The Art of Product

Derrick shipped config file for StaticKit’s UI migration and shifted his focus to other areas of the product. He plans to deliberately and consistently test email messages to determine which generate response and interest in StaticKit. He continues to connect with TinySeed mentors. Ben understands the value mentors offer in helping entrepreneurs easily avoid bad ideas and pursue good ones. Also, he’s working on writing content for his October advisor update. What’s the next step following Tuple’s free trial? T-shirt? Should Ben think bigger and Shape Up?

Some podcasts present terrible sound quality, yet garner tons of listeners. Ben and Derrick are professionals, and care about the sound quality of their AoP podcast episodes. Despite audio difficulties, Ben and Derrick are back. They sound good, and they’re ready to rock their updates on StaticKit and Tuple! Today’s Topics Include: Should you test? Trust weak data? Split-test customer email messaging tools should push you to test as default path (Not) Steady State of New Trials: Email blast offering free Tuple trial to everybody Tuple T-shirt Prototype: Take the next step in funnel to pay for Tuple to get T-shirt Structure and Process: Sense of energy from Tuple’s stand ups and status updates Tuple to handle classic startup chaos by reading, Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters by Ryan Singer StaticKit Solopreneur: Derrick’s suffering from decision fatigue, struggling to juggle multiple tasks, and balancing building a great product and connecting with customers Links and resources: Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit TinySeed Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js  Level Audio-Technica ATR2100 USB Drip Shape Up JAMstack Conf Slack

Derrick returned from JAMstack Conf with a jolt of energy and excitement thanks to face-to-face conversations and strategic connections with potential StaticKit customers. Ben expressed interest in once again speaking at developer conferences. After all, he has plenty of worthwhile information and lessons learned to share about Tuple. Today’s Topics Include: Frontend and Backend: Considerations for implementation/migration with StaticKit Main Objective at JAMstack: Market validation, not to make sales to customers Future Feature: Allows people to configure StaticKit account via config file Prevent UI Creep and Wall of Fields: Keep it elegant, but flexible and customizable Instant Gratification and Relief: Numbers are rising again after Tuple’s sign-up fluctuation Tuple Trick: Free, two-week trial for submitting email via invite box; stabilization and scaling are serious concerns due to more customers Ben’s optimism leads to deleted tweet about Tuple T-shirts How much MMR is enough? Never enough; bigger, brighter, more interesting future Links and resources: Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit TinySeed Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js  JAMstack Conf MicroConf Slack Netlify WordPress Drupal JSON Drip Justin Jackson Shopify Rob Walling Paul Jarvis Jason Fried

Derrick and Ben welcome Amir Salihefendić, founder and CEO of Doist. Ben was able to break away from Slack and uses Doist’s Twist app at Tuple for team communication. Also, Ben and Derrick share updates and experiences about their businesses that spark familiarity and advice from Amir based on his entrepreneurial adventures. Today’s Topics Include: Founder Therapy: Derrick helped talk Ben off the ledge and figure things out with Tuple Live and Learn: An entrepreneur starting a business is on a psychology rollercoaster Ben’s path forward to break past lull via positive momentum and mood Short-and-Simple Answer: Derrick should only focus on long-term goals for StaticKit Looking forward to new release of Todoist in a few weeks? New features added with emphasis on improving existing design and workflow 360 Review: Stop doing development, and focus time on CEO role and responsibilities Balancing Act: Difficult to start companies and launch multiple products; but worth long-term investment and effort Unless your target audience is college students and you enjoy fighting churn, Doist’s pricing strategy isn’t recommended Synchronous vs. Asynchronous: Working remotely may impact your mental health Links and resources: Doist Twist Todoist Success Ten Years in the Making with Amir Salihefendic of Doist Slack Rob Walling Fooled by Randomness Tyler Tringus Nathan Barry  MicroConf Drip jQuery Adam Wathan WeWork Out of Beta Podcast Bootstrapped Web Podcast Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit TinySeed Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js  Level

Derrick spent his birthday at the north shore of Lake Superior to disconnect and getaway. Yet, he found some time to brainstorm and problem solve for StaticKit. Ben’s back from Martha’s Vineyard, only to experience less positive updates for Tuple. For the first time, Tuple is shockingly “in the red” financially. So, he feels guilty about going away. Today’s Topics Include: Slow Growth: Substantially fewer Tuple trial signups than previous time periods Marketing and Sales Strategy: From being the new tool on the block to steady state where Ben has to earn new Tuple customers Bullseye Framework: Derrick re-read his go-to startup guide to select StaticKit’s repeatable traction channels Tuple’s Q4 objectives and key results (OKRs): Fill top of funnel to increase new email subscribers and trials to continue to grow Ben’s future plans to gather marketing and sales information/intelligence by advertising and appearing on dev-related podcasts Design Matters: Impacts people’s perception of product and builds trust Links and resources: Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js  Level Slack Zoom Upcase by Thoughtbot Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares  Ruby on Rails HubSpot Rob Walling Drip Adam Wathan Full Stack Radio Syntax.fm Steve Schoger Elixir Recurly Chargify

Ben is living his best life with walks on the beach and wonderful weather. On the Tuple side, he shipped some code, got a pull request (PR) merged, and is now on the devise authentication gem. Derrick’s been busy, too. StaticKit’s official integration with ZEIT went live. ZEIT is one of two major hosting providers in the static site ecosystem. Also, an initiative with Zapier is in the works. Today’s Topics Include: Derrick did it his way: Integrations can be a powerful marketing channel Zapier Integration: Derrick’s waiting on approval to be listed publicly in its directory Positive Pace: Derrick invests his previous product efforts with marketing impact Pricing Pros and Cons: Free vs. paid tiers for forms or submissions per Website Personal Response: Derrick receives notification when someone new signs up with StaticKit to offer support Derrick joined TinySeed, a startup accelerator that helps bootstrappers grow their company faster through funds Links and resources: Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js  Level Devise Authentication Gem ZEIT Zapier Netlify FormKeep Salesforce Slack Adam Wathan Superhuman Drip TinySeed JAMstack Conf

