Full Transcript for Ep. 166 - Launching a tech company

trampoline. 00:04:12.590 --> 00:04:15.539 So the energy, might you notice the room? 00:04:16.449 --> 00:04:20.180 I have no idea what that means and I shouldn't afford a dress if I knew that was. 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:23.100 Um, but y'all have a ton of fun and I'm gonna bring up Ellen. 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:26.860 All right. 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:37.579 Um, first I just really wanna thank Hilton, um, for number one inviting me but also just for bringing women together on a regular basis to talk about tech. 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:40.420 Can we get a quick round of applause for Hilton Thompson? 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:45.420 And then quick shout out to Catherine. 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:47.379 She did not just introduce us. 00:04:47.380 --> 00:04:49.860 She actually had the idea for this talk. 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:56.060 And um, I wanna say it's unique, but actually other people have also approached me about this concept. 00:04:56.110 --> 00:04:57.459 So I know we need it. 00:04:57.930 --> 00:04:59.778 I know I hear this all the time. 00:05:00.910 --> 00:05:10.889 We are gonna talk about why you are techie and why you are the perfect person to start a tech company even if you don't feel that techie. 00:05:11.149 --> 00:05:12.730 And so I'm gonna walk you through that. 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:24.180 We're also gonna talk about why believing you are techie will help you be a successful founder regardless of the industry that you're in. 00:05:24.550 --> 00:05:37.579 So what I mean by that is what you don't wanna do is walk into your tech company and say, okay, I am the expert in this field and I'm gonna find someone who knows about tech and they're gonna do the tech stuff and I'm not techy. 00:05:37.838 --> 00:05:42.180 And so that doesn't mean that you have to write all the code. 00:05:42.660 --> 00:05:51.139 There is a wide range between understanding and believing that you are techie and executing on all the code. 00:05:51.141 --> 00:06:10.160 There's a whole wide gamut and I'm gonna help you understand not just why you are techy and why you're the perfect person to start a tech company, but I'm gonna arm you with the information that you need so that you can make the smart techy decisions as you move, move forward growing your tech company. 00:06:10.778 --> 00:06:17.879 Now I understand that not all of you are planning or have started a tech company today yet. 00:06:18.699 --> 00:06:41.160 But the thing is that it really is important for you to believe and understand that your expertise is something that can be made into a tech company, can be a revenue stream for your business, can be um, if you're in technology that you encourage other women to be in, um, to start a company or to add, add a side hustle. 00:06:41.579 --> 00:06:54.879 And so by believing and understanding these concepts, you're gonna be armed with the information that you need instead of some of these, um, mental hurdles that are, are not actually true or not actually impactful

in your career. 00:06:55.838 --> 00:07:08.310 So what I'm gonna do is show you how to make the ultimate shift from struggling to believe you're capable of being an expert in technology to streamline your decision process so you can launch the tech product of your dreams. 00:07:08.310 --> 00:07:09.310 That's what we're gonna talk about. 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:13.910 So, um, I'm Ellen Toey and I don't know why people think my personal life is really interesting. 00:07:13.911 --> 00:07:15.709 So I am a mother of five. 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:17.790 We jumped on trampolines at home. 00:07:17.899 --> 00:07:24.310 A couple of my daughters are here with me today,, so they can tell you. 00:07:24.310 --> 00:07:25.509 Yeah, they're literally are five. 00:07:25.511 --> 00:07:28.110 So the four of them, um, are up there. 00:07:28.180 --> 00:07:33.389 This is Reagan's number one and mjs number three, but I try not to number them two boys. 00:07:33.410 --> 00:07:40.069 And then we strategically plan an eight year gap, um, before we had Gwen, which I'm sure makes a lot of sense. 00:07:40.071 --> 00:07:45.310 So, and she's a little older there, so, um, oh, I did the whole thing with the mic. 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:49.269 People will say, um, you know, who will go on this journey with you? 00:07:49.271 --> 00:07:50.629 So that's a picture of my husband Kevin. 00:07:50.630 --> 00:07:54.189 Yeah, he's still standing and we're both, we're both founders. 00:07:54.350 --> 00:07:56.550 We've been married, um, 21 years. 00:07:56.550 --> 00:07:57.389 I had to think for a minute. 00:07:57.391 --> 00:07:58.829 We've been together 25. 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:06.939 We both grew up in Detroit, Michigan, but most recently we lived in North Carolina and we only moved to Atlanta about nine months ago. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:11.620 And I can tell you that we are finding Atlanta to be a fantastic home for us. 00:08:12.899 --> 00:08:22.990 Little bit about my professional life because this will help you understand why I'm a person who can give you the information that you need. 00:08:23.829 --> 00:08:25.389 Um, cuz there are a lot of voices out there. 00:08:25.949 --> 00:08:30.189 There, there's a lot of, um, information to parse through in technology. 00:08:30.689 --> 00:08:33.669 And so my undergrad is actually in computer science. 00:08:33.671 --> 00:08:43.549 So I started my career as a developer at Accenture and then I worked as a teacher, um, at the high school level as um, a teacher in technology and engineering. 00:08:43.551 --> 00:08:45.549 So ap, computer science, things like that. 00:08:45.970 --> 00:08:55.519 And later, uh, I'm kind of skipping ahead through some things, but later I also worked as a designer and then I have a community and a podcast with the same name. 00:08:56.558 --> 00:08:57.120 You are techie. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:02.799 So I've been talking about this concept for a while that helps moms and women gain the skills and confidence to get hired in tech. 00:09:03.009 --> 00:09:17.519 So I really like to promote, um, all the learning that's involved in technology and we'll talk a little bit about the techie mindset next, but it is very pervasive in women to think that there's something tech is just not really for us. 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:22.039 And I wanna be so bold as to say that's actually not an option anymore. 00:09:22.460 --> 00:09:27.919 Any career that you have, any company that you start, you are going to need a certain amount of te knowledge. 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:32.200 And so I don't really care if you majored in math or science, it's not really important. 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:39.879 Understanding the technology integration in your life is gonna really empower you and be, um, important. 00:09:40.289 --> 00:09:43.399 So, um, I am now the managing director of Fugitive Lab. 00:09:43.400 --> 00:09:57.000 So we focus on shipping and launching products and I'm gonna talk a lot about that today because when you wanna start a tech company, one of the most important things is to actually get your product out into the world. 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:05.000 And I can tell you as you're talking to a lot of founders and potential founders, that is no easy task, okay? 00:10:05.529 --> 00:10:09.799 Wanting to have something out into the world thinking that you can put something out into the world. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:21.440 These are great starting points, but actually putting it out into the world, shipping and launching takes a very specific focus and it takes a lot of touchiness. 00:10:21.441 --> 00:10:24.200 So let's talk about that, the techy mindset, okay? 00:10:24.549 --> 00:10:31.399 I am more than aware that the interwebs are a flutter with lots of mindset talk. 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:31.639 Okay? 00:10:31.640 --> 00:10:34.919 I know, I know all about if you just have the right mindset, right? 00:10:35.149 --> 00:10:40.639 Well, what I'm gonna talk to you about today is much more than the mindset, but this is permission to play. 00:10:41.049 --> 00:11:02.919 So if you come into starting a tech company thinking, just like I was talking about before, and you think, okay, I'm the expert in, um, health, I'm the expert in finance, I'm the expert in, um, whatever name, name your industry, and then I just need a technical co-founder, or I need that someone to do that tech thing for me. 00:11:03.428 --> 00:11:05.480 That's the place where you get into trouble. 00:11:05.590 --> 00:11:20.080 It's not that you won't need help as a founder, you will need help, but you are w going to want to associate yourself as being techy even if you are the non-technical co-founder. 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:25.120 And so the techie mindset is really about three things. 00:11:25.139 --> 00:11:34.200 And I've kind of seen a lot of this in and out and I can tell you this is my definition from my own experience, but I can tell you it's pretty consistent throughout. 00:11:34.690 --> 00:11:39.120 So if you, you

need to first believe that you are techie. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:44.080 And that's really tricky because you might be thinking, I don't have a lot of evidence to show that. 00:11:44.081 --> 00:11:50.799 So then the second thing you need to do is to take action around that touchiness and that's the next thing that I'm gonna talk about. 00:11:50.801 --> 00:11:52.440 So you say, well how do I take action around that? 00:11:52.441 --> 00:11:53.440 I write a line, line of code. 00:11:53.769 --> 00:11:55.558 No, that's not necessarily true. 00:11:55.669 --> 00:11:58.519 Okay, I'm gonna go into Figma and start doing my designs. 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:10.240 Maybe, maybe that's one thing you need to do, but there are lots of ways you can do it, but you need to take action on that belief that now we're moving along, uh, along the techie mindset line here. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:20.740 The third thing you need to do, and this is obviously the hardest part, is that you need to, you're going to come up against what we call in tech roadblocks, okay? 00:12:20.740 --> 00:12:26.940 On the agile, on the and agile, um, software development, we call them roadblocks, challenges, hurdles, whatever. 00:12:27.808 --> 00:12:35.000 As you come up against those roadblocks, you need to go revert back to I am techie. 00:12:35.210 --> 00:12:40.720 So your brain might be tempted to say things like, I don't know how to do this, so I'm stuck. 00:12:40.721 --> 00:12:43.039 There's nowhere, there's someone else has to know the answer. 00:12:43.379 --> 00:12:49.720 But in fact, overcoming that hurdle through your own learning is the key. 00:12:50.259 --> 00:13:06.919 And essentially you might come up against the same hurdle again and again, but if you learn what you did right and what you did wrong, that's what's going to be foundational in getting you over that roadblock. 00:13:06.921 --> 00:13:08.320 So we'll talk a little bit more about that. 00:13:08.539 --> 00:13:17.159 But the techie mindset is, I just wanna say one more time, it is possible for all of you, even if you were an English major, that's okay. 00:13:17.160 --> 00:13:18.600 You still get to be techy. 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:20.639 I say so and no one can tell me that you are. 00:13:20.690 --> 00:13:26.678 So it's important to really believe that and move through with action on that. 00:13:27.690 --> 00:13:27.769 All right? 00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:34.730 So just take a minute, even if you're not starting a company yet, just take a minute, maybe even close your eyes. 00:13:34.750 --> 00:13:46.370 Can you imagine what it would be like for you to contribute meaningfully, maybe even powerfully to your family's bank account by breathing life into your product vision? 00:13:47.750 --> 00:13:52.350 Just take a minute that is possible for all of you here today. 00:13:52.570 --> 00:13:59.629 And I want you to think about what that would mean for you, for the world, for your family. 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:06.269 It's really important for you to think that you are someone who can bring a product into the world. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:13.470 So how can I be a non-technical founder without apologizing? 00:14:13.471 --> 00:14:19.149 And I find this slide really funny because I just told you, you are techy, so you're not allowed to say you're non-technical. 00:14:19.490 --> 00:14:23.149 And it's very hard to live my life around a lot of women. 00:14:23.179 --> 00:14:27.190 I mean, when I'm here it's great, but all the time people are like, I'm not really that techy. 00:14:27.830 --> 00:14:27.830 Ooh. 00:14:27.831 --> 00:14:30.389 I'm like, I think you said it in front of the wrong person. 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.070 So now I gotta give you a lecture while you are techy. 00:14:33.490 --> 00:14:41.029 But the non-technical co-founder doesn't mean you're not techy, it just means that you're bringing an expertise outside of the technology, um, platform, right? 00:14:41.030 --> 00:14:43.590 And technology is solving a lot of problems in the world. 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:57.399 So the first thing I wanna tell you is that in your own career, in your own, um, professional or personal life, there is a problem that you have encountered. 00:14:57.429 --> 00:15:04.120 I can, I can bet on that there's something that bugs you, that comes back to you that you think, you know what? 00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:07.399 I really don't like the way this is done in the world. 00:15:07.629 --> 00:15:10.080 I really think that I have a unique take on it. 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:16.909 And so to be clear, most software has already been built, most software has already been built. 00:15:16.910 --> 00:15:20.029 You're not gonna come up with a completely different idea. 00:15:20.030 --> 00:15:21.190 That's not really the point. 00:15:21.570 --> 00:15:32.429 The point is that you have a unique perspective on that idea that it's going to touch people's eyes and be maybe more, um, maybe it'll feel more comfortable to them. 00:15:32.431 --> 00:15:34.909 Maybe it'll feel more like the way they view the world. 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:38.070 So it's really about the unique perspective that you have. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:50.740 So when you come into that, and again, without apologizing, you are going to want to have a, a certain amount of technical knowledge around it. 00:15:50.980 --> 00:16:04.620 Now, um, I'm gonna talk later about some very specific technical things, but the reality is that the specific problem that you're solving is going to be, you are going to be the expert of that. 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:10.500 And the reason is not because no one's ever thought of it before, but because no one's ever thought of it the way that you have. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:19.740 And as you start a company, you're gonna be fixating on how to solve that problem in a way that really no one else is thinking about it. 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:25.100 And so you become the expert in the approach that you have. 00:16:25.360

