Automate, Delegate, Eliminate Will Christensen

Today on Automate, Delegate, Eliminate we are privileged to chat to Jeremy Ring, one of the members of the first team at Yahoo!

Jeremy Ring was hired as Director of Sales at Yahoo! In 1996 by legendary founder Jerry Yang. After a profanity-laced telephone call with Jerry, Jeremy quit his current job - after only one day of being with that company - to begin a 5 and a half year journey with Yahoo! That would change his life. 

Since leaving Yahoo! Jeremy has been a successful entrepreneur, a Florida state senator, and ran for CFO of Florida in 2018. He has also been a champion for students with his Students United with Parents and Educators to Resolve Bullying (SUPERB) program.

Jeremy is here with us today to talk with us about the rise and fall of Yahoo! From his 50-yard line view.

How did Yahoo! Differ from its competitors, what made it so profitable?


Early on they were the first online company to partner with major brands.
They believed in making a profitable company.

You joined the company after it was founded, were they still innovating?


They were still innovating, but they were innovating for the time.
They innovated in the content area.

In hindsight, were there any business opportunities that were passed up that could have saved Yahoo!?


It’s a hard question to answer, as so many different acquisition opportunities came through the Yahoo! offices.
The bigger acquisitions that were passed up were by the second team.
The second team had the opportunity to acquire Facebook and passed.
The decisions that were made that hurt the company were made by non-tech executives.
Jeremy believes the biggest mistake that the first team made was to not monetize search.

What are some things entrepreneurs can do to help them recognize they may be looking through a lens that may be the wrong one?


How you identify customers.
How do you identify areas that need disruption?

How did the company grow while you were there, what were some of the difficulties in the beginning?


25 employees when he started there when he left there were around 3000.
There weren’t many internal difficulties at the beginning.
The company culture collapsed with the second team.
The biggest challenges they faced came from Wall Street because they expected a more short term explosive growth, so they couldn’t spend time with clients that would be more profitable in the long term than the short term. 

What was it like to see the Dot.Com bubble burst coming?


They knew the storm was coming about a year beforehand.
There was no way to reverse course and stop the burst.
The biggest entities were not actually destroyed by the burst, just damaged.
Yahoo! Was not destroyed, but they failed to rebuild.

What were the differences in the company between when you started and when you left?


The company culture was intact, the culture collapsed after the dot.com bubble burst.
The company culture during his time was great.

Where is Yahoo! today?


They are owned by Verizon
They’re about one step above Radio shack and Blockbuster

What advice would you give other entrepreneurs?


Don’t be afraid to set new rules.
See the existing opportunities and take advantage of the moment.
Focus on your go-to market aspect, otherwise, it doesn’t matter if you have a great technology or not. Selling is equally as hard as building great technologies.
Don’t over-analyze.

Resources:

Websites: 

Yahoo!

Data Automation

Suggest a SaaS founder for the Automate, Delegate, Eliminate show at:

podcast@dataautomation.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s show, we have a great founder to showcase, Tracy Childers of WishList Member!

Tracy Childers was a frustrated online marketer who got tired of using complex and buggy software to run his online business, so he decided just to build his own. Today we get to talk to Tracy about how a non-coder founded a SaaS product that has been around for 12 years.

Tell us about what your software does for people?


WishList Member is a WordPress plugin that allows you to turn your website into a membership site.
It helps to control the user experience of your site through a login.

How does WishList Member differ from competitors?


Because WishList Member is a WordPress plugin, all you need to do to use it is install the free WordPress version on your site and pay for the plugin.
The way they integrate.

How did you help found WishList Member?


Tracy was the director of shipping for his father’s business when he was quite young.
He went to college to get a marketing degree, and he felt that he had learned nothing about marketing.
His father pointed out to him that going to college wasn’t about getting trained, but to prove that he had the ability to finish what he started.
When he got into business he quickly realized that databases were essential to running a business.
He got really into using Filemaker pro, a low/no-code tool.
He recognized that what he was good at, and that was not coding. So he decided to find people who were good at coding to get them to build software for him.
As the internet grew it became simpler to hire a coder.
He saw a space in the market for a cheaper, easier WordPress membership listing product.

What were some of the difficulties you faced, and how did you overcome them?


They unknowingly alienated the WordPress community.
They obfuscated their code.
To fix it, they stopped obfuscating their code and fixed it to work better with WordPress.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?


In order to get paid, you have to show up.

