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In which I pretend to be a PM for apps like Talisman, which was top product of the week on ProductHunt. Talisman promises a better way to audit, manage, and plan a  software subscription budget. In this episode, I talk to my friend Gabriel who's the CFO of Caju, a São Paulo based startup. 

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As a PM my objective is to help build products that provide value to high-frequency use- cases so it can acquire newer users at lower cost and retain existing ones at higher value. 

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  • Use-cases: How often and how severe is the use-case. Is there a higher frequency, higher severity adjacent use-case. 

  • Acquisition: What are barriers to try and switch. 

  • Retention: Can value be delivered sooner to avoid risk of churn. 

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Takeaways:​​

  • Software spend monitoring for Gabriel is a low frequency (monthly), low severity activity. 

  • Caju, a growth stage venture doesn't appear to need to monitor SW spend "live", the way an (eg:) an indie-developer or Seed stage venture might need to. 

  • The driver for SW spend at growth stage is value. If the SW is delivering value, the cost is more or less justified. Cost could be a driver for a smaller companies with shorter runway. 

  • "What happened next" as a conversation hack to get detailed and reliable user feedback worked

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Next steps with Gabriel and others:

  • Mockups/ prototypes: Talisman's product today appears to be aimed at the price conscious startup/ small business. So their dashboard shows cost related information like YTD spend and # transactions. As a PM I'd be interested to show Gabriel mockups of value metrics (eg: 5 star reviews by his coworkers). 

  • Talk & test: Chat with more potential users and buyers at companies at various stages to fine tune who the ideal customer is. 

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Big thanks to Gabriel for his time and knowledge! 

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Other than the main thing above, some other things I learn from Gabriel

  • It isn't hard to fly economy again (he switched from McKinsey to startup)

  • Companies in Brazil get a tax break when offering employees meal vouchers

  • Kaaju in Hindi comes from Caju in Portuguese

  • CFOs can have a growth mindset too

  • Startups in Brazil grow responsibly (spend a buck when you have 3) 

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