I'm working on:- Opal
- Being a husband
- Being a dad
cards live
Jun 3, 2025
whirlwind 6 monthsour card is live as of march, with customers. my daughter was born a few weeks ago
our largest business constraint is that we have far too much demand than we can fulfilbasically all of my friends have startups or businesses of their own. it's amazingi regained the ability to walk again in february, and my health is now great againwe built the card while i was bedridden, by the waythe best part of being a founder is consistently proving mediocre people wrong
fundraised, hired, grew, health challenges
Dec 30, 2024
apologies for the late updates. i made a trip to sf in sept. 3 days later we raised $2M. i was earnest and myself. serious and honest about my opinion of myself and opalwe’ve since hired a fe eng and a product designer. we’ve made massive product upgrades, and we’re growingunfortunately, about 8 weeks ago, i started having issues with my joints and was temporarily hospitalized. i cannot walk. this is a bummer, but i can still work and grow opalroosevelt was president in a wheelchair, churchill walked with a cane, jobs had cancer, chip has fshd. doesn’t stop them.
first customers live, head of eng hired from x
July 20, 2024
first customers went live 2 weeks agonew site is live:
today, we went live with our first eu agency. opal is officially globalA couple months ago, we hired a head of eng from x. he’s doing awesome.Current demo here.
been too busy to update, ux/fe hired
Apr 20, 2024
New site mockup:
Now working on deploying app to AWS, connecting FE and BE, and getting our first paying customers.Shortly thereafter, we’ll likely raise a pre-seed roundAgency owners have been stopping me in the gym asking me when we’ll be ready to launch
first hires cont.
Mar 12, 2024
Sending out an offer tomorrow. Very impressive individual who I think can build out our front-end in a fast, beautiful way.
first hires
Feb 21, 2024
Opal is officially hiring for a UX / Front End Engineer!!! Never hired engineers before, so I’m outsourcing the technical interviewing aspect.The initial product works well. Next, I want to build auto-invoicing based on the contracts payment terms, with embedded payments.Then, we add embedded everything. Payroll, Accounting, HR, AR/AP, Banking. Very quickly, we’ll be a business in a box for agencies.🙂
vertical saas
Feb 1, 2024
Vertical SaaS is the next wave of great software companies. Industry specific tools that enable greater productivity, efficiency, ease of management, and access to entrepreneurship.Today, it’s unfathomable to start an eCommerce store without going to Shopify.For a small law firm, it would be crazy to use 10+ outdated softwares. Clio is the obvious choice.Mindbody gives fitness studio owners everything they need to run, market, and manage their business.–With the rise of Vertical SaaS, a new kind of business has sprouted: embedded SaaS.Teal for accounting.Stripe for payments and banking.Check for payroll.And so on.–With Opal, we’re automating contracts for agencies. 3 agencies this week have contacted us and asked when we can start. Good early sign that we’re solving a real problem.Once we roll out contracts + e-Sign, our next integrated product will be auto-invoicing and payment processing, creating simpler billing processes and removing the need for accounts receivable. Part of that will be done via Stripe.After this, we can roll out accounting (Teal), payroll (check), banking (Stripe), lending (Kanmon), and so on.Accounting allows for insane stickiness and helps us become the ‘single source of truth‘ for agencies.Payments, banking, and lending, will feel free for our customer base, and yet they’ll 5-10x our LTV.At that point, our CAC can rise and we can continue to grow until we dominate the agency market, by building and implementing solutions to real challenges agencies face.–Eventually, when someone wants to start an agency from scratch, Opal will be the obvious choice.From 1st client proposal (done-for-you contracts), to first invoice (auto-invoicing based on contact details), to first bill payment (payment processing), to accounting (tracking costs, profitability, and taxes), to first employee (payroll), to custom spending solutions (banking, debit, and credit cards designed for ad spend), to first loan to fuel growth (lending), Opal will be able to support agencies every step of the way.
name change
Feb 1, 2024
easyagency, is now Opal.The branding is easy, as everything just needs to have opals. Opals are often overlooked at first glance, with an underwhelming exterior, but an incredibly unique and beautiful core. The underdog of minerals. And a core theme of one of Adam Sandler’s best movies.
