Podcast appearances and mentions of sean boyce

Sean Boyce, Master Mariner based in Rosslare Harbour

In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Sean Boyce, founder of Nxt Step Consulting.Sean reflects on his roots in Philadelphia, the impact of his education and network on his entrepreneurial spirit, and the lessons learned from his early attempts at business. Sean talks about his first business, an endeavor aimed at solving issues in the recruiting industry, and the pivotal lessons he gained from its relative lack of success.Sean shares insights into the common mistake of not focusing on product-market fit and emphasizes the importance of falling in love with the problem rather than leading with the solution. Sean also shares the evolution from unsuccessful ventures to the successful launch of Staff Geek, a B2B SaaS product addressing workforce-related challenges. He highlights the prevalence of these challenges among entrepreneurs and provides valuable advice on avoiding pitfalls. In addition, Sean's current focus is on podcasting through his service, Podcast Chef, and his involvement in innovative projects to support and guide early-stage founders in bringing their products to market.Join us in another exciting episode of The First Customer as Sean Boyce's entrepreneurial journey reveals insights and lessons to inspire your own success story!Guest Info:NxtStep Consultinghttps://nxtstep.ioPodcast Chefhttps://www.podcastchef.com/Sean Boyce's LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-boyce/Connect with Jay on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jayaigner/The First Customer Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@thefirstcustomerpodcastThe First Customer podcast websitehttps://www.firstcustomerpodcast.comFollow The First Customer on LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/the-first-customer-podcast/

Get the mic ready for a clash of realities and ambitions in B2B podcasting! Dive into the do's and don'ts, where passion meets strategy, and learn how to convert talk tracks into impactful business tools. With gritty insights, we navigate the journey of content creation to find the sweet spot between starting up and scaling up.Sean Boyce has run his consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years but found he wasn't able to grow his network effectively and efficiently through in-person marketing or lead generation services. To solve this, Sean founded Podcast Chef, a full-service podcast management platform that helped him grow his network while making awesome content at the same time.Seeing the effectiveness of podcasting at reaching new people, Sean opened it up to others, helping people to start a podcast and delegating the management from post-production to booking guests. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market Podcast. Start podcasting, then strategize! Podcasting is an effective networking tool. Align content creation with business goals. Don't rush: Content creation is a slow journey. Consistency is key; avoid podfading. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Schedule a Free Podcast Consult

In this episode, we delve into the different question styles required for effective podcast interviewing and pre-screening. The hosts emphasize the significance of asking the right questions to uncover problems worth solving and the role of sales in this process. They also explore the fine balance between using probing questions and making guests feel at ease. Additionally, the episode sheds light on the essential strategies and skills necessary to become a successful podcast host, such as consistency, adaptability during conversations, and the value of practice and preparation.Sean Boyce is a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of NxtStep Consulting, with over 14 years of experience. He specializes in helping businesses navigate the challenges of scaling their software products to success, leveraging his own success stories in scaling companies like StaffGeek.com and PodcastChef.com. Sean's expertise in SaaS, product strategy, and development makes him a valuable resource for anyone looking to build a world-class software product business. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: Different question styles are needed for podcast interviewing and pre-screening. Discovering problems worth solving is essential in the research phase. Sales is more of a process to follow than a set of skills. The objective is to determine if a solution can solve someone's problem. Asking the right questions is crucial to gather the necessary context. Consistency is crucial in podcasting to meet audience expectations. Regular practice and honing conversation redirection skills are vital for hosting. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host, Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables: 02:21 - “[Sales] is a practice of trying to ask the right questions as effectively and efficiently as you can to really get to that answer. And then either you can help them with what you offer, product or service, or you can point them in the right direction because now you've got better context for the problem space.” 03:09 - “This is where it gets risky and challenging as a host. In the screening calls that you might be doing with somebody in advance of a podcast, you might be comfortable asking some of those deeper diving questions. But in the podcast itself, clearly as a host, from a role perspective, you want to make sure that you're allowing the guests to put their best foot forward. So some of those probing questions and managing the discomfort of the guest might be a little bit challenging in that space.” 04:12 - “You don't want to necessarily catch someone off guard. There's a difference between asking a good question and trying to probe in an area that makes someone feel uncomfortable. And I think for some folks, their shtick is kind of to try to do that, so to speak, where it's like, “I'm going to throw nonstop curveballs” and then it just kind of gets like awkward or whatever. So, less of that kind of stuff. I think that gets a lot of attention, but I don't think that produces good content, right?” 07:22 - “So when you help folks feel comfortable and confident in that presale process or in that pre-meeting process where you're doing the initial interview, you get to demand essentially a higher level of intimacy in the podcast episode itself.” 12:12 - “And as a host, the cultivating skills really just means go out and have as many conversations as you can. The best way to prep to be a good podcaster is talk to a lot of people and try to get them to stay, get them back to a topic or see what you can do to redirect a conversation. Every conversation you have is a chance to hone and sharpen that skill set.”

This episode highlights the significance of the screening call in podcasting. It explains how this process can enhance the quality of episodes by setting expectations, establishing rapport, and creating engaging conversations with guests. The hosts discuss deferring to guests' preferences, scheduling, the recording process, post-recording logistics, and potential opportunities for future collaborations and referrals.Sean Boyce is a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of NxtStep Consulting, with over 14 years of experience. He specializes in helping businesses navigate the challenges of scaling their software products to success, leveraging his own success stories in scaling companies like StaffGeek.com and PodcastChef.com. Sean's expertise in SaaS, product strategy, and development makes him a valuable resource for anyone looking to build a world-class software product business. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: Screening calls help set the stage for positive podcast recordings and establish connections with guests. Screening calls serve as an accessibility tool, making the onboarding process smoother and improving post-meeting follow-up. The call structure involves getting to know the guest, providing show context, and discussing potential topics. Conversations during screen calls should aim for a friendly, intimate atmosphere, resembling a conversation at a bar. The provision of additional touchpoints and opportunities for collaboration. Setting expectations about the readiness and publishing schedule of episodes. Aligning with guests' marketing goals and adjusting schedules accordingly. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host, Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables: 01:02 - “If you're using your podcast to connect with people, leverage it as a networking tool, which is something we always encourage people do. But you find yourself occasionally recording episodes that are not producing maybe the most engaging content or the vibe is off, or for whatever reason you just feel like it could be better and you're not at the moment speaking with people before you're recording. That's something that we'd recommend you do, and that's often what I'm referring to. And thus a screening call.” 02:28 - “A big part of why interviews don't go well on an episode has to do with the fear and uncertainty and all of the things that come with what is perceived as this permanent indelible public record of your failures as a person. Like people get on these things, they're like, “oh my God, they're going to see through all of my crazy”. And that's the screening call helps set the stage for a positive recording, but it also, allows you to connect with another human.” 03:20 - “The biggest thing that I think you should get out of that screening call is that expectation-setting conversation. And so I use the screening call or that setup call as an accessibility tool. Making the process more accessible to whomever you're interviewing. I don't care if they've been on three podcasts or 300 podcasts, that onboarding process is worth its weight in gold.” 07:26 - “One of the things that I try to do to the best of my ability, and if I get a sense from those conversations that it's going to be that the guest is going to go off the rails. And they're going to start trying to hard pitch during an episode or they're going to potentially be the kind of guest who starts talking and then doesn't stop, is I will try to give a little bit of conversational guidance as well. Like, “Hey listen, I may have to interrupt you during the episode” and what that sounds like is this, or I'll do something like X, Y or Z and show them the demonstrable sort of conversational stuff so that I can help them put their best foot forward.” 09:53 - “So when you're beginning with the intro call, I like to set expectations for anything else or any other ways we may help each other as well too. Again, I think of it more like an introduction call between some folks in my network. So as I'm listening to them talk about their background, what it is that they do and I'm sharing the same, I'm thinking, okay, is there anybody that I know that they should also know or is there anything else I could do to help them?”

In this episode, Brian Mattocks and Sean Boyce dive into the pitfalls of cold outreach, shedding light on why it can feel like a poor-quality marketing scheme. The episode emphasizes the importance of providing value, building relationships, and delivering personalized messaging to stand out from the crowd. The hosts also discuss the significance of personalization, credibility indicators, and effective communication in building trust and engagement. Starting with manual processes and prioritizing effectiveness before efficiency is highlighted.Sean Boyce is a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of NxtStep Consulting, with over 14 years of experience. He specializes in helping businesses navigate the challenges of scaling their software products to success, leveraging his own success stories in scaling companies like StaffGeek.com and PodcastChef.com. Sean's expertise in SaaS, product strategy, and development makes him a valuable resource for anyone looking to build a world-class software product business. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: Cold outreach often promises quick fixes and magic solutions, leading people to fall for generic mass outreach tactics. To stand out from the crowd, skip generic outreach and focus on personalized messaging that feels like it was written specifically for the recipient. Personalization and offering value are the keys to success in cold outreach, whether it's by inviting someone to be a guest on a podcast or offering something for free. Skip automation in the beginning to focus on building an effective process. Invest in steps that work and verify effectiveness before scaling. Provide value that resonates with your target market to start the conversation right. Keep the end goal as building relationships, not closing sales. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host, Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables: 05:25 - “You have to figure out how to stand out from the crowd. First things first, don't do what they're doing. Skip the generic mass outreach brand prey nonsense at minimum here, you have to go personalized, Whatever you're writing to somebody, it's got to feel like it's written for them. And the more it becomes a one-on-one type message, as in this couldn't have been sent to anyone else, the higher the probability that you're actually going to be able to take the next step. Because the spray and prey thing, everybody's radar is like tuned into this stuff for the most part, to the extent where I don't even know why people are still doing it, but they still are. If they're getting any results from it, it's got to be dumb luck.” 06:03 - “First things first is skip the mass outreach. You can still build a process around these things, but it's got to be personalized, it's got to be about the person you're reaching out to and the tighter you are with all the variables, who you're reaching out to, why you're reaching out to them, what they might need help with, or a problem that you think they might have based on a track record of success and a history of working with these people gives you the ability to increase the efficiency here.” 07:43 - “I want to take the personalization to the next step, and I think it's important as well then to understand that we're no longer in a place where the pitch is enough. You have to deliver value right out of the gate, definitely to a relative stranger. And that delivery of value has to essentially be accessible. So, we don't talk about accessibility much in terms of this kind of stuff, but you have no idea what level your prospect might be playing at, if they are a seasoned expert in the field, if they know your favorite piece of jargon, if they understand your abbreviation. So accessibility has to be built in, and value has to be built into that messaging as well.” 16:09 - “When you talk about the end in mind, it's really important to understand what the end is. And the end is not a closed sale, the end is the start of the conversation. I need FaceTime, I need some level of interaction, so I need to satisfy in the same way, you know, a dating profile, you can't put like all of your creeper stuff on there, that's not going to work. You're not going to get the first date with that. I'm not going to get a first date with an email that says, “Oh yes, I can't wait to meet you so I can then sell you all my stuff”. That's not going to work. It's got to be like “Hey, listen, I don't know if we have a match, but you look like somebody that would be into what we're doing. And so let's talk.” ” 18:34 - “This is a big part of our process of PodcastChef: get them in your network. Keep them in your network. The value is get them in your network to build a relationship, invest in them, and then continue to keep them in your network. Keep your network alive. And that's to keep you like they know about you. They know what you do if and when they need that help, they may come to you, but for a million reasons that we just went into that time is highly unlikely now, if ever for this individual. But you want them to think of you if and when that does become the right time. And we've seen that time and time again from all the strategy that we invest in.”

In this episode, Brian Mattocks and Sean Boyce discuss the evolution of podcasting, with a focus on how dynamics change as a show grows. Long-term thinking and a farming approach to content marketing are highlighted as essential. Attention garnered by a popular show is explored, as well as insights on handling different types of inbound guest requests. The importance of discernment and building meaningful relationships in podcasting is emphasized, with the three categories of guest requests – generic service providers, PR agencies, and direct outreach from CEOs – being examined for their value and legitimacy.Sean Boyce has run his consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years but found he wasn't able to grow his network effectively and efficiently through in-person marketing or lead generation services. To solve this, Sean founded Podcast Chef, a full-service podcast management platform that helped him grow his network while making awesome content at the same time.Seeing the effectiveness of podcasting at reaching new people, Sean opened it up to others, helping people to start a podcast and delegating the management from post-production to booking guests. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: Podcasting is a long-term commitment that requires patience and perseverance. The ROI of podcasting can be extremely rewarding over time. Incremental improvements and consistent progress lead to attracting more attention. Going deeper into your niche and becoming the best within your specific field brings success. Generic service providers offer little value and are often perceived as spammy. Doing research on potential guests' LinkedIn profiles can help determine if they align with your show's objectives. Building relationships and community should be the focus, rather than using podcasts solely for self-promotion. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host, Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables 01:08 - “I think the first thing that I often come back to when it comes to podcasting, and this is something we share too for people that want to work with us at Podcast Chef, is if you're not thinking about this as a long-term goal, then just don't, it's not really going to be worth it for you. 01:31 - “When it comes to pretty much anything marketing-related and gets into that hunting versus farming mentality, one probably gives you instant gratification. The other one probably is going to give you what you really need for like in perpetuity potentially. So I'm very much more attracted to the farming element, which I think is the interesting component to content marketing. I think podcasting is actually kind of a good hybrid approach between the two of those.” 03:33 -  “I think people are often expecting to become hugely popular or famous as soon as they start their podcast. I think that's the wrong approach. That's a trap to fall into. In reality, what you want to do is go deeper into your niche and then be the best of the best, but specifically for your world. Be that big fish in that smaller pond, that's a much easier way to be much more successful. And then you can eventually become a big fish in a big pond as well too. But that's not going to happen overnight. You just need to be, you just need to set yourself with the right expectations and mentality for that.” 05:16 - “The voice that you get with your podcast, how you approach the in exchanges, what that sounds like, what it looks like, attracts people and folks that are looking for more of that voice, more of that exchange in the way that those work, since we all learn different and we all grow different, and it's really important to find folks that you can feel comfortable learning and growing from. So as a podcaster, you find that voice and then folks just start showing up at the door going ‘Hey, I don't know what it is, but this one, this is working for me. Can I be on your show?'” 18:50 - Sean: “And I get people reaching out to me when I'm a rather effective networker I think in terms of the things that I'm good at. And I have been connected with people through my podcast that I would've never been able to network my way to in like a million lifetimes. So I have only the podcast to really credit and thank for that.”Brian: “I think that's the biggest, one of the biggest discoveries that you go through as either a host or as somebody who starts a podcast. And we've had plenty of folks on the show that have had a kind of a similar reflection and that is, you have no idea what doors this opens, what connections you can make with this.”

In this episode, Brian Mattocks and Sean Boyce dive into the vital role of precise outreach within the sales process, with a special focus on leveraging LinkedIn. They explore the unexpected drawbacks that can arise from poorly executed hunting campaigns and underscore the importance of selecting the most suitable communication channels. Moreover, the host stresses the significance of providing valuable content, like blog articles or podcasts, rather than jumping straight into sales pitches. They also shine a spotlight on the effectiveness of personalized and hybrid strategies as a way to distinguish oneself and attain superior sales outcomes.Sean Boyce has run his consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years but found he wasn't able to grow his network effectively and efficiently through in-person marketing or lead generation services. To solve this, Sean founded Podcast Chef, a full-service podcast management platform that helped him grow his network while making awesome content at the same time.Seeing the effectiveness of podcasting at reaching new people, Sean opened it up to others, helping people to start a podcast and delegating the management from post-production to booking guests. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: The ineffective and spammy nature of most LinkedIn cold outreach messages The shift towards capitalistic behaviors in social media platforms as they prioritize monetization over community engagement The allure of hunting for new business opportunities, but the importance of investing in consistent and morally ethical processes Offering something of value generates a stronger response from potential customers. A hybrid approach that aligns with your interests and strengths can be effective. Generic sales messages are often ignored. Consistency and testing are necessary to find the right approach. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host, Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables: 06:22 - “If you're spamming hundreds or thousands of messages a day and you're getting like random chance basically consistency back, you know what you're doing really isn't worth it. That's not what you want, is you want a process, you want a process that can produce predictable results. But at the same time, you also shouldn't be doing anything that makes you feel like dirty or gross. Like you really just shouldn't be investing in things that are trying to take advantage of people or being slimy. Really, anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, you really shouldn't be investing in those things.” 10:22 - “Farming, farming sounds attractive, but I think people struggle with how do I even get started with that? Or they haven't seen them a lot of good examples of it, and it doesn't promise immediate results. So it's, it's just, it can be more difficult for folks to get started with. And for those folks, I would say there's a hybrid approach here you may not have considered that I think is worth experimenting with. Realistically, that's what I was doing when I was looking for a better solution to the spray and pray model.” 09:26 - “But, the next thing that I want to talk about too is as you start to get in a good sort of honed in understanding of your target market, one of the things that you realize too is that not all channels, not all approaches are appropriate, right? There are tons of situations where that LinkedIn kind of approach, if you're already on LinkedIn, it might make sense as that's a place to sell LinkedIn advertising, for example, or sell something similar. But if your target market's not congregating there, if they're not doing anything on LinkedIn, you're not gonna, whatever, however successful or unsuccessful a campaign may be the right tool in the wrong place or the wrong time is never going to work.” 02:46 - “I was reading a Cory Doctorow article on this. It's, they call it, he calls it the “enshittification” of social media, basically where something starts, it's got this really great, like fa you know, fan base. People are active, engaged. It's honest in its own way. It doesn't mean it's perfect, but it's honest. And as the corporate machine tries to turn that whatever that magic is into money, it inherently defaults to the capitalistic behaviors that make being in that environment awful. You see it with Facebook, you see it with Reddit, you see it with all of these social media platforms where they're like, oh well we also need to take money. And they do that at the expense of the community that kind of built the environment.” 12:28 - Sean: “You love writing, do that, you love podcasting, do that, whatever it is, like just try to stand out from the crowd because I can't tell you how many messages I get on LinkedIn these days. It's like five to 10 probably per day for people deliberately just trying to sell me specifically lead gen, whatever. And I ignore all of it.”Brian: “Yeah, I think that gets back to the way we kind of have a magic bullet approach socially to a lot of stuff where it's like there is a single solution, and it is, you know, you can buy your way out of the problem. And there is, you know, and every marketer that hears this right now is, is going, yes, you're exactly right. There is no magic bullet solution to not knowing who you're selling to. There is no magic bullet solution to not knowing the value your solution offers.”

In this episode, Sean Boyce, the Founder of Podcast Chef, shares his experience and strategies for marketing businesses with nuanced offerings. He emphasizes the importance of catering to the audience's level of understanding and discusses the balance between attracting new clients and catering to those with strong buying intent. He emphasizes the importance of finding your value proposition, gaining social proof, and getting customer feedback. They also discuss the power of podcasting and leveraging various channels to attract customers.Sean Boyce has run his consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years but found he wasn't able to grow his network effectively and efficiently through in-person marketing or lead generation services. To solve this, Sean founded Podcast Chef, a full-service podcast management platform that helped him grow his network while making awesome content at the same time.Seeing the effectiveness of podcasting at reaching new people, Sean opened it up to others, helping people to start a podcast and delegating the management from post-production to booking guests. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: Nuanced businesses can be harder to market due to their complexity and lack of familiarity. Starting with a more specific and opinionated approach can help potential customers understand the value of the offering. Understanding the audience's level of knowledge and adapting the messaging accordingly is crucial in successful marketing. Experimentation and trial and error are key to finding the right marketing approach for complex businesses. Build confidence by recognizing your past successes and identifying the problems you can solve for others. Determine your value proposition and gather social proof, case studies, and demonstrations to support it. Use multiple channels, with podcasting as a cornerstone, to grow your brand and attract your target audience. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host, Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables: 07:41 - “Yes, so I'm a data-driven person, engineer at heart, you know, tech geek what, however you want to describe it. So I love the T&E approach, as I often abbreviate it. The trial and error where I may have something I want to do, like let's say I wanna work with Fortune 500 companies as a B two B SaaS consultant. Great, can I come right out of the gate and do that? Maybe, maybe not, right? So I need to figure out a way to systematically get to those folks first and foremost to start having conversations with them to see whether or not there's a need, if they have a problem that I could solve, if they have a problem that I can solve, do they believe that I'm someone that can solve it, right?” 09:12 -  “I think there's a lot of content out there that could be misleading in terms of like, you need to come up with all of the details now. And then you, you know, you do that in as just checking a box and then once you've checked that box, then you just sell, sell, sell. And just like everything goes super well, it's not really the case. I think there's a lot more of the like putting the plane together in the air while you're flying it, that anybody who's involved in business will tell you is a core component of the process. So getting comfortable with that, getting comfortable in those uncomfortable scenarios, is really an important piece of it.” 06:58 - “Because there's a certain amount and there's, there's always going to be, particularly in the marketing space, there's a certain amount of grow your own clients. You have to help them along the way through that sales journey. But I think on the other side of it too is the moment you have somebody with a strong buying intent, you now have a different problem, right? You have to be able to speak to that exact buying intent.” 15:28 - “The ability to then leverage the content you already have or the stuff you're creating to then I guess collect field data as well as to what's performing well, so you can understand what messages appealing to your audience. And, and I think in the beginning when you first start out, like your only real litmus test if you're doing it for the first time is you look at your bank account or whatever, and you go, yeah, I didn't get any checks this week. And that's a real problem because it's exactly looking at you're, you're looking at too much of the process. It sounds like the very first decision you made was actually not to be focused on that outcome, but instead focus on am I having good conversations first and then from those good conversations, am I able to turn any of them into a single piece of business? And then can I repeat that over and over again?” 11:04 - Brian: “What, what were your first handles, and what are the ones you're using now?”Sean: “Great question. So I think a lot of people struggle with as it's often referred to as this imposter syndrome and especially when you're starting out and even more so if you're innovating, like when I was starting as a product consultant, I couldn't find a lot of content out there about other people doing something similar. But what gave me the confidence in that was that I knew that I had done this successfully before and I had seen people with the kind of problems that I could help them solve. So that gave me a level of confidence to give it a shot, right? Because a bunch of people told me not to do it. Like a bunch of people are like, I don't even know what that is. I never heard of that. Good luck selling that.”

In this episode, Sean Boyce and Brian Mattocks debate the advantages of hosting your own podcast versus being a guest on someone else's show. While guesting can provide access to a new audience, having your own podcast offers more control, opportunities for growth, and the ability to build authority and brand. Additionally, they discuss the importance of strategic guest booking and caution against the pitfalls of low-quality guest requests.Sean Boyce has run his consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years but found he wasn't able to grow his network effectively and efficiently through in-person marketing or lead generation services. To solve this, Sean founded Podcast Chef, a full-service podcast management platform that helped him grow his network while making awesome content at the same time. Seeing the effectiveness of podcasting at reaching new people, Sean opened it up to others, helping people to start a podcast and delegating the management from post-production to booking guests. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: Having your own podcast provides control over the narrative and content. Producing your own content allows for growth and exposure opportunities. Being a guest can be beneficial for promoting specific projects or books. Guesting on other shows offers access to a new audience and the chance to grow your own podcast. Hosting a show and being a subject-matter expert can sometimes clash. Strategic relationships and cross-pollination can expand audience reach. Guesting without the ability to drive engagement may have limited value. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connect with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnect with our host Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables: 01:15 - “I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think having your own podcast was arguably more valuable. And the biggest reason, I think, is because if you're guessing on someone else's show, you really don't control anything. You don't control the narrative, the story, the positioning, maybe even the questions, what you're talking about.” 01:32 - “You don't get any of the extras like producing the content, having that content out there, the opportunity to do different things with it, grow it, and just have it grow your exposure, authority, and brand. All of these things that you get if you're making an investment into a podcast or a show of your own to promote what it is that you do help you help educate people, grow your exposure, all those types of things, you lose all of that value if you are exclusively just basically like guesting on other shows.” 02:53 - “One of the things that comes to mind, though, as a strength is when you are guesting on other podcasts, you have two kind of major things going for you. The first thing you have going for you is you get access to a completely new audience, which has value. If somebody likes what you're saying on somebody else's show, and that audience is existing, you get access to that audience by virtue of being a guest on that show. You might grow your own podcast even further by having that exposure. And then the other side of it is, when you're a host, typically, and I can speak to my experience with this and listening to the episodes that we've produced for our clients, it's very challenging sometimes to also take the role of a subject-matter expert.” 03:52 - “So I think in some cases, yes, you should always have your own podcast, like that's like bread and butter for our value prop. But broadly, I think supplementing that with guest booking or guests being guests on other people's shows is a great way to both increase your exposure and position yourself also as a subject-matter expert thoughts.” 09:41 - Brian: “If you, if you're in a market space where there are shows that are really, really good and well done for you to reach out and say, Hey listen, I host a show, it's similar, it's a little bit different in this way. Maybe you can share some of your insights here. Maybe I can come share some of my insights on your show. Those synergies are great.”.. Sean: “Your, I mean, do your homework and be genuine, right? And make sure that what it is you're trying to connect with ultimately makes sense, not just for you, but for them. And again, just like we do in guest booking a podcast chef, like it's more about them. It's not about you, right? Talk to them about why they would be interested in having you as a guest on their show. Like what can you do for them? What can you, what kind of value can you bring to their audience?”

