Why Every Founder Should Create Content (Ep #17) | The SaaS Academy Podcast

Summary

In this episode of the South Acy podcast, hosts Johnny Pige and M Verle delve into the pivotal role of content production for SaaS companies and founders. They highlight the distinction between founders and companies producing content, emphasizing the strategic value in taking a strong point of view on market problems to build a compelling solution. The conversation covers the necessity for founders to communicate their unique perspectives, leveraging content as a tool to manifest trust, authority, and a movement in the market. By sharing authentic experiences and practical tips, they aim to inspire SaaS founders to overcome hesitations and harness content's power to amplify their market presence and influence.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Founders should produce content to articulate their company’s vision and solve market problems.
• 👤 Personal involvement in content creation enhances authenticity and trust in the brand.
• 📈 Content creation is different for founders and companies; both have unique roles in shaping perceptions.
• 🔍 Founders who are reluctant to create content can delegate or collaborate, but personal engagement adds value.
• 💡 Content should focus on the company’s point of view and solutions, not just the products.
• 🤝 Producing content builds trust and establishes authority, helping differentiate from competitors.
• 🎯 Effective content addresses customer problems and presents the founder’s expertise and solutions.
• 🔄 Regular content creation, even at a basic level, is crucial for building momentum and audience engagement.
• 🤔 Overcoming hesitations in content creation involves focusing on the process, not immediate ROI.
• ✨ Authenticity in content reflects the founder’s true self and attracts like-minded customers and team members.

Q & A

Why do the hosts believe every SaaS founder should produce content?

The hosts believe that SaaS founders should produce content because companies are founded to offer solutions to market problems, and sharing content helps to articulate the founder's point of view, build trust, and attract people who believe in their solution.

What is the difference between founders and companies producing content?

The distinction lies in personal versus corporate engagement. Founders producing content personalize the company's mission, providing a human element that can deeply connect with the audience, while company-produced content may lack this personal touch but still serve to educate and inform.

How did Silvertrack utilize content to differentiate itself in the market?

Silvertrack used content to showcase its understanding of the security industry's challenges, offering solutions and building authority through podcasts, webinars, and a separate website. This approach helped them build trust and demonstrate their expertise to potential clients.

Why is having a strong point of view important for SaaS founders according to the podcast?

A strong point of view allows founders to articulate a clear stance on industry issues, differentiate their solution, and attract a following. It serves as a foundation for creating impactful content that resonates with their target audience.

How can founders overcome the reluctance to create content?

Founders can overcome reluctance by focusing on the problems their solution addresses, being authentic, starting with small commitments to content creation, and understanding that initial imperfections are part of the process. Emphasizing action over immediate results is also crucial.

What impact does founder-produced content have on a company's recruitment efforts?

Founder-produced content can significantly enhance recruitment efforts by showcasing the company's culture, values, and leadership style. This transparency and authenticity attract like-minded individuals who are more likely to be a good fit for the company.

What are some common objections founders have to creating content and how are they addressed?

Common objections include not seeing immediate ROI, discomfort with being the face of the company, and fear of producing low-quality content. These are addressed by focusing on long-term benefits, embracing authenticity, and understanding that initial efforts are about learning and improvement.

How can content creation impact the sales process according to the discussion?

Content creation can expedite the sales process by educating potential customers on common problems and solutions, building trust, and establishing authority. Well-crafted content can answer common questions and concerns, making sales conversations more efficient and effective.

What is the minimum effective dose strategy for content creation mentioned?

The minimum effective dose strategy involves committing to a manageable frequency of content publication, such as weekly or bi-monthly, focusing on addressing customer problems, and ensuring the content can be actionable without necessarily requiring the company's product.

How does authenticity play into content creation and company leadership as discussed?

