Back with the latest edition of my newsletter, charting the grand pivot of my education business into software.
And here’s what I’m going to cover today:
- Sales update
- High-level strategy
- Design updates
1. Sales update
So, first up, in terms of sales, I’ve not been doing anything on sales since our big launch in August, mostly because I was chilling out on a beach.
(At least cause and effect is clear.)
But happily, we’re getting a steady stream of sales coming through, which I think is best explained by what my friend Jeff Walker would call a “launch halo”.
A launch halo is the knock-on effect created by the energy of a launch that results in a stream of sales coming in that can’t be tracked or attributed in any reliable way… but they’re real.
The net result of this has been that, for the last couple of weeks, new daily customers have outpaced cancellations from monthly subscribers, resulting in an actual growth in subscribers, even though we’ve not been doing any marketing at all.
That’s great.
Now, if things stayed like this for the rest of time (which of course they certainly will), I would be able to sit back, pour myself a drink, and watch as revenue just grew and grew.
But I’m not that delusional, and the halo effect which will die down over time.
And so, alas, continue to work I must. (Sigh)
To that end, I’ve spent much of the last week getting tracking dashboards in place so that I can understand where sales are actually coming from.
- word of mouth?
- organic search?
- referrals?
Currently, it’s varied, and includes YouTube, Bing (yes, Bing), Google cpc and even one from ChatGPT.
The tools for this:
- Stripe (single source of truth)
- GA4 for website behaviour and CRO
- Segmetrics for customer journey
It’s nice to have a variety of ways to check the accuracy of data.
GA4 data is showing interesting early funnel data, such as conversion rate from sales page to account creation at 7.5%.
Don’t know if that’s good or bad, but seems positive. Then again, traffic is probably warm, so that won’t hold up over time.
On that point, all numbers are small at the moment, and biased due to owned audience, so I’m mostly just thinking about laying the tracking groundwork so that the data is available as I need it in the future.
Quick tip:
Codex plus Computer (it’s in-built browser) is phenomenal at this stuff.
Just hook up your tools to Codex via MCP and ask it to create tracking dashboards. It’ll do it a blink of an eye right in front of you. It’s something to behold.
High level strategy
I think there’s one phrase that characterises where we are right now:
Go slow to go fast.
The first 6 months of MVP was product-focused.
Then this summer has been sales-focused.
And now, we finally have a concrete product on the table with 1,000-plus paying customers and real data to work with.
Naturally, we are getting tonnes of feedback, ranging from “we love this feature” to “we hate this feature,” and “please, oh please, can’t you just do XYZ?”
So, right now, much of our attention has gone into getting foundational stuff fixed, which is important for making sure the product is good.
I know that an amazing product is the best marketing strategy.
At the same time, I’m also aware that subscribers will churn, and so there is a ticking clock where the money will run out if we don’t grow.
But equally, there’s no point bringing in a bunch of new customers into a leaky bucket where they just immediately churn out.
So where should the focus go?
Product or marketing?
Marketing or product?
(obvs the answer is both!)
Point is, I’m acutely aware that it matters a great deal what I choose to work on… and in what order.
The biggest risk is probably Olly lacking urgency.
Good thing I’m writing this newsletter… it’s a nice way to keep the accountability up!
I believe the best answer to this challenge is: benchmarks.
More on benchmarking in a future edition, but that’s why I’ve been working on getting analytics set up.
By the way – I’m talking like I know all this stuff.
I don’t.
I’m just learning from friends and passing it along as I go.
So fear not —
Whatever I learn, so will you.
Apart from the really good stuff… which you might have to buy me a negroni or two to find out, but we will get to that when the time is right.
3. Design
Next is design.
If you ask me what feeling I want users of this app to have, my answer is:
Like a book, but better.
I want users to feel like they’re holding a premium product in their hands.
A luxury item.
As such, I felt it’s vital to get design right from the beginning.
So I’ve been working with a phenomenal design team, and we’ve spent the last month or so going back and forth on different concepts.
This will be rolling out soon.
It is quite expensive to do comprehensive design work this early on, but I felt it was one of these intangibles which was pretty much vital to get right from the beginning.
What do you think about the vibe I’m going for?
I gotta be honest… I absolutely love it.
And look, from the perspective of doing cool things (which is my North Star with everything I do), I have to say there’s nothing better than working with a great designer who really gets it and seeing your product come to life before your eyes.
So I’ve absolutely loved the process.
Anyway, that’s it for now.
I’ve spent the week shooting clay pigeons, mixing cocktails and eating beef tartare with a group of entrepreneurs here in London.
And I’m due at the next event in about 30 minutes.
Which means I have to sign off, before I’m late for Beef School.
(Yes, Beef School.)
Namaste,
Olly
