Show Notes
In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob talks to Simon Payne, a co-founder of Leadpages, about his journey from being a bootstrapped developer, to raising funding, and eventually moving on from Leadpages and developing his own product.
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Transcript
Rob [00:00]: In this episode of ‘Startups for the Rest of Us’ I talk about moving from bootstrapped to funded and back to bootstrapped with special guest Simon Payne. This is ‘Startups for the Rest of Us’ episode 304.
[music]
Welcome to ‘Startups for the Rest of Us,’ the podcast that helps developers, designers and entrepreneurs be awesome at building, launching and growing software products. Whether you’ve built your first product or you’re just thinking about it. I’m Rob, and today with Simon Payne we’re going to share our experiences to help you avoid the same mistakes we’ve made. Every once and awhile, Mike and I like to mix things up and have a guest on the show. And today I welcome Simon Payne, who many of you will know as one of the co-founders of Leadpages. He was, in essence, the developer who helped to Clay and Tracy build Leadpages from day one. And Simon lives in Prague. I’ve met him in person and we’ve hung out several times over a few years. And so there was a good conversation that we had about basically starting off as a developer and transitioning from this bootstrapped company to Leadpages raising their $37 million in funding. And then just recently in the past few months, Simon has moved on and has decided to launch his own product called Convert Player. You’ll hear us talk about that in the interview. Hope you enjoy it. And we’ll be back next week with more of our normally scheduled programming. Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today, Simon.
Simon [01:25]: I’m happy to be here.
Rob [01:26]: You and I first met in person – was it in Prague when we did MicroConf there the first year? I think you came to MicroConf in Europe it was like four years ago, is that right?
Simon [01:35]: Yes, I went to both of them in Prague.
Rob [01:38]: It was cool. And then we connected again, I think in DCBKK.
Simon [01:41]: Yes, it was in Bangkok.
Rob [01:42]: Cool. So you and I have known each other for several years, and you’ve been a big part of the dynamite circle, which I’ve had some affiliation with. But the reason that I wanted to have you on the show today is to talk about your experience basically working with Clay Collins and Tracy to get Leadpages off the ground in the early days, and finding out what it felt like to go through that journey as the first developer. And then to see the company raise funding and, obviously, get very large – there are 160, 170 people today. And you did that all while you were working remotely from Prague. And then recently, you have decided to move on, from what I understand – we’ll dig into it – it was a mutual decision and very amicable. And I know you’re still in touch with Clay. And then you’re working on your own new software product called Convert Player. And if folks want to check that out, go to convertplayer.com and you’ll find out more about what Simon is working on.
So, let’s start by talking about – this has been covered elsewhere, kind of the advent of Leadpages and how you and Clay met, so I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time on it. What year was it when you and Clay connected and started working on it? It wasn’t even Leadpages at that point, right? I think Clay was selling info products, and you were kind of like the web guy?
Simon [02:47]: Yes, I was helping him transition from information products into software. So we did the first few software projects together. First ones were just [Wordpress?] plugin.
Rob [02:56]: What were those?
Simon [02:58]: The first one we did was Welcome Gate. It was a simple WordPress plugin. It was for free. It helped you to make welcoming gate when you arrived on some website that will cover the whole page and give you an offer the first time you visit the site.
Rob [03:12]: Right. And this was like – no one was doing it at that time. You had to hand code it, and people didn’t really use that tactic, is that right?
Simon [03:19]: Yes, it was a completely new tactic. People liked it, but they didn’t know how to do it, so we made it easy for everybody to do it.
Rob [03:24]: And what year was that?
Simon [03:25]: It was 2012.
Rob [03:26]: And then after that you did – was it LeadPlayer was the next one?
Simon [03:29]: Yes, it was LeadPlayer. It was like a month later.
Rob [03:32]: Got it. Wow, a month later. You cranked it out fast. So it was like a WordPress plugin for video? Could you embed videos and then you could ask for emails during the video playing?
Simon [03:42]: Yes. Exactly.
Rob [03:43]: Got it. And then was Leadpages on the horizon shortly after that?
Simon [03:47]: It was very shortly after that. Yes.
Rob [03:48]: Leadpages launched was it January of 2013?
Simon [03:52]: Yes.
Rob [03:53]: And from what I recall, it got big really fast. Right? Revenue spiked way up. Was that mostly based on Clay’s audience and just his marketing chops?
Simon [04:01]: I was watching it from the [?] perspective and I was just completely stunned by the growth, because I just had to keep up with everything. So yes, it was all stuff that was Clay bringing through his content marketing, his audience, and his great marketing skills.
Rob [04:15]: How did you scale that so quickly? What were you hosted on?
Simon [04:18]: I already had good experience with Google App Engine so I was pretty confident with using that. Without App Engine, you would never be able to scale so fast. So it was super easy.
