Note that Anthropic specifically called out that usage through Conductor will be metered as "programmatic usage" in their June 15th pricing change: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48126438
Just switched from Conductor to Superset and I'm a big fan. I really didn't like the extra stuff conductor added to the UX (the text rendering always drove me nuts).
So far so good with Superset - even as a non-engineer builder.
I tend to interview 30-50 people initially to find a gap in the market. If I'm into something (strong PMF), a good percentage of those people I interviewed will be future buyers.
I typically have cascading meetings for the following steps:
1 - is this 10X better than what currently exists
2 - does our prototype look 10X better
3 - does our v1 solve the gap we found
4 - what features do we need to build in order to get you to pay for it
5 - what features do we need to get you to refer us to 3 friends
A meeting for each of those goals typically leads to customers (again, if I've found PMF).
Been doing immunotherapy for allergies for 3 years and it is a complete game changer. Last year was the first year I could breathe through my nose for the entire year. No more stuffy months.
Sales is hard because it's less about building and more about listening. You need to figure out what customers actually need and that starts with talking to them directly. Here’s a framework I use, based on the Customer Development Ladder I wrote about in my upcoming book. It breaks down the process of learning about customers into four kinds of interviews. Each interview takes you one step closer to a sales call and the last step invites them into a sales process.
1. Exploratory Customer Development -
Start with broad conversations. Reach out to potential customers and ask them about their world: their challenges, goals, and frustrations. Don’t pitch your idea, just listen. The goal is to uncover problems worth solving.
2. Focused Customer Development -
Once you notice a pattern in the problems people describe, you want to make sure it's shared by a wide subset of customers.
3. Paper Feedback Demo -
Before building anything new, create a low-fidelity prototype (mock-ups, sketches, or slides) of how you might solve the problem. Share it with prospects and get their feedback.
4. Real Feedback Demo -
When you have a working version of your product, test it with those same prospects and ask for feedback. The goal is to see if the thing actually solves their pain. If it does, you can invite them into a sales process. “Looks like it might help, can we set up some time to explore what it would look like to implement at your company?”
This approach isn’t magic but it works. The best part is that it teaches you how to find customers and what messaging will resonate with them. Resources like The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick are great for learning how to have these conversations without bias.
I run a sales dev agency and your numbers are decent. Here are two things to try:
- message founders in the space with "I'm working on a new startup and could use your advice"
- after each interview ask them for a referral to someone who you could interview
This creates a referral flywheel and eventually will be a function that brings you customers. I have written a blog post on the topic but I don't think linking here is cool.
The reason I pay for tons of extra Google photos storage is it tags and uploads and pics of my kiddos to an album shared with all the grandparents. It's their favourite app in the world and I'm never allowed to cancel.
Stoicism mixed with CBT helped me get through some challenging anxiety attacks.
I think Seneca shared these 'tenants' in his letters to Lucilius (book: Letters from a Stoic) but I could have that one wrong. Either way, they've stuck with me:
1. Control your perceptions
2. Direct you actions accordingly
3. Willingly accept what is outside of your control
I use a Rode Videomic NTG and it does a pretty good job. It still picks up a little bit of the room echo but I've noticed that zoom does a better job of noise canceling when I use this mic compared to others.