Here’s How Much Money My Business Will Make Next Year

The truth of building a business is (almost) nobody really cares what you’re doing at first.

Your friends and family see what you’re doing as a cool step in a new direction.  Colleagues of the past certainly size up your chances at the fantasy, and competitors don’t know you exist.

Even if they did, they wouldn’t care.  Most startups fail anyway, so why would they be worried about me?

I’m different.  Yes, there’s a level of arrogance in that statement, but it comes from a place of confidence (and a few loose screws).  To think I’m going to overcome the odds of successfully starting a company on my first try is a bit delusional.

And exciting.

Last week I wrapped up a business conference that cost more than everything I’ve put into Tetheros to date:

I am the best investment I can make in business.  Improving my leadership, circling ideas with people a few steps ahead of me, and applying new strategies for working on the business has a guaranteed return.

There are some big ideas I’m planning on implementing soon that I don’t want to share here (too early), but I would like to dive into some important takeaways from the conference for your pleasure and my accountability:

My Product Positioning Needs Immediate Attention

I practiced my elevator pitch for the conference a ton:

Tetheros is a software platform that helps teams work more effectively by simplifying project management.

I kept it nice and short, answering the what and where enough to give them a second to respond.  If “project management” was a term they were familiar with, it allowed for follow-up questions, but was short enough to let them move on without wasting time.

My conversations were efficient, there were good follow-up questions about the work, and I managed to connect with some great people.  The pitch worked well until the second day:

What is your blue ocean strategy?

The host, Patrick Bet-David, talked about the concept of finding your “blue ocean” in the marketplace.  If products, services, and companies were sharks in the ocean fighting for the same customers and businesses, the violence would turn the water red.  Red oceans are saturated markets with fierce competition.

As a small business, I won’t beat Goliath in the red ocean.  He’s larger, more experienced, wealthier, and smarter.  To beat Goliath, I need a blue ocean: uncontested space in the market with limited competition.

For Tetheros, this means adjusting my product positioning.

My elevator pitch includes the phrase project management.  What comes to mind when you hear that phrase?  For me, it triggers images of Gantt charts, Big Data, and integrations with time-tracking software, invoicing, and budgets.

And it feels boring.

Using project management in my elevator pitch signals to the customer an unspoken set of expectations for what Tetheros is capable of.

Yes, it simplifies project management, but Tetheros isn’t a traditional project management platform.  Its unique advantage is how it highlights context, alignment, and communication.  Maybe Tetheros is better described as a social media platform for teamwork.

When I left the conference, product positioning shot to the top of my to-do list.  What happens next is anyone’s guess!

Sales Is A Priority

If you made it this far you’re probably still wondering how much money Tetheros is going to make next year.

My Big Hairy Audacious Goal for Tetheros is to make at least $500k in revenue in 2024.

This target is impossible to hit with my current strategy and growth trajectory.  Something needs to change, which means improving my sales strategy.

I don’t know much about sales, which makes me optimistic.

When you’re learning something new, it’s super easy to see progress.  Moving from 1 to 2 may seem like a small improvement, but is twice the amount you started with. This early rush of “getting it” is one of the reasons I love learning new things.

The first levels in a video game are easy because you’re learning the fundamentals: tripping over yourself isn’t a concern.

Failure isn’t as scary when the opportunities it affords are obvious.

If I told you I’m comfortable being terrible at new things, I’d be giving myself too much credit.

Tetheros currently grows through organic traffic and word of mouth.  There are no paid ads.  I send very few cold emails.  These things are about to change.  

It is my personal responsibility as founder to lead sales of this product until I hire a sales leader. Understanding the customer’s feedback will teach me how Tetheros fits in the market.

Once I’ve improved my positioning, I’ll spend more time every week on lead generation, networking, and cold outreach.

Filter Customers In, Not Out

A significant part of product positioning is knowing who your core audience is, and also who it isn’t.