Rob [04:30]: Yeah, for sure. You’re a contractor, you’re living in Prague, you’re working with Clay and Tracy, you’re writing all the code. And things start going hockey stick. You guys were – I don’t remember what the numbers were, but I remember you guys hitting a 100,000 MRR in like no time. It was crazy. Did you hire more engineers right away, or were you solo working on the product for a while?
Simon [04:53]: It was growing so fast we couldn’t properly hire fast enough. So, I think the first year and a half it was just two, three, four, five developers coming pretty slow. But those first hires, they’re developers that are still in the company today. We were very careful about hiring somebody who’d be like a technical leader later, and could manage other people. [?] with Tracy about hiring somebody really smart and I think that was one of the secrets that helped us along.
Rob [05:22]: Right. Was Tracy a big part of the – because it sounds like you had some really good early hires – do you think she was a big part of that?
Simon [05:28]: Yes. Tracy was awesome. She had like 25 years or more experience in HR and hiring all the right people. She hired me. And it was really interesting how we head-hunted some of the developers. We kind of like stole them from other agencies and ODesk.
Rob [05:45]: An interesting part of the story, very similar to how Derek was a contractor for me, and then he became W-2, and then he eventually – kind of retroactively – became a co-founder of Drip. A similar thing happened with you and Clay and Tracy. You want to talk a little bit about that?
Simon [06:00]: Yeah. I originally joined Tracy and Clay to learn more about marketing. But then I realized I can just refocus on myself and my software skills. And I didn’t even think that I would be a co-founder. I just worked so hard and passionately on the business that they invited me to kind of join the center circle of the three of us.
Rob [06:20]: When did that happen?
Simon [06:23]: I think it was like one or two months at the beginning. They told me, “Simon, you are telling us every day what should we be doing. You’re already a co-founder because you behave like one, so we don’t even need to make more changes.” I was so excited about somebody being able to sell my software because, as a developer, I wasn’t very good at that propagation and promoting my stuff. So, for me it was a very interesting experience.
Rob [06:46]: Well, yeah. You know, I was in a conversation with someone the other day – it was actually another podcast, Bootstrapped Web – and we were talking about co-founders. And as we talked I realized there’s kind of this framework that just came out of it which was: if you’re going to have a co-founder you’re going to worry about kind of the interpersonal relationship. Like can you work together well? Are your working styles similar? And that was the first part. The second part was goals. Are the goals similar? Do you both want an IPO, or do you both want to build a nice profitable lifestyle business. And the third was are your skill sets complimentary? Because what we find is if two developers get together and they both know how to write code really well, they’re going to stomp all over each other, and then they don’t have anybody to market the stuff. So, it sounds like you guys had a really unique situation where you were basically the technical co-founder, Clay, obviously, ran marketing, and then Tracy, it sounds like she did most of the business and the hiring. And that sounds like a pretty potent combination.
Simon [07:34]: Yeah. And I think most people just saw me and Clay, but they overlooked Tracy, and that was the key thing because she gave us the undisturbed focus on each of our doings. It was very important for us.
Rob [07:47]: It’s really interesting because I knew of you and Clay, and I had no idea you had a third co-founder until, I think, you and I sat down to lunch a couple of years ago and you said that. And I was like, “Well what does she do?” Because you have marketing and engineering down, but now I understand it. And having met Tracy now – for those who don’t know I work at Leadpages now. Drip was acquired by Leadpages about two months ago. And so, I’ve obviously been working closely with Clay and then Tracy came into town – because she works remotely – and I was able to meet her. And I started seeing that’s her super-power. It’s like working with people, reading people, talking to people. And so I can see how that was really an advantage for you guys as you grew. So, Clay was marketing info products for a while before – I think since 2009, right? Then he was getting into software in 2012, and I’d imagine that was a bit of a transition, right? In terms of moving from marketing info products to software. Could you talk a bit about that?
Simon [08:38]: Yeah, definitely. I was kind of guiding his hand through software, but the learning curve was pretty fast for him. We did quickly make the duration to learn fast. So first we did WordPress plugin. I think it coded over a weekend. And over next week he just started marketing it. The next project was a little bit more. It was a bait plugin. We did that in a month. And then Leadpages was, I think five, six months later. So, we started from small, free stuff, we moved to bait plugins, and then we moved to selling SaaS and subscriptions. We just went through all these phases so that we learn how to do each stage and that will help us to see how people react to software. How to sell them to get them to communicate about it because it was all new for Clay. But it was interesting how quickly he picked up everything.
Rob [09:27]: Sure, it sounds like you guys – you’ve heard of my stair-step approach of basically going from WordPress plugins or one-time sales up to SaaS – it sounds like you guys did that really fast.
