Jesse Hanley, founder of Bento, shares insights from running a lean email service provider in Japan. He discusses the innovative use of Discord for customer support, emphasizing its efficiency and community-driven feedback. Jesse dives into the challenges of scaling infrastructure, managing databases, and maintaining calm in a competitive landscape. He also explores the journey of bootstrapping Bento and highlights the importance of personal relationships in growing a business. A must-listen for aspiring entrepreneurs!
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Discord for Support
Jesse Hanley manages Bento's active Discord support mostly by himself.
He finds Discord calmer than email, with friendlier interactions and faster response times.
insights INSIGHT
Community Observation Effect
The observation effect of a community platform like Discord improves customer behavior.
Customers are more polite and understanding than on email, where they're often rude.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Blunt Europeans
European customers, especially Dutch ones, can be blunt, but the Discord community mitigates this.
Other users defend Bento, creating a more balanced feedback environment.
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In this interview, I talk with Jesse Hanley, founder of Bento, about running a lean email service from Japan. We chat about the challenges of scaling infrastructure, managing databases, and maintaining a calm business while serving a global customer base.
Links Mentioned: Bento: https://bentonow.com Database school on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI72dgeNJtzqElnNB6sQoAn2R-F3Vqm15 Database school audio only: https://databaseschool.transistor.fm
Follow Jesse: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessethanley Bento on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bento
Follow Aaron: Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarondfrancis Website: https://aaronfrancis.com - find articles, podcasts, courses, and more.
Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Jesse Hanley 01:02 - Running Bento from Japan 01:48 - The Lean Team Structure at Bento 03:00 - Managing Support via Discord 05:01 - Benefits of Using Discord for Customer Support 06:45 - The Role of Community in Customer Feedback 09:01 - How Bento Gained Traction 13:00 - Bootstrapping Bento and Profitable Growth 16:00 - Running Your Own Mail Servers 19:03 - The Economics and Redundancy of Email Delivery 21:00 - Bento's Heroku Setup and Scaling Challenges 26:00 - Handling and Querying Massive Data in Bento 29:52 - Leveraging Elasticsearch for Data Queries 35:40 - Moving Toward Multi-Database Solutions 37:45 - Exploring Crunchy Data and Citus for Database Scaling 42:00 - Optimizing Bento for Performance and Scalability 54:02 - Jesse’s Advice on Building a Calm and Profitable Business 57:00 - How Bento Uses WebSockets and Background Jobs 1:00:00 - Optimizing Bento with Action Cable 1:02:25 - Avoiding N+1 Queries with WebSockets 1:04:50 - Scaling Redis and Postgres at Bento 1:09:00 - Jesse’s Approach to Managing Growth and Multiple Services 1:11:00 - Final Thoughts on Scaling and Optimizing Databases 1:13:10 - Advice for Aspiring Builders: Stay Patient and True to Your Vision 1:16:00 - Bento’s Unique Approach to Email Marketing and Transactional Emails 1:19:50 - Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Jesse Hanley Online
Database School