Brian Gates

Week 3 of this new Craft CMS marketing site build is a wrap. We're in the bricklaying phase of the build. More bricks were added, but the structure's not done yet. So, we took a detailed detour into talking about how we organize Basecamp (by 37signals) to manage feature development and daily/weekly communication. You'll see we have a clear PM process where we utilize frequent "mini self-reports" (as I call them) so PMs don't need to hover or check in often. We also work in "small" tasks in as linear of a fashion as possible. If you're a digital project management geek like Rachel Gertz and me, you might enjoy this video. https://lnkd.in/g_YZTcpc

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Understand customer pain point. Build product to address pain point. Test on customer. Iterate, test, iterate, t... https://lnkd.in/eij6c_uH

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During COVID we bought a little app called Ignite and turned it into PushPress Train. At the time I didn't realize how hard an acquisition would be (even though everyone warned me). For 2 years, we didn't have the resources to give it the love it needed - and the market pounded us for it. Our customers hated it. The integration was terrible at best. It affected everything in our business negatively - our churn rates, our NPS, our customer happiness. After raising our Series A we had the resources to fix this and we did. We upgraded Train in all ways and folded it directly into our Member App. We added programming partners to it, so our clients now get hassle free workouts loaded directly into their gyms. We improved the integration into Core. Now we're doubling down. For the first time ever we have a dedicated engineer who's only job is to make Train amazing in deeper ways. As a CEO, sometimes your decisions might be wrong in the moment but they aren't final answers. Acquiring Train was a bad decision for 2 years... until it wasn't - and now it's a vital piece of our product ecosystem!

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CINCH CCM not only offers technology specifically designed for community care, we also have the tools for agencies to navigate efficiently in this business model. CINCH CCM, Inc. Tim Murray From Forgotten Places: A giant ship's engine broke down and no one could repair it, so they hired a Mechanical Engineer with over 30 years of experience. He inspected the engine very carefully, from top to bottom. After seeing everything, the engineer unloaded his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He knocked something gently. Soon, the engine came to life again. The engine has been fixed! A week later the engineer mentioned to the ship owner that the total cost of repairing the giant ship was $20,000. "What?!" said the owner. “You did almost nothing. Give us a detailed bill." The Engineer replied him “The answer is simple:” Tap with a hammer: $2 Know where to knock and how much to knock: $19,998 The importance of appreciating one's expertise and experience...because those are the results of struggles, experiments and even tears. If I do a job in 30 minutes it's because I spent 20 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes.

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THIS... is why we started Summit Venture Studio... These are 27 software development projects Spencer Walker and I worked on while inside the University of Utah. The Y-axis is Millions of dollars (valuation). The X-axis are value inflection points. The two companies that had the highest value at exit/raise in this chart were actually valued much higher but it skewed the graph so I am just showing how much they raised. The GREEN all exited or raised money, the BLUE were all licensed to established companies so a real value was never set after that and the RED were shut down. An interesting point to think about is that these projects were "assigned to us" and were not "chosen" as good business opportunities. Now we are screening the deals we work on for commercial viability. I am super excited for the future. Who wants to come and play with us and start a company with us? We have 8 in the pipeline and I just finished a meeting where we agreed to launch our next company hopefully in the next few weeks.

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Been awhile since I spoke with Mind the Product. Had a blast speaking with Randy Silver and Lily Smith about what PLG really looks like in practice (the ups and downs!) and how I think being Product-Led and PLS should be a part of the PLG definition. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eNdh6xpE #podcast #productmanagement