In this episode, Brian Mattocks and Sean Boyce discuss why marketing is often underestimated and dive into the continuous discovery process in marketing. They emphasize the importance of understanding the buyer's journey and problem space to create effective marketing strategies and tactics. They also highlight the significance of focusing on the right problem and using customer insights to tailor marketing messages.Sean Boyce has run his consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years but found he wasn't able to grow his network effectively and efficiently through in-person marketing or lead generation services. To solve this, Sean founded Podcast Chef, a full-service podcast management platform that helped him grow his network while making awesome content at the same time.Seeing the effectiveness of podcasting at reaching new people, Sean opened it up to others, helping people to start a podcast and delegating the management from post-production to booking guests. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market: Marketing is often underestimated and misunderstood, especially in the B2B SaaS software startup space. Continuous discovery is crucial in marketing and should inform all marketing efforts, from copy to conversations. Understanding the buyer's journey and problem space is essential for effective marketing. Focusing on the top issue and identifying patterns among target market customers helps prioritize and tailor marketing strategies. Building a systematic process based on goals and objectives ensures meaningful progress. The discovery process in marketing is ongoing and requires constant adaptation and learning. Balancing the customer's perceived problem with the actual problem is key to delivering the right solution. Resources: NxtStep Consulting Podcast Chef Connecting with Sean Boyce:LinkedInConnecting with Brian Mattocks: LinkedIn Email Quotables: 00:17 - Why is marketing so hard? And I think this is something that a lot of people have misconceptions about. I think people underestimate how difficult marketing is going to be. And from my world, that comes from like the B2B SaaS software startup space. There's conventional wisdom that I would say is largely incorrect in terms of like protecting your ideas and not sharing them with people and stuff like that because they're going to steal them, run with them and become overnight billionaires, which pretty much never happens. 10:54 - It's not the customer's job to be thinking through the better solution. That's your job, right? You are providing a better solution, but you, you need to understand what the proper problem is and how it manifests. And when I say, I mean how they think of it in their head.  01:25 - Marketing is as much a practice as any of the other professions that require years and years of degree work. And the reason I bring it up in that context is even if you understand the basics, even if you know how to use all of the tools, even if you know the right, the exact right time and place to put advertising together, what you're always doing is discovery with your buyer and the buyers for the same, ostensibly the same service across different companies are different because every buyer persona that you're going after is different. 09:59 - Oftentimes the customer misdiagnoses what they need and so their search queries and their demands are going to be different than what they tell you in discovery, right? So in the discovery process, you're going to get to whatever root cause or or or whatever meaningful deep-seated pain you're trying to solve, you're going to get there, but it's not gonna change what they do on, you know, Monday morning when they start typing in those, what they perceive their issues to be on Google. So how do you connect those dots through that content conversation to get folks from that maybe suboptimal search query to your product or service? 02:09 - Brian: How do you take that discovery process and systematize it in a way that you're not reinventing the wheel every single time?Sean: Yeah, this is a good point. And so getting comfortable with the continuous discovery process is critical for the work that I do and people that are trying to build B2B Seth type businesses. But it influences everything. I call it copy to conversations. So anything that you might write anywhere, this is like marketing content, right?

In this episode, Brian Casel, founder, and CEO of ClarityFlow, discusses the benefits of asynchronous messaging for coaches and the recent rebranding from Zip Message. They also talk about the importance of name changes and pricing strategies for SaaS startups, and ClarityFlow's success with their demo-led approach and upcoming updates, including mobile apps, courses, community spaces, and payments integration. Lastly, Casel emphasizes the value of sales calls for research and development.Brian Casel is a software company owner and founder known for his expertise in software product design and web development. He is the mastermind behind ClarityFlow (formerly ZipMessage), a popular asynchronous messaging tool for professionals in coaching, consulting, and remote teams. With a successful track record of founding and operating businesses like ProcessKit, Audience Ops, and Productize, Brian's vast experience also extends to his roles as a designer, web developer, and podcast host. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: Clarity Flow is growing to include payments for coaches, personalized coaching programs, and community spaces for coaching groups Castle and his team are 100% asynchronous and use tools like Slack and GitHub to collaborate effectively Names can affect the success of a product and the perception of its direction. Customer research, both live and asynchronous, can provide valuable feedback for naming and strategy decisions. Analyzing usage data and creating custom reporting can also help identify a target audience and pricing strategy. Inbound demo requests have become a preferred way for some coaching businesses to evaluate the product The success of a demo-led approach influences product development, marketing materials, and customer success Resources: ClarityFlow NxtStep Podcast Chef Connect with Brian Casel:LinkedInConnect with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email Quotables: 02:59 – “My team and I, we literally don't have calls live, like live calls. We're a hundred percent asynchronous. And it's weird, it's a little bit weird, but I'm not exaggerating. Like we literally just have, we use Slack and we use GitHub issues and stuff like that when we're working on stuff. But we do have like video meetings where they're seeing my face, they're seeing my screen, I'm seeing their response. We're collaborating together on things, but we're doing it across the world, across time zones and spread out at a time that makes sense” 03:38 – “But we can really still have the same level of collaboration as if we're on a live call together. I actually would even argue that it's better because we have space in between our collaboration. So I could ask something and then my marketing assistant can think about it and do some work and jot down some notes and then get back to me with her thoughts and then I digest that and I get back. So, I really think that communicating asynchronously and having these meetings at like a slower, more spread out pace really, really helps a lot.” 04:41 – “I can't help but think sometimes nowadays when I'm on one-to-one meetings, or even worse if I'm in a group setting at so many meetings and so much time and effort and energy is largely wasted because yeah, only one person could be talking at a time, right? So if you've got a meeting with like 10 people on it or grows even larger than that, just the, the cost to hold that session when most people aren't really doing much. It's asynchronous for the win all day there.” 11:229 – “So if you look at our site now, it's like, yeah, we're still like an async conversation at the core, but we're building into more of a platform to run an entire coaching business. So I got to really understand exactly what they're trying to do, and then that informed all the features that we're rolling out now.” 19:18 –  “I think especially when you start to gain traction with your product, right? Prioritization becomes critically important because if you put the wrong step in front of a step that should have been prioritized. Like you said, you could pause something that's really important for a really, really critical moment, like an inflection point.” Free Email CourseHow to Build a Profitable AI-Powered B2B SaaS Business for Less Than $750Notes generated by Podcast Show Notes  (podcastshownotes.ai)

