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" ;)