Authenticity is crucial as it ensures the content resonates more deeply with the audience and reflects the true values and vision of the company. Authentic leadership attracts customers and team members who share similar values, fostering a stronger, more aligned company culture.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 The Importance of Content Creation for SaaS Founders

This segment introduces a discussion on the significance of content production by SaaS companies and founders. The speakers, Johnny and M Verle, debate the differences between company-driven content creation and founder-driven content creation, suggesting these are distinct yet equally important strategies. They argue that founders have a unique perspective on market problems and solutions, making their direct involvement in content creation crucial. The discussion underlines the role of content in articulating a company's viewpoint on market issues, illustrating this through the example of Silver Track, a company that differentiated itself by addressing a specific problem in the security industry. The emphasis is on the idea that companies are founded to offer solutions to existing market problems, and founders should use content to communicate their unique solutions and viewpoints.

05:01

📣 Leveraging Content to Establish Trust and Authority

In this part, the speakers delve into the strategy behind using content not just for promotion but for building trust and authority within the market. They discuss how producing quality content around a company's core beliefs and solutions can attract the right audience and build a community around the brand. By focusing on providing value and showcasing their expertise through content, businesses can distinguish themselves in crowded markets. The conversation highlights examples of how content was strategically used to address industry-specific problems, thereby building a rapport with the target audience. This approach not only serves to educate and engage potential customers but also establishes the founders and their companies as trusted authorities in their respective domains.

10:04

🎯 Content Creation as a Means to Drive Engagement and Recruitment

This segment emphasizes the multifaceted benefits of content creation, extending beyond customer engagement to include recruitment and team building. The speakers discuss how being genuine and expert in one's niche can attract like-minded individuals and talent to the company. By producing content that resonates with the company's core values and mission, founders can expedite the process of building a dedicated team and customer base. The discussion also touches on overcoming common obstacles founders face when starting to create content, such as fear of poor quality and lack of engagement, proposing that the focus should be on the act of creating and sharing knowledge rather than immediate results. The narrative underscores content creation as an essential, ongoing strategic activity that encapsulates the founder's vision and expertise, ultimately fostering a stronger company culture and community.

15:05

💡 Starting Small: Practical Tips for Content Creation

This part offers practical advice for founders hesitant to start creating content. It discusses setting a realistic content creation cadence and committing to it as a long-term strategy. The speakers propose starting with identifying key customer problems and creating content that addresses those issues. They suggest utilizing content not only to attract a broader audience but to also streamline the sales process, educating potential customers through the content shared. The conversation includes tips on how to begin producing content by leveraging common questions encountered in sales demos or customer onboarding as content ideas. This approach ensures the content is both relevant and valuable to the target audience, making the content creation process more approachable for founders.

20:06

🌟 Embracing Authenticity and Overcoming Limitations in Content Creation

The final segment revolves around the importance of authenticity in content creation and how founders can overcome self-imposed limitations. The speakers reflect on the journey of embracing one's unique story and expertise to create content that truly represents the brand and its mission. They highlight how authentic content creation not only attracts the right customers and team members but also significantly impacts recruitment by showcasing the company's culture and values. The discussion encourages founders to start simple, focus on providing value, and consistently share their knowledge and experiences. This section concludes with a powerful message on the transformative effect of genuine content creation in building a successful brand and a committed community.

Keywords

💡SaaS

SaaS, or Software as a Service, is a model of delivering applications over the internet as a service. In the context of the video, SaaS companies are being discussed for their need to produce content as a part of their growth strategy. The dialogue underscores the importance of SaaS founders engaging in content creation to articulate their unique perspective on the problems they aim to solve with their software, thus aiding in establishing thought leadership and trust within their market.

💡Content Production

Content Production refers to the creation of material such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc., that can be consumed by an audience. The video emphasizes the critical role of content production for SaaS companies and founders as a means to share their point of view, educate their potential customers, and differentiate themselves from competitors. It's positioned as a strategy not just for marketing but also for building credibility and trust.

💡Founder

The term 'Founder' in this context refers to individuals who establish a startup or a new business venture. The script differentiates between the roles of individual founders and their companies in content production, suggesting that both have distinct but complementary roles in sharing the company's vision, ethos, and solutions to problems within their industry.

💡Point of View

Point of View in the video script refers to the unique perspective or stance that a SaaS founder or company adopts regarding a problem in the market and how their solution addresses it. This concept is central to the content production discussion, arguing that articulating a clear, compelling point of view can attract and retain a customer base by aligning the company's solutions with the customers' needs and values.