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In a nutshell, Lookout is winning the battle for brand distinction, community impact and consumer relevance with its employees, partners, communities and members. And market awareness and growth is following; along with national marketing awards and community accolades to honor the bold impacts the Lookout team is making. Born in 1951 as Idaho State College's credit union, it evolved by 1963 into Idaho State University Credit Union. Over time, that long name became an acronym that needed lots of explaining, ISUCU. By 2020, the credit union needed a new brand identity, to reflect its new focus on inclusivity and community, to honor its university roots and to jump start market growth. Strum Agency was chosen to craft a brand and name that captured the essence of the credit union's values, regional beauty and purpose in helping its diverse groups of members. Lookout Credit Union emerged – a name reflecting guidance, reliability, and community support, backed by Idaho's natural beauty. A bold and highly differentiated brand identity, anchored by the tagline “Tread Fearlessly” emerged and the transformation was underway. The new brand and storytelling sparked interest, engagement, and remarkable growth: a 10.3% increase in assets; 11% surge in deposits; $7.2M in business loans, and record employee engagement scores. It earned immediate national recognition with seven CUNA Diamond awards in its first year. As Lookout Credit Union continues to thrive, its journey inspires others to embrace transformation, act boldly to stand out, and build strong brands that connect with audiences young and old. Read the full brand case study here: https://lnkd.in/g6av3ZmG #BrandTransformation #CommunityEngagement #StrumAgency #FinancialBrand #CreditUnionMarketing #CreditUnions #Renaming #DiamondAwards

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👀 Couldn't make it to Builder Town Hall? We've got your back! 🌟 Check out this INCREDIBLE session with Laurie Evans, Qadra Evans, and Amy Druhot. We dug in DEEP to all the most frequently asked questions about how to future-proof your strategies. KEY HIGHLIGHTS: 1. Future Proofing Sales Teams: - The panelists discussed the importance of customized coaching tailored to each salesperson's unique needs and personality. They emphasized that personalized training can significantly enhance a team's effectiveness and adaptability in a rapidly changing market. 2. Enhancing Inventory Home Listings: - Strategies for making inventory home listings stand out on MLS and Zillow were explored. The experts shared tips on creating compelling listings that attract potential buyers and differentiate properties in a crowded marketplace. 3. Price Reductions and Promotions: - A candid discussion on the effectiveness of price reductions, promotions, and incentive campaigns revealed some hard truths. The panelists provided data-driven insights and best practices to help attendees understand when and how to use these strategies effectively to drive sales. 🔗 Click here to take a look at the action: Video Recording:https://lnkd.in/eN2CzRA7 Audio Recording: https://lnkd.in/e6zia6Y8 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eSS4YYhg

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AI Going Native: Insights from MAICON and PPC Packaging (Week 2) Welcome to the second installment of our "B2B AI Going Native" series, where we're documenting Pacific Packaging Components, Inc. journey to become an AI-native company with Brandon Frank. This week, we're diving into insights from the MAICON conference and our ongoing implementation efforts. Just wrapped up another exciting week in our AI implementation journey with PPC Packaging. Here are the key highlights: ➡ #MAICON2024 Conference Takeaways: This is the best AI event for practical deployment of AI. Thanks to Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput for such a great event in Cleveland! - Focus on employee upskilling rather than replacement - Importance of company culture in successful AI adoption - Data is the new gold - organize and leverage it wisely ➡ OpenAI's Surprise Release: - New 0.1 preview model with enhanced reasoning capabilities - Potential game-changer in reducing AI hallucinations ➡ PPC Packaging Progress: - Customizing AI outputs to match individual communication styles - Exploring AI for sourcing and matching products to client needs - Quick wins to build excitement and adoption among team members Key Lesson: For smaller companies, a bottom-up approach to AI implementation can be more effective than top-down policies. Next Steps: Focused training on prompting techniques to help team members get more from AI tools. Are you on an AI implementation journey? What challenges are you facing? #AIImplementation #BusinessInnovation #MAICON2024 #AIStrategy

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Exciting news and annoucement: NEWS: We have been featured in The Daily Herald, it spotlights Tanner King and my company Mars! 👨‍🚀 You'll also be excited to hear... ANNOUNCEMENT: We are excited to now expand the reach of our solution to both marketers and product professionals to help them instantly understand their customers with unbiased data. Reach out if you or anyone you know is interested in taking a spin around the product- I'm confident you'll like what we've built thus far. You can find the article here: https://lnkd.in/gt6pMHZy #SoftwareCompany #CustomerInsights #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Marketing #TechInnovation #StartupSuccess #Entrepreneurship #BusinessSpotlight #ProvoBusiness #TheDailyHerald #TechNews #InnovationInTech #CustomerExperience #MarsCompany #TechStartups #DigitalMarketing #AIInnovation #BusinessGrowth #TechUpdates

