Craig Hewitt: “Evolution of a Productized Service – The Story of PodcastMotor” – FemtoConf 2017

The FemtoConf 2017 Notes and recaps can be found on the central hub page.

Website: PodcastMotor.com
Twitter: @TheCraigHewitt

The Premise of Productized Services

• Quick to launch
• easy to validate
• Provide immediate profit
• Have a clear scope and value proposition
• Allow previously unprofitable business models to become profitable at scale

But does it scale..? 

• Yes, however
  • Margin will only go down
  • We saw a ceiling in total revenue/customers
  • Questionable “sellability” of business
    • You don’t want to spend 20h/week working on something that cost you $200k to buy
  • Linear growth curve (along with expenses)

PodcastMotor History

• 01/15 ==> Launch
• 03/15 ==> 3 customers, $1k/mo
• 05/15 ==> 3 team members
• 08/15 ==> 6 team members
• 01/16 ==> First $10k/mo
• 05/16 ==> went full time
• 07/16 ==> Launched first WP Product
• 10/16 ==> $20k / mo
• 12/16 ==> Acquired SSP
• 01/17 ==> Launch in a Week Course
• 02/17 ==> Launching PodcastMotor Connect

Lessons Learned Scaling

• Document everything
• Better Hiring >> Better Delegation
• Revisit Monthly where/when you are Limiting Factor
• Avoid Scope Creep
• Retain Good Customers (and identify bad ones before they start!)

• How to write SOPs: We use Snagit to record Screen caps and put them in the process document
• Removing yourself from the business
  • Get better every month
  • ensure that you’re providing value > cost of support team
  • Do only what you HAVE to, not what’s CONVENIENT in the moment
  • Build in accountability into your team
• Automatic Delegation
  • Rules in place for when/how to delegate
  • Give the team power
  • Periodic check-in

If I were starting from scratch today

• Begin with your target pricing from the start (aspirational pricing)
• Everyone goes on the same plans (no exceptions)
• Have a service you can fulfill yourself – don’t be dependent on the customer
• Document and Delegate, Early and Often
• Structure for >50% margin from the beginning
• Secondary Market
  • “Typically service based sites sell around 2x net profit, but we have seen them go higher if they have solid brand recognition or a long history of success.”
• Productized Services can be just the beginning
  • Leadfuze – now Course and SaaS
  • AudienceOps – now WordPress plugins, course, and SaaS
  • Elastic Sales/Close.io – On-demand sales team turned CRM
  • PodcastMotor – WordPress theme/plugins, course, and SaaS

The Future of PodcastMotor

• Diversifying our offerings
  • Productized Services
  • Information Products
  • WordPress plugins and themes
• Surrounding the problem
  • Businesses – Concierge Service
  • New Podcasters – Startup Package, hosting, course
  • Existing Podcasters – Ongoing Production Support
  • DIY Podcasters – WP products, hosting, course

-Christoph