The Art of Product

Tuple hired a firm for QA testing and is gradually ramping them up. Derrick is exploring how best to approach architecting the initial version of his new product (still in stealth mode) and is taking inspiration from Ryan Singer and Jason Fried's recent Rework episode on product strategy.

Derrick explores the difference between the craft of software development and the building minimum-viable products (and why it's good to exercise both). Ben explores hiring a QA testing firm. They reflect on the nature of shipping software and the differences between web apps and native, cross-platform apps.

Derrick is enjoying work the last week by taking joy in setting and achieving small goals each day. The Tuple redesign project is nearing completion and has been a welcome distraction from the pandemic. Ben is hiring a full-time Mac OS engineer and an accountant to help with managing the money side of the business.

The Tuple team is growing as Ben kicks up sales efforts with help of an industry veteran and the engineering team onboards a new team member. Derrick is continuing to work in stealth mode on a new product and is bringing in some cash flow from a consulting project with...tune in to find out.

Ben and Derrick hang out with Tuple co-founders Spencer and Joel and talk shop. They discuss what it's really like to work with Ben, how they approach learning deeply technical things, ways they are preparing for a new engineering hire, and that time they hard-coded user IDs into Tuple.

Ben and Derrick are doing their best to focus right now with so much going on in the world. Ben is spending less time on Twitter these days. Derrick is working on hedging his opportunity bets by doing jobs-to-be-done interviews in the scheduling space.

Suntans and sunburns aside, Derrick’s winter escape to Mexico provided meaningful ideas and perspective on StaticKit. By reading, Competing Against Luck, Derrick’s goal is to be innovative and gain traction in product/market fit by asking customers the right questions and identifying jobs to be done. Ben recommends reading, Schlep Blindness by Paul Graham. It describes how startup ideas remain a painful process instead of a phenomenon. Also, Ben announced that Tuple wants to hire a part-time remote developer with Mac iOS and C++ experience. Recently, Ben realized that writing is better than talking when it comes to business communication and conversations.

Ben put big and new priorities to the side to cover support for Tuple. By doing so, he discovered different opportunities to reduce the number of support requests received. It’s challenging to work on the right things in a smart order. Derrick knows how support is one of the best ways to identify pain points with your product. He describes how founders often follow their passion instead of their priorities. With StaticKit, Derrick is expanding his focus to align tools that he’s building to meet niche market demand. However, less is more when it comes to outreach and emails.

Even if a product, such as Tuple, is good and people don’t need to be convinced to buy it, there’s still plenty of work to be done. It involves communication, coordination, and collaboration. Ben’s perfect sales pitch and ultimate goal: Sell once, revenue forever. Ben picks his guest co-host’s brain about big deals with major companies. Luckily, Matt Wensing is willing to share his enterprise sales experience, including setting price points, hiring salespeople, and developing documentation. Matt is the founder and CEO of Summit, Out of Beta podcast host, and Riskpulse founder.

Ben never wants to stop working on his startup company, Tuple. Despite some stress, it’s successful and satisfying. However, team members may be added to take over some of Ben’s responsibilities. Based on the book, The Great CEO Within, Ben continues to provide feedback and to document standard operating procedures, policies, and other information to handle the challenge of knowledge management. Derrick emphasizes the importance of documentation, support, and smooth transitions. You don’t know what other people don’t know. Derrick wants to be doing what he’s doing with his startup, StaticKit, but is feeling weary and may be willing to eventually step aside. While attending a TinySeed Retreat, he was reminded of how face-to-face meetings are worthwhile, and it’s good to surround yourself with successful people who share similar experiences.