Brian and Scottie Elliott, the dynamic duo behind Gather, share their journey in transitioning their interior design app upmarket. They discuss hiring strategies, emphasizing the shift from task-based to project-based hiring, which enhances operational efficiency. The couple highlights the importance of focusing on customer success over mere revenue metrics. They also candidly reflect on the emotional challenges of losing a major enterprise deal, revealing insights into resilience and the need to understand customer feedback better.
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insights INSIGHT
Holistic Business Success
Business success isn't solely measured by MRR growth.
Focus on internal processes and hires for long-term gains.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Strategic Hiring
Hire consultants for expert insights and project-based work.
Transition from task-based hires to project-based hires for added value.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Lost Enterprise Deal
Scottie Elliott had a potential enterprise deal fall through after the client ghosted her.
She remains optimistic and plans to investigate the reasons for the deal's failure.
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Brian & Scottie Elliott are the husband & wife co-founders of Gather, an interior design project management app.
On this episode, Rob chats with Brian & Scottie about taking their product upmarket, focusing on customer success, hiring consultants and contractors, and more!
The topics we cover
[01:43] Check in on how this week has been going
Setting things in motion with some new hires
MRR now growing off the chain but feeling good about accomplishments
Shifting focus from growing while also building out process
MRR growth is not everything
[04:50] Scottie talks about hiring
Looking at three potential hires right now: lead gen, VA, and an industry expert
Consultant vs contractor. A contract shows up and performs a task, a consultant is an expert in the industry
Moving from task-based hires to project-based hires
With Tinyseed funding now have the opportunity to do more hiring
[08:59] New business processes
Scottie was initially doing customer support
Now realizing needing to focus on customer success to help make sure the customer is successful
[10:21] Challenging sales cycles and losing an enterprise deal
Had a potential enterprise deal (40-50 seats) but the contract was pulled last minute based on the price
The contract eventually went to 0 and the client ghosted Scottie & Brian
Losing contracts is disappointing, but they'll continue to reach out until they get a "no".
Going to dig into the "why" to understand if it was pricing, or something else.
Founders need to decide between learning or hiring for specific skill sets
Important to have a sales process in place before handing off to an outsider
Lots of institutional knowledge within a business and sales process that needs to be documented
[17:57] Technical setbacks from the week
They had a complicated new feature about to ship when one of their developers raised an issue that ended up setting them back nearly a week.
Thanks for listening to another episode of TinySeed Tales. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Season 1 of TinySeed Tales where we follow the SaaS journey with Craig Hewitt of Castos.
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