Both the Meritz projects I would also consider a success. So that’s 4/39 (>10% hit rate!)
1 question: why do you not think the shadow idea worked? I think thesis is correct - in fact a while ago I had considered doing a similar project before I dropped it.
Regarding Shadow: The thesis seems right on the surface and in initial talks with customers seems like a great idea— but it is a trap.
What I discovered is the only people that need an AI sales assistant are new sales reps.
If you are an experienced sales rep, you don't need the AI assistant.... and in fact, AI assistants trip experienced reps up in calls (net negative).
A few months later, Salesloft and similar companies built the same product into their current products, but tbh no one uses the product except for inexperienced reps.
In short, it solves a problem only new sales reps have, which is high churn and makes it hard to close deals with larger companies. The product can only really exist as part of a wider "compound" startup.
The reason I originally though it would work is because I wasn't that good at sales at the time haha. Hope this helps you understand why I killed Shadow 🪦
Makes sense. Tbh my idea was more focused on solopreneurs if I remember correctly. They do this because they have to but they aren’t necessarily good at sales nor is it their bread and butter. I think this type of project could work, but if you target a specific niche who need to sell themselves/their product but who don’t do sales well and aren’t willing to use heavy and expensive enterprise software . I never actually talked to customers but it was just an idea I had. I’m no longer interested in this idea in any case, but I think in the right hands a tool like this could work if you target the right niche - not sure how big it could scale though
Personally I felt they went well— but were not break out success.
I founded the Meritz projects with 2 other co-founders.
So $30,000 a month divided by 3 is only $10,000/mo in a business that isn't high margin (15-20% margins).
If it was a pure software business or high margin (>70% margins) I would consider both the Meritz projects a success for hitting $30k+/mo.
The software and processes I built internally for Meritz is what eventually became Scale Online, which was a hit. So in a weird way, the time (years) spent selling on Amazon and building up Meritz were a vital part of figuring out the how to build Scale Online (which was a hit).
Both the Meritz projects I would also consider a success. So that’s 4/39 (>10% hit rate!)
1 question: why do you not think the shadow idea worked? I think thesis is correct - in fact a while ago I had considered doing a similar project before I dropped it.
Regarding Shadow: The thesis seems right on the surface and in initial talks with customers seems like a great idea— but it is a trap.
What I discovered is the only people that need an AI sales assistant are new sales reps.
If you are an experienced sales rep, you don't need the AI assistant.... and in fact, AI assistants trip experienced reps up in calls (net negative).
A few months later, Salesloft and similar companies built the same product into their current products, but tbh no one uses the product except for inexperienced reps.
In short, it solves a problem only new sales reps have, which is high churn and makes it hard to close deals with larger companies. The product can only really exist as part of a wider "compound" startup.
The reason I originally though it would work is because I wasn't that good at sales at the time haha. Hope this helps you understand why I killed Shadow 🪦
Makes sense. Tbh my idea was more focused on solopreneurs if I remember correctly. They do this because they have to but they aren’t necessarily good at sales nor is it their bread and butter. I think this type of project could work, but if you target a specific niche who need to sell themselves/their product but who don’t do sales well and aren’t willing to use heavy and expensive enterprise software . I never actually talked to customers but it was just an idea I had. I’m no longer interested in this idea in any case, but I think in the right hands a tool like this could work if you target the right niche - not sure how big it could scale though
Personally I felt they went well— but were not break out success.
I founded the Meritz projects with 2 other co-founders.
So $30,000 a month divided by 3 is only $10,000/mo in a business that isn't high margin (15-20% margins).
If it was a pure software business or high margin (>70% margins) I would consider both the Meritz projects a success for hitting $30k+/mo.
The software and processes I built internally for Meritz is what eventually became Scale Online, which was a hit. So in a weird way, the time (years) spent selling on Amazon and building up Meritz were a vital part of figuring out the how to build Scale Online (which was a hit).
Hope this helps clarify my thinking :)