Beta
It is 11:37pm, and the sleep hormones are kicking in. It is harder to think and write, so I’ll be quick. edit: I wrote for 50 minutes, was not quick.
Basically, 4 lawyers are in the beta. The first actively used it with 2 clients, starting dec 15. Another’s assistant, who handles client communications, tried using it last week, but had a bit of trouble. I saw how exactly, looking at the PostHog user replay.
The third will use it with his next client, but he only gets 1 a month, so I don’t know when exactly.
The 4th one wants 2 features before she starts using it. That’s the goal next week, to get her suggestions implemented. I think we have to shift focus now to making what our active beta users want. I read this advice before: have your initial users love you.
In the middle of writing this, at midnight, one client of the first lawyer, sent a help message over live chat. He was the 3rd client that the lawyer used Keepsake with actually. I’m pretty he just sent the Keepsake invite link to the client today. So at midnight, I got an email notif about Chatwoot message, logged into Chatwoot (live chat) 1 minute later, and asked him if he can hop on a zoom. I sent the zoom link, he joined, I asked him to screenshare, and resolved his issue in 2 minutes. He just had to open the invite link for the form again, I think he closed his current tab by accident. First time a client/lawyer ever used the live chat, and I helped resolve their issue.
What I’ve been doing
I also brought on 2 offshore devs since 2 weeks ago. Am paying them from my savings, $2k/month total for both of them. I stopped looking for an entrepreneurial dev, who is willing to work for equity + profit share, for 20-50h/week. These kind of people are rare as diamonds. I just want to find someone like me.
I have been cold calling lawyers for 6h every weekday, during business hours, for the past 2 weeks. My sales head left suddenly, and I had to fill his shoes. Got a couple demos, improved my method of finding the best lawyers to call, as well as my sales script. Fun game, especially when it starts to work better. A conversation opener works best. I introduce myself as the founder of Keeepsake, explain what it is in 2 sentences, then I say “Could I ask you a couple questions about how you run your practice?”. It’s nice because I can 1) gather info about their pain points, and 2) if they are a fit, end with “I’d love to show over a 30min demo about we can help with {x}, and get your feedback”. Been very effective since I started using it the second week. Even if they don’t want it, I at least know what they want. One lawyer 2 days ago said he thinks he is efficient, but wants more leads. I noted that down, and said I will reach out when we get a marketing integration with google ads, inside Keepskae. He said that’s fine.
I’ve talked with kind, generous ones. And I’ve met a few that hung up on my face.
But yeah, I want to get Keepsake to the MVP launch finish line. That line is basically when our beta users love us. I am hoping that is 2-3 weeks out. I am also job searching at the moment, so hopefully I get a startup job by then as a product engineer. That’s what I like to do, talking to users, analyzing their feedback, and then implementing it. I’ve done that at Keepsake, except the implementing part. Writing the code takes too much time, so I oversee a dev doing it.
Job search
The job market is screwed. Most managers can’t identify skill, they just care about years of experience. I got 1.5yoe including Keepsake. In my experience of interviewing 16 different devs, and hiring a couple, a resume means jackshit. Github projects have had the strongest correlation with skill. The only exception to this is if they aren’t excited about the idea. Then they also don’t have the honor to tell me they aren’t, so they barely get on, and I have to follow up. Happened with 2 different devs. 1 of them did great work, he was one of the 3 friends I brought on. And when I mentioned how much free time he had (he was unemployed as well), he made illogical excuses about why. Like dude, just be honest that you aren’t movitated anymore. You don’t have to lie to me.
You need someone who is skilled, as well as excited. You need a big engine, with lots of gas.
I keep going because I enjoy the work. It keeps my mind stimulated. I’m reviewing code, refining the roadmap and tickets. Cold calling lawyers, booking demos. Doing the demos. Interviewing and hiring devs. All the hats, for 90% of my free time. About 60-70 hours a week, excluding bio breaks. I only take Friday nights off, like this one.
The opportunity
And I am realistic about the opportunity. It is definitely there, inside a very niche space, with 2 other competitors. 1 competitor just does one portion of the estate planning workflow well. The other is trying to do the whole thing, but is struggling on the technical execution. I have to execute well to succeed.
Our competitor (the one doing just one part of the workflow), said that most of his growth is from referrals. See 33:36 in this video. That will take months or years to build up. So that’s why I will go part-time on Keepsake, once the beta users help us polish it, and we do the MVP launch. Growth will be a slow burn.
Side Story: Finding Teammates
In my experience, finding entrepreneurial devs, or people in general, is extremely rare. I’ve been trying to find one such dev for the past 3 months. I posted on the reddit startup subs, linkedin, discord, sent invites on YC cofounder matching. About 40-50h total. Had numerous 30min calls with potential teammates. Nothing.
I would not have gotten this far, if I did not know 3 of my part-time dev friends beforehand.
Most people have 0 risk appetite. They want all the rewards now (salary). They can’t see opportunity, and be self-motivated enough to work towards it when the immediate rewards are 0. No business starts making $1 million a year. It starts at $0, and grows from there. Success starts at 0, and the hardest part is the beginning. We are not at 0 exactly, but we are at $0/month right now, and people usually equate both to be the same. They can’t see the growth trajectory. Their view is short-sightd.
Risk appetite is also deterministic. Those with families, or who live by themselves, play it safe. That’s logical. I live under my dad, who has a stable job as a data engineer, so I don’t have to worry about money at all. I have a comfy room to live in like I always did.
But even other unemployed new grads in my shoes are mostly unwilling to join. I have had 2 join before, but they both left after 10-30 hours. One got a job, the other basically disappeared, then when I followed up, he said he wasn’t excited aboutt the idea, and I soft removed him (I said we have enough dev capacity, and if he’s fine with leaving. He said yes.)
Nonetheless, the ideal person to join is someone in the same boat as me: unemployed and with no job/school. And also skilled at programming. Someone itching to join something interesting, and is just looking for an idea that both excites them, and has opportunity. This was me when I joined back in early July.