💡Market Solution

Market Solution pertains to the specific way a company addresses a problem faced by its target audience. In the transcript, the discussion about market solutions emphasizes the importance of SaaS companies not just building tools but offering solutions that embody their point of view on why their method is superior or necessary. The founders narrate their experiences to highlight how a well-defined market solution can be a strong content theme.

💡Content Strategy

Content Strategy refers to planning, developing, and managing content—written or in other media—to achieve specific business and marketing goals. The dialogue in the video outlines how SaaS companies should leverage content strategy to convey their point of view, educate the market about their solutions, and build a movement or community around their brand.

💡Trust Building

Trust Building is mentioned as a crucial objective of producing content for SaaS companies. Through sharing knowledge, insights, and the company's philosophy via content, SaaS founders can foster trust with their audience. This trust is foundational for attracting customers, convincing stakeholders, and even recruiting talent, as highlighted in the video.

💡Lead Generation

Lead Generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into someone who has indicated interest in your company's product or service. The video discusses content production as a mechanism not directly for lead generation but for warming potential leads by providing value upfront, thus making the sales process more efficient and effective.

💡Recruitment

Recruitment is the process of finding and hiring the best-qualified candidate for a job opening, in a timely and cost-effective manner. The script touches upon how founders producing content can also impact recruitment positively by showcasing the company's culture, values, and the founder's vision, thereby attracting like-minded individuals to the company.

💡Minimum Effective Dose

Minimum Effective Dose refers to the smallest quantity of effort or input that produces the desired outcome. In the video, this concept is applied to content creation, suggesting founders should identify the least amount of content production effort that still yields visibility, engagement, and trust-building benefits. This approach helps in overcoming the hesitation or resource constraints that may deter founders from starting to produce content.

Highlights

Every SAS company and founder should produce content, highlighting the difference between the two roles in content creation.

Founders need to produce content to articulate their unique point of view on the market and the solution their company offers.

Silver track's creation was driven by the need to differentiate good security service providers from poor ones through verifiable performance.

Content creation helps SAS companies establish trust and authority in their market by demonstrating their expertise and value before sales interactions.

Content should focus on the founder's point of view and values, creating a movement in the market that attracts like-minded customers and partners.

Having a strong point of view as a founder is essential for authentic and effective content marketing.

Authentic content creation allows founders to connect with their audience and build trust, establishing themselves as thought leaders in their industry.

The reluctance to produce content often stems from misconceptions about the necessity and impact of founder involvement in content creation.

Effective content marketing should provide value and education to potential customers, not just focus on selling the product.

Founders should view content creation as a long-term investment in building their company's reputation and market position.

Addressing common objections and hesitations about content creation can help founders overcome barriers and start producing valuable content.

The initial phase of content creation might not yield immediate results, but persistence leads to establishing a significant online presence.

Curating content based on the founder's experiences and insights can uniquely position the company in its market.

Content creation should aim at enhancing the sales process by pre-educating potential customers about the company's solutions and values.

The journey of content marketing is about expressing the unique identity of the founder and the company, helping to attract the right team members and customers.

Transcripts

I'm Johnny pige I'm M verle and this is

the South Acy

[Music]

