From Passion Project to Profitable Business as a Married Couple | Michele and Mathias Hansen, Geocodio
Jul 23, 2024
auto_awesome
Michele and Mathias Hansen, founders of Geocodio, share their journey from a personal need to a thriving SaaS. They discuss the joys and challenges of growing a business as a married couple, emphasizing the importance of communication and intentional hiring in a remote environment. The duo explores the strategic use of contractors and virtual assistants to enhance flexibility. They also highlight valuing user feedback and reflect on their contentment in collaborating while balancing work and personal passions.
Michele and Mathias Hansen emphasized the importance of delivering a reliable geocoding service driven by user feedback and personal experience.
Their partnership as a married couple allowed for effective communication and collaboration, which was vital in navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.
Deep dives
Introduction to Geocoding Services
Geocoding involves converting addresses into geographic coordinates and vice versa, providing essential location-based data efficiently. The service focuses on the US and Canada, aiming to offer comprehensive information, including census data and congressional districts, all through a single API request. This streamlined approach alleviates the burden on developers who would otherwise have to interact with multiple APIs to obtain necessary data. By prioritizing developer happiness, the service minimizes hassle and enhances the overall user experience.
The Birth of a Solution
The initiation of the service was driven by the founders' need for a reliable geocoding solution due to frustrations with existing offerings, specifically the limits of Google Maps' API. Their journey began with the creation of an app that located nearby convenience stores, which highlighted the shortcomings of current services and spurred the need for an effective alternative. The founders' desire to build a product that they themselves needed laid the groundwork for its development, as they aimed for a solution that was functional yet affordable. Feedback from early users, including their experiences on platforms like Hacker News, contributed significantly to both the design and improvement of the product.
Working Together as Partners
The dynamic of co-founding the company as a couple enhanced their collaborative decision-making process, leveraging their respective skills in project management and development. Their history as coworkers prior to their partnership allowed them to communicate effectively and navigate challenges together. While they initially aimed to remain a small team to maintain autonomy and minimize meetings, they later recognized the necessity of hiring additional staff for balance and growth. This shift emphasized the importance of flexibility, both in organizational structure and in their roles within the company.
Transitioning to Management and Growth
As the company expanded, the founders embraced the challenge of stepping into management while maintaining their technical skills. They sought to improve their team's workflow through clear communication and a focus on asynchronous strategies, such as video updates using tools like Loom. This transition highlighted the value of delegating tasks that were outside their core competencies to enable focus on strategic growth initiatives. The founders acknowledged that nurturing an open feedback culture with employees enhances both individual and organizational development.
In this episode of the Business of Laravel podcast, host Matt Stauffer interviews Michele and Mathias Hansen, the founders of Geocodio, a SaaS that provides hassle-free geocoding, built with Laravel. They discuss their motivation for creating the service, born from their own need for reliable geocoding data, and explore the challenges and benefits of working together as a couple, including how their roles have evolved as the company has grown. They also highlight the importance of listening to user feedback and customer input throughout the development process and share their experiences in hiring and building a remote team.