thefirst1000.com
Exploring how high trust startups got their first 1000 users
I did what I set out to do and learned what I wanted to learn.
Thanks to all the quests who came by and gave me their stories.
Ultimately I think my and our time can be spent more productively elsewhere.
Podcasting is a lot of work - I respect every person that does it with guests.
Still keeping up +1000 listens per episode :D
Income Share Agreements have come back into fashion with Lambda School making them make sense, but for the 20 million enrolled college students who have to find financing, ISAs haven't been widely available.
Enter Avenify
These guys are building an ISA marketplace for students and investors to come together and finance their education with an ever expanding asset class.
Justin walks me through early validation, 3 months living in an RV and what is next for the team in 2020.
Check out Avenify here - https://avenify.com/
And the recommended book here - https://www.amazon.com/How-Turn-Down-Billion-Dollars/dp/1250108616
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/11-justin-potts-from-avenify-making
Still keeping up +1000 listens per episode :D
Super excited to release to you all our interview with Sergio from Elliot, these guys kill it on Twitter and they have a bustling, loud and rapidly growing cult of followers. Everyday I'm reminded that this is a real David vs Goliath story.
If you've ever wanted to start a store online or been crazy enough to do it - you'll want to listen here.
Check them out here: https://elliot.store
Follow Sergio here: https://twitter.com/sir_gee_ohhhhh
Cheeky plug for apple watch wearers - check out our stretching app here: https://www.thestretchy.app
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/10-sergio-villasenor-from-elliot
Still keeping up +1000 listens per episode :D
Sometimes identifying problems with large antiquated processes seems like a slam dunk, but with antiquated processes come antiquated sales pipelines.
Lucas and the team at Otrafy have faced this among many other challenges since going through Techstars, which led them to a pivot into a world where records were kept on paper and they think they've got the tech to solve it.
Thanks for joining us Lucas and shedding some light on what early enterprise validation looks like!
www.linkedin.com/in/lucaspereiradacunha
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/9-lucas-cunha-from-otrafy-bringing
"Get unstuck quickly with advice from vetted startup mentors
In a few clicks you'll have access to 150+ vetted growth marketing and startup mentors, ready to jump on a call with you at startup friendly rates (or free!)"
What Foti is doing here is insanely cool, affordably democratising advisor networks. I would recommend every startup try and book at least one session. The story of how it came about and how Foti built it is great!
https://twitter.com/FotiPanagio
https://twitter.com/Growthmentorhq
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/8-foti-panagiotakopoulos-from-growthmentor
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Reaching the first 1,000 customers is often where the most valuable startup lessons are found. Early growth forces founders to understand what customers actually respond to, not just what they initially expected.
Looking forward to hearing the lessons from this episode and what worked when turning early traction into repeatable growth.
+1000 listeners :D
Have you ever thought about leaving an inside joke inside your will, the kind of stuff you would see in a rom-com, so that if you died... you could make your mates laugh from beyond the grave?
Well, Dan will kill me for describing his product like this, but that alongside the best will creation process on earth - is what Dan and the team at Goodwill have built. And it is fantastic.
But how do you sell that? How do you start? Dive in!
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/7-dan-garrett-from-farewill-using
+1000 listeners again!
Rachel Carrell joined me to discuss the beginnings of Koru Kids - a new childcare platform solving the biggest problem in childcare, in London. Sound small? This market is huge and Rachel is cracking it.
Shout out to the non technical founders out there. Rachel (formerly of McKinsey) is a sharp and strategic business centric founder who had to get by with bare bones tech in the beginning. What many may see as a hinderance was key to her success as she could focus on the problem and not the product!
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/6-rachel-carrell-from-koru-kids-positioning
+1000 listens!
Like many before him, Chris and Aerotronic entered a Techstars program and hit a wall.
INSERT EXPLETIVE
The team discovered that:
The market did not want the business they were building
and
Selling drones, unit by unit, was awfully painful.
So what would you do in this situation? Duck and cover? Stick to the vision?
Well, they went back to first principles, built a company that solved a big hairy problem and learned how to navigate large antiquated businesses in the meantime.
This story by the way, I did not know going into this. Thank you again Chris for your candor.
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/5-chris-chance-from-aerotronic-drones
Finally knocked on the door. ~1000 listens on this one!
In a time where millennials are delaying having kids in favour of having dogs, and thus doting on their dogs as if they were kids I was determined to get to the bottom of the story behind BorrowMyDoggy.
How can strangers on the internet trust each other enough to lend/borrow their prize possession? What would an on-boarding process be for such an out there idea? How on earth do you identify, target and scale a core customer/user base?
Well, Rikke was kind enough to give up her time, go back to the roots and answer some of these questions for us!
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/4-rikke-rosenlund-from-borrowmydoggy
We hit 800 listens on this one!
Business banking and its utter lack of modernisation and functionality is something I, sadly, am acutely aware of.
However not once did it seem like a problem that could be solved - Enter Georg & Tide.
George set out to build a new kind of business bank, one that works alongside its customers to make their lives easier, and let me tell you, I am a total fanboy.
Building a bank is obviously, a little insane and George did a cracking job putting up with my questions!
If you're interested - sign up here and get £50 in cash!
tide.co/refer/QUINSWDA
https://thefirst1000.substack.com/p/3-george-bevis-from-tide-giving-businesses
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