name change
Feb 1, 2024
easyagency, is now Opal.The branding is easy, as everything just needs to have opals. Opals are often overlooked at first glance, with an underwhelming exterior, but an incredibly unique and beautiful core. The underdog of minerals. And a core theme of one of Adam Sandler’s best movies.
progress
Jan 30, 2024
3 design partners found. First 2 Angels committed. Not much product progress.Unscripted by MJ Demarco brings me back to sanity when I’m losing track of what matters in terms of building this.A ‘productocracy’. A product that solves the needs of you customers so well, that you grow with ease, not solely reliant on marketing and sales tactics.Seems like a business-in-a-box for agencies would absolutely crush it.🙂
angel round
Jan 22, 2024
Got our first angel (and only, for this round) investor for easyagency today. $2M valuation post-money. 1 highly experienced SaaS founder as our investor.
Crazy thing about vertical SaaS is that every customer knows the software is for them. You quickly become a no-brainer solution because, you’re solving problems that are unique for 1 specific industry.Once they’re using the ‘wedge’ product (auto-contracts, in our case), you can start to expand your offering. In this case, I think invoicing + payments will be the monster money-maker, taking 0.3% of every transaction + small MRR for invoicing.You can look at Clio, Jane.app, Shopify, Mindbody, and more as golden examples of this model. Find a wedge to get you in the door, but the real money is in payments. 0.3% of an entire industry is a lot. Mindbody 3x’ed their TAM with payments. I believe Shopify did the same.Time to get to work :_)
easyagency + pivot
Jan 19, 2024
Got our first angel (and only, for this round) investor for easyagency today. $2M valuation post-money. 1 highly experienced SaaS founder as our investor.Crazy thing about vertical SaaS is that every customer knows the software is for them. You quickly become a no-brainer solution because, you’re solving problems that are unique for 1 specific industry.Once they’re using the ‘wedge’ product (auto-contracts, in our case), you can start to expand your offering. In this case, I think invoicing + payments will be the monster money-maker, taking 0.3% of every transaction + small MRR for invoicing.You can look at Clio, Jane.app, Shopify, Mindbody, and more as golden examples of this model. Find a wedge to get you in the door, but the real money is in payments. 0.3% of an entire industry is a lot. Mindbody 3x’ed their TAM with payments. I believe Shopify did the same.Time to get to work :_)
building @talentwave in public
Jan 11, 2024
About 6 weeks ago, I didn’t know how to code. My mentor/friend showed me how, and I started building TalentWave, inspired by an internal tool he built for himself and his team. I built out a similar framework, and have started adding features that our initial customers requested.I basically went head down on evenings and over XMAS to learn to code, and asked GPT for help when needed.One month in:MVP done. First customers onboarding shortly.Basically, TalentWave should fully automate the entire initial hiring process, up to the second interview. Hiring is monotonous and super annoying for both CEO’s and hiring managers, as 75% of initial interviews don’t move further than that.TalentWave is meant to free up time to allow HR leaders to work on culture, retention, and growth.
Starting Up, Again
Jan 3, 2024
My first real business was started in my studio apartment, shortly followed by my moving into a 200 sqft office with no windows, for 3 months. I had a great time and ate, drank, and slept the life of a young twenty-something fully devoted to building a business he could live off of.And I did it for a few years. It was a media buying business, and it still somewhat runs to this day, 3 years later.-I'm building TalentWave, and it reminds me that starting up from scratch is not for the faint of heart.
It's a SaaS project, which also requires me to learn how to code, with no background in coding in any way. I'm about 90% of the way to having a sellable product, which is pretty good for a few weeks.SaaS businesses blow me away, they're unbelievably straightforward and insanely profitable.Someone writes code that creates productivity, and people are willing to pay for that productivity boost. It's wild.Ideally, TalentWave will be able to integrate / replace many of their hiring processes, up to their second interview.What interests me about the business and the market is that there are TONS of billion dollar companies who all do slightly differentiated things in HR tech.Examples:
- Ceridian
- Oracle
- ADP
- Workday
- UGK
- Workable
etc etc etcNot one of them has fully automated the initial hiring process. They've made them a bit more efficient, but mostly focused their efforts on different product lines.And that's where the opportunity lies.