--> 00:16:28.460 And that approach is going to become what we call product vision. 00:16:29.149 --> 00:16:42.059 So that's why I say that I'm very confident that you are techie and that you can be a non-technical co-founder without apology because you're going to know the answer to your own problem. 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:46.100 And make no mistake, tech is about getting specific. 00:16:46.850 --> 00:16:47.340 Okay? 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:56.179 The other way that you are going to be a non-technical co-founder without apologizing is I just wanna give you a few examples because I love tech. 00:16:56.610 --> 00:16:58.100 I have a lot of energy around it. 00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:01.980 I think it is super fun and interesting, but no one ever said it was easy, okay? 00:17:01.980 --> 00:17:06.380 No one ever said, Hey, if you really want an easy life, go start a tech company. 00:17:06.569 --> 00:17:07.579 I know you're gonna love it. 00:17:07.589 --> 00:17:14.420 No, but you are going to make an impact and you are going to um, make I think 1 billion, right? 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:15.539 Catherine it's 1 billion. 00:17:15.868 --> 00:17:23.700 So, or more than a billion or more multi-billion dollar could be a multi-billion dollar, like three or four or 10, 10 billion. 00:17:24.069 --> 00:17:28.099 So this is important, and I know that sounds crazy, but let's face it. 00:17:28.101 --> 00:17:33.858 I mean one of the reasons that we start a tech company is to have an impact on the world, but it's also to impact a lot of people. 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:39.059 And so when you have a multi-billion dollar company, you are impacting a lot of people. 00:17:39.060 --> 00:17:51.039 And I think that this is one of the things that we don't talk enough about is that you are, um, when you have a technology in the world, the scalability is infinite, I guess. 00:17:51.150 --> 00:17:51.720 I don't know. 00:17:51.721 --> 00:17:53.279 We'll see if we can find the end of the internet. 00:17:53.280 --> 00:18:01.720 But the the whole point is that you're going to have a large impact and you're going to make be making a lot of money, but you are going to work for that and it's going to be tricky. 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:08.039 And so one of the problems that I see happen and oftentimes with women is that they don't know the answer. 00:18:08.040 --> 00:18:10.680 They're not exactly sure what that's gonna look like. 00:18:10.681 --> 00:18:18.599 And I can tell you from starting more tech projects than I can count, you don't know what it looks like at the beginning ever. 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:19.480 You don't ever know. 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:21.039 You don't know what the path is gonna look like. 00:18:21.040 --> 00:18:25.839 So I just wanna tell you a few founder horror stories just to kind of make you feel better,. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.839 And so here are a couple of founder horror stories, but they're not horror stories. 00:18:29.840 --> 00:18:35.319 They're actually beautiful stories that help you to understand that, that this is just the way that it is. 00:18:35.910 --> 00:18:40.839 I've known founders who have hired six different tech teams before they actually launched their product into the world. 00:18:41.309 --> 00:18:48.640 I've known founders who have um, spent four years and$400,000 on a product that doesn't work. 00:18:49.180 --> 00:18:50.400 And you might say ouch. 00:18:50.670 --> 00:18:53.279 Well that one didn't focus very much on learning, okay? 00:18:53.280 --> 00:18:54.559 You have to learn from your mistakes. 00:18:54.670 --> 00:19:04.358 I've known founders who have paid co-founders to go away because they needed to start from scratch and to really build something even better. 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.079 We got, we got some smiles in the audience, okay? 00:19:07.490 --> 00:19:13.319 So if you think that you're gonna get it right the first time, I hope that you do. 00:19:13.740 --> 00:19:17.200 But if you do not, that is not a reason to stop. 00:19:17.868 --> 00:19:18.358 Okay? 00:19:18.970 --> 00:19:26.759 So I talked a little bit about this, but essentially you are the expert in the problem that you are solving. 00:19:26.819 --> 00:19:32.118 And even today, if you're, if it's just like a little baby seed, that's okay. 00:19:32.829 --> 00:19:38.039 That problem, you are going to be fixating that in a way that no one else is. 00:19:38.299 --> 00:19:42.519 And so that is a very powerful thing. 00:19:42.520 --> 00:19:46.440 I just wanna pause for a minute cuz I took out a slide that I still kind of like, but I really wanted to keep it shorter. 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:47.000 . 00:19:47.059 --> 00:20:00.920 And essentially you're going to get a lot of advice, gonna be a lot of people out there telling you why you're wrong and why you just don't quite get it or you're not thinking about it the right way or mm, that's cute, okay? 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:01.920 Or you're adorable. 00:20:02.069 --> 00:20:02.599 I don't know. 00:20:02.601 --> 00:20:03.118 I get that one. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:21.450 I don't agree, but you know, anyway, so the point is that you believing that you are the expert and then spending time on that and then overcoming hurdles that you didn't think you could overcome help you to be a better technical, even if a non-technical, a better tech founder. 00:20:21.829 --> 00:20:24.890 And the reason is because tech is about being specific. 00:20:25.358 --> 00:20:34.490 That's why it's so hard because there's so much out there and it's so general and there's so many right answers, but you have to know the right answer for your own product. 00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:46.759 And in case anyone hasn't told you this, I'm here to tell you that your product needs to be out in the world. 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:49.980 You deserve to put your product out in the world. 00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:51.940 You don't need anyone else's permission. 00:20:52.630 --> 00:21:06.849 It is absolutely possible

for you to put that out into the world regardless of your education, where you come from, how much money you have, how much money you were raised with, none of those are factors. 00:21:07.059 --> 00:21:08.170 It is important. 00:21:09.190 --> 00:21:13.250 And I actually beg you to put more products out into the world. 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:20.809 I don't think it's quite possible to explain the impact that you can have when you design something from your perspective. 00:21:21.108 --> 00:21:24.809 But I can tell you that it's gonna impact our children, especially our girls. 00:21:26.490 --> 00:21:30.950 So let's get techie, okay, who are your customers? 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:35.549 If you didn't think that was gonna be the next slide after, let's get techie, don't worry about it. 00:21:35.549 --> 00:21:37.630 I'm gonna explain exactly what I mean by that. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:40.910 So I talked about how tech is being specific. 00:21:41.368 --> 00:21:45.509 You need to know who your customers are to start, I don't know why I always use Facebook. 00:21:45.660 --> 00:21:47.670 I hate Facebook, but I have a lot of Facebook stories. 00:21:47.671 --> 00:21:54.509 So Facebook, okay, he started with um, college students, that is who his customers were. 00:21:54.510 --> 00:21:59.509 That is not who his customers are today, I would say his customers now are like our moms, our aunts, right? 00:21:59.510 --> 00:22:00.868 And they share the pictures of it, right? 00:22:00.869 --> 00:22:01.789 That's exactly. 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:05.069 So, but who are your customers to start with? 00:22:05.070 --> 00:22:06.789 Your customers down the future? 00:22:06.790 --> 00:22:08.430 That's everybody in the whole wide world. 00:22:08.431 --> 00:22:09.990 That's how we get to billions of dollars. 00:22:10.049 --> 00:22:12.509 But when you start, who are your customers? 00:22:13.180 --> 00:22:14.309 What is their pain? 00:22:14.579 --> 00:22:20.069 Okay, this one I spend way more time on what is their pain than you, uh, than you would like to know. 00:22:20.069 --> 00:22:20.549 Okay? 00:22:20.550 --> 00:22:22.390 But anyway, so who are this way I do this. 00:22:22.391 --> 00:22:24.190 Who are your customers and what is their pain? 00:22:24.191 --> 00:22:25.750 And what is the intersection of that? 00:22:25.809 --> 00:22:30.710 And then remembering that what is their pain in terms of the problem that you're solving? 00:22:31.069 --> 00:22:39.029 Which might sound obvious, but it's not because the pain can be adjacent or get bigger very, very quickly. 00:22:39.210 --> 00:22:41.269 And so you need to have this narrow focus. 00:22:41.490 --> 00:22:42.150 Why Ellen? 00:22:42.151 --> 00:22:43.509 Why do I have to have this narrow focus? 00:22:43.510 --> 00:22:44.910 I'm gonna run a billion dollar company. 00:22:45.190 --> 00:22:51.390 Going back to what I said before, because you actually have to ship and launch a product in order. 00:22:51.460 --> 00:22:53.150 This is kind

of a cyclical thing. 00:22:53.151 --> 00:22:55.309 You gotta launch the product in order to scale. 00:22:55.890 --> 00:23:10.069 And so making sure that you actually launch means you have to know who a subset of your customers are, what their pain is, and then the solution that you are going to solve, the unique perspective that you are going to solve that pain with. 00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:17.049 So you want a brief description of this, but you want it to be descriptive, okay? 00:23:17.050 --> 00:23:24.710 And so when you have your solution, what you're really doing is creating your product vision. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:30.470 So this is where you can be as involved in the technology development. 00:23:30.750 --> 00:23:42.029 Let's see, this is super involved or you can be high level, but your product vision is still there because you are describing the unique way that you approach this problem. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:46.559 And then you're also gonna wanna know how you make money. 00:23:47.710 --> 00:23:53.009 Yes, money is fun and great and I hope, I really believe all of you should be very, very wealthy. 00:23:53.890 --> 00:23:55.410 Um, and that's fantastic. 00:23:55.829 --> 00:24:00.730 But knowing how you will make money is also part of your product vision. 00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:11.269 That's also how you're going to know the right specifics, the hypothetical right specifics that you're going to launch with and then learn from and then iterate on. 00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:30.640 So unless you are growing an engagement platform where you just want as many users as possible and then you're gonna run ads to them in order for you to keep going as a founder, and in order for Catherine to give you a lot of money, which I know she wants to give to all of you, you're going to have to earn revenue from the people that your customers that you're serving. 00:24:30.858 --> 00:24:36.358 And how are you going to earn that revenue by giving them something of value that they wanna pay you for. 00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:39.960 But I wanna say this again, I'm not talking about marketing here. 00:24:40.819 --> 00:24:49.599 I'm talking about product vision and understanding what components and features of your product people are most willing to pay for. 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:55.079 And my friends, I'm here to tell you, you're probably gonna be wrong the first time you do this. 00:24:55.309 --> 00:24:59.599 It's really hard to get it right, but you know how you get it right? 00:24:59.740 --> 00:25:04.358 You launch, you see what they like, and then you get information and then you iterate on that. 00:25:05.079 --> 00:25:21.599 So that's an important component, but you're going to wanna know how you think, how you think you're going to make money, what your customers are going to actually pay you for, because that's what you're gonna wanna have in your mvp, your minimum viable product, the thing that you actually ship and launch. 00:25:22.368 --> 00:25:25.509 You

