Is marketing essential? This founder said: nope

March 21, 2023
​Read on web​

Many entrepreneurs believe marketing is an essential ingredient for success.

But computer scientist Raj Karmani took the opposite approach when growing Visual Quiz Builder (VQB), a tool that helps Shopify retailers personalize their online store through interactive quizzes — and it worked.

“It was 100% focus on customer’s success and support, 0% focus on sales/marketing,” said Karmani, who created the SaaS through his data-focused startup AskWhai. They build affordable — and in the case of Visual Quiz Builder, low-code — tools for business owners with the goal of “democratizing AI."

His “emphasis on the business and helping its customers find success was the secret to growing the company,” Karmani said.

With a small team of developers, he grew the tool to hundreds of customers until selling it for $1 million to Alleyway Capital in September 2022.

Here's the story:

​The marketing-free strategy behind this Shopify tool’s million-dollar sale​

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Behind the business

Here’s something I’ve found absolutely vital to getting anything done as a working parent: strategic planning.

Whenever I have to step away from my work for a day or two unexpectedly, or when I’m distracted with a quick family obligation, or when the kids are sick and I only have an hour here or there to work (that was last week in our house)...

I always return to my desk and think, what was I working on?

The challenges of context-switching are real. Especially when you run a business where no one else is telling you what should be next on your list, and you’re responsible for figuring that out.

When I find myself flailing because of interruptions, having a strategic plan to fall back on helps me find my footing faster.

I like to have a long-term strategic plan, one for the quarter or the year. But for this use case, I find it most helpful to have a short-term plan, one for the week that ties back into that larger plan. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a short list that makes my priorities crystal clear.

I want those priorities staring at me every time I sit down at my desk, so it takes as little time as possible to pick up where I left off.

This only works, of course, if I put aside time to create my plan. Sometimes I get caught in execution and don’t make time to be strategic. And then, undoubtably, I find myself in a situation where I need my plan.

In a hilariously ironic twist, thinking strategically is 1,000% more challenging once you become a parent, or at least it has been for me. It’s more difficult at the same time as it’s more important.

So in the rare instances when thinking strategically feels easy, I drop whatever else I’m working on and I let myself get in that flow. I try to harness that clarity and write it all down. Even if it’s just the top three things I need to focus on that week, I know having that tool will pay dividends when I need it.

Do you do something similar to stay focused? Press reply; I'd love to hear about it.

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​
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P.S. The top priority on my list this week is our report on e-commerce deals. Coming soon!

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