Nomorobo · B2C · robocall blocking app
Hand off customer support first, using contractors you meet through your network
Built the whole team without job posts; the support contractor's brother became product manager
Workedteam-processcustomer-support
What they did
As a solo founder, first carved off customer support to a Techstars acquaintance (a contractor who set up Zendesk); when he left he handed it to his brother, who later became product manager. For development, bought a Laravel author's book-plus-consultation package ($200 tier), hit it off, and contracted him for years. Never posted a job ad or ran interviews; kept everyone as contractors to stay small and focused, with Aaron keeping the developers' 'hopper' full.
What happened
Guest says this is how the whole team was built, with seven more similar examples.
- Stage
- Scale (scaling)
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · From Idea to 8-Figure Exit in 10 Years Flat — Aaron Foss, Nomorobo“So the first piece that I thought is, okay, I can break off customer support.”
“I actually found that some of the best people, you can't hire them. You can contract with them.”
“I've never like put out a job application or done interviews or anything like that.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Nomorobo: Enter a government prize contest with a working prototype, demo video and catchy nameWon and split the $50K prize out of ~800 entries; launched the company
- Nomorobo: Talk to every reporter after a public win and send them to an email waitlist3,000 signups in a few months, 30,000+ emails by launch day
- Nomorobo: Request 5 years of government complaint data to seed your blocklist on day oneMany false positives, but enough to launch and start collecting real data
- Nomorobo: Give landline blocking away free forever to gather data and users for the paid appCost up to $120K a month in phone bills; replaced any ad budget
- Nomorobo: Email your free landline users asking them to try the paid mobile appFounder calls it huge; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Charge $1.99 a month through Apple's in-app subscriptions instead of building billingBecame the business's turning point; Apple's cut was cheaper than self-run billing
- Nomorobo: Give a 2-week free trial so users see it block a robocall firstFounder credits it for the app's success; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Soft launch quietly, fix the bugs, then tell reporters who covered you beforeFounder says the press flywheel kept going; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Publish a page for every robocaller phone number, with the call recording and a block buttonFounder calls it a moat that worked really well; no traffic numbers
- Nomorobo: Pitch local reporters this week's top scams in their city, with call audio2-3 unpaid press mentions a week for 10 years, including NBC Nightly News
- Nomorobo: Let phone carriers turn on your free service in one click from their control panelsAnother huge free channel with no biz dev team; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Build it Apple's privacy-first way, then ask Apple to feature it as App of the DayFeatured by Apple early; founder calls it a competitive advantage
- Nomorobo: Track just one number early on: robocalls blockedFounder recommends it; no measured result
- Nomorobo: Raise small amounts on a rolling note only when you need the next stepAbout $2.25M raised in total; reached profitability and kept a big stake
- Nomorobo: Ask your biggest supplier for 90-day payment terms while waiting for Apple payoutsGot down to $944 in the bank but survived without predatory investor terms
- Nomorobo: When one buyer makes an offer, tell every past suitor to get competing bidsHad a choice of buyers; sold for over eight figures (per host)
- Nomorobo: Add a $5 a month premium tier with call screening and a family plan