Pulled in five directions this week. Got through maybe two of them. Somehow still feel like it was a productive week.
That's just building, I guess.

The Small Feature That Made Customers Actually Come Back There’s a version of SaaS retention where you add enough features, enough value, enough reasons to stay, and churn takes care of itself.

Quick little lesson on engaging users even when they aren't coming to the app open.substack.com/pub/kyleplat...

#buildinpublic

I feel mostly the same. But I would wager that fear is a strong enough motivator to not atrophy, although my focus of where the thinking goes is definitely shifting.

Has been a pretty crazy jump but I've enjoyed it. Def curious how its going to affect the youths learning critical thinking/logic.

That definitely feels appropriate, I would say I'm not too far off doing the same.

Am curious if it will require ongoing diligence to not become 'lazy' and forgo the learning and just let AI do its thing as it gets smarter

Still figuring out the balance between leveraging AI and what brought me success in the past. Mixed opinions out there, but shifting focus to product over code specifics feels right to me.

Where do you draw the line? 🧠

slowly wiring Claude up as my actual AI assistant. vault, calendar, ClickUp, Stripe all connected so it has real context each session.
still figuring out the right workflows but already feels less like a chatbot and more like someone who knows my stuff.

curious where this ends up

Kyle Platt | Substack Serial Entrepreneur and Engineer. Building startups in public. Demystifying what it takes to come up with, validate and execute on your ideas. At http://kyleplatt.com. Click to read Kyle Platt, a Subs...

Decided to start blogging my build journeys again. Just a good way to retrospective your own thoughts.

I have my ghost site but am considering just switching over to substack at kyleplatt.substack.com

Now that we've gone through a proper round of beta testing at Local Leads I have some more big improvements coming!

- simplified pricing model
- double down on autopilot
- unlimited search
- improved contact data

These changes not live yet but progress is going very quickly!

#buildinpublic

Yea thats a tough call to make.

I've seen a bunch of evidence showing that sleep patterns have a significant genetic component so I try my best not to fight it. Definitely difficult in situations like that!

The world is more geared towards morning people unfortunately 🤷

I post about a lot of building or product stuff but I want to join more discussions/communities about my hobbies too!

Big one for me is golf. Cooped up in Canadian winter but golf season is fast approaching! Hoping to make another handicap jump this year. Ended last year at 6.5! Other golfers here?

agreed on it being tricky. Deliverability has been pretty stable which is nice.

Haven't run into any spam issues yet, fingers crossed, but I believe thats because its fairly low and steady volume.

Will see how it goes as we scale. I know these things are inevitable

Local Leads is legitimately becoming powerful now 💪

Set up a campaign and watch it naturally spread its lead finding efforts city by city. Also sends out emails for you!

We always run into the issue of waning outreach efforts when busy at Tactycs. Now it is officially solved #buildinpublic

Made the decision to pivot slightly on Local Leads to truly maximize its effectiveness.

The ability to find new companies is very cool but I don't like how region locked it is right now.

Focused on execution features. It now spreads city by city finding leads and sending emails. All automatically

Good questions!
For adding its: - is it useful internally (for Tactycs my marketing agency) - can we sell it (lots of bits here)

Effectiveness is tougher. Its really tool by tool. Ultimate metric is driving direct sales. But some tools its more traffic or exposure oriented. Hard to get specific

Changing up our software approach a bit this year ⬇️

Building what I am calling "The Engine" 🚂

Tools that we turn on internally, that help sell/grow other tools.
i.e Local Leads automated email helps sell BluePilot

Each added tool supports the others. Execution focused features only #buildinpublic

Local Leads is improving rapidly! Our internal use is really starting to ramp up and thats how I know it is genuinely useful.

New UI updates to show email campaign progress 📈 #buildinpublic

Look how simple it is to start an email campaign in Local Leads! #buildinpublic

Since im adding bulk emailing functionality to Local Leads I first needed to add a way to disqualify leads ->

#buildinpublic

The full tier of automation I am planning is for sure the most exciting.

Definitely considering analytics, but the execution parts are more important right now I think 💪

Good progress on more Local Leads features.

Tomorrow I will be launching the ability to connect and send emails right from Local Leads with just a click.

Pretty exciting! #buildinpublic

Appreciate it!

The core thing I'm working towards is a set-and-forget model. Ideally removing as much friction as possible to try Local Leads. Doesnt inherently increase stickiness but try and tip the value to effort ratio in my favor.

Lots of challenges around authenticity and spamminess

Tough pill to swallow... Local Leads isn't where I need it to be.

Getting quality leads is great. But its not enough to break the stickiness of people using more established tools.

Good news. I have a plan. Local Leads is going end to end. Sending emails automatically. Stay tuned! #buildinpublic

Local Leads now sends new company leads straight to your inbox!

Pretty important step of simplifying the workflow and making it super easy to use #buildinpublic

Local Leads improvements are chugging along nicely.

- Setting up new PSEO system
- Added another 1k+ New Business leads
- Testing Ad flows
- Team working on regular SEO

#buildinpublic

I have been grinding the last several weeks.

All for the re-launch of Local Leads!
This is the tool we used to grow our agency to over 50k MRR.

Would love if you check it out & get 3 free searches! #buildinpublic

local-leads.ai

All the coding was by me, but I have a business partner with a marketing focus

On pace to have Local Leads V2 release this week. Pretty exciting!

Have to:
- finish live search cycle
- update free to paid model
- revamp landing page

#buildinpublic

Took a few weeks off of morning meetings with the team around Christmas.

So it was a short lived thing, but very nice

Yea I had something similar for a while that tried to read my sleep rhythm and wake me up when I wasn't in a cycle. It worked well... but with my wife in the same bed I had to stop using it.

My goal for the next year or two is to be able to naturally wake up without alarms. way better that way!

It is one of my most hated things.

Same thing with me, waking up in awkward sleep phases and you just feel worse than you could have all day