wanna know what key components you're gonna be paid for. 00:25:25.579 --> 00:25:26.069 Okay? 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:30.470 So this is, this is one of my, this is my feature signature. 00:25:30.471 --> 00:25:32.549 I might have to like trademark this or something. 00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:37.069 I don't want you to go down the tech building rabbit hole, that's what this is. 00:25:37.420 --> 00:25:39.390 Stay out of the tech building rabbit hole. 00:25:39.608 --> 00:25:40.750 How do you do that? 00:25:41.529 --> 00:25:49.630 Let me remind you, you know who your customers are, you know what their pain is, you know what the problem you're trying to solve and you know how you're trying to make money ish. 00:25:49.930 --> 00:25:51.990 And then you ship and launch and then you learn. 00:25:52.130 --> 00:25:56.509 And so the tech building rabbit holes when someone's like, Hey, how about if you build it like this? 00:25:56.618 --> 00:25:57.910 I think you should build it like that. 00:25:58.059 --> 00:26:04.150 I just wanna add one more feature that is what is going to prevent you from being the successful founder that you can be. 00:26:04.630 --> 00:26:06.930 Now that is all tech. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:21.289 I understand it maybe doesn't feel like tech except for the little ones and zeros around the rabbit, but it is because before you talk about that stuff, the other questions don't really matter. 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:25.549 You can't just say what's the best way to build a tech company? 00:26:25.550 --> 00:26:26.190 Guess what? 00:26:26.191 --> 00:26:27.190 Lots of right answers. 00:26:27.509 --> 00:26:30.029 There are lots of right answers in that. 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:30.990 Okay? 00:26:30.990 --> 00:26:35.910 I can say I like it my way and and you can say you like it your way and we can both be right? 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:52.559 So if you say to me, what technology do I use to build my SaaS company, I am going to address that even though there are lots of great answers, and I don't know if this has occurred to anybody, I mean just maybe, but, I get this one every other day. 00:26:52.740 --> 00:26:54.599 How much is this gonna cost me? 00:26:55.059 --> 00:26:56.319 How much is it gonna cost me? 00:26:56.509 --> 00:26:58.358 It's not free ladies, it's not free. 00:26:58.359 --> 00:27:02.960 I know, but the factors, so here's the answer. 00:27:02.961 --> 00:27:04.680 Depends, you're welcome very much, right? 00:27:05.099 --> 00:27:19.009 But I'm gonna walk you through what it depends on because a lot, a lot of the things that we just talked about are going to impact it, but the better you define your product, the less money you can spend. 00:27:19.789 --> 00:27:21.118 What, how cool is that? 00:27:21.569 --> 00:27:26.680 So if you're like, Ellen, how do I actually build the technology? 00:27:26.681 --> 00:27:28.400 What's the best way to do it? 00:27:28.509 --> 00:27:31.319 Well, here are a few different ways that I've seen people do it, right? 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:33.680 You can do a no code solution. 00:27:34.150 --> 00:27:37.759 I work at a custom development shop and I'm here to tell you that's a viable option. 00:27:38.019 --> 00:27:51.599 You can build a no code solution, launch into the world's your MVP and generate revenue and have your, have your, um, you know, your, your product market fit identified, and then you can build a custom solution. 00:27:51.601 --> 00:27:55.440 But do understand that you will respend that money. 00:27:55.660 --> 00:27:58.200 And I'm not saying that that's good or bad. 00:27:58.368 --> 00:28:02.920 There's, there's at a, there's really a lot of ways to go about this. 00:28:02.921 --> 00:28:05.319 And if you wanna make sure it's product market, that's great. 00:28:05.670 --> 00:28:09.440 It's still time and energy to do a no code solution. 00:28:09.700 --> 00:28:11.680 And you're probably still gonna pay someone to do it. 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:14.099 You might have a low code solution. 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:15.660 You might know a college student. 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:18.539 My nephew just graduated from, um, undergrad. 00:28:18.769 --> 00:28:21.460 He's, he's got a degree in computer engineering. 00:28:21.461 --> 00:28:22.099 It's fantastic. 00:28:22.130 --> 00:28:23.339 I actually had an impact on him. 00:28:23.539 --> 00:28:23.700 It's so great. 00:28:24.220 --> 00:28:24.900 If only you're a woman. 00:28:24.901 --> 00:28:25.420 No, just kidding. 00:28:25.421 --> 00:28:28.858 But anyway, so you might know a friend who's learning to code. 00:28:29.700 --> 00:28:31.630 I mean, I'll be honest, that one scares me a little bit. 00:28:31.631 --> 00:28:37.349 But ma I mean they might know, they might, you might have a friend who's like, Hey, I'm learning this and you guys wanna go through it together. 00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:40.910 I've heard of, I've heard of great stories with that. 00:28:40.940 --> 00:28:48.750 Okay, you might find an offshore team, you might have a a tech co-founder, or you might have an outsource onshore team. 00:28:48.750 --> 00:28:52.349 Those are just, it's not every single option to you. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:55.380 But if you're like, where do I even start? 00:28:55.849 --> 00:28:57.220 It's a pretty good list. 00:28:57.720 --> 00:29:00.180 And remember the slide we just talked about? 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:02.940 How much is it gonna cost me? 00:29:03.250 --> 00:29:10.480 I think you can see this is going to vary greatly how much this costs you the difference in this. 00:29:10.779 --> 00:29:14.680 And hopefully, hopefully your technical co-founder's the most expensive. 00:29:14.681 --> 00:29:15.359 That's what you want. 00:29:15.619 --> 00:29:19.640 You want your technical co-founder that you give equity to be the most expensive option on that. 00:29:19.641 --> 00:29:21.519 That means you've been really successful and you don't really care. 00:29:22.059 --> 00:29:30.480 But it really depends because what you're, what you

wanna do is, if I haven't mentioned it 12 times yet, is ship an MVP and get information out there. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:36.039 Um, so how quickly you get it right is important. 00:29:36.619 --> 00:29:40.240 And this also means how few of iterations you go through. 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:46.579 So, um, you can say, I wanna be patient and take my time and make all the right decisions. 00:29:46.759 --> 00:29:52.099 But one of the things that I think why I'm drawn to tech is that, um, it's not surgery. 00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:53.500 I'm not a doctor. 00:29:53.630 --> 00:29:55.740 If I make a mistake, you're not dying. 00:29:55.740 --> 00:29:58.299 And my husband and I will say that a lot of times we have a rough day. 00:29:58.300 --> 00:30:00.859 It's like, well, you know, nobody died. 00:30:01.150 --> 00:30:02.140 We didn't kill anyone. 00:30:02.349 --> 00:30:10.740 So if you are like in a field where it's highly volatile and people can die, if you make a mistakes, you make a mistake, you need to realize that's not what tech is. 00:30:11.579 --> 00:30:13.660 Actually the biggest problem is not taking action. 00:30:13.769 --> 00:30:16.019 It's actually a very action-oriented thing. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:18.819 And you want to, you wanna get it right quickly. 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:25.059 And, and so the most important thing is to make a decision and move forward. 00:30:26.299 --> 00:30:26.420 All right? 00:30:26.910 --> 00:30:28.059 So this is a fun one. 00:30:28.500 --> 00:30:39.700 Um, I wanna share with you that one of the biggest reasons I see women either not found or not scale their tech companies is because they failed to do this one thing. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:42.420 And I was at lunch last week talking with a friend. 00:30:42.421 --> 00:30:45.420 She's in marketing, it's very easy for us to say, right? 00:30:45.900 --> 00:30:50.299 Um, but the reason is they don't invest in themselves or their products. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:57.769 And when I say that to you, I wanna emphasize how painful I know this can be. 00:30:57.770 --> 00:30:59.089 And so let me share a story with you. 00:30:59.299 --> 00:31:00.569 It also has to do with Facebook. 00:31:00.570 --> 00:31:01.730 Again, I don't know why. 00:31:02.339 --> 00:31:11.130 So when I first started running ads for my company, I had to, I started by spending$10 a day on Facebook ads. 00:31:11.430 --> 00:31:15.009 And that$10, I can like, feel it right here in my stomach. 00:31:15.010 --> 00:31:18.529 Like that was so uncomfortable to spend that$10 a day. 00:31:18.530 --> 00:31:20.089 It was one of the hardest things I had to do. 00:31:20.869 --> 00:31:26.490 And you might be thinking it's just$10, Ellen, but it was really hard because I was just sending it, giving it to Mark Zuckerberg. 00:31:26.490 --> 00:31:27.769 I didn't know what he was gonna do with it, right? 00:31:28.349 --> 00:31:45.359 And what I learned is that as I went through and I iterated and I made my ads better, and then I ran my company and I, and I understood my, my customers more, and I, I got some learning and, and made my ads even better. 00:31:45.740 --> 00:31:51.480 And then I felt really good about what I was doing and that I was gonna bring the right people in. 00:31:52.470 --> 00:31:56.160 I found that spending thousands of dollars was not really a problem for me. 00:31:56.740 --> 00:32:05.960 And so what I can tell you is that if it's hard for you to invest in yourself or in your product, start start somewhere and start elevating. 00:32:05.980 --> 00:32:11.799 But I will tell you that sometimes trying to save a little bit of money is a lot of headache. 00:32:12.339 --> 00:32:15.880 And it might just be worth it to spend a little bit more. 00:32:15.910 --> 00:32:19.519 It's an investment in your time, in your time is worth it. 00:32:19.869 --> 00:32:24.279 I tend to see women and if this is not true for you, awesome, awesome. 00:32:24.280 --> 00:32:28.319 But most of the women, me included, we like to just work harder. 00:32:28.329 --> 00:32:31.680 We just think that working harder, we'll just do more. 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:33.039 We'll just add more. 00:32:33.220 --> 00:32:35.039 But that actually slows you down. 00:32:35.040 --> 00:32:41.480 And remember what I said, it can feel like a lot of money, but the quicker you go go, that's actually how you're gonna save money. 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:42.730 Okay? 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:44.170 Well, what if you don't know? 00:32:44.171 --> 00:32:46.289 What if you don't know what your ads are gonna do? 00:32:46.290 --> 00:32:48.930 I assure you I had no idea if my ads were any good. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:50.970 I did not know they weren't. 00:32:50.971 --> 00:32:53.369 I can tell you no, they were not good, but the last ones were good, right? 00:32:53.630 --> 00:32:55.410 But you don't know what to do, right? 00:32:55.411 --> 00:33:01.170 I I, Ellen you say college student or technical co-founder, I don't even know if any of these are gonna work for me. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:02.450 I understand that. 00:33:02.630 --> 00:33:06.210 And this is where I go back to, we're not, it's not surgery, we're not doctors. 00:33:06.220 --> 00:33:07.369 We need to make a decision. 00:33:07.990 --> 00:33:11.690 You need to make a decision and be willing to be wrong. 00:33:11.691 --> 00:33:13.210 You will probably be wrong. 00:33:14.099 --> 00:33:22.470 And then this is the other piece about investing in yourself is that you want to be willing, you need to be willing to spend money to learn. 00:33:23.250 --> 00:33:24.910 And my husband actually gave me a great tip. 00:33:24.911 --> 00:33:28.470 He's like, but they might buy a course because I've been telling him for years that women just buy course. 00:33:28.471 --> 00:33:29.309 They buy another course. 00:33:29.470 --> 00:33:31.349 So buy another course and hey, I bought some courses. 00:33:31.351 --> 00:33:32.470 There's nothing wrong with it. 00:33:32.769 --> 00:33:41.750