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks Sean Boyce, an expert product builder who helps companies, large and small, realise their vision when developing and owning world class SaaS products without needing to make all the mistakes that are typically made by most product companies. Sean has successfully scaled his own product companies including StaffGeek and Podcastchef. Today though NxtStep Sean helps B2B SaaS businesses to build the products that matter most for their target audiences. On this episode the pair discuss: FinTech trends, automation, and Chat GPT, market challenges and what is happening within current capital access needs, why it's essential to democratise access to drive financial inclusion, and Sean will share some thoughts on how to build good SaaS-based B2B product offerings.   KEY TAKEAWAYS          I've always been involved with and fascinated by technology, both hardware and software, but I got very excited about the possibilities of software earlier on in my career, particularly automation. It has the possibility to out the people in the process in a better position to be able to leverage the technology and software to make incredible leaps forwards in progress. I worked in corporate and startups, building companies of my own in tech and finance. I like to spend time diving deep into industries, spending time with subject matter experts and better understanding from them the progress they're trying to make and what's holding them back from making that progress. Usually there's a bottleneck in the process somewhere, and I look to try to figure out what is the fastest, most cost-effective way that I can leverage technology or put a strategy in place which enables them to make considerable progress in a shorter period of time, much more cost-effectively than however they're trying to solve that problem today. Chat GPT is pretty remarkable and has made its way round the world relatively quickly since they released some of their latest updates. That's really interesting in terms of what that product is capable of. I think we're going to see a new ‘gold rush' leveraging tools like that based on what people have been able to see it's capable of in order to use as a tool, or a component to build other tools and resources for people to get a lot of value out of. One of the most revolutionary elements of Chat GPT is that it's a leap forwards in progress in how we access information – or it's going to be, as it get continually polished – as opposed to most people's current strategy, which is to leverage a search engine like Google where I'm presented to a list of results after I ask my question, some of which may or may not get what I'm looking for based on how I asked the question and whether or not that information is out there and available yet. You have to update and evolve your strategy for innovating and investing in your company based on the implications of global changes are for your organisation. As money is no longer as accessible or cheap as it once was, fundraising and gaining access to the capital you might need to do what it is that you want will probably be a bit more difficult which raises the bar for who is going to receive capital and when, making competition more fierce. Try to make as much progress on your own with the resources you have, if you can. It will usually end up being advantageous in the future.   BEST MOMENTS ‘I've always looked to automate the time-consuming but error-prone elements of any processes that we might need to do so that people can leverage the technology in a better and more empowering way, so they can make considerable progress with a lot less resources much, much faster.'‘I've seen Chat GPT being used in everything from automating significant, time-consuming elements of content creation and copywriting all the way through to using it to write code for you to build applications and building blocks as opposed to writing anything in a customer fashion.'‘Whenever possible, making processes that are really important simpler ultimately makes them more effective.'‘.' ABOUT THE GUEST Sean Boyce helps SaaS businesses realize your vision of owning a world-class software product WITHOUT needing to make all the mistakes that typically sink most product companies. Sean has already made those mistakes as he has successfully been able to scale his own product companies (staffgeek.com and podcastchef.com). Sean loves to received questions on how he can help founders and their products. Just email him at sean@nxtstep.ioor booking time to discuss whether it would make sense to work together using the link below. https://nxtstep.io/ ABOUT CONNECTIV Connectiv is a live events studio that for the past decade has dedicated itself to creating industry-leading gatherings. Our passion and our expertise are owning and operating at scale, vertical-specific conferences. The events we have created attract more than 15,000 people each year. In 2021 we will be bringing to market two new vertical shows including Manifest - the future of logistics. Where industry transformation is front and center, while the change in industries is inevitable what will never change is our mission to help facilitate face-to-face interactions. We believe the in-person experience is the best way to push conversations forward as well as discover disruptive trends that are changing content consumption and consumer behaviour. Website: https://connectiv.com/ ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, and commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers and accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com  This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

This episode, Co-Founders of Latte Michael Martin and Timothy Wu talk about their video production software that combines AI and social media, how they grew the Latte platform so quickly, and the future of video editing technology.Michael Martin built the world's largest student media platform with 10 million subscribers, 4 billion annual video views, and 3 million monthly web visitors. During this time he developed an understanding of community building, marketing, and how consumers think and behave.Timothy Wu is an ex-cryptocurrency trader, lawyer, and self-taught programmer, with experience working across multiple domains and cognitive modalities.Timothy and Michael are the Co-Founders of Latte, an online platform that makes short-form video editing effortless with AI. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: Combing social media and AI. Creating an automatic highlight extraction engine for video content. How to choose a product's name. How ChatGPT affected other AI companies. Why startups need to be able to adapt quickly. Ways to promote a product pre-launch. How to grow a platform. The importance of building the right type of customer base. The future of video editing technology. Resources: Social Chain Latte NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Michael Martin:LinkedInConnecting with Timothy Wu:LinkedInConnecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email Quotables: 11:28 - “The best way to promote podcasts possibly one of them there is to create these short engaging snippets to post on multiple social media accounts so that's where this current version of Latte came from but we've since realized there's a lot of problem with video itself and there is a lot more to be solved.” 19:27 - “They're not going to post one video, they're not going to use Latte post one video and then suddenly they're viral on social they have to do it consistently over a period of weeks and months and years and this is something that's quite hard for most creators, for the majority of creators who are just doing it for fun and just doing it for a hobby they're just doing it for a passion and don't want to turn it into a job and by subscribing to software that they have to pay for it becomes not aligned for why they're doing it.” 21:43 - “The problem we're solving was personal branding on Twitter and Linkedin and so we thought the best way to market this product was by embodying the product and so every single post we did we created with Latte itself and so we stuck to this and we made hashtag made with Latte and we teased the product before it was launched we started to hint towards things and then when it was out we were posting about it we were creating posts about Latte that were made with Latte.” 24:01 - “So creating several videos on TikTok one of them gained thirty thousand views in the space of a week and then this resulted in a spike of seven hundred users in a week which is very exciting but it led to a lot of problems people found out about the product who didn't have the best intentions and they started essentially manipulating the product they found some vulnerability in our system and basically they were getting unlimited videos for free so we had to act quickly on that we had a very large power bill the following week.” 25:12 - “What we've realized from our previous founder experience and what's the proper way to build a company is don't kid yourself focus on the key metric which is revenue and are people going to pay for it now.” 28:07 - “A special property of early stage tech startups is that you're always rehoning your focus at every step of the way you always receive new information from different stakeholders different parties different customer bases and you just have to try and make the best decision you can in light of imperfect information.” Free Email CourseHow to Build a Profitable AI-Powered B2B SaaS Business for Less Than $750Notes generated by Podcast Show Notes  (podcastshownotes.ai)

This episode, Co-Founder of Check Jacob Jolibois talks about building trust with B2B businesses, the importance of properly understanding pricing, and how to price a SaaS B2B product.Jacob is the co-founder and Chief of Product at Check, an early-stage SaaS company helping home service operators streamline and automate their business.Jacob brings together the business, technical, and customer objectives to build a product Operators love to use, improving the quality of life for them and their users.Jacob has spoken on stages around the world from TEDx to Web Summit, the world's largest tech conference, bringing awareness to the power and impact of design. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How to build trust with B2B businesses. The benefits of a sales-led approach. The best way to communicate with your clients. How to price a SaaS B2B product. The scaleability of sales teams. How to understand pricing. The process of creating a successful newsletter. The benefits of writing a newsletter.  Resources: Check Founding Sales ProfitWell Arc Browser Making Product Sense NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Jacob Jolibois:LinkedInConnecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email Quotables: 03:35 - “You're inserting yourself into the core of their business in a way that is incredibly dangerous if you do it wrong because you can screw up a lot of things in their business and so you have to build trust there and marketing is a slower way to build trust than direct sales, when you build that relationship it changes the game.” 05:30 - “You're not charging enough for the value you provide these people are relying on you to run their business you provide extreme value there charge what you're worth if you're not charging what you're worth it's going to have a long hard road ahead.” 11:10 - “A lot of Founders have the tendency to underprice and the reason is it's scary to hear no and so you want to make it a no-brainer yes and so you will classically undercharge, what the experts will tell you if you start talking to folks who have been there and gotten the t-shirt is when you raise your prices you're raising the perceived value of your product as well and so oftentimes your conversion rates go up your loyalty goes up your retention it really does craft a different message.” 16:33 - “You should be trying something every quarter, if you're not adjusting pricing or adjusting packages or adjusting the frequency of charging whether it's per month, per year, quarterly whatever then you're not experimenting enough because you've got to dial it in over time you're not going to get it right out of the gate.” 1:39 - “I started a newsletter called Making Product Sense and I write to about 3000 readers from basically every tech company you can imagine and try to break down learnings from building products and companies from some of the folks who do it best.” Free Email CourseHow to Build a Profitable AI-Powered B2B SaaS Business for Less Than $750Notes generated by Podcast Show Notes  (podcastshownotes.ai)

This episode, CEO of Memrise Steve Toy talks about the most important aspects of learning a language, the different ways AI can be used in language learning, and how Memrise differentiates itself from other language learning applications.Steve Toy is a Senior Leader experienced in driving organizational change and managing high-growth agendas, who has spent his career bringing technology to life, leading digital strategy across multiple channels, transforming ideas that have led to multi-million-dollar businesses, and executing the profitable deployment of new technologies across multiple industriesSteve is currently the CEO of Memrise and has over 25 years of experience as CEO, General Manager, V.P, and board director in publicly traded and private companies with up to 250,000 staff and annual revenues of over $15 Billion. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: The most important aspects of learning a language. How Memrise differentiates itself from other language learning applications. Different ways AI can be used to learn a language. The key principles to learning a language. Why you need a customized approach to learning another language. The unique language learning problems AI can solve.. The impact scale can have on both a company and its users. The global trends in language learning. Important principles CEOs need to lead a company. Resources: Memrise Italki NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Steve Toy: LinkedIn Email Twitter Connecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email Quotables: 03:27 - “Most people are kind of reluctant to speak when they're learning a language because they're worried they're going to sound like a 5-year-old because they're going to sound like a 5-year-old. That judgment that fear of judgment is what stops people but when you're in a country if you want a sandwich if you want a beer if you want a train ticket, you're going to have to use the language.” 15:48 - “Businesses that need to continually improve the English skills of their customer support group can actually have lessons made from the customer support videos that they have in their business and so now the users, their employees, will be learning the words and memorizing the words that they use in their day-to-day life, they will be hearing the words from the videos that talks about their very business, learning the product as well along the way and they can practice with a bot that is trained to be a customer that doesn't know how to use the product that the company sells, that's how tightly we can train these products.” 19:03 - “A taxi driver in Hungary makes more money when they speak English, a waiter in Caracas makes more money when they speak English.” Free Email CourseHow to Build a Profitable AI-Powered B2B SaaS Business for Less Than $750Notes generated by Podcast Show Notes  (podcastshownotes.ai)

In this episode, Founder of GrowthMentor Foti Panagio talks about the importance of having a mentor, the difference between a mentor and a consultant, and how to grow a business without any additional funding.Foti Panagio is a full-stack growth marketer with over a decade of experience in growth with a unique overlap into the world of InfraOps.Foti is the Founder of GrowthMentor where he provides Founders and Marketers one on one advice from vetted startup mentors. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How GrowthMentor helps Founders and Marketers. Why having a mentor is so important. The difference between a mentor and a consultant. How the amount of content you consume affects your productivity. The value of verbalizing your thought process. The difference between passively consuming media and personalized coaching. How to tackle imposter syndrome. The dangers of following vanity metrics. How to grow a business without raising funds. Resources: GrowthMentor The Lean Startup DigitalOcean Acquire NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Foti Panagio:LinkedInConnecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email Quotables: 04:05 - “There's certain mistakes and failures you need to make to grow my favorite analogy here is you go to the gym and how do you grow muscle you break it first and it rebuilds but go with the wrong form into the squat rack you put way too much weight and you're going to be out of action indefinitely and it's these sort of mistakes that are really unnecessary and that's where mentorship can come into play just learning from other peoples fuckups.” 09:01 - “As awesome as it is to ingest content via podcast at the end of the day everybody's situation is completely unique, so I have my industry I have my specific situation going on it's so nuanced so the advice I'm going to give to you is completely different to somebody else based on the context and that's lost when you're just consuming content.” 10:54 - “The way I describe mentorship is it helps you connect the dots that you didn't even know existed so many times I'll talk to somebody hey I need some help with my Facebook ads or SEO or whatever and zoom back and there's another channel potentially they want to look at or another approach or a slight little tweak it's like a chiropractor in a sense you go that little snap and you see things differently or the neurons transmit in a more efficient way.” 14:59 - “A lot of people shy away from that what do you mean a lifestyle business don't you want to get rich? And I'm like well it's nothing to be ashamed of you want to life your life and style it the way you want so it's a lifestyle business.” 20:34 - “If you want the most efficient honest-to-God truth of how to avoid funding just learn how to do more jobs yourself and then you don't have to hire other people, it's pretty simple.” Free Email CourseHow to Build a Profitable AI-Powered B2B SaaS Business for Less Than $750Notes generated by Podcast Show Notes  (podcastshownotes.ai)

In this episode, Jose speaks to Adrienne C. Moore and Sean Boyce Johnson, two of the stars of Black Odyssey. The duo talks about the genius of playwright Marcus Gardley, share tips for beginner actors who want to try out working in different mediums, and comment on fearlessness and the importance of saying yes to things that scare you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Boyce, Rosslare Harbour Friends of Ukraine group.

Ciara Phelan, Political Correspondent with the Irish Examiner, Sean Boyce, Chairman of the Rosslare Harbour Friends of Ukraine Michael Vaughan, Hotelier, Seamus Boland, CEO of Irish Rural Link

Mike Benson built and grew Warmup Inbox from the ground up, a product that is used by thousands of companies and was acquired by private equity for millions of dollars.Following his successful exit, Mike now searches for gaps in markets that venture capitalists won't touch and builds sustainable profitable businesses within them. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: The process of bootstrapping a SaaS company. How to know if a product is scaleable. The biggest challenges in the SaaS industry. How to find out if your product will succeed online. Early signals that a SaaS website will be succesful. How to know which search words to rank in. Resources: Dabble Ventures TransPerfect Sticky Warmup Inbox Lemlist Google Optimize NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Mike Benson:LinkedInConnecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email Quotables 08:24 - “I said ok can I make the product better, just like a checkbox of is this product better? And then can I make it 10 times cheaper and one thing that I didn't realize people would write in for Warmup Inbox and be like why is this so cheap is this legit? And that would be a customer support question that would come in a lot and I'm realizing that if you can actually get people to ask that question you are on to something.” 09:02 - “One of the biggest issues in SaaS right now is it's truly a race to the bottom like you might see on Twitter people saying hey you copied my idea or I can't believe there are so many copycats it's really because these products are so simple to make.” 11:54 - “If you make it a goal for someone to ask you why this is so cheap, you're clearly onto something because without probably knowing it what they're giving away is that basically, I need this and I can only find it elsewhere much more expensive so they're almost underscoring for you, there's a huge opportunity here I just need a quick sanity check before I dive in.” 21:34 - “It can't hurt to try to start a company for a couple of weeks and just see what roadblocks you run into.” Free Email CourseHow to Build a Profitable AI-Powered B2B SaaS Business for Less Than $750Notes generated by Podcast Show Notes  (podcastshownotes.ai)

Brian Casel is a software company owner and founder with a background in software product design and web design. Brian has found, operated, and sold 4 different businesses and is now focused on his company ZipMessage, a tool for swapping video, audio, or text messages with clients and customers asynchronously.Brian started out as a professional designer for the web, offering this as a consultant to a variety of businesses before leveraging these skills to design and build products that power businesses he starts up and operates.Brian also regularly hosts podcasts where he shares notes about his work in the software and design industry, and hosts conversations with friends in this industry. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: The decision process involved in selling a business. How to work on multiple businesses at the same time. The differences between working on multiple businesses compared to a single business. The benefits of working on multiple different businesses. How coaches can automate their workflows. Different approaches to finding a product market fit. How to research your ideal client profile. The problems with real-time meetings. Resources: ZipMessage Bootstrapped Web Audience Ops Restaurant Engine Slack NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Brian Casel:LinkedInConnecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email Quotables 05:02 - “In 2021 I essentially sold 6 different businesses but some of them were tiny just a couple of thousands of dollars, others hundreds of thousands of dollars so that was over the course of 5 or 6 months there I exited everything other than ZipMessage.” 13:08 - “You'll hear a lot of advice out there like yes you have to just focus on a single business and even though that's what I'm doing today I don't necessarily agree that's the right advice for most people in their career especially if you're earlier in your career I think you're actually much better off doing multiple things whether they're small products or service business, plugin products, SaaS products, courses you gain so much experience and just chops when it comes to copywriting, or putting up websites, or talking to customers, or doing sales, these are skills you're going to need no matter what business you settle into.” 14:22 - “I've really enjoyed being able to experience working on multiple things because it enables me to make progress more quickly and figure out the right overlap of passion proficiency demand of what it is I really want to focus on so like you said as you get a little bit older and little bit more experience that stuff starts to become clear and then you can always focus from there but you've got that experience and a lot of these skills are really important in product.” 22:19 - “I do research in a number of different ways and sometimes it's different at different phases of the business and I've launched multiple new businesses over the last 10 years and at the very beginning when it's a brand new business may be in a pre-launch mode before the product is even ready I usually start with a landing page that has an email capture for an early access and after they enter their email it goes straight to a survey with a bunch of detailed questions where I'm asking them to freeform write and after reading every one of those survey responses I usually invite people to interviews based on their responses to the survey and that's usually how I start with early market research for a new potential product.” 27:00 - “There's a bigger benefit to using asynchronous, it's not just that it's more convenient and we can do it across time zones and things like that it's also having space in between our messages gives us that space to prepare notes, I often put a list of talking points on the screen before I hit record, we have the ability to pause and continue, we have the ability to edit a message before sending it back, you can discard it and re-record it if you want to say it a little bit tighter, I'll receive a customers question or some feedback and then I'll go take a walk or maybe respond the next morning so I'm coming back to them with a much higher value response and I'm getting the same back from them.”

