Can You Make It Uglier?
"Can you make it uglier?" That's my favorite question to ask when a teammate presents a new design. Humans are wired to love beautiful things. That's not a flaw—it's biology. But in software design, beauty is a dangerous accomplice. It sneaks in quietly, hijacks critical thinking, and whispers: It looks goo...
- design
- startup
- product
Our Head of Customer Success left last week. On her way out, she handed us a gift during the exit interview
Our Head of Customer Success left last week. On her way out, she handed us a gift during the exit interview. She said, very calmly, that our biggest problem was that we were doing too much work for our customers. She was absolutely right. So we're retiring the term Customer Success and we're rebranding the...
- saas
- startup
- customer
Fire the Managers. Promote Mentors
When we were a dozen or so at Walcu, I knew that one day, if things went well, we'd grow and eventually need a hierarchy. I dreaded that part. I'd seen this movie too many times: companies whose managers don't actually do the work, aren't particularly respected, and compensate with spreadsheets, dashboards,...
- startup
- leadership
- culture
Six Years In, $8M ARR, Still No Business Plan
Until Today. One thing that always struck me as outright wrong is to spend time on creating detailed business plans and financial reports/predictions early on when starting a SaaS company. I've seen this many times, and every time it felt so alien to me. I always wondered, aren't those founders (friends and...
- saas
- startup
- business