Ben is finding it easier to plan meetings to talk about challenges, and how he appreciates consistency. He describes his recent experiences with NanoConf and TupleConf. Derrick understands how perspectives shift as a business goes through different stages. Everyone wants financial security, but they always have complicated problems to solve. Today’s Topics Include: Mini Mastermind Conferences: Growth Strategy for building rapport and trust while bringing in new people for new perspectives Lessons Learned: Capture what went well, what should change in the future TupleConf: Ben, Joel, and Spencer discussed high-level questions and risk of co-founder issues and ambitions How to Deal with Conflict: Know your strengths, weaknesses, and personality type Planning and Prioritization: How to clarify and activate energy to do lower/smaller tasks StaticKit Milestones: Derrick achieved expansion revenue, additional customers, and annual renewals Pricing Structure, Tiers, and Upgrades: Monthly vs.yearly subscriptions with no surprises Derrick shares future vision of StaticKit beyond static forms for positive user experience Links and resources: Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js  Level Big Snow Tiny Conf Build Your SaaS Podcast CartHook Brian Casel WordPress Gatsby Jekyll Drip Netlify Stripe GitHub

Ben’s been adding variety to work by biking to breakfast and the beach, while working in-between during his stay on Martha’s Vineyard. He’s feeling lucky to work remotely, and still be able to connect with co-founders! Derrick enjoys a change of scenery from time-to-time during workdays, especially to kickstart his blood flow during an afternoon lull or breaking point. Today’s Topics Include: Writing code is like riding a bike: Tuple moving forward with adding single sign-on Caring about Code Quality: Ben’s higher level tests prove more valuable, less coupled Evolution of Testing: Derrick’s progress from test-driven development (TTD) to practical testing for StaticKit’s structure and features Devise Deal Breaker: Digested passwords in Tuple database wouldn’t need to be reset Pair programming proves powerful in preventing mistakes and being blocked Marketer? Developer? Sales? Ben’s possible future role and responsibilities with Tuple Hockeystick Metrics: First-paying StaticKit customer leads to 200% growth increase Content Marketing: Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js spikes StaticKit sign ups Self-serve Engine: Easily upgrade and deploy StaticKit from sandbox to live mode Prioritize Priorities: Ben encourages Derrick to focus on forms for StaticKit AoP Podcast: Is fanbase willing to pay for extra-special content? Share ideas with Ben and Derrick via Twitter Links and resources: Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit Using Tailwind CSS with Next.js  Level AoP Episode 22: Finishing the Year Strong Tailwind CSS Next.js Rob Walling Drip Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Ruby on Rails Thoughtbot RubyGems Devise DigitalOcean JSON

The true life of an entrepreneur! From backgrounds to beards, change is in the air for both Ben and Derrick. Ben is a 36-year-old man who is back living with his parents temporarily to save some cash. Ben considered himself a minimalist, until he realized just how much stuff he had to move. So, he hired movers. Derrick describes the importance of documenting lessons learned and accumulating knowledge. As a result, he got his first paying customer for StaticKit. A meager $10 in revenue is greater than zero. Today’s Topics Include: Tuple: All for One, or One for All? Ben seeks advice on whether to make significant changes to app to satisfy single prospect that requires single sign-on (SSO) support Authentication and Security Schemes: Increasing scope intimidates and impacts legacy engineering decisions Big Decisions equal Big Bucks: Good but challenging problem to have in business Free to paid options for Derrick’s StaticKit turns into inflexible data model Got one, get more: Freemium customer converts to first StaticKit paid subscriber Derrick’s Next Step with StaticKit: Default state of being sustainable and breaking even on personal expenses Solo Founder: Tricky to find good fit of founder to do everything and grow quickly Keep Shipping Away: Set weekly goals to achieve and celebrate wins Links and resources: Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit Level G Suite Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Basecamp Shape Up Thoughtbot RubyGems Ruby on Rails Drip Stripe React

While Ben’s on vacation, Derrick welcomes Matt Wensing, founder of SimSaaS and co-host of the Out of Beta podcast. Matt was also the co-founder and CEO of Stormpulse. Derrick credits Matt for giving him great advice to make the winding down of Level less daunting. Now, Derrick’s on the upswing of rebuilding his confidence, despite challenging cluster headaches and stress cannibalising productivity. Today’s Topics Include: Out of Beta: Matt’s new podcast where he publicly discusses projects and products Mentorship Momentum: Seek help to sharpen software as a service (SaaS) skills Matt’s focused on marketing efforts to get work done and sales to gain access What is launching? Get started for free! TinySeed, Big Benefits: Solo business can’t do it alone; community plays a big role Fruitful Conversations: StaticKit update involves JavaScript, APIs, and Markup (JAMStack) Links and resources: Matt Wensing on Twitter Matt Wensing on LinkedIn SimSaaS Riskpulse Out of Beta Podcast Stormpulse SimSaaS on TinySeed MicroConf MicroConf Europe Brian Casel Rob Walling Jason Cohen Company of One by Paul Jarvis Slack Heroku CI/CD for WordPress with Peter Suhm of Branch CI Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit Level Level Retrospective Level Manifesto