Liam O'Dwyer, Secretary General of the Red Cross, Sean Boyce, Chairman of the Rosslare Harbour Friends of Ukraine

Sean Boyce, Chairman, Rosslare Harbour ‘Friends of Ukraine'

Derek Osgood is a trained brand marketer with an entrepreneur's mindset who is experienced in leading teams in the startup growth trenches. Derek is both a marketing executive and consultant and has consistently delivered double-digit monthly growth across a variety of markets and business models. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How to define product marketing and why it's in such high demand.  Different strategies for launching a product.  Common pitfalls companies fall into during their product launch.  How indirect and direct marketing complement each other.  How to know if you have a product that will be successful. When you should start shipping a product.  When to start charging for your products and how to price them.  Resources: Ignition Product Marketing Alliance NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Derek Osgood:LinkedInConnecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Scott Leigh is a lawyer by trade and an entrepreneur at heart, founding several businesses throughout the years while practicing law at the same time. After being involved in the legal industry for over 10 years, Scott leveraged his experience to buildAltFee. While Digby Leigh brings his 15 years of entrepreneurial and marketing background to the legal industry to provide a fresh strategic perspective to the traditional legal model. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode: What AltFee is and how it helps law firms The key features of AltFee that help law firms successfully transition away from hourly billing The traction AltFee has experienced since launch What a firm looks like before and after implementing fixed price and value based pricing models How the industry is transitioning away from hourly billing Resources: AltFee - Website AltFee - Resources AltFee - LinkedIn Connecting with Scott Leigh:LinkedInConnecting with Digby Leigh Jr:LinkedInConnecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Sean Boyce, Chairman of Rosslare Harbour 'Friends of Ukraine'

Caleb Avery has worked in the payments industry for nearly a decade and with the problems that he encountered, he decided to build his own solution, thus the birth of tilled.com. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss in this episode: Caleb discusses his background and how he got to where he is today. What is PayFac-as-a-Service What was life in the world like for tilled.com customers and how is that different today. Tilled.com's growth progress, where they were, where they're at, and where they're heading. Strategy in scaling clients and moving upstream. Resources: Tilled.com Twitter Instagram Connecting with Caleb Avery:LinkedInConnecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Rebecca Block is an experienced leader focused on continuous learning and innovation grounded in meaningful measures of success, data-informed decision making, and appreciative inquiry practices.Rebecca has built departments from scratch, managed small and large teams, and navigated a variety of environments from established institutions to the innovative chaos of social entrepreneurship.Rebecca served as the VP of Research and Evaluation at The Future Project, founding their R&E department and launching new impact evaluation tools, before joining Springboard Collaborative as their Assistant Vice President of Innovation and Improvement. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: Who Springboard Collaborative is and how they help children. The innovative strategies Rebecca uses to scale Springboard's impact. The role of software and technology in scaling accessibility. The ways funding can limit innovation and how to reduce this.  How to present future forecasts while still leaving room for future innovation. Resources: The Future Project Springboard Collaborative Strategyzer Lean Impact The Lean Startup Equity Meets Design Daniel Stillman NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Rebecca Block: LinkedIn Email Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

NxtStep Consulting founder Sean Boyce identifies the key point at which growing firms need to change how they operate, or risk stagnating, and shares what the key issues they need to deal with.

Lindsay Tabas is a public speaker and workshop leader at Tabas Consulting and has worked with over 100 startups & investors over a span of more than 15 years. She has worked with both Fortune 500 firms and early-stage tech startup founders, where she assists organizations to work with software developers in the best possible way.Lindsay also has experience working with investors, where she performs due diligence and provides industry insights so they make educated investments. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How Lindsay helps startups bring in revenue without hiring software developers. Common mistakes startup founders make. The problem with the term UX and what user experience is really about. How to know if your user experience fully compliments your product-market fit. The importance of having an easy user experience. The different UX for commonly used actions and advanced features. How UX design has evolved over the years. Resources: Labs Product Market Fit ebook The Design of Everyday Things How to Apply UX to Receive the Best Outcomes with Tim Eulie Clubhouse Q&A NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Lindsay Tabas: LinkedIn Website YouTube Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Linda Wittich has over 20 years of experience in the fintech industry and is currently the FinTech Advisor & Consultant at Top Line Focus where she helps B2B fintech CEOs focus on their top line activities, increasing sales into banks and wealth management firms and accelerating user adoption. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How Linda helps B2B fintech organizations work out how they can grow faster. Common challenges growing fintech organizations face. The process Linda goes through when working with her clients. The importance of focusing on the right metrics when optimizing your sales process. Difficulties products have that aren't positioned correctly in the market. The power of carrying out analysis on your wins and losses. Resources: Top Line Focus Ikigai Crossing the Chasm Ascend Your Start-Up NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Linda Wittich: LinkedIn Email Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Oliver Carroll, Correspondent for The Economist, Alex Thomson, Chief Correspondent Channel 4 News, Brian O'Connell Reporter, Brian Killoran is the CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Sean Boyce, Rosslare Harbour Friends of Ukraine

Dans le sud de l'Irlande, le port européen de Rosslare est le deuxième point d'accueil des réfugiés ukrainiens après l'aéroport de Dublin. 17 000 Ukrainiens sont arrivés dans le pays depuis le début du conflit. Le bateau est notamment le mode de transport choisi par ceux qui voyagent avec leur voiture ou leurs animaux. C'est un chamboulement de plus dans ce port qui a déjà été transformé par le Brexit. Les 450 réfugiés ukrainiens hebdomadaires arrivent justement sur ces nouvelles liaisons ajoutées avec Cherbourg, en France. Le voyage leur est offert par la compagnie Stena Line et ils sont accueillis par 200 bénévoles qui se relaient sur place.  De notre correspondante à Dublin, Un énorme ferry de la Stena Line vient d'accoster au port. L'homme qui court partout, le téléphone à l'oreille s'appelle Sean Boyce. Ce natif de Rosslare coordonne l'aide humanitaire pour les 37 réfugiés Ukrainiens à bord ce matin. « C'est la fin d'un long périple et le début d'un autre voyage émotionnel. Ils sont dans un nouveau pays, l'adrénaline disparaît et on est comme une pause pour eux », dit Sean. Des panneaux traduits en ukrainien indiquent un énorme chapiteau où les réfugiés peuvent se servir en vêtements, en couches, en sous-vêtements neufs, croquettes pour chien, 30 000 euros de dons au total. « On est un village portuaire, on voit de nouvelles personnes tout le temps. Et c'est aussi notre histoire en tant qu'Irlandais. On a un passé difficile et il y a cette volonté en nous d'aider. » ► À écouter aussi : L'Irlande s'organise pour l'accueil des réfugiés ukrainiens Avec son gros sac sur le dos, Natalia se sert de quelques conserves pour plus tard. Le sol d'une église, un hôtel, une famille. La suite du périple est encore inconnue pour cette jeune enseignante et sa fille. « Je viens de Mykolaïv, dans le Sud. C'était un long voyage… Nous sommes parties le 10 mars », explique-t-elle. Elle a laissé de nombreux proches derrière elle. « Ma mère, mon fils à Odessa. Mon grand-père et mon oncle », ajoute Natalia. Elle a choisi l'Irlande « parce qu'[elle] parle anglais et parce que les gens sont gentils et ouverts, un peu comme chez [eux]. »   « On fait au jour le jour » Sean montre une photo de son chiot Ted à la fille de Natalia qui vient de se choisir un chien en peluche dans l'air de jeu. « Tu peux l'appeler Ted aussi peut-être ? » La fillette acquiesce. « Elle a 6 ans et demi », dit Natalia. « Je ne lui ai pas expliqué qu'on est en guerre. Je dis qu'on est en voyage, elle comprend. On fait au jour le jour. »  Beaucoup de ces réfugiés ne parlent pas anglais. Dimitri est un traducteur ukrainien installé en Irlande depuis 20 ans. Il enchaîne les petites nuits pour aider ses compatriotes sur son temps libre. « Je leur montre comment le système fonctionne pour l'éducation, pour les enfants, comment remplir les formulaires… Vous imaginez si votre maison était bombardée sous vos yeux ? Le plus important, c'est qu'on les comprenne et qu'on les accueille avec le cœur. Le reste suivra. »  Ici, les réfugiés reçoivent une carte SIM et un numéro PPS pour travailler. De nombreux employeurs de la région se sont déjà manifesté pour recruter ces Ukrainiens dans leurs entreprises.