But really you should only buy a course if you know that it's addressing the specific product issue that you have. 00:33:41.849 --> 00:33:46.869 And as soon as you get into the weeds, at a certain point, you'll be too detailed to do it. 00:33:47.049 --> 00:33:54.589 And so I want you to be willing to learn from experience, learn from experience, just like I did with my Facebook Edge. 00:33:54.590 --> 00:33:59.829 You have to spend money and learn what people pay you for, what they give you money for. 00:33:59.980 --> 00:34:01.349 That's what they care about. 00:34:02.069 --> 00:34:02.150 All right? 00:34:02.609 --> 00:34:04.910 And then, um, this is so important. 00:34:04.911 --> 00:34:05.430 Oh my gosh. 00:34:05.431 --> 00:34:07.390 Learn to ask better and better questions. 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:09.630 So I'm actually gonna help you with that. 00:34:09.630 --> 00:34:11.750 I'm gonna give you a foundation for questions to ask. 00:34:12.170 --> 00:34:14.190 But, but it's just the starting point. 00:34:14.190 --> 00:34:19.590 Then you're gonna, again, with your product, you're gonna learn what is a better and better question to ask. 00:34:19.789 --> 00:34:27.190 Because a, but start asking because as a beginner, there's nothing you need more than iterations. 00:34:27.489 --> 00:34:29.230 You need iterations on what? 00:34:29.231 --> 00:34:29.789 Everything. 00:34:30.150 --> 00:34:33.070 Customer discovery, building your prototype, building your product. 00:34:33.070 --> 00:34:34.070 You need iterations. 00:34:35.260 --> 00:34:42.719 And when you are not sure what to do, when it feels overwhelming or confusing, just do the one next right thing. 00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:45.639 Don't worry about the piece of advice from someone. 00:34:45.641 --> 00:34:53.480 Just do the one next right thing that is going to move your product closer into getting an v MVP out into the world. 00:34:54.730 --> 00:34:57.409 All right, let's get specific I would need, I need a quick drink here. 00:34:57.659 --> 00:35:10.530 So when we talk about tech and I talk about how you are getting really specific and becoming an expert on your own product, now we need to get specific about the tech. 00:35:13.099 --> 00:35:22.360 And again, knowing that there are a lot of right answers, let me give you some specific questions that you can ask as you go through this process. 00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:30.280 Literally, you can ask these questions as you're deciding who's gonna build your technology, how involved you're going to be. 00:35:30.869 --> 00:35:33.000 Here's a, here's a very technical question. 00:35:33.150 --> 00:35:35.119 What architecture should my product have? 00:35:35.789 --> 00:35:43.239 And again, it's not, not that I, Ellen am here to say this is the architecture that your product should have, but you should talk about that. 00:35:43.300 --> 00:35:47.199 And you should know and you should understand why it's important for your product. 00:35:47.550 --> 00:35:50.199 Even though it might not be as helpful for someone else's. 00:35:51.789 --> 00:35:55.469 Um, you should know which hosting service is best for your product. 00:35:55.739 --> 00:35:57.389 A lot of them can work. 00:35:58.469 --> 00:36:10.780 We, we view, we use AWS and, and, and Google Cloud and, and it's, there are a lot of right answers, but sometimes the right answer might be okay, my tech partner knows this one really well and they know how to make it efficient. 00:36:11.949 --> 00:36:14.000 Okay, what does my prototype look like? 00:36:14.001 --> 00:36:15.519 And who is going to design it? 00:36:15.521 --> 00:36:16.880 So this is an important piece. 00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:17.960 I talked about this earlier. 00:36:18.340 --> 00:36:29.079 How when you know who your customers are and what the pain is and your unique perspective for solving it, your product vision is in your mvp, your product vision is in it, but the prototype. 00:36:29.289 --> 00:36:31.880 So you might wanna design your own prototype. 00:36:31.880 --> 00:36:33.119 Figma is a great tool for that. 00:36:33.340 --> 00:36:41.960 But you might also wanna pay someone if you do design your own prototype, I do recommend at least getting a little bit of assistance on um, UX design or product design. 00:36:42.340 --> 00:36:46.800 I'm a little bit biased here cuz of my background, but it's also, it's a little bit helpful to have that. 00:36:46.900 --> 00:36:48.519 But you can design the whole thing. 00:36:48.809 --> 00:36:55.559 So knowing where you wanna fall on that spectrum in terms of how it much input you wanna give, that's great. 00:36:55.559 --> 00:36:59.679 But remember that your product vision will be in that regardless. 00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:03.750 All right, last question on this slide and then I got another one. 00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:05.989 Do I trust my development team? 00:37:06.849 --> 00:37:11.320 If you are feeling like you, whoever that is, you may say that's just one person. 00:37:11.320 --> 00:37:11.880 That's okay. 00:37:12.369 --> 00:37:22.960 If you are feeling like there is a problem, like something is just not there, you might be tempted to think you're not technical, you don't get it, there's something wrong. 00:37:23.369 --> 00:37:26.360 No, it needs, it's a trust factor. 00:37:26.389 --> 00:37:27.760 It's not a knowledge factor. 00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:30.409 Moving on to the next question. 00:37:30.420 --> 00:37:32.210 Do I trust my development team? 00:37:32.210 --> 00:37:33.449 Did you catch that? 00:37:33.451 --> 00:37:34.210 Not a typo. 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:35.769 It's the most important thing. 00:37:35.771 --> 00:37:41.369 And if there's a problem as you're building your mvp, I want you to think about that and think about why you don't trust them. 00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:42.690 What's going on? 00:37:42.690 --> 00:37:44.489 What other information do you need? 00:37:44.489 --> 00:37:49.969 And it doesn't mean they're lying to you, it just means there's gotta

be a good fit to move you forward. 00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:52.849 Okay, here's a great one. 00:37:52.851 --> 00:37:53.769 Here's a great one. 00:37:53.771 --> 00:37:56.170 Can my code be easily maintained after I built it? 00:37:56.460 --> 00:37:57.650 So after I build it? 00:37:57.780 --> 00:38:01.090 So you might, someone might say, oh, you gotta have elixir. 00:38:01.090 --> 00:38:03.170 The performance is really fast, it's super slick. 00:38:03.170 --> 00:38:04.650 That's the programming language to use. 00:38:05.210 --> 00:38:07.929 And then you can't find an elixir developer for less than$500 an hour. 00:38:08.570 --> 00:38:08.650 All right? 00:38:08.659 --> 00:38:12.170 So know who's gonna maintain it down the road, build, build for the future. 00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:15.820 And then again, how involved do I wanna be in that process? 00:38:15.820 --> 00:38:19.380 I talked a little bit about that with the prototype, but you might wanna learn how to code. 00:38:19.380 --> 00:38:24.900 I have known founders who have learned how to code in order to build their technology. 00:38:24.900 --> 00:38:26.900 That's, that's something that boot camps do. 00:38:26.900 --> 00:38:29.659 They, they train that that's a valid option. 00:38:29.661 --> 00:38:31.900 That's a valid option, but it's not the only option. 00:38:32.590 --> 00:38:35.360 Okay, this one I think is really, um, helpful. 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:39.159 Have I gotten several specific quotes on my tech product? 00:38:39.980 --> 00:38:42.000 Not opinions. 00:38:42.380 --> 00:38:43.360 Not opinions. 00:38:43.489 --> 00:38:46.920 If someone just says, you really should use this, no, you really should use that. 00:38:46.920 --> 00:38:57.159 And they're not willing to spend the time to understand your product and the way that you're gonna bring it out into the world and your unique perspective and to say, this is how much, this is how much it's gonna cost you. 00:38:57.161 --> 00:38:59.039 This is the input that we're willing to give. 00:38:59.210 --> 00:39:04.519 If they aren't willing to do that, they're just not a voice you should listen to because they're just throwing something out there. 00:39:04.550 --> 00:39:06.440 They don't know enough about your product. 00:39:07.099 --> 00:39:10.599 I'm sure they're not ill intended, but it's important for you to parse that out. 00:39:10.670 --> 00:39:15.440 That alone will give you so much information and really help you with it. 00:39:16.949 --> 00:39:25.059 So I wanna get really specific people are saying, you might be thinking, okay, but like what does it really look like to build a SaaS product? 00:39:25.059 --> 00:39:25.900 A SaaS technology? 00:39:25.900 --> 00:39:32.179 So I'm gonna give you one example and this is what we do at Fugitive for most new products. 00:39:32.181 --> 00:39:37.099 But not all, not all just, just most there are exceptions. 00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:42.099 And again, there are lots of other ways to do this that can work really well for you. 00:39:42.199 --> 00:39:43.260 But this is one way. 00:39:43.510 --> 00:39:46.420 So we tend to use aws, not a hundred percent, but a lot. 00:39:46.630 --> 00:39:52.219 We know some features that our custom architecture can, how we can save money on it. 00:39:52.820 --> 00:39:56.059 Um, people will say AWS is so expensive, you know, cuz you have to spend money. 00:39:56.061 --> 00:39:57.059 It's like Facebook ads. 00:39:57.061 --> 00:39:58.300 You really just have to know the strategy. 00:39:58.500 --> 00:39:59.579 And Google Ads, everybody adds. 00:39:59.719 --> 00:40:02.460 You have to know the strategy to know how to reduce costs. 00:40:03.150 --> 00:40:09.860 We use MongoDB, no JS React, which is a JavaScript library and an html, CSS and js. 00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:15.860 And so if you, if you go out this and you show this to someone, I, you'd only have to show like 10 technical people. 00:40:15.860 --> 00:40:18.380 And somebody would be like, Mongo doesn't scale. 00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:20.019 Mongo does not scale. 00:40:20.420 --> 00:40:20.940 They're liars. 00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:21.900 They're liars. 00:40:21.900 --> 00:40:26.460 Well, the thing is, you have to know how to use it and it does scale. 00:40:26.460 --> 00:40:39.070 We have had clients on it for 6, 7, 8 years and only if you have certain other requirements outside of, uh, and, and there are millions of users on that, on that technology. 00:40:39.599 --> 00:40:45.070 So there are only if you have other requirements for your product that you wouldn't use Mongo. 00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:51.550 So this is important to know, this is why I say people are gonna have a lot of opinions about it. 00:40:52.219 --> 00:40:58.030 Only talk, only listen to those who are willing to spend time and understand your product and your product needs. 00:40:59.300 --> 00:40:59.420 All right? 00:40:59.550 --> 00:41:01.139 So lots of right answers. 00:41:01.141 --> 00:41:02.460 I've said that a hundred times. 00:41:03.239 --> 00:41:12.099 But where you feel uneasy when you ask a question and you haven't quite gotten the information that you want, that's where I want you to dig in. 00:41:12.099 --> 00:41:14.900 That's why I say you are techy. 00:41:14.900 --> 00:41:19.980 You have to believe that you have enough technical knowledge to ask and answer the questions. 00:41:19.981 --> 00:41:26.380 And if there's something that doesn't feel right to you, I am, I guarantee you, I guarantee you there's a problem. 00:41:26.460 --> 00:41:30.420 Maybe you haven't communicated something effectively, maybe your team hasn't understood it. 00:41:30.420 --> 00:41:31.500 Maybe they don't have the skills. 00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:37.949 But if you feel, feel uneasy about something, it's not because you need to go home and learn how to code over the weekend. 00:41:38.219 --> 00:41:42.909 Just dig in where you feel uneasy, that is gonna guide you really far in this process. 00:41:44.079 --> 00:41:47.420 And

