Kevin Scott’s Post

It’s been almost exactly a year since I quit my job at Google to try my hand at entrepreneurship. The startup journey has been full of ups and downs, but if you told me this is where we would be one year later, I’d be thrilled: • We're finding product-market fit! We have a growing base of happy, paying customers and two distinct paths to refine it that we’re doubling down on. • We’ve established solid partnerships with leading tech partners who offer complementary services and we are being seen as an up-and-coming leader in the Shopify ecosystem. • Our competitors don’t scare us anymore, and we’re actually starting to scare them! We set out to build a great product regardless of the competition, and while we used to be intimidated by the funding and resources of our more established peers, we find ourselves outperforming them over and over again! 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠: • Big companies move really slowly, until they don’t. Our sales conversations with a few enterprise brands and our partnership with Google went from a trickle of conversations to a flood of meaningful activity all at once. This was a lovely surprise. • Actions > Words. We’ve been offered support, resources, intros, etc. along with vague noncommittal promises. I’ve been surprised at how many people are all talk, and have become much more thankful towards the individuals who follow through on their promises. • No professional accomplishments in my former big tech roles have come close to the personal satisfaction that I’ve gotten from building something that didn’t exist before. Getting to help business, earning real dollars from our solutions, and receiving tangible feedback really scratches the “purpose” itch. 𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑 - We’ve successfully carved out a niche as a crucial integration point between Google and Shopify and people are starting to notice! We have a long way to go, but I’m so thankful to the team I get to work with every single day to make it happen. Upwards and onwards to year two!

New Post: Confetti, a team-building platform used by Apple, Google and Microsoft, raises $16M - https://lnkd.in/gt76GaST - Not many startups can claim Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta as paying customers, but Confetti can. And the list doesn’t stop at a quintet with a collective market value of $10 trillion — the New York-based company says it works with Zoom, Netflix, Stripe, TikTok, Shopify, Adobe, LinkedIn, HubSpot and 30% of the Fortune © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. - #news #business #world -------------------------------------------------- Download: Stupid Simple CMS - https://lnkd.in/g4y9XFgR -------------------------------------------------- or download at SourceForge - https://lnkd.in/gNqB7dnp

From Flagship Back to Fledgling: Lessons on Going Multi-Product From an Early Stripe PM https://lnkd.in/gMZW7cQQ “It’s not about building the best product. Being the best means nothing.” For product builders striving for perfection, these words might not seem particularly motivating, but for Tara Seshan, this advice is a phrase she returns to whenever she’s considering where to place a new product bet.Before her most recent role as Head of Product at Watershed, Seshan spent a nearly seven-year stretch at Stripe. She joined the company at the sub-200-person mark in 2015, back when “there was still very little adult supervision” as she puts it. Seshan spent a year of that tenure with Shreyas Doshi as her manager, from whom she picked up this lesson originally. “Everyone always overestimates the impact of launching specific features and building the best product, but that’s not the answer — you have to build the right product for your target user,” she says. Sounds simple in theory, but tough to consistently pull off in practice,...

A Competitive Advantage for Founders... The world’s best founders are voracious learners. I’ve seen it repeatedly in my 1,000+ hours of researching and writing about world-class founders in the past year. Tobi Lütke, co-founder of Shopify, studies how great companies are made by reading biographies, describing them as “cheat codes” for his life. Apoorva Mehta, co-founder of Instacart, said “Great founders are learning machines” and described how the more you know, the better decisions you can make. Patrick Collison, co-founder of Stripe, and Christina Cacioppo, co-founder of Vanta, both have public reading lists filled with books. It goes on and on. You can avoid a lot of pain and discover a breakthrough from the right ideas. Now, after a year of researching world-class founders, I’m sharing their best lessons in my Insights product. Get insights on everything from customer acquisition to hiring to decision-making and more. V1 of the product is now available, with preorder pricing going away on Friday. Will be sharing much more about this soon, but if interested in being an early supporter and locking in your yearly pricing 👇 https://lnkd.in/gr4AgwZr

An early Stripe PM shares nine lessons on transitioning to a multi-product strategy, emphasizing the importance of choosing the right product for your target user, timing new product bets carefully, and maintaining a lean approach. Key takeaways include focusing on user needs, leveraging existing assets, and fostering an environment of definite optimism. These insights provide valuable guidance for product leaders and founders navigating the complexities of scaling their product portfolios. #ProductStrategy #Innovation #ScalingUp From Flagship Back to Fledgling: Lessons on Going Multi-Product From an Early Stripe PM https://buff.ly/3RGMfam