When your product is starving for customers and all you want is feedback about its design and usability, it’s easy to settle for anyone with a pulse willing to create an account.  I’ve been happy to entertain any industry, team size, or personality on the platform because who doesn’t need a better organization system?

But the desperation mindset is damaging.

Allowing anyone’s opinion to steer the product doesn’t help me learn if Tetheros works.  A 2-person team has different needs than a 15-person team.

I’m going to start filtering customers in, not out:

Now, I’ll specifically target and listen to teams in my niche.

I invite anyone to use Tetheros, but product decisions won’t be influenced by the opinions of industries and teams that don’t fit.

Discipline Is Everything

When Tom Brady talked about the different elements of his life that led to his success, discipline was chief among them.

Which somehow led to me dropping $60 on an iPhone app.

Seriously.

Alarmy is an obnoxious alarm that forces you to do math and dance movies to turn it off – nothing average can wake me up (just ask my mom about how hard I was to get out of bed for school as a kid).

Although $60 sounds ludicrous, it’s an investment in my own time.

You can transform good to great by improving your work ethic and staying disciplined for an extended period of time.  An expensive alarm clock app is one of many tools I’m using to build discipline for my sleep.  An extra 2 hours every day for 6 days per week creates 26 additional days of work every single year.

I’m doubling down on discipline in the other areas of my life and business too:

The key for me is making these habits easier by improving my environment: the groceries I buy, distractions I allow, apps I use to wake myself up, and anything else to remove friction in the way of progress.

You won’t recognize me a year from now when I successfully dial up discipline across every area of my life and business.

Expansion Is Bold And Necessary

The Vault conference talked about how growth naturally moves us through different ranks where the competition grows more fierce and skilled.  Sports have leagues: high school, college, and pros.  Life has a set of stages to grow through too.

However great you are, there’s a higher level where you’re below average.  Conquering enemies at the next level requires playing to your unique strengths and improving yourself while avoiding head-to-head combat with the current kings.

My strategy with Tetheros involves staying relatively small and quiet while I tune and improve the business and product before rapidly taking on industry giants like Asana, Monday, and Clickup.

Growing and improving the business led to two breakthroughs:

1. Team expansion

Tom Brady wove themes of teamwork and culture into his presentation at the conference, stressing the importance of surrounding yourself with good people.

When he pointed out to everyone and said, “I don’t care how talented or great you are.  If you don’t have a team, you will fail.”  It was a transformative moment for me.

I need to recruit a good team to be successful.

I’ve never doubted the advice that you can go fast alone, far together.  My lone-wolf foundership strategy has been one of sequencing: the right team will show up when the timing is right.

My original plan was to expand and build the team with organic revenue generated by the earliest adopters of the product, and I might still be, but Tom forced me to think about alternative ways to achieve the same thing.  Organic revenue isn’t a traditionally fast way to build a team.

A team would unlock and drive a different part of me.  Suddenly I’d be surrounded by accountability, ideas, and companionship on the early journey of my startup.  But if I don’t fund their engagement with organic revenue, I’ll need a different source of money, which leads to my next implication.

2. Financing is back on the table as an option

I’m the first to admit I have control issues.  It’s common with solo founders.

But pretending that owning 100% of the company is the only path forward is shortsighted.  The world is filled with talented individuals willing to take a risk with me and put it on the line to build something great, and they should have an opportunity to share in the benefits of company ownership with me (equity).

Not that I have to surrender equity to bring people on board.  There are a few ways to raise money with a startup that don’t involve permanently giving up control of the company.  My action items over the next few weeks include:

My philosophy was that Tetheros should be a bootstrapped company to prove the market has a place for my brainchild.  Profitability signals that our company is not just an idea that can’t generate sustainable revenue – it is a well-managed business that people are happy to pay for.

There are ways to bring in funds that don’t compromise that value, and I intend to find them.

I hope some of this was helpful, insightful, or even inspiring!

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Every week I share what I’m learning about professional development, entrepreneurship, and technology while building ​Tetheros​.