The Developer CEO

Peter Coppinger Co-Founder & CEO at Teamwork.com

@irlTopper

High Performance TeamsRun on Teamwork

Manage Projects and Get Work Done

Deliver Better Customer Support

Chat Built for Better Teamwork

Used by Over 22K Companies All Around The World

We’re doing over $12 million in annual sales

So..What is the talk about?

I’m a TERRIBLECEO

Part 1

The Hamster Years

1999 Digital Crew

We were like2006

CFTagStore.com

Akari Software

GETTINGORGANISED

2007

Whiteboard just wasn’t enough

THE IDEA WAS BORN

"Ted, I’ve been thinking the exact same thing"

Part 1 - Key Takeaways

• Consultancy sucks.

(If you are doing consultancy, increase your prices & charge for the extras)

• Don’t target a small market!

• Don’t sell software components to developers.

• Consultancy-ware software is no fun to build or sell.

• Treat your customers with respect & listen to their suggestions.

• Sometimes you've got to go with your gut.

Part 2

If you Build it They Will Come. Right?

Finding the Time

Hackedy hack hack.Product Design? Specs?

Preparing for LaunchEat your own Dog Food

TeamworkPM.NET

Whhhhaaaaaaaattt?!?

Worst Product Launch Ever!

No Unique Positioning

Real Work - Ugggghh

Marketing?!Who needs Marketing Anyway?

Hackedy hack hack

Engineering as Marketing

• We built a great product • We treated our customers like honored guests • We took every suggestion onboard

We did only 3 things right

Riding the Long Slow SAAS Ramp of Death

$0.00

$7,500.00

$15,000.00

$22,500.00

$30,000.00

Nov 2007 Jun 2008 Dec 2008 Jun 2009 Dec 2009 Jun 2010 Dec 2010

Sales in Year 1

$13,017Sales in Year 2

$100,426Sales in Year 3

$300,014

Our Magic Number: $30k MRR

Web Dev Business for Sale. Price: Don’t Drop the Ball

Side Note on Self-Funding It has never been cheaper to make software

Hell NightAugust 2012

Everything was down

Panic!

Hitting $1 Million ARR50 Months after we launched

December 2011

Part 2 - Key Takeaways• Make the time to build your product. Start right now. • Start with Research & Design, not Code. Duh. • Launch it Right. • Positioning - Stand Out, Be Different. • Fire your Day Job and Go “all-in” ASAP. • Eat your own Dog Food. • Don’t take funding • AWS hosting for the win. • Continuous Marketing from Day 1!

Part 3

Growing Up

Our Hockey Stick Event

Our Hockey Stick EventBuying the Teamwork.com domain

Did it make a difference?

Did it make a difference?

Teamwork.com launch

Hell, Yeaaah…

Time to be anactual CEO...

Aha! It’s my Job

Meetings Suck. But Get Over It.

Set the Vision

Mistake #783: Not Hiring Deliberately

Sculpting our Culture

Don’t Be A Dick

Mistake #386:No Marketing Team

Mistake #1038

We Don’t Needa Sales Team

Process Pains

Nobody has All the Answers

Trust Others and Let Go

Part 3 - Key Takeaways• Be the CEO. • Hold Quarterly Meetings. • Set the Vision. • Establish Your Culture. • Establish processes. • You don’t have to have all the answers. • Trust others and Let Go.

Summing UpTo Grow Faster: Stop Programming. Be the CEO.

Peter Coppinger @irlTopper peter@teamwork.com

Get in touch:

deck: http://tinyurl.com/toppermc2016