Abel Rios

NWA and Tulsa friends, to build more local knowledge I'm making a list of NWA and Tulsa-based software startups, particularly B2B SAAS and analytics. So far my list includes AcreTrader, Nuqleous and SupplyPike. Who else should I know about? #startups

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This article showed up and was appropriate for what's going on in my world now and in September at Business Technology Association event in San Antonio. It's almost as if someone is tracking my interests. 🚀 AI, like all the next shiny things, without a real-world application to drive revenue is more than a distraction, it can be counterproductive with out an actual roadmap. Don't get me wrong, I rely on AI daily to increase my bandwidth and the team's efficiency, and it's working. 💪 We are able to do things faster, better, and most importantly reduce the investment needed by our clients to utilize the platform. We didn't get there as efficiently as we should have and the new shiny thing needed work. 🤖 ChatGPT, Claude, and embedded AI make a difference, but they're still only as good as the talent you have prompting the response. Thinking that AI will make you efficient at a new skill that others have invested years to be be subject matter experts at is not a great investment. 👏 West McDonald is a great conduit of all things AI and provides guidance for companies looking to explore areas of AI that are beneficial. I attened his break out session this week at the BTA event, and he gets it. West McDonald's partnership with Keypoint Intelligence is a great resource for you to consider when navigating this new world and I am positive he can reduce the learning curve for utilizing AI. 📅 In September at the Business Technology Association event in San Antonio, Texas, I will be sharing AI tools ERPIZO used to shorten and automate business planning processes from hours to minutes. 🙌 Faris Delija was instrumental in creating this workflow and he will be joining me to share our process that you can hopefully use with your team. We are not AI experts but found this process beneficial internally and for our clients. 🎙️ I will also be hosting a panel of business owners who have found benefits in AI and are willing to share their real world application. If you would like to share how you are using AI in your daily business, give me a shout or drop a comment in the post and I will send the link to get you started. It doesn't have to be rocket science - just beneficial and repeatable. 💡 The hope is, given the changes in workforce and the imaging channel model, we can combine enough of these processes to be more profitable. Brent Hoskins, thanks for the opportunity to participate! #AI #BusinessEfficiency #ERPIZOInnovation #AIInBusiness #BusinessTechnology #ProductivityHacks #AIPanel #BTA2023 John Cheney Tim Renegar Dale Fowler John Kuchta Jim Sheffield Mick Dean ERPIZO Brett Apold Michael Mertz Kyle Lasseter Suzanne Bandimere Randy Dazo

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During the early days of growing the internal dev team at PureGym, we had a single business-as-usual (BAU) team that handled small changes, bug fixes, and GSD (Getting stuff done, i.e., operations/infrastructure, etc.). However, something didn't feel right and was a little "awkward". 🔍Sense It: During our daily syncs, the people working on small changes and bugs were not interested in what the people working on GSD were doing and vice versa. 🗣 Share It: In our regular retrospective, we shared and discussed possible causes. We identified that we were actually acting as two teams with differing goals/purposes instead of a single team with a shared purpose. 🤝 Solve It: Since we had the autonomy to do so, we decided to split into separate BAU and GSD teams each with a much clearer goal and purpose. This resulted in reduced cognitive load and a greater sense of ownership for members of each team. Are you on a team that actually acts like two separate teams? Have you noticed this kind of awkward interaction before? #SenseItShareItSolveIt #TeamTopologies #FastFlow #CognitiveLoad

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Hitting $1.5M Rev in 3 years is impressive... but should he have sold the firm? Was reflecting on this recent podcast with Jordan Sublette, CPA. Clearly he had rapid success both in growing (and then selling to his successor). Can't help but wonder ... with a firm growing so quickly, did he sell too early? On the other side of it, the future is unpredictable and now he has some financial security... What do you think? 🤔 https://lnkd.in/gCnRh8MV #accountingfirm #acquisition #sale #CPAfirm

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Over the last two days, this retreat brought together some of the best creators in Texas 💪🏼 Eric and Dom, the hosts of the retreat, are beasts, but even more importantly, they’re community-builders. As a retreat host myself, there’s few things I cherish more than immersing myself in and creating community. During this two day retreat right here in my home of Austin, TX, Eric and Dom wrangled together some of the best people and the best health/fitness entrepreneurs in the game. To use a word my friend Corey Hiben loves, this event was far less networking and far more friendworking, which is the best way to “network”. Every person at this retreat is doing something dope in the world of health/fitness, whether it be helping others build their websites, optimizing other’s business systems, helping people get in workouts, helping people refuel with minimally-processed ingredients, running gyms, running social clubs, connecting brands to their customers, inspiring others to lead healthy lifestyles, bringing the community together in person, and more. I’m definitely leaving this retreat feeling energized and equipped with new knowledge that I will be applying in my own businesses. Coming out of this retreat, I also can’t help but be grateful to be part of this community. It’s actually wild to me that there is a world that exists in Austin that has nothing to do with health/fitness whatsoever 😂 I know it’s out there, but after experiencing how amazing it feels to prioritize a healthy lifestyle and to surround yourself with likeminded people, I just can’t imagine not being part of this community. #austin #fitnesscoach #fitnesscommunity #communityworkout #fitnessretreat #retreat #creators #entrepreneurship #microsoft #microsoftlife #productmanager #productmanagement #microsoftpm #tech #technology #engineer #softwareengineer #software #swe #pmjobs #pmlife #microsoftteams #business #newjob #newteam #remote #remotework #remotejob #remotejobs #pm #texas