Thoughts on Enrolment
Summer, 2023
- Enrolling (selling is another term for it) is nothing more than finding values that fit both parties to see if they want to be involved with each other.- The purpose of enrolling is to help the other party improve their life or business, or to help them get what they want.- Generally speaking some basic steps that I have used to enrol people in what I'm doing are:- Start with questions (ie: 'what brings you here?', 'It’s great to meet you, why did you feel like joining me today?')- Truly understand how you can help them (ie: 'would it be helpful for you if we could help you/your business do [desired outcome]?')- Ask them if they would like to move forward in creating their desired outcome (ie: 'would you be interested in getting started on this today? if so, i'll tell you how.', 'i can help you do xyz [desired outcome], want to know how i do it?')- You can then let them know how you’d like to do so (ie: 'I can help you achieve xyz [goal] by doing abc [specific actions to achieve the desired outcome]. I'd love to do this with you, is this something you'd like to move forward with?')- At this point, if they're ready to take the next step, they probably will. If not, keep on trucking :)
Chinese Cultural Museum (next to rennie's office)
Summer, 2023
Louie Brandt, your family battled through unbelievable hardship and you came out of it better and more compassionate because of it.you are a gift to your community and the world around you.you told me to study Confucius and oh boy i did. i told Andrew Grant you told me to study it and he laughed and said 'that sounds like something he would say.'how wild is it that i have stories with you greats? how blessed am i? what is this world if not pure potential and infinite energy surging through us to create amazing things?
REMEMBER BE HERE NOW
Summer, 2023
About Me
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home. i put my bag down. leave my shoes where they land. pull my shirt over my head. throw it on the floor. fall into the grey comforter I bought last summer. home is currently in vancouver downtown. a beautiful building by my mentor. two bedrooms two bathrooms and an office. i dont particularly like this place. rent’s three grand. expensive. countertops are granite. floors are hardwood. it’s a nice space. beige walls with tvs whiteboards and art. old ads i cut out of classic magazines and framed. cigarette ads are my favourite. i got 3 closets and more articles of clothing than i need or wear. options are good. i’ve never been notably organized or tidy. so a large percentage of my wardrobe is usually strewn across my bed or one of my bedroom floors. i keep my bathroom clean. kitchen too sort of. i stopped eating out. am actually using the kitchen for the first time in years. my cat loves it here. nicole doesnt like it here. i built out an office in my living room. i’m reading books daily now. well not really. but you get it. whatever i need to learn now i read about. i must admit those have been my most wise purchases this summer. smarter than my car for sure. these books will indirectly buy me a jet someday. a house to park it in front of too probably. no bullshit. i’ll sleep now. maybe i won’t wake up till morning. maybe i’ll wake up shortly. either way i’ll pray. and i’ll dream. (ib: FO)
paradise
GIVE ME A MUSEUM AND ILL FILL IT- Pablo Picasso
i need to step my game up :)
If there's a Heaven, you would think they'd let ya speak to your son
Maybe she has in the form of a baby's laugh
I heard passing by in a stroller remindin' me, "Hey, keep rolling"
I don't know, maybe she has with a prick of a blade of grass
I've been layin' on way too long, got me itchy
Got up and roamed a lil' more
Not Wakanda but Wakanda is kinda like what we 'bout to make
And who gon' make it? ----, duh
EXECUTE IDEAS AND ACCUMULATE MULTI-MILLIONS
i watched pete davidsons new comedy special today. he mentions in it how at one point a couple years ago, he and machine gun kelly were sitting in petes moms house saying 'well, that was fun. guess our careers are over'. theyve obviously both go on to do extremely well.kinda how i feel. im in the 'what if i never become successful again' phase. ive made money. lots. but it seems to come in waves and when youre up youre up and when youre down youre down. and that seems to be life.im not worried. but it sucks when youre low. humbles you. brings you closer to God and the simple things in life.i actually think its to teach me a lesson. about appreciating what i have and loving my life either way.riches without trying to help others is silly.i need to get back to TAGR basics. HTGR basics. TSOGR basics.writing this so i can refer back to it in the future.June 13 2022