then remember back to this, your product needs to be out in the world. 00:41:48.230 --> 00:41:58.780 So I um, I used to talk to, I've heard this a lot of times where women will tell me I'm not technical, I don't even know how to use the remote. 00:41:59.900 --> 00:42:01.659 Um, and that I've heard it multiple times. 00:42:01.661 --> 00:42:05.179 And I can tell you my son knows how to use the remote better than I do. 00:42:05.369 --> 00:42:06.900 I think better than my daughters. 00:42:07.110 --> 00:42:08.659 He uses it more than we do. 00:42:08.989 --> 00:42:10.380 So there's no gift there. 00:42:10.380 --> 00:42:11.260 There's no skill. 00:42:11.280 --> 00:42:15.300 And also maybe it was just designed for the way that he thinks. 00:42:16.309 --> 00:42:33.190 So in your life, in your everyday life, not even talking about founding or being in tech when you use something and it doesn't work the way that you think it should work, I wanna really encourage you to think maybe it just wasn't designed for me instead of I'm not good at this. 00:42:34.050 --> 00:42:45.630 And then if I could be so bold is to ask you to share this message because there are a lot of women who are not in this room today who think that all the time, I'm just not really that good at this. 00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:48.070 Instead of, it wasn't designed for me. 00:42:48.650 --> 00:42:57.590 And this is why I think it's so important for you to put your products out into the world so that fewer and fewer people think it wasn't designed for me. 00:42:59.039 --> 00:43:01.059 Now we all know about the funding shortage. 00:43:01.061 --> 00:43:01.699 This is an issue. 00:43:01.701 --> 00:43:09.059 This is a 2021 stat, 2.4% of total invested venture capital startup in the US goes to solo women founded. 00:43:10.360 --> 00:43:15.949 Not the entire problem, but part of the problem is we don't have enough women founding companies. 00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:20.550 So if you came here today and you're like, I'm a woman in tech, this sounds really interesting, but I'm not really gonna start a company. 00:43:21.380 --> 00:43:22.550 I wanna challenge you. 00:43:22.900 --> 00:43:30.130 I wanna challenge you that maybe it's your turn, maybe it's your time to step up and start a company. 00:43:30.289 --> 00:43:38.369 Maybe it's exactly the right time for you to build your tech company for you to grow to a billion dollars and ask Catherine today for some money to fund it. 00:43:39.170 --> 00:43:49.059 being techy is really just about problem solving, deep thinking for sure. 00:43:49.061 --> 00:43:51.719 Empathy, project management. 00:43:51.719 --> 00:43:53.760 These are all things you're doing anyway. 00:43:54.309 --> 00:43:56.889 And I know you know a lot of women out there who are doing that. 00:43:57.400 --> 00:43:58.969 That's what it means to be techie. 00:43:59.650 --> 00:44:03.659 So in summary, I know I've talked about a lot of things today. 00:44:04.059 --> 00:44:07.780 believing in yourself,

a tech stack, all sorts of things. 00:44:07.880 --> 00:44:08.940 But this is your playbook. 00:44:09.349 --> 00:44:16.940 If you're like, I'm ready Ellen, you have convinced me because you, I have never met a person who gets so excited about technology as you do. 00:44:17.090 --> 00:44:19.420 Then I wanna tell you, this is your playbook. 00:44:19.420 --> 00:44:20.460 This is how to get started. 00:44:20.869 --> 00:44:32.239 So before you even go get a quote, before you talk to a developer, remember to believe you are techie and my friends, if you share that message with other people, it's pretty funny. 00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:34.119 You hold yourself accountable, right? 00:44:34.121 --> 00:44:35.679 You're like, I can't say that. 00:44:35.681 --> 00:44:38.119 I can't say I'm not techie cause I'm telling all these other people. 00:44:38.530 --> 00:44:42.119 So you are techie and share that and then remember that you're the expert. 00:44:42.121 --> 00:44:45.719 Nobody's fixating on your problem with your unique solution the way you are. 00:44:45.719 --> 00:44:46.360 They're not. 00:44:47.019 --> 00:44:48.320 You are the expert. 00:44:48.980 --> 00:44:52.909 Know your customers, do your customer research, know them, know their pain. 00:44:52.911 --> 00:44:57.750 Believe that you can solve a problem that they have and define it from your unique perspective. 00:44:58.460 --> 00:45:02.960 And once you've done that, your playbook is trust your development team. 00:45:03.909 --> 00:45:06.139 So start building those relationships early. 00:45:06.530 --> 00:45:08.460 It's kind of like a VC relationship. 00:45:08.460 --> 00:45:09.619 You wanna really know them. 00:45:09.621 --> 00:45:14.219 You really wanna deeply understand that there's a communication. 00:45:14.530 --> 00:45:20.380 Technology is a lot about communication and then decide how involved you wanna be. 00:45:20.380 --> 00:45:24.900 But believing you are techies first and deciding from that perspective. 00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:31.869 If you wanna pay people more money to do more of the work so you can focus on your business, that's a great strategy. 00:45:32.460 --> 00:45:35.150 It's not the only strategy, but it's a viable strategy. 00:45:35.420 --> 00:45:39.510 Just know that your product vision is communicated and defined well. 00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:42.980 And then, um, remember my friends, you've gotta build an mvp. 00:45:42.981 --> 00:45:44.139 So quick tip on this. 00:45:45.820 --> 00:45:50.539 Confine, constrain define you are going, as you go through this process, you're gonna wanna do everything. 00:45:50.541 --> 00:45:52.460 You're gonna wanna have so many things in it. 00:45:53.090 --> 00:46:05.500 I like to just say keep a Google doc, a version one or version 2.0 and just write down, just type out save the features that are not for today that are gonna prevent you from launching. 00:46:05.610 --> 00:46:09.460 They will come out into the world and launch with an mvp. 00:46:09.460 --> 00:46:17.900 You're gonna make a decision if it doesn't hurt, if you haven't cut out some things like I cut out some slides I wanted, if it doesn't hurt a little bit, you haven't trimmed enough. 00:46:18.809 --> 00:46:23.070 And then remember to build a product that's maintainable that other people, you can find people to maintain it. 00:46:23.090 --> 00:46:30.909 You can find people who can continue to scale and grow your technology and finally evaluate multiple valid options. 00:46:30.911 --> 00:46:41.869 Someone who has spent time with you to understand you, your perspective, your unique approach, and has taken the time to give you a quote on what effort we'll take from them to give you what you want. 00:46:43.289 --> 00:46:45.039 So remember, what does a tech founder look like? 00:46:45.539 --> 00:46:46.480 She looks like you. 00:46:46.849 --> 00:46:47.769 Thank you so much. 00:46:47.771 --> 00:46:48.409 You are techie. 00:46:53.099 --> 00:46:55.010 So let's do some questions. 00:46:55.070 --> 00:47:00.010 And my daughters here are going to throw or bring you a shirt depending on your athletic ability. 00:47:00.309 --> 00:47:06.730 And uh, we do a lot of football at my house so it um, I would love to take some questions from you and it's totally fine with me. 00:47:06.731 --> 00:47:08.889 If they're very specific I'll do my very best to answer them. 00:47:10.579 --> 00:47:15.570 Yes, I just need a quick drink of water cause I 00:47:16.130 --> 00:47:16.130 Question. 00:47:16.690 --> 00:47:17.489 Uh, thank you so much. 00:47:17.489 --> 00:47:18.010 You're welcome. 00:47:18.489 --> 00:47:28.889 Um, my question is, if you do have a desire to level up your technical expertise, what are some courses or some, uh, some curriculum that we could review or, 00:47:29.670 --> 00:47:32.320 Yeah, so I mean that's gonna be a hard question cuz I have curriculum on it. 00:47:32.320 --> 00:47:34.960 So it's, it's hard for me to recommend someone else's. 00:47:34.960 --> 00:47:50.000 But, um, first know the problem you are trying to solve because you will learn so much more if you instead of theoretically learn tech, actually do the tech on the thing you're trying to solve. 00:47:50.190 --> 00:47:51.320 Does that make sense? 00:47:52.050 --> 00:48:01.400 So, um, even in my courses, the way that I walk it through it is that you pick a project regardless of if you're founding a company or just learning a skill in development or in, um, UX design. 00:48:01.400 --> 00:48:08.760 It's, it's just important that you start with that and then applying things to that project is a much better way to learn. 00:48:08.760 --> 00:48:16.699 Because otherwise if you say, okay, I'm gonna learn, um, Ruby on Rails, okay, let me just go learn it. 00:48:16.701 --> 00:48:17.980 No, it's never ending. 00:48:18.440 --> 00:48:26.699 And so the way to know if you have the right tech skills is not if you know every line of code that's out there, which, um, I've found a lot of women wanna

do. 00:48:26.860 --> 00:48:30.219 But instead it's have I created something in the world? 00:48:30.980 --> 00:48:32.860 Um, and that's actually how I, I learned Ruby on Rails. 00:48:32.860 --> 00:48:45.139 So, um, I start, I, when I was staying at home with my kids, I founded a company and I didn't know how to, I was, I was a developer, but I didn't know Ruby on Rails and I just did it with this one project in mind. 00:48:45.141 --> 00:48:49.940 It's so much better because otherwise what you end up with is a, is a tic-tac toe event. 00:48:50.110 --> 00:48:51.300 So yeah. 00:48:52.179 --> 00:48:54.619 Um, I will say Khan Academy is fantastic. 00:48:55.250 --> 00:48:56.019 Khan Academy. 00:48:56.250 --> 00:48:56.739 Yeah. 00:48:58.800 --> 00:48:59.989 Hi, how are you Helen, 00:49:00.170 --> 00:49:03.429 You just wanna us shirt don't you, Karen ask 00:49:03.630 --> 00:49:12.150 You, um, I just wanna ask you, I saw the word, um, that your founder of techy company Yeah. 00:49:12.179 --> 00:49:18.030 I just wanna know if you help or advise founders what do you do? 00:49:18.469 --> 00:49:19.750 How you can help? 00:49:20.110 --> 00:49:20.110 Yeah, 00:49:20.710 --> 00:49:21.469 This Yeah. 00:49:21.949 --> 00:49:22.150 Audience. 00:49:22.699 --> 00:49:25.389 I know you do because you help me a lot,. 00:49:25.391 --> 00:49:31.150 So I just, I wanna ask you what, uh, do you can do to help others Yeah. 00:49:31.590 --> 00:49:32.510 What your services 00:49:32.510 --> 00:49:33.110 Are, right? 00:49:33.110 --> 00:49:38.429 So, so your techie is, um, I have a, a membership where you can learn skills of UX design and development. 00:49:38.431 --> 00:49:39.590 So that's, that's what that is. 00:49:40.050 --> 00:49:49.530 And, um, with, and so that's an online presence and I'm, I'm happy to, you know, share that with you and you guys can, you can go there, you can listen to the podcast, you are techie with Ellen Tomi. 00:49:49.530 --> 00:49:50.530 It's very motivational. 00:49:51.690 --> 00:49:54.690 Um, I think the next one I'm coming out is stop yelling at your husband. 00:49:54.690 --> 00:50:08.690 So if that's interesting to you, um, because I talk a lot about, I didn't really go into all the techy mindset, but it's, it's a really a big passion of mine that not enough women quite understand exactly how to be, um, technical. 00:50:08.690 --> 00:50:12.369 And it's really all about specifics and that's why I talk a lot about that. 00:50:12.780 --> 00:50:19.690 So with Fugitive, if you really are interested in building a tech product in the world, I'm also happy you can, you can send me an email. 00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:24.889 I'll also, I'll be happy to do a free product strategy session with you on your product. 00:50:25.230 --> 00:50:37.639 And so, um, I'm happy to, to do that and to help you move forward and to understand, um, you know, where you are in that process and what you should be thinking about around your specific problem. 00:50:38.179 --> 00:50:39.679 And so that's another way I'll answer that. 00:50:40.690 --> 00:50:40.690 Yeah. 00:50:44.809 --> 00:50:45.889 Um, thanks for your presentation. 00:50:45.889 --> 00:50:46.690 You're welcome by 00:50:46.769 --> 00:50:46.849 The way. 00:50:47.210 --> 00:50:56.570 Um, my question is, what are some of the barriers of launching a web MVP versus a an app of like m mvp? 00:50:56.880 --> 00:50:58.610 Yeah, that's a great question. 00:50:59.530 --> 00:51:01.329 Um, that's a great question. 00:51:02.380 --> 00:51:07.750 So the barriers are, it's a lot about skill. 00:51:08.960 --> 00:51:15.869 So, um, app development is just a little bit more nuanced and, and quite honest, a little bit trickier. 00:51:17.150 --> 00:51:23.070 Um, but in terms of the actual implementa, I have so many thoughts on this, I'm like, I'm not exactly sure how to tell you. 00:51:23.070 --> 00:51:23.349 Okay. 00:51:23.960 --> 00:51:31.150 So I will tell you my opinion that having one code base is not really that important and in fact can slow you down. 00:51:31.559 --> 00:51:40.710 So, so the barriers for for it are understanding who your audience is first and what's gonna be a better way to launch. 00:51:40.710 --> 00:51:42.510 And then of course, you know the platforms, right? 00:51:42.510 --> 00:51:47.989 So you do kind of need, you have to, you have to be in the, in the IO store and the, and the Google Play store. 00:51:47.989 --> 00:51:48.829 And so that's a challenge. 00:51:49.050 --> 00:51:53.110 But in terms of like technology, what is harder? 00:51:53.110 --> 00:51:56.550 It's, it's really a, a little bit of one-to-one based on skill. 00:51:57.329 --> 00:52:08.469 And I think the bigger trick is that you wanna, you want an MVP that you can launch and get out into the world with a, uh, with a focus on where the customers are gonna find you. 00:52:10.769 --> 00:52:17.050 One full code base is not necessary, but you don't have to write two full code bases, if that makes sense. 00:52:17.280 --> 00:52:26.210 It's really foundationally you're gonna be looking at a similar thing and you also are gonna have a similar but not exactly the same, um, UX presence. 00:52:26.210 --> 00:52:36.690 So I do think that depending on your money, your financial, um, experience and your financial investment that you can make, it can make sense to launch both. 00:52:36.690 --> 00:52:38.289 It doesn't have to be one or the other. 00:52:38.420 --> 00:52:41.130 It just kind of depends on how you wanna go out into the world. 00:52:41.349 --> 00:52:45.170 And, you know, some, some products are really only at base, it's only gonna work that way. 00:52:45.969 --> 00:52:48.769 Um, but you are going to exclude certain people. 00:52:48.880 --> 00:52:56.690 I would say that's gonna be a barrier if your solution is all inclusive and you have to, you have to pick one, sometimes you have to do that. 00:52:57.170 --> 00:53:01.769 It, it is a very, it is a knowledge and money decision basically.

00:53:02.690 --> 00:53:04.690 Um, anything is possible in technology. 00:53:04.989 --> 00:53:06.409 And so that's a great question. 00:53:06.719 --> 00:53:08.090 I can't wait to hear what your idea is. 00:53:11.230 --> 00:53:11.349 Thank you. 00:53:12.190 --> 00:53:17.989 Um, my question is for somebody to start to enter into like tech company. 00:53:18.400 --> 00:53:24.829 So you mentioned about investing on yourself and spending money on yourself in terms of your learning and experiences. 00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:32.000 Um, I think one struggle that I have is personally is just validating the idea that you have. 00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:34.159 Cause you don't have one idea and you have multiple 00:53:34.519 --> 00:53:34.519 Ideas. 00:53:34.521 --> 00:53:34.800 Yeah. 00:53:34.820 --> 00:53:39.719 But when you're beginning, you are kind of scared to invest that money in yourself. 00:53:39.849 --> 00:53:49.000 So how do you overcome with like, on that specific struggle that you face in terms of just validating thousands of factors you have in Richmond is actually going 00:53:49.559 --> 00:53:49.559 ? 00:53:49.920 --> 00:53:51.639 Well, if you have thousands, that could take a while. 00:53:52.260 --> 00:53:58.199 But, um, I will say, I, I, I will go a little bit back into making a decision. 00:53:58.409 --> 00:54:07.360 So, um, this is very common and I would say that you are just at a stage where you're kind of examining how you wanna show up in the world. 00:54:07.780 --> 00:54:16.199 And so you are going to, you're going to wanna do customer research and that's pretty much what everyone's gonna tell you is kind of the starting point. 00:54:16.201 --> 00:54:21.480 And you can do things like, Hey, I'm gonna have a freebie and if you sign up for my list, I'll see if there's some interest there. 00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:27.079 Um, but you do have to pick one. 00:54:27.619 --> 00:54:31.679 And so it's when you invest in yourself and you develop your relationship with yourself. 00:54:31.681 --> 00:54:34.679 I will tell you, I think journaling, it's one of the things I teach a lot. 00:54:34.789 --> 00:54:36.360 Journaling is so important. 00:54:36.800 --> 00:54:45.320 Um, my coach Deb told me that like, I don't know, a long time ago, like eight years ago, I'll never forget, I called her and I was like, just going on and on and on and on. 00:54:45.320 --> 00:54:46.360 And she's just so brilliant. 00:54:46.599 --> 00:54:49.360 And she's like, Ellen, you are so smart. 00:54:49.780 --> 00:54:51.320 You know what I think you should do? 00:54:51.320 --> 00:54:53.320 And I mean, I sounded like a moron on the phone, I'm telling you. 00:54:53.539 --> 00:54:58.920 And she's like, you should write this down and just journal about your feelings. 00:54:58.920 --> 00:55:00.559 I mean, Deb is the best, I can't even tell you. 00:55:00.561 --> 00:55:03.599 And she coached, she's coached some of the, some of the best founders I know. 00:55:03.601 --> 00:55:11.599 So journaling about what you care about and what you believe and what you think is, is right in the world is a really important part of that. 00:55:12.059 --> 00:55:26.880 And once you feel like you can make a decision to run a test, run a test for six weeks, what do, what information can you get in six weeks that is going to be a very important part of your strategy to, um, do customer discovery. 00:55:26.880 --> 00:55:40.119 And just one quick plug on that, I think customer discovery is best on when you write the questions and other people ask them, you can be one of the people, but if you are the only person, you are going to be biased in your own way of doing it. 00:55:40.579 --> 00:55:45.639 And so definitely a friends will do it if you have siblings, I have an extra one if you need one. 00:55:46.320 --> 00:55:57.000 Uh, my kids have extra ones, but you know, you ask people to help you and get that information and then if it's a pain point, you people won't wanna stop talking about it. 00:55:57.190 --> 00:55:59.159 That's kind of when you know you struck a cord. 00:56:00.219 --> 00:56:00.989 Does that help? 00:56:01.139 --> 00:56:01.630 Cool. 00:56:02.840 --> 00:56:03.860 Are we outta shirts? 00:56:03.860 --> 00:56:04.460 We have one more. 00:56:04.460 --> 00:56:04.940 Okay. 00:56:05.739 --> 00:56:05.739 Yeah. 00:56:07.210 --> 00:56:07.940 Excuse me. 00:56:08.420 --> 00:56:08.420 Mm-hmm. 00:56:08.780 --> 00:56:14.019 Um, I'm electronic engineer and I want to build a product that 00:56:14.500 --> 00:56:14.619 Do it. 00:56:15.659 --> 00:56:15.659 ? 00:56:16.860 --> 00:56:16.860 Yeah. 00:56:17.139 --> 00:56:17.340 The course. 00:56:17.360 --> 00:56:18.619 I'm a student at Georgia. 00:56:19.610 --> 00:56:20.099 Nice. 00:56:20.101 --> 00:56:20.500 Great. 00:56:20.840 --> 00:56:34.199 And I want ask you question, is it harder to build a product than you wanna invest your customers to bring it out to your, um, retailers? 00:56:34.570 --> 00:56:38.320 So do you mean is it hard to invest in a physical product than a tech product? 00:56:39.199 --> 00:56:39.840 Ask, ask me again. 00:56:40.150 --> 00:56:54.960 Like a tech, that technology, um, is it harder to build a product that you wanted to bring out your customers to sell it to your retail, to your technology? 00:56:55.369 --> 00:56:59.320 So you wanna sell the product through technology Yeah. 00:56:59.500 --> 00:57:02.320 And through and to, to retailers. 00:57:02.760 --> 00:57:02.760 Yeah. 00:57:03.250 --> 00:57:09.730 So is it harder than what, than what than, than if it's not a physical product or if you're using the tech. 00:57:09.731 --> 00:57:11.050 If the technology is the product, 00:57:11.239 --> 00:57:12.809 Technology is the product, 00:57:14.380 --> 00:57:15.409 Is it harder? 00:57:15.719 --> 00:57:21.230 I mean, I'm gonna say yes because I don't have experience in the physical product. 00:57:22.010 --> 00:57:32.349 And so, but if that is your experience and that is your, there are, so

there are additional technical complexities when you have physical hardware and then you're doing technology with it. 00:57:32.351 --> 00:57:33.429 I would say that's true. 00:57:33.719 --> 00:57:36.469 So it can be a little bit more expensive, but so what if it's harder? 00:57:36.519 --> 00:57:38.349 It says no, it's not a reason not to bring it. 00:57:38.351 --> 00:57:40.989 And it sounds like that's what you're interested in and what you're passionate about. 00:57:41.869 --> 00:57:47.190 Um, but selling it through technology, that part of what you described doesn't sound harder. 00:57:47.190 --> 00:57:47.469 To me. 00:57:47.471 --> 00:57:50.190 That sounds like a really smart idea and a great way to reach people. 00:57:50.809 --> 00:57:51.300 Cool. 00:57:51.300 --> 00:57:51.980 Thank you so much. 00:57:54.869 --> 00:57:55.539 Oh good. 00:57:56.019 --> 00:57:56.579 Great. 00:57:56.960 --> 00:57:57.380 Yes. 00:57:57.389 --> 00:57:57.739 Hi. 00:57:57.869 --> 00:57:58.219 Hi. 00:57:58.699 --> 00:57:59.179 Whoa, that was loud. 00:57:59.619 --> 00:58:00.619 Hi, um, Helen. 00:58:00.621 --> 00:58:01.019 Thank you. 00:58:01.021 --> 00:58:01.659 This was amazing. 00:58:02.019 --> 00:58:02.019 . 00:58:02.021 --> 00:58:02.340 Oh good. 00:58:02.900 --> 00:58:02.900 Uh, 00:58:02.900 --> 00:58:06.059 I have a question on the learning piece. 00:58:06.219 --> 00:58:09.780 So a question like what architecture should I use for my product? 00:58:09.849 --> 00:58:10.340 Yeah. 00:58:11.179 --> 00:58:20.900 As you're, you know, you're Googling and researching, how many hours, like, I'm just curious how many hours, if you're a founder and you're trying to figure that out, how many hours should you expect for that to take? 00:58:20.900 --> 00:58:25.699 Is that like a 10 hour project or a 40 hour project, or a four hour project? 00:58:28.010 --> 00:58:30.139 I have so many thoughts on architecture. 00:58:30.739 --> 00:58:32.059 It that, that it's a little bit hard. 00:58:32.110 --> 00:58:37.860 So I mean, you shouldn't do that on your own if you're not, if you haven't written code, you shouldn't be designing your architecture. 00:58:37.860 --> 00:58:45.340 And I also have this thing where people will show me that their development team, she has this nice little diagram of how their architecture is set up. 00:58:45.340 --> 00:58:48.900 And then I kind of laugh cuz that's how I started at Accenture when I was like 22. 00:58:49.139 --> 00:58:53.019 They'd have me build these architectures and there'd be a little database here and there'd be a little database here, whatever. 00:58:53.320 --> 00:59:05.940 And the thing is that architecture is complicated because it's, it's a vision of how your product should, um, function at its most basic level. 00:59:06.159 --> 00:59:08.139 And so not everything can be a picture. 00:59:08.159 --> 00:59:20.460 And so I would actually say that if your expertise, if you're a non-technical, we call them domain experts, you're a domain expert