Simon [09:35]: Yes.
Rob [09:35]: Normally it takes years. And that’s cool. And you said Clay picked it up really quick, which that seems like that is his super power, right, is marketing? So that makes sense. And so, you said even over the first year or 18 months, you hired as fast as you could but since you were picky and wanting to hire the best, the team wasn’t huge. You recently left Leadpages, maybe a month or two ago. How big was the team by that time, the engineering team?
Simon [10:01]: Engineering, I don’t know. I think it was like 60 or 50 people, including QA and other technical people.
Rob [10:07]: Was there a difference from when you guys were self-funded to when you raised funding? Did that change anything for you and the engineering team? Or was it kind of the same path the whole time?
Simon [10:18]: It felt literally – and I talked about it with Tracy – that I was working for maybe four or five different companies. There were different stages of the company’s life when everything changed, like from one day to the next everything was different. And we didn’t see that coming. So, I remember some people were saying, “We are the early people.” They were like remembering when the company was like under 50. And I was laughing because I was there when it was like just three. So it changed dramatically every few months. The first period was the longest. I think like a year and a half, we were like three developers maybe. And I think it’s kind of interesting because people think that many of this fast growth you need a lot of people. But if you do it kind of smart, and we used App Engine and we trie to do it kind of like a lean way, we realized we don’t need to implement everything and have all this staff. And it actually was enough in the beginning.
Rob [11:15]: And what was the next phase?
Simon [11:16]: The next phase was kind of growing the US team, because in the beginning we were completely all remote. And basically, even when we were five or six people, we each took one big chunk of projects on their own. One guy just went and made analytics, one guy made split testing, a new [builder?]. And we each worked individually. The biggest challenge was to build a team that can work together in US and be integrated with some management. And that started completely, from scratch and it was really painful and slow.
Rob [11:47]: Yes. That transition can be. Did you have funding by that time?
Simon [11:50]: I think so, yes. I think it was about the time when we needed funding. So it was even more motivation for us to get more structured. I call the early days like a [“Hero”?] development, when you just have one guy and you basically have one phone call, tell him what to do, and he goes and figures out everything. But the next stage shifts to stuff like QA and processes and you have to write requirements, and starting documentation and tests. And that’s – if you haven’t done it for a year and a half – then it’s hard to start with all of that. So we have to bring new talent and people that can do all of that. And it took us some time to do that.
Rob [12:22]: That’s always tough. It’s a tough transition. It also slows you down because it adds more process.
Simon [12:27]: Yes, definitely.
Rob [12:28]: And so, you and I talked before the interview about there was kind of a transition point for you. You were a co-founder and working for Leadpages, and there was a point where you were going to move to Minneapolis, because I’m assuming that it just made a lot of sense given that most of the team was here that you would come here and be involved. But tell us the story of that and how that turned into, in essence, kind of a transitional point for you mentally.
Simon [12:51]: I wasn’t sure. I was kind of trying to test it so I was coming just for a few months. I was highly considering actually moving there. But then I had some problems with the visa because we were growing so fast we didn’t have time to properly prepare for all the legal situations. And I was kind of delayed more in Prague. And eventually realized I kind of value my life in Prague and my environment more. And I felt more stable and more productive here then I would be maybe there. So eventually I kind of transitioned into staying permanently remote in Prague.
Rob [13:25]: So that was maybe two, two and a half years ago and you kept working for Leadpages. And why was that? What was the driving force that kept you at Leadpages working away as the team got bigger? I know things change. Sometimes that can be tough on an early engineer. But there had to be something that kept you there toiling away on the product.
Simon [13:44]: I still very much enjoyed working with Tracy and Clay and I still like the company. I wanted it to succeed. And I felt like I can help the company a lot doing it from inside. So, that’s why I stayed so long during these four years.
Rob [13:59]: Yeah, four years you were there. Cool. And then, recently like I said, a couple of months ago you decided to transition out and you’ve built a new product called Convert Player. It’s at convertplayer.com. And your headline there is ‘Turn your video viewers into email subscribers.’ I have an inkling that you are building this one on your own, and probably want to bootstrap it and make it into a lifestyle business. Is that right?
Simon [14:20]: I don’t like this term ‘lifestyle business.’ I just like building business. But yes, I’m going to bootstrap it on my own and I’m going to be doing everything. I’m already coding it myself, writing all the copy. I’m going to be doing some video marketing and email marketing all by myself. I think it actually might work.
Rob [14:39]: I think so. And you’re in kind of an early access right now? You have some folks using it already? Things are going alright?
Simon [14:45]: Yes. Things are going pretty well. I’m actually excited about how well it’s going. I like that.
Rob [14:51]: Good. Where do you want to take it from here? What does the next maybe six months look like for you with Convert Player?