podcast yeah today we're talking about

why every SAS company should produce

content so that's interesting when we

were talking before we started recording

we said why every founder should produce

content and I actually think every

founder producing content and every

company producing content are two

different conversations they are hey

maybe we this is a good place for us to

talk about in fact I think that if you

are a Founder who doesn't want to

produce content this is probably the

very next thing you say is like hey I

can still check the box by having maybe

an agency or someone else on my team but

I

agree I know I I I can imagine why you

feel like the difference between the two

is important but why why is that

important why should every SAS founder

be producing content yeah and and look

I'm literally talking to myself five

years ago right um because I was a SAS

founder who didn't produce content and I

had some I my co-founder did he didn't

really like doing it either I just kind

of kept bullying him into it um and but

like look the reason to answer your

question the reason that I 100%

categorically believe today that if

you're founding a company you should

shoot content

is because we found companies to take a

point of view about a problem that

exists in the market and bring the

solution to life like that is why we

found companies right like it's not

about oh I think that I should go you

know build a new version of a

spreadsheet right it's not about the

tool it's about the solution like Johnny

when in silvert track like why did

silver track need to exist in the

world um man

um well there's multiple layers to that

our point of view on it was there are

great service company so we serve the

security industry there are great

security companies who follow through on

all that they promise their customers

and then there are very poor companies

who don't follow through and don't

deliver the service but because the

nature of buying security is you're not

there with the security company when

they're they're typically securing

properties overnight or the manager is

not present you have no idea to tell the

D you have no way to tell a difference

between the two so we spoke to the the

security companies that were doing great

work and said look the way for you to

actually make good and have that

actually be a differentiation in your

service offering is to have a product

that shows that you are actually

following through on what you did so our

tool was entirely focused on closing the

gap between what companies say they did

and what they actually did and allowing

them to use that as a competitive

Advantage cool so to read that back in

one sentence your point of view for

security companies that they are if they

want to grow and be top of Market

they're obligated to do a great job

showing the their customers the work

that they're doing right and there's

probably a thousand ways that they could

have done that without silver track and

all of those thousand ways were probably

a huge pain in the ass right and silver

Trak was built to take that point of

view of like if you're running a

security company you need to show your

customers that you're actually secur ing

things and taking that operation and

giving them a way to do it which lets

them retain more customers which lets

them Build a Better Business right Y

Cool same thing with my first company up

launch like our point of view is that if

you own a gym you should be calling

every lead you get within five minutes

and if you're not doing that you're not

helping the people in your local

community in improve their health and

fitness right and there's a thousand

ways you can get in touch with people in

five minutes that are extremely manual

and extremely labor intensive and a huge

pain in the butt or you can use software

right so like why am I on this diet

tribe here I'm saying this because like

there's the solution that you build and

then there's the belief that you have

and I don't believe that Founders should

be producing a stack of content around

the solution that they've built it'll

it'll be a natural second order effect

but people don't like to be sold to no

one's watching your content because

they're like man like I just wish this

guy could tell me why I should give him

money like that's not it right we're

talking about our point of view in the

market and why you should do the thing

that you say you should do and like

build

value of your solution

soers believe they believe something

that you could also arguably not believe

right it's like core values and

Zuckerberg uh had this like core value

test where he's like if you're making

core values in a company the opposite

should also be true otherwise it's a

weak core value right like core value is

like Integrity but there's no company

that's like liars right like you know

the opposite should be true move fast

and break things build slowly and don't

take the platform down both of those

could be true right and I think that the

point of view is the same thing right so

like have your point of view produce

your content around a point of view

create a movement in the market that

rallies behind the founder or Founders

who are humans not corporate entities

and then that will draw the people to

you who you can help with the solution

that you've built right like that's why

you have a point of view scream it make

a movement man it is I think the reason

you share the point of view is so that

you can build trust to before there's no

other way to build the trust if you're

not sharing any type of content the only

form we have for building trust is in a

sales call which people's guards are

naturally already up or you know signing

up for your product yeah so you know I

think at the time so at Silver track we

took it it's so funny like I love the