in your world, I would not, you are not going to be able to just Google and figure out your architecture. 00:59:20.460 --> 00:59:32.920 You're gonna wanna talk to an expert who has actually built architecture before for this is the key for a product that is similar to yours in some way. 00:59:33.650 --> 00:59:41.840 So if you have hardware components in your product, you're gonna want someone who's worked with hardware and software connectivity together. 00:59:42.449 --> 00:59:54.000 If you have a product that is a FinTech and it's gotta work with a lot of different payment processing, you, you, you wanna, you wanna talk to someone who's done that type of work before. 00:59:54.409 --> 01:00:01.320 Because at its fundamental level, I didn't go into this, but that's why people spend so much on hosting is because the architecture isn't streamlined. 01:00:01.860 --> 01:00:07.480 And there's, I mean you can like research it and you can be like, oh, containers and Kubernetes and Oh yeah. 01:00:07.539 --> 01:00:13.400 And that honestly, like how the code is put into those is what matters. 01:00:13.539 --> 01:00:17.599 How the algorithms are designed, um, how the OB objects are designed. 01:00:17.601 --> 01:00:19.599 And so that's just a very layered approach. 01:00:19.601 --> 01:00:25.519 And so I really would encourage you yes, to look to Google the words you don't know and to ask your developers. 01:00:25.521 --> 01:00:32.400 But I would really encourage you to understand and talk to pe bring people into your purview who have done something. 01:00:32.630 --> 01:00:36.719 Just try to look at what the similarities, like what's hard about your product. 01:00:37.030 --> 01:00:40.920 Find someone who's done something hard, similarly hard in that way. 01:00:45.530 --> 01:00:45.849 Oh great. 01:00:45.929 --> 01:00:46.489 Hello. 01:00:46.490 --> 01:00:46.809 Hi. 01:00:47.289 --> 01:00:47.929 Um, thank you. 01:00:48.929 --> 01:00:51.090 Um, I have a question about networking. 01:00:51.769 --> 01:00:55.010 Um, I just started at school and I'm a slight introvert. 01:00:55.210 --> 01:00:56.929 Don't really like talking to people. 01:00:56.980 --> 01:00:57.449 Oh, okay. 01:00:57.849 --> 01:00:57.969 I'm here 01:00:58.170 --> 01:00:58.170 Though. 01:00:58.610 --> 01:00:58.610 Okay. 01:00:58.610 --> 01:00:59.570 Thank you for coming. 01:01:00.690 --> 01:01:01.050 Um, yes. 01:01:01.050 --> 01:01:06.969 So it's like I have, like you said, a thousand ideas in my head and when I think of something, I always keep it to myself. 01:01:07.039 --> 01:01:09.889 I don't tell nobody until likes come true. 01:01:10.219 --> 01:01:14.369 So one of my professors said, you know that networking is very important when it comes. 01:01:14.480 --> 01:01:15.530 I you Yeah. 01:01:15.739 --> 01:01:17.610 So I give it to myself. 01:01:18.050 --> 01:01:18.050 Yeah. 01:01:18.079 --> 01:01:20.610 I don't tell nobody anything until it comes true. 01:01:20.849 --> 01:01:20.849 Yeah. 01:01:21.130

--> 01:01:27.769 Um, when you started, did you network before or did you network after and say, Hey guys, we gotta come to me, come check me out. 01:01:27.771 --> 01:01:33.449 Or, you know, before like, hey, I'm thinking about starting, you know, so I'm scared of doing that again. 01:01:33.451 --> 01:01:37.090 Only when it comes true is when I'm like, okay, you guys come shop with me. 01:01:37.489 --> 01:01:37.489 Okay. 01:01:38.000 --> 01:01:38.489 Okay. 01:01:38.490 --> 01:01:44.050 Thank you for sharing that and for being an introvert, I'm married to an introvert and so we have a lot of discussions like this. 01:01:44.050 --> 01:01:47.369 So the first thing I would say is don't do what I do. 01:01:47.760 --> 01:01:49.690 I'll teach you to do what you should do. 01:01:49.719 --> 01:01:50.210 Okay? 01:01:50.420 --> 01:01:51.650 So I'm an extrovert. 01:01:51.650 --> 01:01:52.730 This brings me energy. 01:01:52.731 --> 01:01:53.769 I love hanging with people. 01:01:53.771 --> 01:01:55.610 I can talk all night after this. 01:01:55.610 --> 01:01:59.889 Like if I go to an event at night and then I come home, my introvert husband's like, are you done yet? 01:01:59.891 --> 01:02:01.650 Like, I am jazzed baby. 01:02:01.679 --> 01:02:02.449 I am jazzed. 01:02:02.619 --> 01:02:04.130 So it's just not a problem for me. 01:02:04.230 --> 01:02:07.530 But that doesn't mean that networking isn't available to you. 01:02:07.599 --> 01:02:11.090 What is available to you is to show up as your authentic self. 01:02:11.150 --> 01:02:16.449 And so what I don't want you to do is to try to be like me cuz it'll drain you of energy. 01:02:16.820 --> 01:02:23.320 Instead, what I want you to do is to, so you, you've actually asked me a few different questions in this. 01:02:24.159 --> 01:02:24.960 Um, and it's brilliant. 01:02:26.460 --> 01:02:35.320 You want to do your customer research so that you understand that the thing that you're working on, and when you do customer research, you're asking about pain. 01:02:35.320 --> 01:02:39.480 You're not asking about how someone else would solve the problem that you're gonna be an expert on. 01:02:40.019 --> 01:02:50.920 And so when you do your customer research, you are going to feel, you are going to have a knowing inside of you that there is a real problem that can be solved in this world. 01:02:52.139 --> 01:02:57.880 And that piece is important because what I don't want you to do is to go onto the world and say, do you think I should do this? 01:02:58.010 --> 01:02:59.320 Do you think I should do that? 01:02:59.320 --> 01:03:01.559 They'll crush you because everyone will have an idea on that. 01:03:01.849 --> 01:03:13.920 So first you wanna do that, so is customer research networking a little bit, but you get to talk about what you like, you're asking people and if they don't wanna talk to you because they don't think it's a problem, there are two things. 01:03:13.920 --> 01:03:16.800 Either it's not really a problem or there's someone else you should be talking to. 01:03:17.090 --> 01:03:29.650 So that's the first thing I would say to you is to, to start to build that piece of it so that you can go into networking events, um, with a knowing, with a confidence that you feel good about your problem. 01:03:29.909 --> 01:03:34.690 And you don't have to share it with people who maybe will kind of, um, not be supportive of it. 01:03:34.690 --> 01:03:35.969 And there's some evidence of that. 01:03:35.971 --> 01:03:40.650 I, I, I've read a book, it's called, um, hell Yes or No by Derek Silvers. 01:03:41.210 --> 01:03:42.730 Derek Silvers, sorry, severs. 01:03:42.731 --> 01:03:43.449 He was on Tim Ferris. 01:03:43.539 --> 01:03:45.530 He also came on my podcast just so you know. 01:03:45.739 --> 01:03:48.489 So, uh, I um, I think it's fantastic. 01:03:48.490 --> 01:03:51.690 And he's like, you keep that in, you keep that inside. 01:03:51.690 --> 01:03:53.570 You don't share it with the world until you're ready. 01:03:53.750 --> 01:03:55.250 But there's a balance there, right? 01:03:55.739 --> 01:04:05.369 So the next thing that I would say to you is, so what I, um, I actually teach networking skills and I don't call it networking, I call it building your community. 01:04:06.110 --> 01:04:10.050 And um, ATV does a great job of building community and not everybody does not. 01:04:10.050 --> 01:04:11.650 It's not really that easy to build a community. 01:04:11.840 --> 01:04:13.369 It's actually kind of challenging. 01:04:13.780 --> 01:04:18.650 So what I wanna encourage you to do is build your community of people that are gonna support you through that. 01:04:18.789 --> 01:04:21.170 And your community doesn't have to be my community. 01:04:21.170 --> 01:04:22.530 We can just have different communities. 01:04:22.719 --> 01:04:23.690 I mean, you can be a mine. 01:04:23.690 --> 01:04:26.210 I'm totally cool with that because if you're a founder, you're definitely my people. 01:04:26.210 --> 01:04:29.889 But my point is that you wanna build it in a way that works for you. 01:04:29.891 --> 01:04:37.130 And so while I don't think, um, that advice is bad that your professor gave you, I do think that the nuance is hard. 01:04:37.750 --> 01:04:44.449 You wanna get around people and you're in a good place here where people are gonna support your idea even if they don't get it. 01:04:44.451 --> 01:04:50.889 And so I will tell you that if you tell someone and they don't get it and they wanna help you, help you, I would run the other direction. 01:04:51.309 --> 01:04:56.889 And I would understand that there's nothing wrong with you and all of us who've kind of gone through this. 01:04:56.891 --> 01:05:00.010 We've had those experiences maybe once a week, I'd say usually once a week. 01:05:00.110 --> 01:05:05.130 But I talk to so many great people, I try not to worry about those people who just don't quite get it. 01:05:05.130 --> 01:05:05.570 It's okay. 01:05:05.570 --> 01:05:07.369

They're just not, they're just not your community. 01:05:07.539 --> 01:05:08.489 Do you know what I'm saying? 01:05:08.980 --> 01:05:10.650 So I would, I would do it that way. 01:05:10.650 --> 01:05:15.809 And then the final thing from being married to an introvert for 21 years is I would say do a lot of one-on one-on-ones. 01:05:16.099 --> 01:05:18.989 Because big groups are going to drain you. 01:05:19.380 --> 01:05:21.230 Save it for when it's really important. 01:05:21.579 --> 01:05:24.750 Save it for when it's really important, and instead talk to people one-on-one. 01:05:24.929 --> 01:05:29.349 And you'll start to learn whether those people are in your community or not in your community. 01:05:29.900 --> 01:05:30.710 I hope that was helpful. 01:05:31.139 --> 01:05:31.670 I love it. 01:05:31.860 --> 01:05:34.750 Okay, do Hi, two more. 01:05:35.030 --> 01:05:35.389 What's up Lisa? 01:05:35.739 --> 01:05:36.630 I love it. 01:05:36.639 --> 01:05:36.989 Hi. 01:05:36.990 --> 01:05:37.309 Hi. 01:05:37.311 --> 01:05:37.510 Hi. 01:05:37.840 --> 01:05:38.190 Hi. 01:05:38.630 --> 01:05:38.989 Good everyone. 01:05:39.710 --> 01:05:45.030 Um, my question is, as a female ceo, female founder, yeah. 01:05:45.130 --> 01:05:48.429 How important do you consider it to be vulnerable? 01:05:49.070 --> 01:05:49.469 Oh, to 01:05:49.969 --> 01:05:50.949 Ask for help. 01:05:51.389 --> 01:05:55.150 Cause you wanna be confident, you need to know also how to ask for help. 01:05:55.150 --> 01:05:55.789 That's part one. 01:05:55.791 --> 01:06:04.030 Part two, the resources you would recommend, uh, for technical, if you're a non-technical founder, would you recommend also Fiber? 01:06:04.030 --> 01:06:05.869 Would you recommend Upwork, et cetera. 01:06:06.269 --> 01:06:06.670 But right. 01:06:07.150 --> 01:06:08.070 the first question. 01:06:08.070 --> 01:06:09.150 I would love your talk. 01:06:09.610 --> 01:06:13.030 You know, um, okay, so vulnerability. 01:06:13.059 --> 01:06:13.829 I, it's so funny. 01:06:13.831 --> 01:06:16.550 I'm actually reading Brene Brown Born, uh, what is it? 01:06:16.550 --> 01:06:17.389 Born to Lead. 01:06:17.539 --> 01:06:19.070 I don't know how, I haven't read her before. 01:06:19.070 --> 01:06:21.550 Like, I've been quoting her for years and I'm like, maybe you should read her book. 01:06:21.550 --> 01:06:25.429 So anyway, a actually we had it cuz my husband read it, but the point is I'm reading it. 01:06:25.431 --> 01:06:26.710 So she talks a lot about vulnerability. 01:06:27.670 --> 01:06:29.949 Um, my husband actually works for Pat Lynch. 01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:31.070 He has written a lot of books. 01:06:31.070 --> 01:06:34.590 He's written Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and they talk a lot about vulnerability. 01:06:34.739 --> 01:06:40.949 I think vulnerability, um, you know, that's a really, like the workforce should thank women for that. 01:06:40.951 --> 01:06:41.389 Like that. 01:06:41.391 --> 01:06:43.389 We definitely bring that piece to it. 01:06:44.190 --> 01:06:50.550 Um, being vulnerable to ask for help is, I would just say something that I, I'm working on. 01:06:50.550 --> 01:06:53.590 I'm like right there with you that we think we can do it all. 01:06:53.849 --> 01:06:55.869 And, um, but we can't. 01:06:55.871 --> 01:07:07.230 And it's super important that not only being vulnerable about what we, um, what we need help with, with the level of help that we need, right? 01:07:07.679 --> 01:07:11.789 So I got Megan, she's filming me here, and she's like, what speakers do you kinda look up to? 01:07:11.791 --> 01:07:21.309 And I was like, I wanna give you someone who's maybe more moderate, but it's Tony Robbins and Mel Robbins and I'm going Big baby. 01:07:21.311 --> 01:07:26.909 You know, like, so, so I mean, I don't have to say that that's my vulnerable space is that I want something big, right? 01:07:26.911 --> 01:07:33.550 And so being vulnerable about be believing that, you know, Catherine, one of the reasons I met Catherine O. 01:07:33.550 --> 01:07:38.670 Day, I saw a clip on her and she's like, I think we need to have 10 women unicorns. 01:07:38.670 --> 01:07:40.030 And I defined that as 1 billion. 01:07:40.170 --> 01:07:42.030 I'm like, I wanna talk to that lady. 01:07:42.059 --> 01:07:42.909 Absolutely. 01:07:43.369 --> 01:07:49.909 And so the the thing is like being vulnerable about wanting to, to make it big and that that's serious. 01:07:49.911 --> 01:07:56.389 So when someone tells me like, I'm gonna build a hundred million dollar company, I'm gonna build a billion dollar company, um, take that seriously. 01:07:56.391 --> 01:07:58.349 Like I just got chills that like, you can do that. 01:07:58.449 --> 01:08:00.309 You, you, you are doing that. 01:08:00.311 --> 01:08:06.030 So like, I mean, I totally, that's important to, to not only be vulnerable with what we need help with, but the level of help to make it big. 01:08:06.949 --> 01:08:09.030 Um, you know, fiber and Upwork. 01:08:09.030 --> 01:08:18.920 I mean that's, that's tricky because one of the things that I do is I have a lot of trust in my developers and I know that people have built companies around finding the right work. 01:08:18.921 --> 01:08:20.520 Like, lemme put it to you this way. 01:08:21.289 --> 01:08:23.560 There's good and bad on Fiber and Upwork. 01:08:23.710 --> 01:08:29.600 It's not like it, it's knowing your specific problem and can they solve it? 01:08:29.600 --> 01:08:30.640 There's good and bad. 01:08:30.789 --> 01:08:35.760 It's not really like the platform is inherently going to serve you up the right thing. 01:08:35.899 --> 01:08:40.239 And so even that piece, you need technical knowledge. 01:08:40.460 --> 01:08:49.600 And so that's where trusting your development team, trusting people in technology, building those relationships and learning, um, that's gonna be an important component and that's part of the vulnerability too. 01:08:50.550 --> 01:08:51.319 More questions.

