Startup to Last

In this episode, Rick tries to explain to me that there are people who know how to grow businesses, and I stubbornly insist otherwise.

Growth is hard

Growth is hard از Startup to Last | CastVibes

DEI isn't dead

In this episode, Rick tries to explain to me that there are people who know how to grow businesses, and I stubbornly insist otherwise.

This is our yearly recap episode!Personal updates from 2023<ul><li>Tyler<ul><li>Goals from last year<ul><li>🆗 Take more vacation and make up with with extra work off-hours work</li><li>🆗 Renovate the house</li></ul></li><li>Other updates<ul><li>Found a band I like: Caligula's Horse</li><li>First time as an adult I feel good about my exercise routine</li></ul></li></ul></li><li>Rick<ul><li>Goals from last year<ul><li>❌ Get weight below 200lbs</li><li>❌ Write a newsletter most Sundays (27 total)</li></ul></li><li>Other updates<ul><li>Built a new house and moved in</li><li>Had another baby (daughter)</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul>Personal goals for 2024<ul><li>Tyler<ul><li>Maintain exercise routine: 9k steps/day + 2 rucks/week + 200 pushups/week</li><li>Finish house remodel</li></ul></li><li>Rick<ul><li>Rebuild daily exercise and writing habit</li><li>Be more present with family when I’m with them</li><li>Regular dates with Sable (2 per month minimum)</li><li>4 vacations, with at least the next one scheduled at all times to look forward to</li></ul></li></ul>Professional updates from 2023<ul><li>Themes of the podcast<ul><li>You can't optimize nothing (mostly applies to Rick)</li><li>Back to the basics (mostly applies to Tyler)</li></ul></li><li>Tyler<ul><li>Goals from last year<ul><li>❌ Get back to decent growth: $36k ARR/ $3k MRR per month</li><li>✅ Sense of urgency on the dev team. No more 2-week projects that end up taking six months.</li><li>🆗 End the year with three major product wins</li></ul></li><li>Other updates<ul><li> Announced the price increase for legacy customers </li><li> ~3 new devs sort of. Dev team is feeling way better than ever before.</li><li> Improved money management </li><li>Coded a lot</li><li>Joined LegUp Health as a side project</li></ul></li></ul></li><li>Rick<ul><li>Goals from last year<ul><li>✅ Retain JD full-time for another year</li><li>🆗 Double the client base again (~200 clients) - 160 clients</li><li>❌ Build V1 of LegUp Benefits and generate $1K per month in MRR from it (3-4 customers)</li></ul></li><li>Other updates<ul><li>Tyler joined LegUp Health as a partner</li><li> Expanded services to group health insurance, and started figuring that out</li><li> Made it to $100K annual revenue run rate + profitability in December</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul>Professional goals for 2024<ul><li>Tyler<ul><li>Don't worry about growth unless something unexpected happens</li><li>Focus on customer delight: If you ask a typical customer whether LACRM improved in 2024, their answer should be "hell yeah"</li><li>Maintain stability related to the team, culture, etc.</li><li>Protect coding time. Should be averaging &gt;1 full day of coding per week</li></ul></li><li>Rick<ul><li>Get LegUp Health to $200K ARR</li><li>Apply Profit First Framework / Pay partner distributions, even if small</li><li>Get JD to his target compensation</li><li>Prioritize better at Windfall / leverage over optimization</li></ul></li></ul>Biggest worry<ul><li>Tyler: Our execution on the product side won't be enough to close the gap with competitors</li><li>Rick:  I won’t figure out how to prioritize and manage my personal health as I build a family </li></ul>What we want to learn<ul><li>Tyler: How to code like it's 2024. Should be able to do everything the other LACRM devs can do with no blind spots</li><li>Rick: Nothing specific. 2024 is about execution</li></ul>

Looking back at 2023 and forward to 2024

In this episode, we talk about Rick's open enrollment experience, and what LACRM is doing related to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion)