Find your Niche and Focus

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, James is joined by Chris Federspiel, CEO and Founder of Blackthorn.io.  Chris shares his journey in the Salesforce ecosystem and the challenges he faced as a bootstrapped startup. He discusses the focus on events and payments, the process of killing unsuccessful products, and the importance of finding product-market fit. Chris also talks about creating accountability without a board, effective marketing strategies, and the role of system integrators in their business. He shares insights on release management, customer support, and the future of the Salesforce AppExchange. His advice for startup founders is to persevere through the challenges and stay focused on their goals.Chapters00:00Introduction and Origin Story01:19Focus on Events and Payments04:22Challenges of Bootstrapping06:22Creating Accountability without a Board09:41Marketing Strategies and Targeting SIs11:27Finding Product-Market Fit14:16Training and Enablement for SIs16:07Unexpected Hurdles and Lessons Learned23:14The Future of the Salesforce AppExchange27:26Advice for Startup FoundersIf you are a Salesforce ISV founder with an interesting story to tell, we'd love to hear from you. Send us an email to [email protected] and we'll be in touch.