Resources:

Websites: 

WishList Member

Data Automation

Books mentioned: 

The E-Myth

Suggest a SaaS founder for the Automate, Delegate, Eliminate show at:

podcast@dataautomation.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's episode we offer 3 nuggets from previous guests from our first season of Automate, Delegate, Eliminate!

Thanks to the increase of online shopping due to the pandemic, this year promises to be the biggest Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Christmas season ecommerce has enjoyed so far. With that in mind we thought we should reshare some nuggets from previous episodes to help you along the path of automating, delegating or eliminating processes to help your ecommerce business run more smoothly during this busy time!First up, Orion Avidan of retail AddVenture talks about replenishment:

Would you like to hear more? Catch the full episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/big-decisions-have-to-be-made-little-data-to-rely-on/id1514031580?i=1000476710250

Second Rolando Rosas of Global Tek Worldwide talks about order fulfillment and stock movement:

Catch the full episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/humans-will-make-mistakes-fba-automation-rolando-rosas/id1514031580?i=1000475018341

And last but not least, Brian Miller of Easy China Warehouse gives us a great summary on WHY you need to start using software in your business:

Catch the rest of Brian's story here: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/its-not-always-about-saving-time-accuracy-can-be-more/id1514031580?i=1000478293581

Suggest a SaaS founder for the Automate, Delegate, Eliminate show at:

podcast@dataautomation.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's guest is Chad Rubin of Skubana, all those ecom stores out there gearing up for Black Friday, you'll want to listen to this.

Having worked in corporate finance covering internet stocks, Chad started his own ecommerce storefront in 2008. As CrucialVacuum.com Chad discovered a real need to solve the most serious problems of order processing and inventory management that cause millions of dollars in losses for e-commerce sellers every year. Like most of the best SaaS products out there, the need to solve these pain points was how Skubana was born.  

 

Tell us about what your software does for people?


If you think of Shopify, it is everything you can see above the earth, whereas Skubana is everything below ground.
Skubana makes it possible to manage your online store operations, especially if you are going multi-channel.
Skubana helps ecommerce companies run and automate their businesses.

How does Skubana differ from competitors?


They built it from their own challenges, which means it works extremely well.
They have built inventory and order management systems together. They have unified the software.

How did you help found Skubana?


He had a problem that he needed to solve for, he needed a multi-channel system that actually worked.
He couldn’t find any software that truly solved his problem.
They started Skubana to solve the problem.

What made you decide that you needed to build your own software?


Had was working with his business partner to try and get a software solution.
When they realised they could not get pre-built software to adequately solve their issues they decided to build one themselves.

What were some of the moments when you realized what the software needed?


Chad gives credit to his business partner DJ, who pointed out that what they needed was not just an inventory system but an operations platform with everything unified.

What sort of problems did you have when you scaled and grew?


They needed more investments than they initially thought

What made you decide to narrow the vision for your software?


Going after specialized expertise has tremendous value.
At a Shopify conference and saw a presentation that made them realize that with an open API allowed people to build into their software, which would allow others to build into their platform and essentially do some of the work for them.

What did you do to keep your family afloat while building Skubana?


Chad is a first generation Amazon seller, which brings a lot of benefits.
His store helped to fund him while he was building Skubana.
He didn’t take a paycheck from Skubana for a long time.

What difficulties did you face when starting the company and how did you overcome them?


Getting people to believe in their software.
He made a list of the top 10 ecommerce entrepreneurs he wanted to get involved and invest. 
After his first investor many others followed, and eventually he got 2 people from that top 10 list.

What sort of questions do investors ask during the seed round?


You will need to think through every aspect of your business logistics. One seed investor asked what’s happening with Chad’s other business and what his role in the new business was.
Think through all the hard topics so that you have an answer.
Have some proof of concept conversations to better ready yourself for the real conversations.
Make a pitch deck, and send it out and ask for feedback. Build a relationship with potential investors.

How has the business changed from the early days?


The stakes are higher
They have a bigger team
They have a much better product
They have better product market fit
They have become more focused on what they are great at

What advice would you give to entrepreneurs that are just starting out?


Being able to find light in the dark times, and get through them helps you come out a better person.
There is always room for the best on the open market.
What works for one person may not work for you, follow your own ra

Our guest for today is Russ Perry of Design Pickle.

 

Russ Perry has been involved in branding and marketing strategy for the last decade. He has worked to shift the status-quo with brands such as Apple, Morgan Stanley, Pebble Tec, LG, Botanicare, and the Harlem Globetrotters.