Simon [14:58]: I have an idea that I want to implement and share and communicate and give away to people, because I feel like this is a piece of marketing tool that is kind of missing on the market. And I basically will be developing a new feature every week and then documenting it on video and showing it to other people to tell them how to do it because I’ve got some experience in that. So I think I’m going to be just doing this simple process like weekly videos and new features for the next half year.
Rob [15:28]: So content marketing basically demonstrating all the new stuff you’re doing and educating folks on how to use it.
Simon [15:33]: Yes.
Rob [15:33]: Yes. Do you want to tell folks – I gave the headline of what Convert Player does – but do you want to tell folks what it actually does?
Simon [15:39]: It helps you to get more email subscribers from the videos, which you can do on YouTube, but if you embed the videos on your site like WordPress or other site, you can actually achieve that by placing a special opt-in box anytime during the video.
Rob [15:55]: Got it. And is this WordPress plugin? Or is it SaaS?
Simon [15:58]: It’s actually SaaS. I was considering WordPress plugin and actually Clay gave me the idea that I should turn it into a SaaS. And I eventually did that.
Rob [16:08]: Yes, that’s cool. It looks like you support YouTube and Vimeo videos and, rumor has it that you’re integrated with Drip. Is that right?
Simon [16:13]: Yes. It is going to be one of my first integrations.
Rob [16:15]: Yes, that was cool. You emailed me and it was kind of fun to hear. Well, to hear A) you were working on a new project. Just because I’ve been watching what you’re up to with Leadpages for so long. Then it was nice that Drip was one of your first integrations.
Simon [16:27]: I’m actually using Drip for my own marketing and I’m using it, I have to tell you, I fell in love with that product. It’s really cool.
Rob [16:35]: Awesome. Yes, that’s good. Glad we could help. A few months ago, when you finally made the decision to leave Leadpages and go on your own and do Convert Player, that had to have been a pretty long thought process. And I’m wondering kind of what was the impetus for that? What eventually made you decide that it was time for something new?
Simon [16:54]: I was thinking a lot about how I could contribute to the company, and how can I help and contribute to the growth. And especially in the beginning, in the first years, I felt like really helpful and really valuable. And then the more the company grew it changed the different sizes and the environments, I slowly got the feeling like the skills I used to grow it from the ground are not as useful. But they are still useful for other things. So eventually I realized I’m going to use them to build a new product from scratch. Because I feel there are some people that generally good at taking a company that’s already launched and taking it to a higher level. And there are some people who are generally good at taking stuff from the ground, which I feel like that’s kind of like my domain. So, in that sense, I might have stayed even a little longer than necessary. But I felt I was still very productive.
Rob [17:44]: Yes. I totally get it. I feel the same way. I am a starter. I mean, obviously, right. I’ve started 20 things. But it just comes to a certain point where – and I don’t know if it’s – I guess it’s level of complexity, or it’s number of employees, or just at a certain point where your contributions aren’t as valuable as they were when they were only two or three people. So, that makes a lot of sense.
Simon [18:06]: Yes. And that start can be long. It could be a few years.
Rob [18:10]: Oh, yes. For sure. Well, and you know what I liked about it is I was basically coming into work for Leadpages as you were moving on, but the relationships are intact. It was a very amiable parting of ways and Clay still speaks very highly of you. And you talk about how Clay gave you the suggestion to go to SaaS. So, it’s obvious you guys are still talking and I know you’re still in touch with Tracy. That’s cool that it’s not some type of burning of bridges or bad blood or anything.
Simon [18:35]: Yes, that’s really important for me. And I want Leadpages to succeed, and I want to be really close to it as a partner business ideally. So, Leadpages incentive would be one of the integrations for Convert Player itself. And I just want to be around Clay and Tracy because they gave me so much and it was a very interesting and awesome ride.
Rob [18:58]: Yes, very cool. Alright, sir, thanks again for coming on the show today and talking about your journey over the past few years. I’ve already mentioned convertplayer.com if folks want to check that out. How else could someone get in touch with you if they wanted to follow what you’re up to?
Simon [19:12]: Well, I guess they can easily just follow me on Twitter and send me a message as well.
Rob [19:16]: Sounds good. What’s your Twitter handle?
Simon [19:19]: Mine is @SimonPrague.
Rob [19:20]: @SimonPrague. Sounds good. Thanks again for coming on the show, Simon.
Simon [19:25]: Cool. Thanks for having me.
Rob [19:26]: If you have a question for us, call our voicemail number at 888-801-9690 or email us at questions@startupsfortherestofus.com. Our theme music is an excerpt from ‘We’re Outta Control’ by MoOt used under creative comments. Subscribe to us in iTunes by searching for ‘Startups’ and visit startupsfortherestofus.com for a full transcript of each episode.
Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time.
