Episode 280: TMBA280: How Our Software Startup Died a Slow Quiet Death
Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle
Dan Andrews; Ian Schoen
4.9 • 527 Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2015
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
http://www.tropicalmba.com/valetup/ In April 2013, Ian and I cut a deal with Jesse Lawler to found ValetUp.com. Nearly two years later we find ourselves on the other side of the looking glass wondering what went wrong. In today's episode, we're going to talk about what we learned from that experience, how we failed, and what we are going to do about it in the future. We're also going to hear from Jesse about his new project, PodcastPop, and how it is going to benefit podcasters who are looking to build a more organic connection with their audience.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's share the gory details on exactly how wrong it went. |
| 0:03.0 | So from each of you guys, what did you put into this project at what was your sunk costs? |
| 0:11.1 | Hey, podcast, listener. |
| 0:12.6 | Even if you are alone in your entrepreneurial journey, know that today, right now in your earbuds, |
| 0:17.1 | you are joined by thousands of entrepreneurs from all around the globe seeking to grow better, |
| 0:22.3 | more profitable, location independent businesses. If you'd like to learn more about what we do |
| 0:27.3 | and download our entire back catalog, check out tropical MBA.com. |
| 0:46.6 | It was April in 2013 when Ian and I cut a deal with Jesse Lawler to found valetup.com. |
| 0:54.8 | In today's episode, we're going to talk about what we learn from this experience, how we failed, and what we're going to do about it in the future, including what Jesse's new project is that's going to benefit podcasters. So if you're not into software, |
| 0:59.8 | startups, you just want to hear about Jesse's new podcast thing. Fast forward towards the end of |
| 1:04.5 | this episode. Let me take you back to May 1st, 2014. That's when Taylor Pearson, who was the lead |
| 1:10.0 | of Valleup.com, he was the lead |
| 1:12.0 | project manager and salesperson, wrote us this email. Basically, he was looking to figure out |
| 1:17.8 | how to get a raise. I quote, I realized I couldn't justify a raise because it was no cash flow. |
| 1:23.6 | So I started running through some scenarios of taking equity in the company. Once I got out of the frame of working for ValleyUp and thinking about working on Valley Up, |
| 1:32.3 | the opportunity cost became a lot clearer. |
| 1:34.8 | I realized that even if I successfully negotiated for 50% of the company, it wasn't an attractive option. |
| 1:41.9 | Wow. |
| 1:42.5 | So even the lead project person wouldn't want to take over 50% |
| 1:47.4 | of this company. This episode is going to be about how it went, oh, so wrong. If you'd like to |
| 1:54.3 | give us your comments about this and share with us your experiences, you can comment on this |
| 1:59.7 | episode at tropicalmba.com slash valet up. |
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