In this episode of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling chats with Colleen Schnettler, co-founder of Hello Query, as she navigates the complexities of her startup journey.

After a challenging period with her co-founder Aaron, Colleen reflects on their decision to part ways and the emotional toll it has taken on her. She shares her feelings of crushing failure, the uncertainty of moving forward alone, and the realization that their initial product vision may not align with market needs.

• (0:49) – Colleen and Aaron make a tough decision
• (4:09) – Voice memo, “Crushing Failure”
• (7:59) – What if you hadn’t raised money?
• (11:44) – Colleen weighs her remaining options

• Applications for TinySeed are Open Through Feb 23rd
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger) | X
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger.bsky.social) | Bluesky
• Hello Query

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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In episode 756, Rob Walling interviews Brendan Fortune, Director of Product Management at Customer.io, to explore the skills and frameworks for effective product management. Brendan shares his journey and discusses the importance of understanding customer behavior to drive product decisions. They delve into the concept of the flywheel and how it can be leveraged to enhance user success and optimize pricing strategies.

• (2:46) – What does a product manager do?
• (10:36) – When should a SaaS company designate a full time product manager?
• (15:33) – Pricing and and creating a flywheel
• (22:41) – Deciding on your “fair” value metric
• (30:01) – Pricing experimentation in the early days

• Applications for TinySeed Spring 2025 are Open!
• Invest in TinySeed
• Ask a product question on Startups For the Rest of Us
• Brendan Fortune | LinkedIn
• Customer.io
• Product Flywheel + Pricing + Org Strategy (Miro)
• Your Pricing is WRONG (even Sam Altman Made This Mistake)

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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In this episode of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling checks in with Colleen Schnettler, co-founder of Hello Query, as she shares the latest developments in her startup journey.

Colleen shares the insights gained from recent customer interviews that led to a significant pivot in their product strategy. Hello Query is now focused on embedding custom reporting features within other SaaS applications and Colleen reflects on balancing product quality with minimal v1 features. Her excitement is building to get their solution into users' hands.

• (1:32) – Digging into customer interviews
• (3:54) – Filtering out the noise to achieve confidence
• (5:31) – Other competitors in the space
• (8:53) – How Colleen prepares for and sources customer conversations
• (12:11) – Is the technical implementation coming along?

• Invest in TinySeed
• Episode 748 | The Ins and Outs of Startup Investing
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger) | X
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger.bsky.social) | Bluesky
• Hello Query

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify