish me luck!