E06 w/ Bryce Adams: Pivoting his strategy into his strengths

Carl Alexander built Ymir — a serverless AWS platform that deploys WordPress and PHP applications onto a customer's own AWS account — and the twenty-five customers who run production stores on it never leave. They also all pay $39 a month, and nobody new signs up.
Did four years falsify the market, or was it the wrong buyers?
It's the second one. The $39, the self-serve signup, the WordPress developer he kept aiming at — every piece of the offer points away from the thing he's world-class at, which is teaching people how this works.
Cohost Bryce Adams bootstrapped Metorik on the same platform, and he's been telling Carl to charge more for years. He and I dig into who the buyer actually is, and what Carl should be selling him.
A candid working session including:
- five years of talks, zero customers
- $39 versus "bet our company on it"
- the joke tier he shouldn't have deleted
- what Metorik charged from day one
- should he stop going to conferences?
ME ME ME!!!
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STARRING CARL ALEXANDER
Ymir (ymirapp.com)
Ymir Reports (blog.ymirapp.com)
Blog (carlalexander.ca)
Twitter (twitter.com/twigpress) | LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/carlalexandereng)
WITH COHOST BRYCE ADAMS
Metorik (metorik.com)
Twitter (twitter.com/bryceadams)
REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE
"Using the Needs Stack for Competitive Strategy" (longform.asmartbear.com/needs-stack)
"SaaSocalypse" video by Jesse Hanley (x.com/jessethanley/status/2081952716176474601)
TIMESTAMPS

• () - A business customers love but that nobody buys - framing the puzzle, then Carl Alexander and cohost Bryce Adams (Metorik)

• () - Diagnosing 4 years of failed WordPress-developer marketing - and proving the market already exists

• () - Rejecting the succession-plan fix, then hunting the buyer pattern in Carl's 4 paying customers

• () - Engaged developers aren't buyers: why the "resonating" marketing wasn't actually working

• () - Finding the real decision-maker: not the developer who claps, the CTO who signs

• () - The $39/mo price that contradicts "mission-critical, dependable"

• () - "Carl as a service": the $20K consulting offer bundled with $500/mo software

• () - Landing on $1,000/mo, validated by Bryce's own Metorik pricing history

• () - Redefining the ideal customer: a $5M+ GMV WooCommerce store

• () - Sell to agencies, not individual stores

• () - The ICP crystallizes: an agency already committed to AWS that just needs expert help

• () - The conference rule: only go for leads or credibility

• () - Carl commits to raise the price before this episode airs

• () - Closing: the WordCamp party story

E06 w/ Bryce Adams: Pivoting his strategy into his strengths

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