[Raised $23.8 million] Ep.108 - The First 100 with James Evans is the Co-Founder of CommandBar | Proto-type Loom Videos | Product-led Marketing | "Powered by" Marketing
Oct 30, 2023
auto_awesome
James Evans, Co-Founder of CommandBar, talks about transforming the software into user assistance, enhancing user experience with Command Bar, guerrilla tactics for customer acquisition using loom videos, strategies for acquiring big name clients, and the importance of finding the right co-founder and personal growth.
Command Bar used personalized video outreach to acquire customers, showcasing the potential value of their product and attracting early adopters.
Command Bar repositioned itself as an improved digital adoption tool, leveraging their audiences feature and proactive nudges to differentiate from traditional pop-up experiences.
Deep dives
Command Bar: Simplifying User Assistance Software
Command Bar, a software company co-founded by James Evans, aims to make software products easier to use by providing user assistance software. This software integrates into web apps, mobile apps, and websites, and offers experiences that help users navigate and understand complex interfaces. Command Bar focuses on building experiences that are less invasive and more respectful of users' needs, using features like search interfaces and AI-powered chat interfaces to provide relevant results and guidance. Their goal is to assist users without being annoying or disrupting the user experience.
Early Customer Acquisition through Personalized Video Outreach
In the early days of Command Bar, the team employed a personalized video outreach strategy to acquire customers. They selected five products per day that would benefit from Command Bar's services, created a prototype using a Chrome extension, and sent customized loom videos to the product founders. These videos showcased the potential value of Command Bar and explained how it could improve the user experience. This guerrilla marketing tactic proved to be efficient in generating interest and attracting early adopters.
Positioning as an Improved Digital Adoption Tool
Command Bar initially built a narrow, deep product focused on search interfaces. However, customer feedback led them to broaden their offering and position themselves as an improved digital adoption tool. By leveraging their audiences feature and adding proactive nudges to guide users, Command Bar differentiated itself from traditional pop-up experiences. This repositioning allowed them to communicate their value proposition more effectively and attract customers who were already familiar with digital adoption tools.
Building Trust and Opportunities for Growth
Command Bar prioritizes spending time with their customers and establishing strong relationships. They hold regular meetings with customers to gather feedback, discuss product improvements, and understand their specific needs. Additionally, by being present in other companies' products, Command Bar gains exposure and builds trust through a powered by command bar feature. This approach not only fosters a sense of reliability and trust among users but also creates inbound leads as customers advocate for Command Bar within their own organizations.
James Evans is the Co-Founder of CommandBar, a software company that allows users to add a command bar to their app with one line of code, making it easy for them to learn and navigate their GUI. Commandbar has raised $23.8 million to date from Insight Partners with participation from existing investors Thrive Capital and BoxGroup.
If you like our podcast, please don't forget to subscribe and support us on your favorite podcast players. We also would appreciate your feedback and rating to reach more people.
We recently launched our new newsletter, Principles Friday, where I share one principle that can help you in your life or business, one thought-provoking question, and one call to action toward that principle.