I started a business

I’m currently working on a project with my brother and a friend, let’s call him Jake. Together, we’re developing automation software, and the project is finally making progress. However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Here’s a bit of backstory on how we started our business.

January - April: The Backstory

The project began in January 2024 with my brother, Jake, and another person, Tom. At that time, I wasn’t involved, but I knew my brother was working on something interesting from the stories he shared during family dinners.

After two months, I sensed something was wrong. My brother was diligently working on the software, Jake was handling the marketing, but Tom? Tom decided to start trading and neglected the project. Despite being part of the team, he wasn’t contributing any effort. My brother mentioned that Tom’s role was to invest in the business, but Tom had no marketing or coding skills, and I felt he wasn’t trustworthy.

Seeing the project stagnate, I confronted my brother and offered to take over Tom’s role. After some discussions, it was agreed, and I became part of the project. I believed the project could only succeed if every member contributed equally. Without effort from everyone, the project would stall and never have a chance at success. As the saying goes, “If you don’t start, you have no chance to become successful.”

Roles & Responsibilities

Our business is now set up with me, my brother, and Jake, each with distinct responsibilities:

  • My Role: I manage the entire project, handling company administration, investment, legal matters, and finance. Essentially, I serve as both the COO and CEO, overseeing the overall operation of the company and investing in it.

  • My Brother’s Role: He is responsible for making the software work, handling the coding, security, website, database, and all related technical aspects. He is our Chief Development Officer (CDO).

  • Jake’s Role: He focuses on marketing and customer acquisition, serving as our Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

With our roles clearly defined and everyone committed to their responsibilities, our project is now moving forward toward success.

May: The Preparation Phrase

When I joined the project, my first initiative was to set up a meeting with the core members to assess our current status and determine what needed to be done before launching the software. On May 5th, we convened to review our progress and identify key discussion points:

Discussion Points:

  • Website progress: 80% complete
  • Database connection: established
  • Mollie: partially connected
  • SendGrid: connected
  • Brainstorming for marketing and software ideas
  • Understanding the software functionality

To-Do List:

  1. Register the company
  2. Set up business banking details
  3. Proofread the website for grammar and remove unnecessary items
  4. Register for Google services (AdWords, Analytics, Tag Manager, MyBusiness)
  5. Create a DRIVE Excel overview of tasks
  6. Develop email templates in HTML
  7. Draft Terms & Conditions
  8. Create Privacy Policies
  9. Add an email domain
  10. Collect all invoices for administration

The purpose of this initial meeting was to familiarize everyone with the current situation, as my brother was the only one previously informed about the project’s status. This meeting brought much-needed clarity.

In early May, we assigned tasks. My brother had the most workload as he was focused on the software development. Meanwhile, Jake and I worked on obtaining the necessary legal documents. We created a WhatsApp group to keep each other updated on our progress.

One of our first steps was registering the company at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce to obtain the Chamber of Commerce number and Tax number, essential for starting a business. I also needed to set up a business bank account, a requirement for using Mollie. Throughout May, we met various application requirements and continued proofreading the website for grammatical errors.

We faced some disagreements about the website’s content, styling, and design, but these were minor conflicts. We resolved them by voting and moving forward with the majority decision, understanding that such preferences should not delay our project launch.

Focusing on the essential tasks, I delved into understanding the business’s operational aspects, including administration, finance, and legal details. These areas were unfamiliar to me, requiring weeks of intense research.

Throughout the first few weeks of May, I embraced my role as the project leader. I kept everyone informed about our progress, assigned tasks, and provided reminders, ensuring we stayed on track.

Ready To Start

The project was nearly ready for launch. We resolved all website-related issues, verified the software’s functionality, checked email operations, and obtained all necessary legal documents.

The remaining tasks were:

  • Adding Privacy Claims and Terms & Conditions
  • Registering the company with Google services
  • Developing a marketing strategy

Marketing was a crucial part of the project, as it was our primary method to attract customers initially. Jake and I researched keywords for Google Ads and set up our Google accounts, including MyBusiness, AdWords, Search Console, Google Tag Manager, and GA4 Analytics. We also added consent banners to the website due to our reliance on ads.

Around mid to late May, my brother began using Twitter to build his personal brand, which was highly successful. However, this success limited his availability for the project, posing a challenge for our software company startup.

One afternoon, my brother and I dedicated time to advancing the project. I came prepared with a list of tasks for the website:

  • Integrate Mollie
  • Add Privacy Claims and Terms & Conditions
  • Adjust the confirmation email
  • Add a notification email for customer contact attempts
  • Revise website text
  • Remove unnecessary website sections
  • Test all functionalities, including:
    • Payment processing
    • Email operations

We tackled these tasks together, completing most of them in a single afternoon. The process involved multiple rounds of testing, feedback, updates, and retesting. By the end of the day, everything seemed to work perfectly.

However, when I returned home, I realized I had failed to double-check our work, and not everything was functioning as intended.

June: The journey to get the first customer

The project was nearly ready for launch. We resolved all website-related issues, verified the software’s functionality, checked email operations, and obtained all necessary legal documents.

The remaining tasks were:

  • Adding Privacy Claims and Terms & Conditions
  • Registering the company with Google services
  • Developing a marketing strategy

Marketing was a crucial part of the project, as it was our primary method to attract customers initially. Jake and I researched keywords for Google Ads and set up our Google accounts, including MyBusiness, AdWords, Search Console, Google Tag Manager, and GA4 Analytics. We also added consent banners to the website due to our reliance on ads.

Around mid to late May, my brother began using Twitter to build his personal brand, which was highly successful. However, this success limited his availability for the project, posing a challenge for our software company startup.

One afternoon, my brother and I dedicated time to advancing the project. I came prepared with a list of tasks for the website:

  • Integrate Mollie
  • Add Privacy Claims and Terms & Conditions
  • Adjust the confirmation email
  • Add a notification email for customer contact attempts
  • Revise website text
  • Remove unnecessary website sections
  • Test all functionalities, including:
    • Payment processing
    • Email operations

We tackled these tasks together, completing most of them in a single afternoon. The process involved multiple rounds of testing, feedback, updates, and retesting. By the end of the day, everything seemed to work perfectly.

However, when I returned home, I realized I had failed to double-check our work, and not everything was functioning as intended.

June: The journey to get the first customer

It was the first week of June, and while the weather in the Netherlands was bright with summer around the corner, most people were taking time to relax, hang out with friends, and enjoy some beers. Festivals, beaches, and vacations were the norm, embracing the summer vibes. But not for me. I had other plans. At that time, I was deeply engrossed in the project, specifically researching online marketing strategies. With over three years of experience as an SEO specialist at a digital out-of-home marketing communication company, I knew a thing or two about creating an online presence. So, I started the week by developing an SEO strategy for our project, Stopabbo. On June 8th, we had our final meeting before launching the service. A project that took 6 months was finished within a month of hard work, we were finally ready. To ensure everything was in order, we sat down together and tested the entire process from start to finish:
  • We checked the website for bugs.
  • We verified that customers received confirmation emails.
  • We ensured we received notification emails.
  • We tested the payment link.
  • We confirmed the functionality of marketing tags.
  • We validated that conversion tags and consent mode V2 were working.
  • We checked the connections with Google services.
It was a day of debugging and testing. Once everything seemed to be working, I presented a contract to the team. The contract outlined that everyone should be paid equally based on their contributions, ensuring no one slacked off and that profits were shared fairly. It also covered:
  • The project goal
  • Assets and profits
  • Ownership
  • Responsibilities
  • Liabilities and legal matters
  • The launch day details
That evening, we launched the software. Everything worked perfectly: emails, payments, tracking systems. Jake, who was still actively participating in the project, did an excellent job with Google Ads, creating impressive campaigns. We set the website live, and then it was a waiting game. Our software, a service to help users cancel any subscriptions, addressed a market issue. Competitors often misled users with hidden fees. Our vision is to be transparent and provide the service people signed up for without hidden costs. Initially, our goal was to secure our first customer. However, after three days and over €55 spent, we had no success. Despite 66 ad clicks, no one purchased the product. This was concerning because our service cost €14.94, and we were spending more than €55 per potential customer, resulting in a significant loss. Analyzing our service and the small dataset from GA4, I identified two potential issues:
  1. The price might be too high.
  2. We hadn’t yet established enough trust with our audience.
Jake reassured me that it takes 2-4 days for the ads to optimize, which is why costs were high initially. However, I couldn’t sit idly by. Not wanting to rely solely on ads, I turned to my strengths in online marketing, SEO, link building, and creating brand awareness. During the first week post-launch, I created a backlink Excel file for our services and registered the company on various platforms, including Google My Business and news websites. We also became searchable on Trustpilot, a well-known review site. On June 11th, we secured our very first customer. The excitement was palpable. While the initial process worked flawlessly, the subsequent steps of canceling the subscription were problematic. We had primarily tested payment processes and hadn’t focused enough on what happened afterward. As a result, the emails didn’t function as planned. Invoices weren’t sent correctly, and the subscription cancellation emails weren’t formatted properly for the concerned organizations. I informed my brother about these issues, and in the meantime, I manually managed the post-purchase process to ensure customer satisfaction.

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