the the yin and the Yang that you and I

are in in many ways it's I think it's

it's part of what makes us

um what what helps us lead the company

that we lead lead and you know produce

what we do but at Silver treack we were

heavy on content marketing I mean we did

a 100 podcasts we started a website

called think.com

completely outside of the brand for for

silver track like a complete separate

website it was all the webinar series we

were brought thought leaders in to help

service the industry and it was all in

an effort to one serve and two build

Authority and Trust MH because there

were a lot of products in our space to

your point there's a lot there it's very

easy there were lots of alternatives to

solving the point of view that we had um

but the only way that we make the only

way that we look different is that we're

adding value to our prospects ahead of

time and by adding value we're building

trust that it's not as big of a leap

when I get them on a sales call to say

look like you're just G at some point

you're G to have to trust me that we're

going to be able to I'm going to demo as

much as I possibly can we can do a

little proof of concept I can drisk the

but at the end of the day I'm going to

ask you to make a leap and I'm helping

shorten that leap by producing content

that allows you to hear how I think how

we you know our experience with the

problem in the industry Etc yeah and and

I think that this is like it's extra

potent when you're running a vertical

SAS business right because then you have

like a tight Market who's laser focused

on uh their awareness of the problem and

also the

authentic also the authenticity of the

people that that they're listening to

right and like you know I'm no marketing

Guru but like if you think of the

different stages of awareness right I

have a really simple version you

probably have a fancier version but like

I just I bucket prospects when you talk

to them into like three categories

they're either like unaware they're

problem aware they're solution aware

right so like they're unaware you get on

a sales call and you're like telling

them why they have the problem that you

fix like that's hard and isn't fun right

and and then you've got like the the

problem aware people who are at least

like hey I've got this problem can you

help me and then youve got the solution

where it's like your you know easiest

ones we like you know I already know

that you can solve this problem like can

we start and so for me if I if I'm

trying to like figure out like the the

ROI of doing this content I really want

to build a mechanism to at least let

myself talk to as many problem aware or

better prospects as possible right

because a lot of the time the point of

view is reinforcing the fact that the

customers do have the problem in the

market that you have the point of view

about they might not have even got that

I can't tell you how many gym owners I

talked to in the early days before we

like we l we had a hashtag no lead Left

Behind like we were all about just

pushing on that one problem but like in

the early days they didn't even know

that they were leaving business on the

table by not calling their leads back

right I mean like they knew it

conceptually but there wasn't a a

performance standard against it like we

had to build that Line in the Sand to

illustrate the problem and then we would

have conversations about hey how can I

do this thing that I know I need to do

better and those were way more fun

conversations there on the back of doing

good content yeah yeah totally you know

it's uh the the it's a

much um how do I want to say this it's

just an easier way to begin a

conversation when someone's consumed a

Content it's kind of like on their terms

they get to gain more exposure to you

and to your point of view and to the the

problems that you solve and yeah again

it's just building that Goodwill so I I

would

imagine look we've taken hundreds of

Founders through the process of of being

reluctant to create content like it's

hard to at times it's hard to draw the

ROI on it um let's let's debunk some of

the what do you think the most common

objections we get and let's let's debunk

my my goal is that if you're listening

to this podcast you leave and you go

start tra taking some and you're not

creating content right now I want you to

take some sort of action towards

creating content moving forward yeah and

do that with the confidence that it's

going to pay off so what do you think

the founders listening to this podcast

are second guessing oh what

about blank what's the most I have many

because because I had all the SEC I I

did all the second guessing for myself

right like um I don't think I should put

time money and energy behind this

because I should probably just go run

Facebook ads or do cold Outreach or

whatever like it's not going to directly

generate demand that's one um I'm

uncomfortable doing any of this I'm

uncomfortable on video I'm uncomfortable

doing a podcast I don't want to be the

face of the comp I can't tell you how

many like founding CEOs tell me they

don't want to be the face of the company

like I don't know I'm opinionated but I

kind of feel like 99 times out of 100 it

comes with territory like it's part of

being a leader is being able to like be

in public leading and so I I think that

that's one is like people don't want to

do it and I think the third which is

actually true you just have to accept it

is you be like Oh I'm going to suck at

it no one's goingon to watch it like

when you start doing content you're

gonna suck at it and no one's gonna

watch it and that's the right of passage

like that's the hurdle like you got to

get those beginner reps out of the way

it's a very big flywheel it takes a long

time to start turning so I would even

say man like even even your like

earliest most raw unrefined stuff is

still really useful it doesn't have to

have thousands of views for it to be

helpful like the hundred that it got it

influenced those hundred people like it

can literally be like the first content

that we made that we made at Silver

track was only stuff that we like hand

delivered to prospects as a part of the

sales process like it through an email

like there was no expectation they were

going to find it organically there was

no paid support behind it we didn't have

email marketing it was like hey this is

just stuff that we feel like is going to

make a better customer if they know this

and so so let's create some resources

whether it's blogs you know you Google

doc a loom video that's going to help

them gain the same uh perspective that

is going to allow them to become a

better customer so yeah doesn't have to

be and and I would say

Matt the hesitation around I don't want

to be the face of the company probably

comes with a lot of limiting beliefs on

like what that actually looks like like

you don't have to be anything other than

you the reality is if you have a great

product you your life experience and

your perspective were perfectly made to

find and solve that problem so there's

actually like no better person to do it

no one like Jeff Bezos couldn't come in

and do a better job being the better you

know face of the company Steve Jobs

couldn't than

you excuse me for the problem you solv

because they didn't have your life

experience and so I think you sharing

authentically the cool thing is you have

something no one else has so as raw and

unedited and unrefined as it is just

start sharing the cool thing is I'm

asking you to talk about the stuff that

is like right in your sweet spot like

holy you built a whole product on

it like you know this like the back of

your hand I'm not asking you to like

talk about something you haven't done

before we're talking about like right in

your sweet spot talk about the stuff

that your your wife's probably you know

tired of hearing about it at the dinner

table your kids are probably tired of

hear about your friends probably hear

about turn on your camera and start

talking about the thing you're

passionate about and you know I think

that we we mistake how much consumption

actually is required to have it move the

needle hey what's up guys quick prompt

to follow us over on LinkedIn there are

tons of B2B SAS Founders it's just

becoming a great place for us to connect

share bonus content on the podcast so if

you haven't connected with Matt or i on

LinkedIn check it out we'll see you

there yeah and it's funny I was coaching

a Founder the other day and um you know

she's the the CEO of a uh of an AI

scheduling platform and you know we were

talking about like what type of content

to produce um and like her concern was

like if I how do I go like so broad

where I can talk about these different

problems but really I'm just an expert

in one thing and like that was the

answer is like you are the expert in

this one thing like you have not yet

remotely maximized the depth at which

you can talk about the one thing in

which you are an expert right so it's

like it was this really fun conversation

of like you don't have to go turn into

somebody else to go produce really

really great content you have to be who

you are right which is the expert in

this one thing that's a valuable problem

to solve for your ideal customers in the

market and you go be the expert that you

already are and go deeper than anybody

else on that topic and help as many

people as you possibly can and the

second order effect of that is that

you'll have the positioning as a leader

that you want in the marketplace and

it'll make make everything else about

running your company easily you know I

love that dude I've I've given um I've

even given it a name you know like I've

been working on my own content um and I

noticed uh much to my dismay that like

the first few pieces of video content I

shot I felt like I wasn't showing up

authentically and so I named him content

Matt and the Mantra I have with my team

is content Matt must die right and so

anytime I feel like I'm straying from

being who I am which is like a guy who

has gone from you know riding fire

trucks to founding a SAS company to you

know leading it through an acquisition

to running this like you know and all

the weird quirks and life experiences

that come with that the minute content

Matt shows up I beat him in the head

with a baseball bat content Matt must

die right and because the only thing you

can be long term is your authentic true

self that's the only thing you'll never

get tired of being when you're producing

content or anything else is who you are

so right like be an expert in the

problem that your business solves have a

point of view that you truly believe as

your authentic self and then go show up

that exact same way in the marketplace

and in the world and like man it

probably feels like a lot less of a

reach when you approach it that way

because it's just who you are dude I

think you nailed it yeah and I think

there's no way to hide from the reality

that who you are is going to show up in

your business so it's going to attract

certain team members which is going to

influence the culture of your company

which is going to influence the

customers you attract and keep so

there's already this Dynamic happening

like you're not actually hiding in from

anything by not producing content but we

can accelerate the benefits of you being

you if you just turn on the camera shoot

some videos whether or maybe you write

whatever it is you're actually

accelerating the

attracting the attraction of your tribe

the people who you are

uniquely you know qualified to serve um

dude that's like a huge unlock that we

didn't even get into on this episode