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Have you ever experienced the dreaded blue screen of death on your digital signage? When we were first working on Skykit as a product concept, I went on a sales call to Dallas and was welcomed by a blue screen of death at a Wendy's (pic). This was back in 2014, and it felt like a sign that we needed to build something better. Many organizations are feeling – at this moment – the faulty CrowdStrike update that triggered system crashes across the globe. This highlights the major risk of not being able to control or easily manage third party applications installed on many media players. When the system environment is not in your control, you’re at the mercy of manufacturers’ timelines. One faulty update can bring your entire network down – damaging operations, brand reputation and revenue. Skykit’s robust device management ecosystem pushes only tested and verified updates (and can provide more granular control over when they go out). Simply said, we control the environment and firmware on our Skykit media players, so you’re not left blindsided. We wrote a lengthy post about this topic just yesterday, not knowing the news we would wake up to today. https://lnkd.in/gHu2JF_7 Don't leave your business at the mercy of external factors. Take back control with a digital signage platform designed to maximize uptime and minimize disruptions. Let's connect to get your displays back up and running!

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At Vendia, our customers who are Data Sellers told us they needed 1/ Data Distribution from where ever they have the data to where ever it will be used 2/ while retaining full lineage on where the data came from and how it transformed 3/ without needing Eng and IT folks to do solve this nXn spaghetti problem So.... we launched the The Vendia Marketplace Insights & Data Distribution application today on Snowflake Marketplace. So grateful for Vendia teams for building this and testing with so many happy customers! Special thanks to Jeff Hollan, Prash Medirattaa, Eduardo Laureano, JT Grozak and many others from Snowflake for pushing the native app through! Link in comments #marketplaces #datadistribution #cleanroom #databricks #snowflake #microsoftfabric

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Came across this on Hacker News last night, definitely worth the read for anyone in our industry. We’ve all been watching the train wreck that Google Search has become in recent years and this article does a good job of outlining what happened on the inside. I’ll be touching on some of this in my talk tomorrow but this whole escapade is one of the reasons that getting accurate data on the SERPs at as broad a level as possible is so critical to any site that depends on search traffic, paid or organic. The use cases are numerous, including cannibalizarion detection, competitive opportunities, ad monitoring, copy trends, SERP layout shift, local changes, and much more. https://lnkd.in/gtE5j2Ez

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How did InvisionApp with a $1.9 billion valuation fail so badly? The short answer: - Lack of product focus - Marketing over innovation - Feature release stagnation - Declining customer trust - Missing innovation in the design space They could have easily prevented all of this! They had the talent. They had the money. They had the insight in the design industry. I covered this all in yesterday's newsletter issue. You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/dPU_kYF5

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In big studios, silos slow improvement 🐢🥱 Jason McGuirk and I have seen this scenario so many times 👇🏼 🫧 95% of the team works in their discipline bubble 🫱🏼‍🫲🏾 The other 5% of upper management has broad cross-functional meetings that don’t lead to specific action 🫠 Crucial details never trickled down to the people doing the day-to-day work We set out to do things differently at FunCraft. While we keep our meetings minimal, we are religious about our weekly cross-functional meeting that brings together heads of product, analytics, user acquisition, and ad monetization to review our games from all angles 🔄 What’s unique about our company is that every senior leader is also a hands-on doer. So everyone in that cross-functional meeting is going to have a direct hand in implementing the plans we discussed 💪🏼 This approach has dismantled silos and fostered a culture where collaboration isn't just encouraged - it's expected. Everyone is equipped to act, not just deliberate, making our team more agile and our games better. In my experience, the senior leaders at other studios met with good intentions. They wanted to help their teams. However, the hierarchical model wasn’t optimal for nimble, cross-functional teamwork. At FunCraft, we can do more with fewer people because we operate differently. Senior doers, collaborative team, big impact 💥

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Buying Digital Assets On Flippa [New Interview] Want to get an inside look into what the Flippa platform offers? Who better to share that with you than the CEO of Flippa, Blake Hutchison. Matt Raad just interviewed Blake Hutchison on our Digital Investors Podcast about buying digital assets on Flippa. they covered: The 2 new online assets you can now buy on Flippa (based on high demand) The most sought-after web assets on Flippa in 2024 Why investors are looking to buy boring online businesses The impacts of the recent Google updates on websites Where to start your search if you’re looking to buy a website between $100k to $10 million Whether you’re a novice, an expert, or somewhere in the middle, make sure you check out this interview for Blake's valuable insights: https://lnkd.in/gWpG8dZK #flippa #onlinebusiness #digitalassets

