Rules of Engagement

July, 2023

During my break before starting Herodesk.io , I thought a lot about what had happened during the past 15 years of my work life as an entrepreneur and intrapreneur. It started as a bunch of unstructured notes but ended up as my Principles of Entrepreneurship.

The Principles of Entrepreneurship is my view on 18 different aspects of running a start-up. It's a long read, but if you're interested in entrepreneurship, you should check it out.?

I want to build Herodesk according to those principles. So, I've set out these guidelines for how I want to build and grow Herodesk.

1. Bootstrapped

The first principle in the "Principles of Entrepreneurship" is called Be Your Own Master . When you take on an investment, you will essentially be working for someone else.

I have a clear vision with Herodesk.io , and I want the biggest flexibility possible to pursue it.?

Therefore, the company will be bootstrapped. I won't be raising external funding and won't take on investors. With the exception of some start capital I've put into the business myself, money will have to be earned before it can be spent . Frugality and customer retention will be key.

2. Profit > growth

I believe it's more important to build a profitable and sustainable business than one that focuses solely on growing extremely fast, with the risk of going out of business while doing so.

Top-line growth will (likely) be slower, but the business will be profitable.

I’ve already tried working under the pressure of having to deliver financial results in a VC-backed company. I can’t imagine the stress of having only X months of runway left before you have to raise more money to stay in business. On top of this, add the bet the investors made on you, which also has to pay off eventually.?

I’m sure it’s the right thing for some companies (obviously, as many are doing it) and that some people thrive under those conditions. I’m not one of those people. So, Herodesk will go in a different direction.

Top-line growth will (likely) be slower, but the business will be profitable. That’s a great starting point to allow yourself to focus on developing the product in the right direction (instead of chasing short-term goals to get more cash) and building a long-term healthy business.

3. Product-led

The Product is the Most Important Asset of any business. The business shouldn't be driven solely by revenue targets or KPI's. The product should drive it and how that can be developed day-by-day to be the best it can be for the customers.?

The reality, however, is that starting, building, and growing a B2B SaaS is extremely hard.

Sure, OKR's and similar frameworks can be useful as a management tool to steer the ship in a given direction, trying to achieve a specific outcome. The direction and those outcomes should be derived from what's best for the product and customers, not a set of inwards-looking (vanity) metrics.?

A natural extension of this is product-led growth. I’m trying to design the company to grow with:

• Marketing, word-of-month, network effects (no sales team)
• Self-signup and onboarding
• A dynamic pricing model that increases as the customers grow (and vice versa)
• High stickiness, be a core part of the customers' business (to minimize churn)

And of course: Best in class customer service !?

More on all of this later…

And with all this being said… I know that every B2B SaaS founder, including myself, dreams of building a company that only has a product team and a marketing team. The reality, however, is that starting, building, and growing a B2B SaaS is extremely hard. You have to do things that don’t scale initially. Take countless sales- and onboarding calls. Customer support and feedback meetings. And so on, and so on. And that’s fine. That’s part of the journey, and I'll learn incredibly much from those calls.?

But in the long run, the product itself should be so awesome that the customers will sign up and onboard themself without human assistance. And if they don’t – well, that’s a sign to circle back and look at how to improve the product.

4. Fully remote

In the past, I've tried fully in-office and hybrid work. I want to go fully remote with Herodesk for a couple of reasons.

When the time comes to expand the team, I'll be able to hire potentially anyone within ~4 timezones instead of only people who live within driving distance of an office.?

Then, add the daily flexibility. I've been working from my home office for the better part of half a year now, and I love it. The flexibility to plan the day as it fits me has been much more valuable than I could have imagined. I think that more and more people will prioritize this in the future.?

Going fully remote is new to me. I've never tried it before. I am confident, however, that with the right tools, coordination, and attitude towards it, it'll be a success.

5. No exit

Fully bootstrapped. Long-term strategies with a focus on what's right for the product and the customer. No exit plans.

I will build a company that serves the customers now, in 10 years and in 25 years. And even longer. "Until the end of the Internet ", as the founders of 37Signals say.

Let's circle back to this post in a year or two and see how it went.