Portfolio Update Update: April '23

By the end of April we started feeling much more confident around our first product’s codebase (three months into owning it). We know what to build or revamp in the short term. We’re also seeing some positive trends, but it’s way too soon to tell–that’s the thing with metrics and tiny products: we need to consider the law of small numbers when anything moves up or down.

Portfolio status #

Still a single-asset “portfolio”. We’re actively searching, but good opportunities that fit our model continue to be scarce. Dealflow is our #1 challenge to take the next steps towards our vision for Sidenote. On the upside, at least the math is simple to do.

April was a bit better than March (see next section for possible reasons). MRR grew ~4% month-over-month (which is half our current target) and the business yielded ~2.5% monthly cash-on-cash.

What we’ve been working on #

• Updated the app’s Slack App Directory listing. This took longer than expected, as there were a number of app review guidelines that we had to consider (the app hadn’t been updated its listing for a long while). Mostly under-the-hood improvements but it was a great codebase-learning experience for us. We’re glad it’s behind us.
• Launched a couple of new features, with more to come. Strategy here is simple. We’re starting with long-requested and/or table-stakes features, whilst trying to mix in an “exciting” feature every now and then.
• Improved our lifecycle messaging. The app is setup with Intercom, but it was heavily underusing it (which is silly, considering its price tag). We added a few messages to drive trial activation and conversion. We saw rates improve since these messages went live but we need more time to establish causality.

Looking ahead #

Going forward, now that we’re more comfortable working on the asset, we expect our focus and responsibilities to be more clearly delineated, with Alfredo handling most of the tech side of the house and myself working on marketing and growth.

We’re stoked about what we’re doing and everything we want to do. The hard part is coming to terms with what we can effectively do within our personal and business model constraints. We need to be patient and intentional. Slow and steady wins the race.