Hey bootstrappers,

One thing you, me, and the other eight billion people on this planet share is a list of things to do before you die. Goals, ambitions, aspirations – whatever you want to call them. 

Starting a business might be one of them, or learning the piano, or benching 250 lbs. The goals don’t matter, but the effort you invest in them does. That’s what determines your success in life. 

And if someone can help you along the way, even better, right? As this week’s founders prove, people will happily fork over cash in return for you helping them be more successful. 

Are you doing the same for your customers?

Chris Roper

Managing Editor

Why Do Some Cars Sell More Than Others? These Cofounders Use AI to Give Dealerships an Answer

Noah John and David Pilo are in the business of reading people – analyzing their behavior for the tells that indicate interest in a car that they then pass to dealerships.

The internet has pushed car sales online, robbing salespeople of the in-person tells that reveal buying intentions. David’s family car dealership didn’t know how to solve the problem, so David and Noah joined forces to build an analytics platform that would offer the sales data it needed.

After pitching hundreds of dealerships their analytics prototype, few became customers. The problem, they realized, was that it didn’t offer actionable insights. With feedback from trade shows and some early adopters, they’ve fortified their product and are now growing fast.

“Analytics was a harder sell for many people. The recommendation engine was a much bigger hit. We could use data to tell a business to raise the price of one car that was popular or have a look at a car because something is happening at the point of sale.”

Turning points

1. Piloting the system at David’s family dealership. The cofounders built and tested their rudimentary system in a live sandbox that offered valuable feedback.

2. Presenting the product at trade shows. Noah spoke at trade shows, landing their first few sales having had more time to sell and connect with people face-to-face.

3. Connecting two previously unrelated industries. Technology in the dealership industry has lagged, presenting an enormous opportunity for growth.

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How Two Former College Football Players Built a Customized Training App to Help Coaches Get the Best From Their Teams

Train smarter, not harder, say these former roommates helping sports coaches build customized training plans to supercharge their team’s performance.

Between football matches at Johns Hopkins University, Hewitt Tomlin and James Peters scratched their chins: Why was everyone on the team on the same workout plan? Wouldn’t players perform better if their plan reflected their build, position, and injury status?

James built a customized workout system prototype, and Hewitt cold-called athletic departments offering free trials. After winning their first customer in 2013, word spread, and by 2015, James and Hewitt earned enough to leave their full-time jobs and work on Teambuildr full-time.

“We are a B2B service aimed at the professional strength coach. The industry thinks the best programs are those designed by coaches specifically for the athletes. We frame it as a resource, not a product, and want to serve the coaching process, not replace it.”

Turning points

1. Cold calling athletics departments. Their brute force sales strategy was critical to their first client, after which things got easier with referrals and organic growth.

2. Adding new communication features. Helping coaches and athletes communicate within the app meant athletes could refine their programs with feedback.

3. Offering four pricing tiers to reflect demand. Aligning athlete count to features gives coaches flexibility and a subscription package that reflects their needs.

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Has Going Out Become Boring? These Founders Introduced Real-Time Ratings to Make Bar Hopping More Fun

If you’re ever wondering where the party’s at, Ryan, Conrad, and Maggi have got your back. Tap In tells you where to find the best drinks, music, and venues rated by customers already there.

Tired of arriving at the bar to the same music, drinks, and queues, Conrad Brake and Ryan Rutkowski brainstormed ways of making nightlife more fun. During Covid, they developed the idea for Tap In, an app where partygoers shared real-time feedback before people turned up.

After speaking to students and local venues, the cofounders built an MVP using a no-code app builder. They built an Instagram page to promote it. When the prototype launched, they secured over 1,500 customers from their waitlist and today serve over 3,000 customers and 20 venues.

“Those no-code programs are nice to start, but they aren’t perfect. For example, some users would get logged out of the app and couldn’t log back in. These problems were often out of our control, but you can’t say that to the customer or blame the platform.”

Turning points

1. Serving two different markets. The idea was to help patrons find the best places to hang out, but at the same time, involve venues in upping and improving their offers.

2. Building a pre-launch community on Instagram. The founders said if they couldn’t get 1,000 followers, their idea would fail. Beating that number proved demand.

3. Organizing events to promote the app. By arranging events at venues around town, they could promote the app while bringing in revenue immediately.

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