which is like we talked all about the

impact it can have on your position as

leader in the market impact that has on

recruiting and affecting team members

like you know people always say that old

thing like right you don't quit your job

you quit your boss but it's the other

way around too like a lot of the time

the most charismatic leaders they could

go work for the trash company and they

would have 10A players picking up cans

right like you got to be that leader who

can attract the team that you want to

have to go build the company that you

deserve like you got to be that person I

think the effect that doing content can

have on recruitment is Bonkers and like

most people 99% of Founders don't even

consider that angle dud one more just to

double click on that I'm working on this

new project uh to help highle CEOs

refine how they do executive

compensation and I was meeting with some

recruiters this week and I asked them

you know hey you know they see hundreds

of offers come across their desk and see

they hit rate all that so as a part of

the research process I was talking to

some recruiters and I asked them hey

what are the intangibles like we've

talked about we've talked about you know

Equity we talked about variable comp

base comp all you know benefits

Severance all of it all the stuff that

goes in the offer what's the intangibles

that Founders went on or companies went

on that we haven't talked about and that

was the number one thing it's hey the

founder and their team are producing

content because it allows again it's

drisking it shows us what is happening

inside the you know the building and uh

so makes it much more likely that you

can again you're you're attracting your

tribe you shine your light brighter

you're going to attract the people that

can help you like you know build that

build the company and and achieve the

mission I wouldn't have guessed that

that would have made the list I love

that it did that's that's super cool man

that's a great share would gu that in a

thousand guesses that's I'll tell you I

want to go back to one part in the

conversation there's a there's a some

great training wheels that you can put

on so like look I I was in the security

industry for seven some years but I was

not really passionate about security

like I I didn't I I love software like I

happened to

find a a product that I was really

really excited about and I loved the

process of helping businesses become

more efficient and competitive but it

could have just as easily been

restaurants Real Estate Investors Etc so

like I didn't come from a background of

like deep knowledge in security

so the position I took was to be the

curator to be the person that like you

know much of our podcast was me ask

asking Security Experts questions how

did they solve it asking you know

prospects or clients how they were

solving certain you know problems in the

business so I just became super curious

so to the to the founder that you were

talking to you know the expert in the

one thing and there's probably like that

one thing is attached to like four or

five other problems in the business and

you can just become an expert in

curating the conversations so you become

like an authority by default like hey

let me that's why you know starting a

podcast is such and it the barity entry

is l i mean d we started our first

podcast in like 2015 it was like way

before it was

cool and you know the the bared entry

now is so low you can just go have

conversations with those people and you

you're your curiosity around the other

problems in your target markets business

or their industry can can can lead to

the authority uh the same effects that

we're talking about so it's a great way

to get the Flywheel spinning get you

some exposure get additional knowledge

and um again I'm here to debunk all of

the limiting beliefs that a Founder has

around producing content I'm curious

Matt are there other ones that we

haven't talked about um there's probably

a thousand but I actually would love to

ask you a different question um that I

think is probably the most valuable part

of this whole conversation because I

think we've been very high level on like

the why and the beliefs and I still feel

like there's probably a large number of

Founders who will listen to this and be

like I agree with you I should make

content I have some of those beliefs

thank you for challenging them I'm still

not going to do it goodbye right and so

what I'm curious about is like from your

standpoint what is the minimum effective

dose right like if you were to say here

is the the entry level move into just

starting something and it might be a

couple of options right but like I think

that you and I both share this this

Affliction of like wanting to go from

you know zero to everything really

really fast and so like you know what do

you not have to do like what how do you

start how do you start if you don't want

to do

it yeah I mean I I start with the the

Cadence what's a habit I can commit to

doing so how frequently am I going to

commit to publishing something and if

I'm going to go deeper and I'm going to

commit to it being like higher quality

than my Cadence might be

longer but I would say in if you haven't

produced content I would default to a

faster Cadence so you know one time per

week maybe two times per month you're

publishing something out there make the

commitment to doing it and commit to

doing it for a long period of time

commit to doing hey hey I'm going to for

the next minimum year minimum for the

next year I'm gonna publish two times

per month yeah you know or one time a

week and and make the commitment there

uh so that's the first thing start with

the Cadence and the second thing I would

start with is I think the question

you're asking is how do I get started