 

In 2015 he launched Design Pickle – the world's #1 flat-rate creative platform.

 

Tell us about what your software does for people?


It is a network of a global creative team.
They connect entrepreneurs and businesses to on-demand creative help.

How does Design Pickle differ from competitors?


The scalability of their service and platform.
The quality of their services.
Consistency.
Their software and platform

How did you help found Design Pickle?


He had his own design pickle that needed to be fixed.
He set up an early version of Design Pickle with some third-party software and a couple of other people.
He realized that the model worked really well, especially as some of the designers were overseas, as the work was done “overnight”.
He looked at it and thought “what if I could package this”.

Where did you get the idea for the name and logo?


Russ is really great at branding.
The name for his previous consultancy was long and unwieldy, so he decided his new company had to be easy to remember and spell.
He likes fermented food, so he went with Design Pickle.
He made 2 sketches, and the one his daughter could identify as a pickle he used for the logo.

What were some of the moments where you realized exactly what Design Pickle needed?


The need for software to manage the business as they scaled.
Having instant communication with your designer.

What made you decide to dedicate a designer to each client?


It came down to the quality of the experience.
If a creative can really get to know the client and their brand, they can deliver better designs.
It makes it easier to track the customer’s experience.

How did you keep you and your family afloat when you started Design Pickle?


He kept his business relationships from his agency alive, he got some consulting work from past clients.
He was actually getting paid more and working less than when he had an agency.
He invested in personal development, he hired some coaches, and went to events.

Do you have any examples of your challenges and how you overcame them?


Russ has written a book about all of his personal challenges (see the bottom of the notes for a link)
Russ realized that isolation was his biggest challenge, and being able to open up about his problems is key to overcoming that.
All of your problems are personal ones.

What advice would you give to entrepreneurs?


Be hyper niche and specific in your business, you can always branch out later.

Resources:

Websites: 

Design Pickle

Data Automation

Books mentioned: 

The Sober Entrepreneur

Get hold of Ryan:

https://russperry.co/ 

Suggest a SaaS founder for the Automate, Delegate, Eliminate show at:

podcast@dataautomation.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode of Automate, Delegate, Eliminate we chat to Ryan Phillips.

 

Ryan Phillips started completely broke working out of his grandparents spare bedroom and in two short years built a wildly profitable online business, which he has grown to $1MM+ per year. He is the founder of VideoSuite and Interactr and is focused on personal growth and development.

 

Tell us about what your software does for people?


Interactr is an interactive video platform
It allows you to create a video that a user interacts with, which allows you to deliver the correct sales pitch for that user.

How does Interactr differ from competitors?


A lot of the features are more marketing and direct response related.
It’s an enterprise level software without the enterprise level cost.

How did you help found Interactr?


He was a full time martial arts instructor
The members of the martial arts school had a session with a life coach, who went over their internal value structures.
The coach pointed out that Ryan’s internal values were not consistent with running his own martial arts school.
He had to pivot his whole life plan.
He decided that an online business would be the best idea, and got a mentor for internet marketing (which he failed at).
His accountability partner suggested that they create a product teaching entrepreneurs how to make great videos with their phone.
He posted to facebook one day about how grateful he was not to have a 9-5 job, and this caught the eye of an old friend. They went to dinner to discuss some ideas.
The 2 launched a successful product together, and agreed to a partnership.

What were some of the moments where you realised exactly what Interactr needed?


The initial idea was literally to copy a more expensive offering and offer it at  lower price.
They listened to their users and made changes each year.

How do you capture user feedback?


They have a request page, and they also receive feedback from the user FaceBook group. The page also contains an up and down vote feature so users can pick which feature should be built next.

What is the online formula for success?


Traffic + conversion = sales
Is your product solving a problem or is it providing a solution to a desire? Those are the only things people will pay for.
$100 or less needs a sales page.(Low ticket)
$500 - $2000 needs a webinar (Mid Ticket)
$5000 - $15000 needs an application process that leads to an actual call (High ticket)

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?


Every successful company has challenges
When you become successful, te problems don’t stop
Get used to failing forwards, fast

Resources:

Websites: 

VideoSuite/Interactr

Data Automation

Books mentioned: 

Traction

Get hold of Ryan:

https://www.instagram.com/ryanphillipshq/?hl=en

Suggest a SaaS founder for the Automate, Delegate, Eliminate show at:

podcast@dataautomation.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.