97: To Build, or Not to Build - Jane Portman of Userlist

While Ben’s on vacation, Derrick welcomes another podcast host who can commiserate with him about email automation. Jane Portman is a UI/UX expert and consultant who hosts the UI Breakfast Podcast and co-founded Userlist.io. She describes what it takes to create a customer messaging tool. Today’s Topics Include: Product Priorities: Slow, steady, and quality Lifestyle Business: Overall goal is to replace consulting with SaaS recurring revenue Challenges: Limited development time and resources; slow growth rate to adopt mission-critical product To Build, or Not to Build: Avoid feature creep by focusing on what to add or improve Playbook Post: 10 steps to successfully position a product Launch Process: People are waiting for the right time for the right tool for their business Customer Conversations: Pre-product interviews about problem to be solved; followed by product demos to grant access to beta version for feedback Finding Customers: Landing page, updates, stories, sign-ups, mailing list, and more We’re out of Beta! Simple and straight-forward product launch plan and strategy Generic Illustrations: Product design trend that has to end Email Experiences: Educate people on how to ethically use email to serve their business Links and resources: User Onboarding: The Ultimate Guide for SaaS Founders UI Breakfast Podcast Userlist.io UI Breakfast on Twitter Userlist.io on Twitter Behind the Scenes of Our Upcoming Public Launch How We Used April Dunford’s 10-Step Method to Overhaul Positioning at Userlist AoP Episode 91: Feeling Superhuman with Rahul Vohra Product Hunt Hacker News Drip MailChimp Humans of Flat Design on Twitter  Paul Jarvis MicroConf Art of Product on Twitter Derrick Reimer Website Derrick Reimer on Twitter Ben Orenstein Website Ben Orenstein on Twitter Tuple Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide StaticKit Level Level Retrospective Level Manifesto