Episode 18 – AJ Dunn – How 2 Non-Tech Founders Launched A Software Service
This week on the Unstagnate podcast, we’re doing something a bit different. Instead of focusing on self development, I’ll be focusing on how one small startup became less stagnant.
Today’s guest is A.J. Dunn, co-founder of Abroaders – a company that helps people get cheap international travel for pennies on the dollar.
AJ will talk about how him and his business partner Erik went from being old friends to business partners, and how they went from their first business to Abroaders. But more interestingly, how they turned Abroaders from a boutique company charging $500 for their services, to a software company that charges exactly $0 to provide almost the same level of service.
AJ will talk about how to business was stagnating, how they decided to change direction, and their journey to find investors, release the first software version and how they can make money without charging their customers any money.
A brief overview of today’s episode:
- A.J. shares a story about a sales and fulfillment dilemma he and Erik encountered.
- A.J. describes the signup process and who the service benefits the most.
- He talks about their experience with outsourcing tasks and why it’s important to employ a virtual assistant.
- He shares the process of how they could ease their workload while ensuring their customers would still benefit.
- A.J. talks about his experience with contractors, expectations, and communication.
- He explains how they created a minimum viable product (MVP) that would provide the same results to customers for less money.
- A.J. describes how he and Erik went from being a bootstrap company to finding investors so they could launch the MVP.
- He discusses the main challenges to developing their product.
- A.J. shares how Abroaders offers a competitive advantage that sets them above the competition.
- He talks about roles within the company, how he keeps his business unstagnated, and the company’s vision.
Resources Mentioned:
- Chris Reynolds from Entrepreneur House on episode 8
- World Packers – exchange skills for accommodations
Connect with A.J. Dunn:
Listen and Subscribe
- Stream the episode with the web player:
- Download as an MP3 by right clicking here and choosing “Save As”.
Home for the Holidays Promotion:
Abroaders teamed up with Peter Shankman, Award Wallet, and Imgur to help the less fortunate fly home for the holidays. If you would like to donate your travel miles, go to http://www.abroaders.com/give/ and make a person’s dream come true.
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