Just wrapped up the Freedom Builder Bootcamp (a 30 hour course on how to build a profitable business leveraging the power of Amazon). Diving into the backend of the system was seriously fascinating...so I thought I'd share 3 insights I took away from the experience. 1. Cracking the Product Research Code: The first few modules got us started with a solid understanding of the Amazon FBA model and key terminology. We dove into practical tools like the Jungle Scout extension for effective product database searches, teaching us advanced techniques to identify profitable niches, analyze competition, and leverage customer feedback to our advantage. The real value here is having a roadmap to navigate the crowded marketplace. 2. Effective Sourcing Strategies: Module 3 was where things got really interesting for me. Learning how to connect with Asian suppliers (through marketplaces like Alibaba/1688/DHgate/eWordTrade) and negotiate deals was a real eye-opener. The inclusion of Jungle Scout's Supplier Database was super helpful too. Ultimately, it's about building relationships and securing the best deals for your product. 3. Scaling for Success: Once the groundwork was laid, the remainder of the course walked us through multiplying products, launching new labels, and setting up automated processes. This includes the nitty-gritty of advanced seller strategies, from lead magnets to back-end sales funnels. I should also note that these insights extend beyond Amazon, offering a blueprint for success in the broader e-commerce landscape. If you have some free time, I'd highly recommend this course. https://lnkd.in/g9i2Q26n #FreedomBuilderBootcamp #JungleScout #ECommerceStrategies #BusinessGrowth #Amazon

Twenty-five years ago, Google was born in a garage, and today, it's worth $1.5 trillion 🚀 But did you know they almost sold very early on? In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google's co-founders, approached Excite CEO George Bell with an offer to sell their search engine for just $1 million. Bell countered with $750,000, thinking he was getting a bargain. But Page and Brin stood firm at $1 million. The deal fell through. Fast forward to 2024, and that $1 million investment would have been worth hundreds of billions! But it doesn't end there. Even after Google started gaining traction, they faced skepticism: • In 2002, Yahoo declined to purchase Google for $3 billion • In 2006, Yahoo tried again, offering $1 billion, but Google now wanted $5 billion These pivotal moments in Google's history remind us that even the biggest players can overlook groundbreaking opportunities. Remember this story when facing rejection or doubt. Today's "crazy idea" might be tomorrow's trillion-dollar company. Innovation often looks like madness... until it doesn't. #startup #vc #google #venturecapital

Update on my client's ongoing launch: 325 spots sold out of our goal of 500 so far. (With a 'checkout view' to 'purchase' conversion rate of 48%). We launched early to past customers this weekend, and they snatched most of our spaces immediately 😆 Then, about 1h ago today we launched the offer to everyone on the waitlist. Later today, we'll also start introducing it to the rest of his email list. This incremental launch strategy worked great to build REAL scarcity and desire for the product. As one segment received and bought the offer, the next segment received the update on how many spots were left. Which is part of why my client's Stripe account is going crazy right now, lol. There are a lot more strategies we used for this launch, and I'm planning to write an email to my list explaining everything we did. I'll send it early next week after the launch is done so I can share all the results and analyze it. If you want to get that email, make sure you sign up to my email list at the link in the comments. Or... if you want my help injecting an extra dose of $$$ into your business this spring, just DM me and I'll reach back asap. Happy Monday! 😉

I lost 20% of my net worth in my first year after leaving Google to run my startup. For much of the 2010s, my net worth growth was fueled by a golden goose: Google employee stock options. From 2014 to 2021, the value of my Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) nearly tripled, delivering an impressive 16% annual growth. When you're making money on something, its hard to see why you should get off the ride. Then came the post-COVID interest rate hikes, responding to inflationary pressures from supply chain disruptions and pent-up pandemic demand. Interest rates are like gravity - when they go up, prices come crashing down. The result? My net worth took a 20% the same year I left Google to work on my startup. I've developed a simple, AI-powered portfolio rebalancing simulator for all my friends who work in tech. Check it out in my blog article, or watch a video walkthrough of it on YouTube (links in the comments)!

Have you nailed your Product Market Fit? No, it's not just about having customers. No, it's not simply about revenue growth. And it's certainly not about your feature list or roadmap. Product Market Fit is the holy grail of startup success—a state where your product satisfies a strong market demand. It's about creating value... but specifically for your target market. Here's what true Product Market Fit looks like: 1. Your product solves a real, pressing problem for your users. 2. Your target market actively seeks out and adopts your solution. 3. It's a leading indicator of sustainable growth and profitability. It's a state of business that: 1. Drives organic growth through word-of-mouth and referrals. 2. Reduces customer churn and increases lifetime value. 3. Enables teams to focus on scaling rather than constant pivoting. I've seen the magic of Product Market Fit firsthand at Dropbox. Their simple file-sharing solution addressed a universal pain point. Users who experienced the ease of syncing files across devices became instant advocates. This organic growth was a clear sign they'd hit the bullseye. Dropbox's Product Market Fit was evident in their "viral coefficient"—each user brought in more than one new user on average. This led to exponential growth without massive marketing spend. In other words, strong Product Market Fit fueled their rocket-ship trajectory. Every ambitious startup needs to relentlessly pursue Product Market Fit before scaling. Have you found yours?