Finally I have some of the boring stuff out of the way. Core features for educators are shipped and hopefully I can transition to working on other skills, like sales and product-market fit.

Synopsis

  • $335 total revenue
  • 6 new trials (3 converted so far)
  • 3 churns
  • 68 hours logged (17/hrs per week)

June was quiet. I was heads down most of the month. But now that I have features and a pricing plan specifically for teachers, I can finally consider V2.0 “done”. It’s a relief but also daunting. I feel like the work is just beginning.  

Life slowed down outside of Fantasy Congress considerably, which allowed me to log more hours. My peer group ended for the time being (as was scheduled). I also said good bye to my day job courtesy of COVID-19. And honestly, the timing couldn’t be better. With the coming school year likely being online, and it being an election year, Fantasy Congress is poised for success. Of course, we’ll see what happens. But if Fantasy Congress has any chance of being ramen profitable, this would be the time.

June goals

My goals for June focused on features for educators. They were all administrative, like adding the ability for students to sign up without email or allowing teachers to manage student leagues and teams. On the surface, these features don’t seem important. However, they were major pain points with my MVP. Without these features, I didn’t feel comfortable marketing to educators because I knew they would run into issues.

It was no problem getting everything finished. Although one thing I’m nervous about is not getting any feedback on how I implemented the features. My preferred method for roll outs would involve beta testing, but up until this point shipping quickly has felt more important than iterating off of feedback.

July goals

  • Announce and launch educator features
  • Reach out to 5 potential partners
  • Reach out to 20 media outlets
  • Try a different pricing plan for individuals

July is all about getting the word out. I’m intentionally opting for quick bursts of traffic over building a long term customer acquisition strategy. One reason for this is timing. The pandemic, the election, the protests…Civics education is uniquely relevant right now and I want to catch that wave. The second reason is money. I only have three months until my savings are spent. Short bursts of cash are more important right now than slowly building MRR over time.

Conclusion

Fantasy Congress is entering a make it or break it moment. If it can’t succeed in this environment, could it ever be profitable? The path to profitability seems straight forward, but we’ll see how things play out.