We're a Batch 1 company and I can attest to the quality of the program. The cash is nice, but the real value is in the community and extensive mentorship network! Stoked to see TinySeed becoming a compelling investment vehicle.
Great points here. It's very tricky to get accurate information from potential customers. The fact that there is demand for what you want to build is a necessary, but not sufficient quality -- you must dig deeper to make sure the pain is bad enough for someone to adopt your product / switch from whatever they are doing now. I have to remind myself of this constantly :).
Author here. Slack is undoubtedly sticky, although I challenge the assumption that all integrations need to be replicated in a niche play. Those who did adopt Level were willing to give up a number of integrations that were low-value to them or were just causing noise that proved unnecessary.
Bravo Rob & Einar. So many founders are consuming their nights and weekends trying to get their side business off the ground with enough traction to be able to leave their day out. I'm glad to see someone finally tackling "funding for the rest of us" ;)
As the seller, I paid a fee to FE International (my broker). Similar to having a realtor help sell your house, it was absolutely worth it. FEI compile a prospectus, distributed it to their network of buyers, advised on selling price, sat in on calls with potential buyers to keep the conversation on point, and overall helped me maintain my sanity.
The bottom line for me was time and focus. If I had more hours in the day, I would have kept Codetree and grown it. My other business Drip was experiencing crazy growth and Codetree had always been a side business, taking the back seat to the needs of Drip. At the time of sale, I had at least 50 different feature ideas/growth opportunities written down but very little time to implement them. Rather than watch the product slowly fade away, the next best outcome for me was to see someone else realize that potential.