Tim Eulie is an experienced creative consulting partner working with businesses in wellness, lifestyle, culinary fields, and healthcare to strategically develop their visual assets.Tim works at all stages of UX right from the conceptual stage, creating an idea, coordinating the hardware and talent, and overseeing production to its final stages. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How Tim started working in UX. What UX is and its purpose. Why a company needs to have solid UX. How to effectively apply UX to receive the best outcomes. The difference between UI and UX. How to react to user error issues. What makes a good UX process. Resources: The Design of Everyday Things Ruined by Design The Storm of Creativity NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Tim Eulie: LinkedIn Website Instagram Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Nick Yarnall is a Univesity Professor, President and CEO of Potestiam, and a serial entrepreneur.Nick is a big believer in incorporating your hobbies and your work life so that you're working on something you love. Through doing this Nick was able to conceptualize, design, manufacture, and successfully launch a technology accessory in just 4 weeks. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How Nick found his passion for 3D printing. The unique docking stations Nick designed for retro handheld gaming devices. How Nick engaged with his target market to gain discovery feedback. The power of Reddit and how Nick used it to generate hype. How to gain international status with a new product. The advantage of working on a product that you're really passionate about. Resources: Reddit Retroid Pocket DOCK YouTube Potestiam NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Nick Yarnall: LinkedIn Email Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Jason Pratt is an innovative leader with over 15 years of experience in Management, Operations, Marketing, Consulting and Talent Acquisition.As President of the Life Solutions Group, Jason is responsible for the management of the firm's carrier and strategic alliance partnerships and works closely with each one to ensure the best service and outcomes possible. Jason works closely with the firm's team of professionals and helps to mentor and manage their practice.Jason also runs his own Financial practice with a focus on Retirement Planning and Tax Advantage Strategies. Jason is a member of GAMA International and is a 2016 Frontline Leader Award winner and 2011, 2012, and 2013 GAMA Recruiting Specialist Award winner. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: The benefits of being a self-financed financial planning and business consulting firm. The increasing popularity of Index Universal Life insurance policies. How the revenue model for Jason's productized services works. The living benefits of having life insurance. How life insurance can work as an alternative investment vehicle. How organizations can use life insurance products to retain staff. How Life Solutions Group is looking to expand over the next few years. Resources: Life Solutions Group Tax-Free Millionaire The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Jason Pratt: LinkedIn Phone (9786055204) Email Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Sean Boyce has run his own consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years and has founded multiple other companies at the same time. He's extremely experienced in working with B2B SaaS product businesses and is well-known for having a big impact on the businesses he's worked with. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: Creative ways to scale your company besides hiring. Why you should map out your growth trajectory. Common traps companies fall into when in a growth phase. The ways problems can snowball. Different types of growth. Why not all growth is good growth. Resources: Blog post: How to scale your firm without hiring NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email

RJ Grimshaw is the Chief Executive Officer and President of UniFi EF and a Board Member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association. He is a Corporate Strategy & Development Specialist, with a consistent record of delivering extraordinary results in growth, revenue, operational performance, and profitability. Known for having a strong orientation in operations and finance, RJ drives operational initiatives, including infrastructure design, process reengineering, turnaround management, and reorganization. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How Rob became the CEO of a financing company. What intrapreneurship means and why it's useful for locating new opportunities. How an intrapreneurship mindset helps speed up product development. The value proposition Rob has for his new app that he's bringing to market. The difficulty of measuring impact or ROI in online marketing. The difference between vital and functional employees and why both are necessary. Resources: FedFis Fintech Cowboys UniFI EF Staff Geek NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with RJ Grimshaw: LinkedIn Website Twitter Email Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Sean Boyce has run his own consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years and has founded multiple other companies at the same time. He's extremely experienced in working with B2B SaaS product businesses and is well-known for having a big impact on the businesses he's worked with. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: What a growth trap is and when it starts to affect businesses. Why so many firms fall into a growth trap. What a healthy growth trajectory looks like. The issue of focusing on the wrong set of metrics. Why profit is more important than revenue. How to avoid your professional services firm falling into a growth trap. Resources: Blog post: How to avoid the growth trap when trying to scale your professional services business Blog post: Scaling services starts with the bottleneck NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email

Dave Banerjee has been the CEO of RND Resources for over 37 years, where he provides outsourced regulatory compliance consulting to Broker-Dealers, Registered Investment Advisers, FCM, Banks, and Insurance agencies. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How RND Resources helps financial service companies. The fundamental basis of investment markets. The increase in innovative activity in financial engineering products. The different types of people involved in new digital elements. How Bitcoin started and the validity of the idea behind it. NFTs, digital autonomous organizations, and how financial service companies are innovating in this space. The difference between regulations in the institutional and retail space. The level of commitment required to pass the regulatory process. Different policies around cross-currency transactions. The difference between minimizing taxes and tax avoidance. How the world of finance will change in the future. The issues with blockchain technology. Resources: RND Resources  FCC NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Dave Banerjee:LinkedInConnecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Sean Boyce has run his own consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years and has founded multiple other companies at the same time. He's extremely experienced in working with B2B SaaS product businesses and is well-known for having a big impact on the businesses he's worked with. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How to prepare your service firm to be ready for growth with scalable services. Common ways people try to scale services. Why hiring extra people is an inefficient way to scale your service. The value of making your operations more efficient. The importance of focusing on profit rather than revenue. Why it's necessary to chart your growth trajectory and how to do it. What a value map is and what it needs to include. How to identify bottlenecks in your growth trajectory. How you can improve operational efficiency through creating repeatable processes. Resources: Blog post - Scaling services starts with the bottleneck NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with the host: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Sean Boyce by Email

Nik Shah is an investor, entrepreneur, and Founder & CEO of Home.LLC where he helps people buy their first house and build wealth.Nik sold his first startup in his freshman year of college and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a focus in Business & AI/ML. He has been a management consultant to Fortune-100 clients at Ernst & Young and built a $250M innovation fund as Chief of Staff at Ernst & Young. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: What Home.LLC is and how they help people buy their first home with minimal savings. The huge amount of demand there is in the housing market. What makes a business model sustainable. How to identify pain points that people are willing to pay for. How to get authentic feedback and reliable data. How to measure product-market fit. Ways to build more momentum in your startup. Why the name of your company is not important. Resources: Home.LLC The Mom Test Superhuman NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Nik Shah: LinkedIn Email Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Sean Boyce has run his own consultancy firm NxtStep Consulting for over 10 years and has founded multiple other companies at the same time. He's extremely experienced in working with B2B SaaS product businesses and is well-known for having a big impact on the businesses he's worked with. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How to avoid making assumptions in the sales process. Why repeatability needs to come before scaleability. How to create a hook in your sales process. The power of running a podcast. How podcasting can help you connect with new prospects. Resources: LinkedIn Sales Navigator How to Build a Sales Process for Your Product StaffGeek People Analytics The Consulting Trap NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

Evan Linhardt is a former nonprofit leader and public service executive and is now the Vice President and Financial Advisor for Bernstein Private Wealth Management. He now serves non-profits, foundations, and families to design investment strategies that align and allow them to fulfill their missions to maximize impact.Evan is a Board Member and Treasurer at LiveWell Foundation, a Board Member at Sow Good Now, an Advisory Board Member at Community Foundation of South Jersey, and an Advisory Board Member at the Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, as well as holding Corporate Responsibility at AllianceBernstein. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of Product Launch: How Evan went from working in nonprofits and charities to being VP in a Private Wealth Management firm. How Evan helps individuals build investment portfolios that align with their goals and beliefs. The challenges in growing and scaling nonprofits fundraising campaigns. How nonprofits can combat the power imbalance they have with their key donors. How donors and fundraisers can build strong trusting relationships with each other. How investors can invest for impact as well as profit. Resources: Philadelphia School Partnership Bernstein Private Wealth Management Lean Impact NxtStep Podcast Chef Connecting with Evan Linhardt: LinkedIn Email Connecting with the host:Sean Boyce on LinkedIn

For as long as he can remember, Sean Boyce has been passionate about products. From taking apart widgets as a kid (most of which went back together) to building and launching software product companies, Sean has always been fascinated about products. That's why he founded NxtStep Consulting to help companies bring a product to life. NxtStep Consulting supports customers with creating a product roadmap, selecting and prioritizing features, engineering an effective user experience, and executing effective product marketing.

Lindsay Patton is a trained journalist turned content geek and the Principal at Blackstar Communications. Lindsay is passionate about storytelling and helping people, brands and organizations find their voice through digital strategy. Here are a few of the topics we'll discuss on this episode of People Analytics: Lindsay's background in marketing and journalism. The internship programs Lindsay has launched. The best types of questions for HR professionals to ask in interviews. What ‘people analytics' means and how this can help HR professionals. How using data can help you empower your employees. The importance of having a positive company culture. Resources: Harvard Business Review SHRM Connecting with the hosts: Sean Boyce on LinkedIn Lindsay Patton on LinkedIn