like what's the minimum effective dose

that I think I just answered it but then

like what do I go do next if I'm

committed to doing you know one every

week or two a month what how do I start

and I would list I would just make a

list of the top problems or challenges

that my customer has I'd start with the

ones that are related to the product I

have in the market like that's where

your expertise Li yeah so if it was you

know if you're serving gym owners and it

is you're you're the problem is growth

right I need I'm not converting my leads

into customers so like when it comes to

growth what are the problems that I'm

going to talk about one of them for you

would have been you know calling the the

process of converting prospects into

customers so I'm G talk a lot around all

the problems that come up there I'm

going to make four or five other

problems make a list four or five other

s I'm just going to rotate through those

and to start man you can do lists you

can do how-tos you can tell stories

about uh you know what you've seen be

successful you can shine a light on you

know clients that have done it really

well um and again it's not we're going

to stay away from talking about the

product we're going to talk about the

process like what did they do they

should be able to most of your content

needs to be centered around they could

take what you're teaching and do it

without your product and still solve the

problem your product problem helps it

happen much faster yeah and that will be

the next question they ask when you've

taught a great how and they're like oh

my gosh that's genius Matt you're right

I should call the leads every five

minutes wait do you have a way for me to

like get pained on my phone I can like

hit a button and call them right away

instead of me like constantly paying

attention to my email and refreshing um

but yeah man that's that's that's where

I start I'm sure you got some thoughts

on this as well honestly there's just

one thing that I that you said that I

love um because a it's correct and B

it's the opposite of what I did when I

first started right and it's focusing on

the actions and what you're going to do

versus the results that they're going to

drive which is incredibly

counterintuitive for Founders because

for the most part we're looking at you

know investing assets right money time

people energy into initiatives that

should drive a result in the company and

I just think that sometimes creating

content it's one of those things

especially when it's like a cold start

from nothing like nobody knows who you

are it's one of those things that you

have to do on faith and realize that it

might take a year for anything cool to

happen but you know it's it's it's such

a long cycle to see like demonstrable

Roi um that you just got to commit to

the activity not necessarily the outcome

and so I think that that was that was an

interesting point especially if you find

that like you're naturally hesitant at

doing it right um because it's almost

like you're incentivizing yourself to

like not see the results that you said

you would want to see I'm going say like

a lofty goal my content should be

producing a customer a week and it

didn't happen in the first four weeks so

now I'm going to stop doing this thing I

didn't really want to do anyway like

it's really easy to create that

self-fulfilling prophecy unless you do

what you said which is like commit to

the output activities over a longer time

Horizon and then come up for air like

what we did with this podcast right we

agreed to do a hundred episodes before

we decided if it was worth doing or not

you know and so now we just get to do

the podcast and have an awesome time

I'll tell you another place to start if

not sure what content to start producing

you have a cheat code if you're doing

all your demos or you are onboarding

your customers there are are topics you

the process of doing a demo especially

for an earlier stage SAS product is you

are going to be educating the customer

on the problem and then demonstrating

how you solve it as well like most of

the time there's some education involved

so for example we've got a client who

helps e-commerce Brands track their LTV

so that they know how much they can

spend on ads well like there's going to

be questions like okay what's uh you

know what are benchmarks and that would

be a place where I would start right so

in in in your sales conversations you're

going to be confronted

with questions that you can then say hey

if again I think you keep coming back to

Matt this producing you know Roi on

content actually producing demand and

producing Revenue I'm saying how can it

actually make your sales process happen

faster how can it have you less of you

involved in the process so you know if

you're answering that question on the

demos every time you can say you know

what that's a great question I'll send

you a full resource I created a guide or

a video that breaks that whole thing

down and now you get that time back on

the demo um so yeah I think that's

another angle to look at what questions

am I getting frequently and how can I

produce content based on that dude I

love it um yeah I think that's a good

place to leave it man I think if nothing

else like you're starting a you're

starting a a company you're founding a

company like you have expertise in your

problem space just amplify it to the

world there's very little bad that can

come of it and most of the reasons we

don't do it come from inside us you know

so I don't know I would say most

companies you admire are doing this yeah

that's the truth so and most people

you'd want to go work for are probably

doing it

too yeah yep awesome all right Matt good

jamming talk soon

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later

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