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Catch up on Adam Robinson's journey on The Force & Friction Podcast as he discusses scaling a SaaS company from $20M towards $50M ARR. Watch the full episode here: https://bit.ly/3YzjaBH "It’s a game of different rules at each stage". #ForceAndFrictionPodcast #RevOpsLife #GTM #SaaS #B2BGrowth #EntrepreneurJourney #ScalingUp

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Have you ever thought about how compliance laws are a lot like design systems? I recently spoke with Joe Toscano, founder of DataGrade, and he made a fascinating comparison. Joe explained how Brad Frost's atomic design methodology took an engineering approach to design: → Creating standardized elements → Templatizing them → Scaling them across a system This led to the rise of human interface guidelines (HIGs) from tech giants like Google, Apple, and IBM. But here's where it gets really interesting: Joe argued that privacy laws and regulations are like the ultimate HIG for product design. Just like how HIGs provide rules and constraints for design systems... Compliance laws set guardrails for what we can and can't do with user data. If we design something that isn't compliant, it doesn't matter how sleek the UI is. Legal requirements become the top-level framework we have to design within. That's what got Joe into studying laws - to understand this new "design system" for building products. So next time you're cursing a lengthy legal doc or trying to make sense of GDPR... Remember, it's all just part of the atomic design of compliance. — Do you agree with the analogy of compliance laws as the ultimate design system? Why or why not? Hear more of Joe's unique perspectives on the intersection of product, privacy, and law on the latest episode of The Minimum Viable Podcast.

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"What's your AI strategy?" - said every board member to every CXO. Join tomorrow @ 12p ET / 9a PT for a quick view into how AI is changing the way product managers build great products. AI gets a lot of hype. It can be hard to find the signal in the noise. Tomorrow, Brandon Gardner and I will help you make sense of what matters now, and what you can do today to prepare for what's next! (link in comments)

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Headed to my first SubSummit to talk about ➡️ Routines and subscription experiences ➡️ Millennial (ahem elder millennial) and Gen Z consumer behavior ➡️ Why smart brands should be thinking about tomorrow See you next month, double mic’d up 😅

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Many of today's CE/CI product training sessions are stuck in the "more is more" approach - heaping piles of information on participants, expecting them to distill it into a concise, coherent sales presentation. Here's a better way....

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Could vs. Should During a pre-interview with a customer for an upcoming episode of Plan Up, she shared an insightful observation. When her team reviewed a visual Gantt chart she had created for an upcoming major and complex project, it shifted their conversation from what they "could" do to what they "should" do. This was a significant transformation for the team. Seeing the plan laid out visually brought clarity to their decision-making process. Before, when things were unclear, they had endless options of what they could do. With the Gantt chart, they quickly realized they "should" make key hires to avoid major consequences down the road for their high-stakes project. They sprang into action, avoiding major mistakes and delays. This is a great example of how clear visual planning creates alignment and clarity for everyone. When the whole team is on the same page, options for the next steps often become obvious. A great shift from considering all the "coulds" to focusing on the most important "shoulds."

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It was a pleasure to prepare information with Ken Mocabee in regards to how you prepare the vision and roadmap for your digital product after you launch. There's a lot of effort that goes into it with various procedures, and we outlined some insights that we feel will provide some perspective for any owners and stakeholders of digital products. We're here to help and share. So if you have any questions or need any assistance in improving communications for your product features and what is happening on the horizon, reach out and engage. Insights shared: → Big mistake - launching your digital product with no information for the vision and future roadmap → Be strategic - adding new features should be based on value, as you always have to compete with opportunity costs. → Validate features - ensure that you have feedback loops from users to ensure that you deliver value through every feature added, don't guess. → Commit - if you say you are going to deliver a feature, make sure you follow through, making promises without being able to deliver can hurt your brand. → Foster Customer Dialogue - just because you launched, doesn't mean that you no longer engage with customers. We hope you enjoy this webinar. #decisions #innovation #product #entrepreneurialism #venturedesign #designthinking

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New Customer Alert: Christy Dawn 👗 christydawn.com is now blocking coupon extensions from leaking and auto-injecting codes at their checkout! Christy Dawn is committed to regeneration by creating reciprocal relationships that heal our community, Mother Earth and ourselves. Have coupon code leaks and over-paying commissions been a problem? Let's chat! #eCommerce #Shopify #Veeper #dtc #stopcouponleaks

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