Wazel Brothers Build

Adam has joined the team at LegendKeeperAdam published his thought process on finding a team on his blog.Summary of Adam's thought process of why he wanted to find a team. His story so far.Why Adam did not join CodexWorldbuilding software is highly competitive within the TTRPG software niche.The big jumps in business maturity Adam has to go through now. Feelings of overwhelm.The importance of taking a step back to look at the big picture. The shift to LegendKeeper was not driven by daily pain.The effect on Brandon of moving to Vancouver.Brandon has joined Y Combinator to accelerate CodexRecent IndieHackers podcast gives some insight into what YC is actually like.The importance of peer pressure.Brandon's take on YC so far.The magic of deadlines when you have a great team.Adam's first ever Angel Investment. The joy of placing asymmetric bets.Stats on how likely you are to succeed as an angel investor.The scary truth of B2C odds when focusing on profit.SaaS has benchmarks which are useful.Quantitative VS Qualitative definitions of Product-Market Fit.Differences in milestones for VC-track VS boostrap companies.Subtleties of retention.The LK business impressions so far.Brandon's Request: Make the recipes of the worldbuilders in LegendKeeper and film it on YouTube.

Certain laws restrict what you can say about fundraising.Fundraising is going really well. Brandon gives it a score of 13/10.Line tracking in VSCode gets tricky when the file is in an 'edited' state.Waiting list of 20 teams for Codex.Comparing the fintech whitepaper that Dignified created with the one that Accenture created.The rationale for creating an in-depth whitepaper on fintech.How to leverage a whitepaper when Dignified has moved past its original goal.The "reverse pyramid" content strategy.Considering the Quickstart Guide to Game Mastering as a content pillar.Trust signals matter. "Badges are unreasonably effective" in marketplaces."Dignified" the agency is a brand that Brandon has built up but now they are shifting all their energy to Codex. How do you make a decision to let go of that kind of asset?The compounding effect of focusing in one market as a solo founder. This makes it hard to consider projects in other markets - even when they are promising.The difficulty of starting at 0 with no audience or distribution.The power of building relationships in a market. How it helped launch the Quickstart Guide to Game Mastering.Why so many technical founders make dev tools.The big vision of Codex.Adam is heads down on building a Town generator for Here Be TavernsAdam writing a couple guest posts to promote the guide.Breakdown of the launch of the Quickstart Guide to Game Mastering.When all was said and done, the guide was not as well received as Here Be Taverns.Considering who the addressable market is for the Guide vs HBT.What the data suggests about reader behaviour on the guide.Starting to think about marketing strategy for Sword & Source products. Sales for HBT have slowed down significantly.The same old problem: lots of good ideas and not enough time to do them all.A "66 days of marketing" build in public stunt.How fun it would be to hire for Sword & Source.A breakdown of the Traction framework for creating a marketing strategy.Detailed deep dive and Brandon's take on what Adam should do for his marketing strategy.

Show notesClosing out agency work was surprisingly hard because of the demand for talent.Pushing to ship a VS Code extension for Codex to gain early traction from a waitlistBasic Job to be Done for CodexFitting into customers current tooling seems important for CodexThe expectation for real time communication when sharing context at workVS Code's liveshare modeFundraising went above expectations but Brandon needs to show at least 1 big customer using Codex in productionVCs are worried about being able to sell to developer market because devs are skeptical about productsAdam concerned Brandon will get lots of usage data within his 1 month of runway. Optimistic about getting installs.What happens if Brandon runs out of runway? He will still push forward on CodexAdam officially made his first sale and now has revenue in his business.Successfully launched Here Be Taverns Premium with only 1 generator. 2 remain to be built.Review of launch email, pricing, and discountSales tip: give people a chance to make the purchase decision before launch dayTime spent on clarifying the early-access nature of the premium saleAsk for the saleReview of sales numbers so farThe joy of decoupling time from incomeAdam is extremely optimistic because sales keep trickling in even though he has not done a full launch or started real marketingNext steps for Here Be TavernsAlways test in production!! Adam's rule for when to rollback.The power of chat opsUser count on Here Be Taverns far exceeds sales count (97 vs 15). Tons of potential for next group of customers.Brandon breaks down Adam's email where he described possible future features for Here Be TavernsBrandon says "I told you so" againBrandon seems impressed with Adam's numbersComparing Here Be Taverns to other consumer products like videogamesShoutout to Ben Barbersmith for helping Adam set a higher launch priceTrying to understand the value of Here Be Taverns.The business model for D&D Beyond.Adam's theory about price anchors for Here Be Taverns and how it helps him charge more. Comparison to price anchors for iphone games.Leader in generators is donjonQuickstart Guide to Game Mastering Launched!!

Focus on building new generators for Here Be Taverns PremiumAdam's process is design and build at the same timeAdam's approach to interlinking products together and how his projects drive traffic to each otherEmotion driven developmentHeraldry generatorThe potential for GPT-3 for Here Be TavernsCan AI do visual design?Decisions that needs to be made: When should I launch the premium pass?Adam's rationale for his pricesLaunching sooner so that you don't sit on value you've createdUsing the D&D core books as a price anchorLaunch discount strategiesThink of your business goals and how your prices reflect themAdam's wish to make Sword & Source a premiumish brand that differentiates on qualityBuying power in RPG industryThe Sandi Metz approach to giving away productsSoftware products can still learn a lot from retailersThe lameness of the gaming industry business models built around microtransactionsBrandon's advice to buy a trophy when you make your first saleQuick update on Codex fundraiseFocusing on the most important type of risk when pitchingThe chicken and egg problem of fundraising

Finding the ideal customer for CodexTier 1 funds are interested in Codex which surprises Brandon. He assumed he needed to play a long game but got invited to pitch.Founders used to need investors. Now investors need founders.What's the one thing Brandon can't screw up in the pitch meeting.Brandon discusses mistakes he made in a pitch recently.Adam grills Brandon on the question: What's your mission? What connects the big vision to his current tactics.Adam is focused on premium offering for Here Be TavernsAdam's main pricing decision is focused around "what is simplest?".Adam's new shortened workday schedule: Fast to desk, focus on one thing, end at 1pm. Surprisingly, shortening his hours has increased his output.Brandon shares his typical work rhythm.Adam asks Brandon to workshop the actual roll-out plan for Here Be Taverns Premium. He is not certain when he should ship and how that might affect price point.Potential customers are already telling Adam they are interested in premium. Putting an email signup on a coming soon page was very effective for validation and new subscribers

Fundraising update on Codex

Clearing the creativity faucet as a metaphor for writing from David PerellHow to improve at writingWriting promptsWriting every dayCreative writing VS Business writingBrandon's experience using a pre-written adventure module for our D&D gameAdam is learning about "adventure writing" which is a unique format that combines game design, utility, and creative writingAdam started an "Adventure Reading Club" to learn more about the formatProduct Managers should take more notes to practice writingWriting skills matter a lot if you want to be effective within an organization. Especially if you have manager in your title.Product Managers are needed at scale, not at the beginningTelling people to "get better at writing" is bad advice because it is not actionable.How Adam actually became a better writer:Writing every dayRunning everything through a self-edit round in hemingwayapp.comSeparate the writing and editing phase. Don't do them at the same time.Separate the writing and editing phase by at least one day if you are working on something substantial.Business writing should be strong by being concise and clear. You want maximum impact for minimum word count.Brandon has 3 real teams using CodexDerek Sivers on present VS future focused peopleSequence of moving across the country and launching Codex seemed offFuture focused people have a hard time estimating the amount of mental energy things in the present will requireYou have to understand attention management in order to improve time managementAdam underestimated how much attention his projects with freelancers would takeBrandon believes he made the right choice to ship sooner even though he was movingRough timeline of the next month for CodexThe way raising money while building really worksThe raising process explains why so many founders flocked to silicon valleyThe Quickstart Guide to Game Mastering has completed Alpha phaseTightening up the intended audience will lead to a more effective guideWrite useful books by Rob FitzpatrickApplying product thinking to book writingHolloway makes awesome booksAdam really wants you to just ship sooner. Big question: "How did he not internalize this even after a career at Shopify?"Code Quality Challenge by Ben OrensteinCargo culting home feedsDev anxiety around Pull RequestsOur companies are too small for OKRs. Do or do not.

Brandon's caffeine intake cycle and the dangers of caffeine intake.Opportunity for a business focused on decaf?"The brightest flame burns quickest"Adam's death-consciousnessWhat is a life well lived?Putting in too many hours is a bad strategy when you do knowledge workConsider the review process when you need to launch on a platform like the Google App store

Learning SEO by trying MozMarketing is hard when you don't have a product or service to focus energy towards. SEO as a focused practice can't start yet.Chris Gimmer on SEORPG Twitter trends: giveaways, support each other threads, etc.Adam would rather have a smaller number of engaged fans then a huge follower count as a vanity metricPositive sum thinking in agenciesAgencies are being acquired for talent acquisitionWar for talent in techDebate on how hiring process should workHow to negotiate: Whoever has more information winsBrandon stumps Adam with his favourite interview question: "In the last 24 hours what was the most interesting thing you did that isn't related to work?"The science of behaviour change. Motivation comes first, but how can you change it?It's easier to run away from pain, than run towards a goal

Moving is very distractingCodex has a landing page. Adam critiques it on air.Brandon got slammed on his pitch deck. Walks through some of the highlights.Us Canadians should brag more.Brandon explains how to set up a fund raise. Adam understands about 60% of it.How much Brandon wants to raise for Codex. Secures a commitment for his "first cheque".Adam does not think working alone is his ideal scenario. Has been thinking a lot about how to work with others.Feelings of frustration at how slow things move when you are the only person building.Hack Day with Brandon and Adam on a new project idea for Sword & Source. Further proof that working with a partner makes Adam go faster.Warning: Avoid fundraising unless you are in a position of strength. Have a product with traction.When fundraising you need to do it before you have any revenue OR after you have solid revenue. Raising when you just started getting revenue won't work.Venture Deals by Brad Feld is the only book you'll ever need to buy for fund raising.

Brandon is moving to VancouverQuiet vs busy seasons in agency workProcess for booking customer discovery callsThe importance of building a networkIs Adam actually wise?Finding the benefits of life challengesEngineering teams are ahead in async work patternsFigma as an example of adopting Engineering tooling in design teamsHow to do cold outreach and why you shouldRPG marketplaces and Adam's plan to research them and produce contentBeing a better client for freelancersAdam's tendency to give people tasks that are too open-endedQuestioning the mantra of being problem focused when validating projects

Lessons from being a performer: Embracing the fear of the stageCodex customer developmentHow Tuple acquired enterprise customers by focusing on developers The ideal path to selling CodexProgress on The Quickstart Guide to Game Mastering.Adam thinking about secondary projects to work on when guide work is blocked.Chief Adventure Experience OfficerHow to do early releases of the guide when quality is a core concernAdam is not thinking about the guide in terms of MVP because he is overconfident about what the product should becauseThe effort required for editing a piece of serious longform writingPotential release phases for the guide and positioning as a 'beta'Adam ranting about his dislike of instant chat customer supportBuilding the guide: Should Adam build or buy?Testing out riverside.fm to record the podcastBrandon is moving to VancouverAdam made his first dollar on the internet

Using Secfi to invest in stock options at private companies.Scott Adams the creator of Dilbert and his tactics for making Dilbert a smash hit.Hard to find good resources on investing.Brandon explains /r/wallstreetbets and GameStop saga to Adam. Here Be Taverns launch analysis with numbers.Adam still doesn't understand Twitter for Sword & Source.Adam started Sword & Source partly because he saw so many indecipherable tools in that market.Making deliberate time to prepare for launch was the key to success. Building your own checklist is the fastest path if you know your audience.Given the success of the Here Be Taverns launch, should Adam invest more in it?How might Adam monetize Here Be Taverns?The unique power of tabletop roleplaying games.Brandon working towards the first release of Codex.Shiba interlude.What features will be tablestakes in 5 years from now?

Brandon's new project: Codex - context sharing for developersWhen to raise venture capital rather than bootstrapHow do you decide to focus on a product when you run a service agency?Applying The Mom TestShould you ask people to "click to tweet"?How to get more reviews for your productsAdam focusing on launching Here Be Taverns - random tavern generator for RPGsHappiness as a function of expectation settingSetting goals are valuable to help you focus efforts in the right placesAdam not impressed with launch checklists you find on the internet such as Startup Growth KitAdam discussing his launch prepKnowing your audience and market can help you make for a great launch checklist Planning launch in advance allows you to do work ahead of time that can be scheduledThe power of social media if you hit a tipping point of people talking. Thunderclap (now gone) The challenge of community marketing when you don't have time to invest in themAdam is really excited to read Traction once he decides what product to focus on Potential of advertising in game storesCommunities as a traction channel and performance marketing

How we ship wbb.fm every weekDeciding not to launch a Sword & Source podcast... yetThe risk of recurring content commitments How long it takes to make an episode of Null to Zero podcastHow much time should you spend on marketing? Should you be marketing products that are themselves marketing products? Adam may be short-selling his next project Here Be Taverns. It is launching Jan.22.The power of twitch streamers as top of funnel in the games industry.LoreCraft Twitch channel.[23:00] Adam asks Brandon to walk through all his upcoming project ideas and help him evaluate risk.Adam's custom idea validation template.Discussion of Lean Canvas[32:00] Adam runs through every idea on his shortlistProject: "Actual Play" highlight reelProject: Ebook for Dev ManagersProject: PlayByPost engine for keeping people engaged with the gameProject: RPG Character Graveyard Project: Print on Demand CardsProject: Stock Art Site for RPGsWe love Unsplash

Tabata workoutNot being able to start a meditation practice.Mindfulness in every day life.Parenting as a form of rapid, painful, personal growth. Brandon's year in review vs Adam'sPersonal data that no one else has as a unique selling point.Adam wants to do more favours. Brandon wants to do less. What gives?Brandon's paused project focused on the creator economy.Adam considers focusing on learning marketing so he can teach it to RPG creators. The challenge of identifying your ideal customer and the benefits of doing so.Branding discussion. Adam struggles to figure out messaging as he widens the scope of who could be his customer.All the types of RPG creators. Tactics for better understanding and targetting customers. Using tools to learn more about your audience such as Clearbit or the Facebook lookalike tool. Adam's distrust of Facebook.Revenue streams for howtogm.guideAdam's plan to walk a mile in the shoes of RPG creators in order to build better empathy, product, and content marketing.Noah Kagan, the CEO of AppSumo made $1000 in 24 hours starting a beef jerky business.Sexy marketing disciplines VS useful ones.Tech industry's obsession with data-driven marketing. The trap that created for Brandon when he was building Tattoo Hero.MrBeast giveaways and the island giveawayThere is a community of marketers who can distract you with their interesting antics and personalities.

Adam's Year in ReviewBrandon's Year in ReviewYou can't pass on wisdom. You need to experience some pains.0 to 1 VS incremental improvement.Zero to One by Peter ThielWhy you should not go 0 to 1 as a bootstrapper.Good business models for bootstrappers.CEO = Chief Everything Officer.The challenges in RPGs as a bootstrapper.The advantages to being in an early market.Defining what rich looks like.How to optimize for income in the tech industry. "Clarify what you value most before starting a business" sounds like good advice but is not actually easy.Adam noticing his own values shift over time.Is Adam's move to entrepreneurship just a midlife crisis?The pendulum swing between adventure and security.Brandon's potential merger.Early stage entrepreneurship is like dating.The endgame of entrepreneurship.Invest in yourself.Entrepreneurship as an asset in the job market.How Adam creates his areas of focus and why he avoids setting concrete goals.How to build new habits by optimizing for making them attainable. Brandon's quest for better cooking.

Adam's Year in ReviewBrandon's Year in ReviewYear In Review template on yearcompass.comAdam pushes Brandon to write his year in review and keep it rawThe power of having a high baseline for your emotional stateHow Brandon improved his emotional baseline using Cognitive Behavioural TherapyHow Brandon became a lot better at salesThe answer to anything that matters is usually simple: consistent workPersonal financeBitcoin and libertariansFailing at social mediaTell your clients to cut featuresQuick review of Q4 Sword & Source projects build timesThinking smaller by imagining different formatsIdea validation advice: "Sell it before you build it" is not super helpful. Adam is looking for more tactics.How to explore and validate without an MVPSelling an idea based on trust with your audienceThe potential for personal CRMs

Struggling with burnoutHow to be productive as a knowledge workerThe power of the subconscious mindPriming the subsconscious mind with the Josh Waitzkin approach https://tim.blog/2016/03/23/josh-waitzkin-the-prodigy-returns/Lucid dreamingAdam's interest moving away from codingThe value of writing to accelerate your careerTactics for improving your writing Adam's idea to build a digital graveyard. How will he justify trying it?Buying pixels to raise money for charityAdam noticing the trap of over-analysis and assuming he knows too much. Building a personal lean canvasThinking smaller to build a portfolio of experimentsDigital art giveaway experiment

HighlightsWork, Studies, ProfessionRelaxation, Hobbies, CreativityFriends, CommunityHealth, FitnessIntellectualEmotional, SpiritualFinancesPersonal life and familyBelongings (Home, Objects)Bucket ListLessons learnedIntentionally designing my life with Amanda shielded our familyI am here to serve TTRPG creatorsBeing a better writer is mostly about being interestingI thrive in uncertaintyInspiration, constraints, and NoCode leads to remarkable resultsFocus on social media was bad for my business but great for relationshipsMake new habits attainable rather than optimalI'm a great people leadWhen building a new API, start with infrastructureWe are bad at evaluating risk and lean on culture to guide usLeverage your personal monopolyCareer advancement is about who you knowIt's hard to predict ROI in the early stages. You should take more shots and diversify.Intentions for 2021Process over goalsCollaborate. Collaborate. Collaborate.More, cheaper testsAsk for moneyLearn NoCode toolsStop worrying about social media and become a teacherLeave space for inspiration and reflectionBuild trust and dialogue with my audienceIntentional information consumptionTriple down on writingTriple down on mythologyRecommit to longsword fightingImprove family spending habitsContinue to hike and exerciseContinue with pianoContinue studying marketingBuild more with family

Marketing community by Corey Haines: https://www.swipefiles.co/The substack modelDesigning the ideal bootstrapped business by Jason Cohen MicroConf community Adam should obviously join Microconf communityDave Gehardt CommunityPatio11Art of Product Podcast and Ben (@r00k)OnDeck fellowships - reach out to Erik and ask about agenciesAdam seriously thinking about finding a CoFounder. How would you do that?Shane Parrish of Farnham streetGreat by Choice

Check out the awesome guides at julian.comThe Quickstart Guide to Game MasteringGame mastering as a deep craft.Founders should learn to be an RPG Game MasterSPI Podcast mentioned by BrandonTodd Tresider is a financial mentorBrandon's spreadsheet for hypothesis testingTalk to Adam Waselnuk on Twitter about Game Mastering

In this episode, us Wazel Brothers discuss Vasectomies and World of Warcraft for the first 10 minutes. Feel free to jump to minute 10 if you want to skip past that and get straight to business. We then dive into proposal writing, benefits and drawbacks of value-based pricing, and how Adam is exploring and meeting people in the RPG industry by building things on the internet.

Agency masterminds. Ratchety marketing engines. Communities are distractions. Signs of early adopters.

KP is the Program Director of the @beondeck No-Code Fellowship.Brandon Chu wrote The Black Box of Product Management.