01:08:51.600 --> 01:08:51.600 Okay. 01:08:51.600 --> 01:08:52.960 These are great you guys. 01:08:52.961 --> 01:08:53.439 I love it. 01:08:53.770 --> 01:08:54.319 Hi Heather. 01:08:55.119 --> 01:08:55.119 Really 01:08:55.279 --> 01:08:55.520 Awesome. 01:08:55.590 --> 01:08:56.079 Yeah. 01:08:56.081 --> 01:08:56.560 Oh good. 01:08:56.560 --> 01:08:56.920 I'm glad. 01:08:56.921 --> 01:08:57.279 I'm glad. 01:08:57.369 --> 01:08:57.880 So cool. 01:08:58.250 --> 01:08:59.960 So I have a question. 01:09:00.189 --> 01:09:01.720 Some of my questions are answered. 01:09:01.720 --> 01:09:02.399 Thank you everyone. 01:09:02.760 --> 01:09:02.760 . 01:09:03.840 --> 01:09:05.359 Um, and then I had a couple of thoughts. 01:09:05.409 --> 01:09:07.920 So I, I did it for five years. 01:09:07.921 --> 01:09:08.239 Yeah. 01:09:08.600 --> 01:09:10.159 Um, I went into it knowing nothing. 01:09:11.199 --> 01:09:17.720 Um, and I, by the end, I had multiple certifications, Microsoft and, and plus a plus certification. 01:09:17.720 --> 01:09:18.199 Awesome. 01:09:18.300 --> 01:09:20.119 But, um, I don't do that anymore. 01:09:20.121 --> 01:09:31.840 However, I was just talking recently, uh, over ice cream with a woman in Florida who got her doctorate in computer science around women and technology, and she's 80, she just turned 80. 01:09:31.909 --> 01:09:32.520 Stop it. 01:09:32.710 --> 01:09:33.800 I love her. 01:09:33.909 --> 01:09:34.640 I love it. 01:09:35.149 --> 01:09:35.640 I love it. 01:09:35.760 --> 01:09:36.119 Yeah. 01:09:36.300 --> 01:09:47.279 And so we were talking about, you know, women in tech and I worked actually, like right there in the building is, uh, capital City Plaza, and I was an IT person for a company called Works. 01:09:48.119 --> 01:09:53.520 Um, and it, which was a killer website back in the day for tech, for looking up like tech stuff. 01:09:54.359 --> 01:09:59.760 Um, and so I learned everything, but one of the biggest things that, that, so it's helped me all throughout my career, right? 01:09:59.761 --> 01:10:00.720 Everything I do. 01:10:01.039 --> 01:10:12.399 But yeah, one of the biggest takeaways from that is, you know, before that I would, I would just get intimidated by the remote control, which by the way, quick note, generally it's the input 01:10:12.920 --> 01:10:14.640 , I love it. 01:10:14.880 --> 01:10:17.079 Just press input and get to the right 01:10:17.439 --> 01:10:18.000 Input. 01:10:18.479 --> 01:10:18.840 Hundred percent. 01:10:19.350 --> 01:10:20.560 A hundred percent endorsement. 01:10:20.720 --> 01:10:20.720 Yeah. 01:10:21.159 --> 01:10:28.399 Um, but, but so the, the, it's, it's, it is about getting specific mm-hmm. 01:10:28.479 --> 01:10:28.680 , right? 01:10:28.680 --> 01:10:29.840 Like you're saying, right. 01:10:30.159 --> 01:10:40.479 Is, and so with tech, um, instead of looking at a column saying, I can't do that, it's about saying, okay, I'm not gonna just say, okay, I'm afraid of this. 01:10:40.479 --> 01:10:42.239 This is not, I don't, this is not me. 01:10:42.240 --> 01:10:42.960 I can't do this. 01:10:42.961 --> 01:10:43.279 Yeah. 01:10:43.600 --> 01:10:47.239 Because I did that at first and then I was like, no, I, I'm the IT person here. 01:10:47.240 --> 01:10:48.000 I gotta fix this. 01:10:48.001 --> 01:10:48.399 Right? 01:10:48.529 --> 01:10:51.840 So it's about saying, okay, well what's the problem? 01:10:51.841 --> 01:10:54.359 Like, so you're simple problem solving, what's the problem? 01:10:54.880 --> 01:10:55.720 Identify what the problem is. 01:10:56.029 --> 01:10:58.399 Okay, well what, when did the problem start? 01:10:58.600 --> 01:10:59.279 Like, what's changed? 01:10:59.280 --> 01:10:59.720 Mm-hmm. 01:10:59.760 --> 01:11:00.960 , what changed causes problem. 01:11:01.239 --> 01:11:01.239 Yeah. 01:11:01.240 --> 01:11:01.399 Yeah. 01:11:01.720 --> 01:11:01.720 Right. 01:11:02.010 --> 01:11:07.039 So it's getting really specific and stepping back and looking at it kind of holistically. 01:11:07.460 --> 01:11:11.039 And, and the, the biggest part of it is saying like, I can do this. 01:11:11.041 --> 01:11:12.800 Like I can fix this. 01:11:12.801 --> 01:11:13.119 Mm-hmm. 01:11:13.439 --> 01:11:13.479 . 01:11:14.079 --> 01:11:18.479 Um, so at that, that, that kind of resonated with your get specific message, right? 01:11:18.840 --> 01:11:20.359 Because it's, I think dual purpose. 01:11:20.760 --> 01:11:20.760 Yeah. 01:11:21.079 --> 01:11:24.479 It can be super, you know, high level when you're concepting. 01:11:24.680 --> 01:11:24.680 Right. 01:11:24.680 --> 01:11:30.000 And then granularly problem solving, like day-to-day problem solving, jumping through the hoops for sure. 01:11:30.439 --> 01:11:34.920 Um, anyway, and my question is around market research, so, okay. 01:11:35.439 --> 01:11:39.760 Um, I think there's, you know, there's so many resources when it comes 01:11:39.760 --> 01:11:40.840 To market resources 01:11:41.119 --> 01:11:41.359 Or market 01:11:41.640 --> 01:11:41.800 Research. 01:11:41.801 --> 01:11:42.279 Yeah. 01:11:42.529 --> 01:11:43.239 Do you have a 01:11:43.239 --> 01:11:43.800 Recommendation? 01:11:43.869 --> 01:11:44.399 I do. 01:11:44.470 --> 01:11:45.159 Okay, cool. 01:11:45.180 --> 01:11:46.960 I'm worried I'm gonna say her name wrong. 01:11:47.489 --> 01:11:50.680 So she's a Canadian, I'm from Detroit, so I, and my husband has Canadian relatives. 01:11:50.680 --> 01:11:51.319 I feel like I'm Canadian. 01:11:51.320 --> 01:11:52.239 I love Canadians. 01:11:52.680 --> 01:11:53.600 Canadian students are so nice. 01:11:53.840 --> 01:11:54.479 They're so much nicer than us. 01:11:54.529 --> 01:11:57.039 So anyway, um, her name is Caitlin. 01:11:57.189 --> 01:12:03.239 I think it's Bourge, like B O U R G O I N, something like that. 01:12:03.539 --> 01:12:06.520 And, and so she, um, but I can get that to you if you want. 01:12:07.079 --> 01:12:18.159 Uh, I sh I think I paid like$80 for her, um, like her question list and her course, even though I, um, have done my own market research. 01:12:18.161 --> 01:12:25.680 And so that's an example of something where I felt really good paying for money to see how I could level up in my customer discovery and in my market research. 01:12:25.680 --> 01:12:32.159 I think it's really good to, um, have a lot of, and she was a founder, so I always, you know, I don't know. 01:12:32.161 --> 01:12:33.119 I love the founders. 01:12:33.121 --> 01:12:34.439 I guess I'm want everyone to be a founder. 01:12:34.439 --> 01:12:36.520 There's just so many things you learn about yourself and about life. 01:12:36.529 --> 01:12:38.079 So that's the one I would recommend. 01:12:38.081 --> 01:12:39.920 And I can make sure to get you her name on that. 01:12:40.520 --> 01:12:42.520 Um, but definitely she, she would be the resource that I like. 01:12:42.680 --> 01:12:43.920 How about, cool. 01:12:44.720 --> 01:12:44.720 Yay. 01:12:45.479 --> 01:12:45.479 Yay. 01:12:49.960 --> 01:12:50.119 Thank you. 01:12:51.140 --> 01:12:51.560 Hey, 01:12:51.560 --> 01:12:56.319 If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you have to sign up for the UR techie email list. 01:12:56.320 --> 01:12:58.600 Imagine being in the tech job of your dreams. 01:12:58.670 --> 01:13:03.159 Join me to get the strategies, training and neverending support to get hired. 01:13:03.310 --> 01:13:05.039 Sign up@techie.com. 01:13:05.109 --> 01:13:09.399 That's Y O U A r e t e c h y.com. 01:13:09.510 --> 01:13:10.479 I'll see you next time.