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We are already cyborgs. The phone in your palms is an extension of yourself. We will merge more and more with technology in the coming years. Privacy and security, then it will dawn on every consumer if not already, will be paramount. The crowdstrike and Microsoft fiasco is a strong case for Apple. As a business I don’t like paying 30% Apple tax on AppStore. I find the Apple review process annoying for every app release. But I know my app business would not have prospered if not for the trust and ease of business built into to AppStore ecosystem. As a consumer, I wouldn’t give a different smartphone to my family or friends other than the iPhone. Privacy and security paramount. #crowdstrike #apple #privacy

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These guys turned a ping pong joint into a $50M tech company. And it's barely been 4 years. It's a crazy story and I wanted to learn more. The company's called PingPod. It was founded in 2020 by David, Max, and Ernesto. It started with a single spot in NYC. Now they have 15 locations in 6 cities. And zero employees. Here's the PingPod playbook. 1/ Make sure it works Rewind to February 2020. The guys open a ping pong "pod" in NYC. And they optimize every part of it. The lighting, the tables, the pricing, the equipment. Tweaking and toning until it's just right. After a few months, they're pulling in $800/day. Expenses are running $600/day. That's a 25% profit. It's working. Time to hit the gas. 2/ Scale with cheap real estate The ideal PingPod is 2,500 square feet. In areas with lots of foot traffic. And in 2020, there's plenty of it available. Covid-19 is pummelling the real estate market. Landlords are desperate to fill their office and retail space. And PingPod is here to grab it. Our boys negotiate sweetheart deals in New York, Brooklyn, and Queens. Within 24 months, they're at 4 locations. 3/ Automate everything PingPod keeps labour costs down by automating the whole experience. Customers use the app to reserve a table, unlock the door, and pay their bill. And it gets better. The app has fun features. You can control the lighting at your table and watch video replays of your game. All this automation means zero employees. 4/ Let’s talk pricing Booking a table will run you $15 - $50 an hour. It all fluctuates based on timing and location. For power players, PingPod offers a membership. That ranges from $60 - $120 a month. You’ll get discounted tables, first-in-line access, and other perks. Whatever you choose, PingPod is getting paid. 5/ Horizontal expansion This is all working for the ping pong crowd. But could it work for other stuff? Oh yes. Next up: pool halls. In 2023, PingPod scoops up Sharks Pool Club. They quickly revamp with the fancy app and more services. In under a year, revenue is up 76%. 6/ Productize the tech Now for the grand finale. Ping pong and pool halls can be a good business. But the underlying tech might be even better. So last year, the crew launched PodPlay. They've taken their entire tech stack and turned it into a SaaS product. And they raised $10M+ to grow fast. From fitness centres to pickleball courts, PodPlay is hustling to dominate the market. And it all started with a ping pong joint. #marketing #growth #brand P.S. Enjoy this? Then you’ll love my newsletter. My best stuff direct to your inbox. Plus I’ll send you a free chapter from my new book, coming in June. Hit the link in my profile to subscribe.

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I rewiewed all of Atlassian's finanicals from 2015 - 2023. This was the most impressive thing I found. They've been able to increase their ACV from $2,488 to $12,344. That's a 396% increase in 8 years. This is a huge part of their growth story. When you 5X the amount of money each customer pays you it's easy to generate growth. Atlassian have done an outstanding job of continuing to add products to their offering. This plays a big part in driving up ACVs. More products to sell - greater share of wallet.

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The new view from the offices of Liquid Technologies! Did you know that around Half a Million people, yes Half a Million people are moving to Texas a year. So excited to be part of Texas and its business's digital journey! Im here all summer so drop by or dm to schedule some time. #digitaltransformation #texas #technologypartner

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A lot of software companies are discovering that their TAM is smaller than they'd originally thought and it's creating growing pains. Even for early/mid lifecycle businesses. Typically the more you penetrate a market the harder it is to maintain your growth rate (unless you have network effects); so at some point it makes sense to shift focus towards increasing your TAM rather than exclusively on capturing more of your existing market. For better or worse there’s essentially only two ways to grow your TAM, aside from just raising prices or waiting for the market to grow organically. a) Sell your products to a different segment of customers. I.e. move up or down market, expand to new geos, or enter new verticals. b) Sell different products to your existing universe of customers. I.e. expand your product offering either through M&A or build in house Best route to take depends on your market, product category, competition, and access to capital. But most successful companies do both at different phases of their lifecycle.

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You can’t fund new projects incrementally. If adding a new business line or product line doesn’t require you to do a full re-underwriting of the current strategy, you’ll end up with no strategy at all.

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