From Consultancy to $10M in ARR — Vince Mayfield, TalkingParents
Episode description
On the podcast: The right way to raise prices, the painful lessons from picking the wrong tools, and why you should respond to every single app review.
Top Takeaways
✍️ Start surveying as soon as you start developing, and don’t stop. Identify your MVP by understanding customers early on, and develop new features with key customer insights when you’re growing.
📈 Bundle extra value if you must raise prices to soften the blow of a tough sell and demonstrate attentiveness to customer needs.
🧰 Cheaper, easy-to-integrate tools might not scale on infrastructure and unit economics, which could lead to a painful re-engineering process down the line.
🏗️ Plan for scalability from the start by adhering to solid software engineering principles and ensuring your tooling integrations are easily switchable.
🤑 Provide premium support for a premium product price. Respond to every store review — each interaction leaves a lasting impression on customers and drives loyalty.
About Vince Mayfield
👨💻 Co-founder and CEO of TalkingParents, an app that helps divorced or separated parents manage communication and share responsibilities.
💪 Vince and his partner jumped from professional services to building a scalable app with $10 million in ARR.
💡 “People like to compartmentalize elements of their life and they don't want to have a million apps.”
Links & Resources
‣ Connect with Vince on LinkedIn
‣ TalkingParents on X (formerly Twitter)
‣ Get TalkingParents from the App Store
‣ Get TalkingParents from Google Play
Episode Highlights
[1:35] Origin story: Making money while we sleep is the ultimate goal — Vince talks about how he moved from agency to product company to $10 million in ARR.
[4:44] From hired gun to product growth: Lack of app monetization and not understanding customers early on may make pivoting to a product focus challenging.
[7:59] Risk management for risk mitigators: How do you make money from the court system? Easy: Switch focus to the real customers.
[10:32] Freemium tinkering: Vince dives into the app’s early strategy for monetization and subscription — burning through close to $1 million in the process.
[12:59] Chartered surveying: When it seems like an app is charging too little, asking customers what features they want and need is the ticket to nailing down value.
[15:59] Downhill slalom vs. uphill climb: Raising already low prices can be delicate, but bundling additional value with a rollout often softens the blow. Look for opportunities to layer on deeper value.
[28:33] Nudges and needs: From surveying to app instrumentation, Vince and his partner had to understand the customer journey before making the right moves.
[32:08] The ultimate tool belt: Not paying attention to how apps can scale from the very beginning is an easy mistake for app developers to make — especially when using tools.
[38:28] Best-in-class assessment: Starting with best-in-class tools isn’t always doable, but adopting good software engineering techniques as you go is a satisfactory quick fix.
[41:28] Lightning round: Vince talks about why support matters and how that translates into running a business and customers’ responses.