Bradley Thomas

And I think someone needs to highlight to the President it is impossible to spend $386m on Apps. Unicorns burn money like this to buy market share, these guys don't need to do this and the cost of building simple apps is relatively low....so where has the money gone in reality? It appears that there is no understanding where this money is really going and why the focus is not more on building stronger technology, especially local content. Give me 10% of that money, most the issues could he dealt with and the tech would improve. Burning investors money or tax payers money does not ensure Digital Transformation as we have seen. #tech #reality #business https://lnkd.in/g5mYek8t

230

26 Comments

James and the Giant 10x Developer (with apologies to Roald Dahl) I’ve been seeing a lot of references on LinkedIn about “10x developers.”  My take:  To really be a 10x developer you have to be that multiple better than everyone else in a lot of areas: * Are you 10x better at understanding requirements and asking the right questions to clarify anything that isn’t clear?  I think this is the hardest part of software development. * Are you 10x better at writing code that others can understand and maintain later?  Maybe you can write really clever code quickly, but I believe most of the expense of software is maintenance, where “clever” code is a liability. * Are you 10x better at understanding deployment topology and everything that goes into it, versus saying it is  “devops issue?”  What environment are you deploying into?  How does a request actually hit your stack?  Where are the logs?   How do you configure all the environment variables?  And DNS?  And certificates?  And, and… * Are you 10x better at training and mentoring other engineers on the team?  Force multipliers >> individual contributors IMO. * Are you 10x better at making pragmatic decisions based on all the possible trade-offs (to include giving feedback to product that “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze for that feature”)? * Are you 10x better at using multiple frameworks and/or languages as the project/environment/legacy code dictate?  Or do you have a golden hammer? * …I’m sure there are many more I’ve been coding (and managing, and deploying, and maintaining, and troubleshooting, and ….) for… well, we’ll just say a long time… and have met exactly zero people who meet all of those criteria.  To be clear, I’ve worked with a lot of really, really, talented people who are 10x in a handful of those areas, but I think anyone who claims to be 10x in every dimension of software development is either a Unicorn (note:  fictional), or a sales job.

14

5 Comments

Dev agencies, if you don’t want to be treated as a commodity, stop acting like one. - Learn the business context for engineering needs - Stop squeezing your clients every opportunity you get - Prioritize transparency, communication, and accountability In short, position yourself as a partner that uses tech to solve business problems. You really can’t complain about being seen as a commodity if you treat everything as a transaction.

1

1 Comment

"I'm a 10x developer!" (But no one wants to work with me) The pattern we praise: 1. Technical brilliance 2. Code output 3. System knowledge 4. Architecture skills What actually matters: 1. How we make others feel 2. Trust we've built 3. Relationships we nurture 4. Impact on team health The brutal truth: Our code won't get us promoted ... Our relationships will. Remember: Technical skills open doors. People skills invite us to walk through. What relationship are you investing in today?

76

14 Comments

If you're considering replacing purchased software that supports your core business due to licensing costs, remember: you won't build someone else's core domain more cheaply.

15

I spoke with developers recently. They were telling me their pain points when it comes to waterfalls and distributions. They underwrote a deal in which they’ll make a profit for a few years, then do construction (which they’ll raise more capital for), and after that, they will refinance and hold for 10-15 years. Their issue is that their returns and IRR for both the GP and LP weren’t adding up. I brought up a few good points for them to start looking into and asked them how they would solve these issues. Was their model created for construction and to handle multiple capital injections? What happens when you have different investors contributing at different times? When is capital being returned? All of these issues are common occurrences and need complex solutions to resolve. Everyone wants a simple waterfall, but every case is unique. How do you answer these questions when you are underwriting? If you need help structuring and organizing these types of distributions, reach out and let’s chat. --- If you found value in this post, please like and comment. Follow for more content! If you want to receive my newsletter, direct message me! Any distribution or waterfall questions? Reach out! Need help setting up or calculating a waterfall? Reach out.

26

20 Comments

THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO SPEND OUR MONEY Rohan Silva says there are better ways we could have spent the PsiQuantum money. Hard to argue with that. Not sure I'd have led with "tax breaks for angel investors", although that's part of the solution without a doubt. What our software start-ups need is more runway. So that means faster and simpler access to funding, whether private of public, and tax policy that doesn't punish them the moment they're successful. Imagine what our software industry could look like if $500M was pumped into hundreds of businesses rather than just one. https://lnkd.in/djPsvtBR

3

2 Comments

Won "Bootstrapper of the Year" 🏆 at Tekpon Awards. Scaled Expandi to $9M+ ARR. It has been a roller coaster ride... Here are my top 5 lessons for every founder👇 1️⃣ Choose the Right Cofounders Expandi survived 14 months even without income. All credit to my cofounders Glenn Miseroy & Aad van Vendeloo We combined forces and brought in: ↳ Complementary skills and expertise ↳ Expanded networks ↳ Fresh perspectives ↳ A morale boost They filled in where I fell short. RIGHT CO-FOUNDERS = COMPOUNDING GROWTH. 2️⃣ Join a Community Entrepreneurship is a lonely ride. You won't be related to 99% of the people around you. So how do you keep yourself sane? By being part of supportive communities. Communities mean👇 → Learning from others' mistakes → Sharing valuable insights → Uplifting fellow founders Thanks to Alexander Theuma & SaaStock for giving me a SaaS family to lean on for the last 2 years, where I met some great founders & built some long-lasting relationships 🫶. This includes: - David Neuhaus - Geeta Chandra - Zandra Moore - Alex Delivet - Osman Koc - Anvar T K - Joran Hofman - Yann A. Skaalen Also big kudos to Alexandru Stan for starting Tepkon Awards - an Oscars 🏆 equivalent for the SaaS community. It's not easy to get ~500 SaaS investors, founders, leaders, and visionaries in one single room. It is UNREAL. Big Kudos to the entire team💫 Met great people like 🔥 Bridget Harris Mads 🍎 Wedderkopp Walls.io Thomas Smale Zandra Moore and many more!! 3️⃣ Build a Strong Team A founder is nowhere without a great team. Initially, we focused on hiring university graduates. This strategy lets us nurture talent while keeping hiring costs low. ✅Hire talented people who align with your vision ✅Give them the freedom to do their work ✅Pay them well We're now 50 highly skilled professionals strong 💪 Smart hiring → Talent retention → Growth → REPEAT 4️⃣ Build in Public Here's my Social Growth Snapshot: ↳ LinkedIn: 18K+ followers ↳ X: 34K+ followers Sharing your journey = Growing user trust Building in public: ✅Boosts credibility ✅Humanizes your brand ✅Fosters a strong community Build in public → Foster a community → Expand Network & Customer Trust 5️⃣ Out-of-the-box marketing strategies This one simple practice brought immense growth—experimentation with innovative ideas Our strategies👇 i.) Affiliate programs When others promote your product, you get: → Higher visibility → Boosted conversion rates → Reduced marketing expenses ii.) Micro-influencer partnerships We partnered with niche influencers to target our ideal customers & got: ↳ Heightened user trust ↳ More early paid users ↳ Low ad costs Keep experimenting. Keep trying new ideas. ----------- I'm beyond grateful for this recognition of our hard work. Follow @StefanSmulders for everything SAAS & entrepreneurship 🌟 #startups #SaaS #entreprenuership

211

62 Comments

It took us 3 weeks to set up JSM last time...' Hold my coffee ☕ Just helped a client configure their entire JSM implementation in MINUTES (not weeks). No, that's not a typo. What most teams get wrong: - Overthinking the default setup - Rebuilding what's already there - Missing the power of built-in request types Bonus: See the exact setup that got them from zero to handling tickets in under an hour. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/eZJphM3x #JiraServiceManagement #ITSM #Atlassian P.S. Want to know if your JSM setup is overcomplicated? Drop a comment 👇

2

If anyone knows any devs - tag away please For a few years now we’ve been building out and using an amazing server provisioning and code deployment tool https://deploy.dev After an extensive 6 month program of rolling it out to Aero Commerce agencies, who all love it, we’re now making it public for the first time - whilst it’s been working in a commercial environment for years now we’re launching it in Beta for a lucky few devs / agencies we know and trust The story : After using combinations of forge and envoyer that didn’t do fully what we wanted, we built our own to provide the missing links. It’s been a real game changer for us in terms of productivity, simplicity and efficiency. You can provison, boot up and manage servers in numerous industry leading hosting providers at the touch of a button. Code can be centrally managed through the major repositories and deployed automatically or manually through our seemelss integrations. There is no charge for this to our friends or friends of friends whilst in beta and we’d love your feedback Just register at https://deploy.dev and have a play

28

15 Comments

Agents are getting really really good at programming, try this agent out: https://buff.ly/4cY7vRk I use this agent every single day multiple times a day to build functions with documentation, error handling, and type validation. It's overpowered.

1

Happy Saturday!! What if we could measure what costs us money instead of only measuring our successes? The KPIs I see contractors using only measure how good we are at success, but never measuring where we are losing cashflow. We use many spreadsheets because our data is questionable and our managers waste half of their day updating them, therefore giving us old data from the past. This has absolutely no positive impact on cashflow! Why? Because we don’t ask the cashflow questions! How long does it really take to install a water heater from taking the call to collecting payment? How many people in the company touch one complete HVAC installation? How much time is spent waiting for parts? How much time spent getting parts? What are the parts we need more of to reduce wasting time? I measure all of this and more in realtime and you should too. Look at what happened for this contractor in only 90 days once he changed to real time efficiency data. It’s About Time!!

17

2 Comments

It can be tricky to choose an IT partner for your business, especially if you’ve never worked with an exceptional partner. Remember it’s not just about cheap prices and a fancy website. It’s about finding someone who: Understands your business. Helps you grow your business. Doesn’t confuse you with technical jargon. Goes the extra mile and offers proactive solutions. #ITSupport #BusinessSolutions #ITPartner

2

1 Comment

To those SaaS providers who still think not displaying your price on your website is strategic. Passing trade are bouncing as fast as they can. If you're scared to publish your pricing then you're effectively saying "we're expensive and our website isn't good at explaining our value, so talk to us and we'll try and convince you". Be honest with yourself you don't go into a shop, look at a product where the shelf label says "take to counter for price". You know you're going to be pressured into buying whether you want it or not. So you leave it there and buy a similar product, which may not be as good where the price is displayed and you can make your decision with the freedom that comes with that. It's the same with your website. Your website is nothing more than your shop floor. Stop thinking it isn't a sales tool. Passing trade will exit your shop and go next door if they can't find what they're looking for at a price they can afford. Let me end this with some personal experience and data. August to October on Just Attend I had a pricing page with "contact us for price". In 2 months relying on organic search traffic alone I got 0 leads from 700 visits to my site. I changed it and declared my prices and opened up to customers with honesty and transparency. Nov-Dec without any effort at all, I got 12 leads from organic visits alone. Dec 21st to Jan 2nd I was off on holiday, company shut down. In that 2 weeks, I got 6 demo booking enquiries without lifting a finger. No other tactics, no social activities (LinkedIn sucks for event organiser promotions), no ads, no pressure releases. Just organic search and declaring my prices increased my pipeline for £0 to approx £50k. It makes a huge difference. Don't be afraid of showing your price. Be different.

37

4 Comments