Savvy Navvy · navigation app for boats
Stop all email marketing
Unknownemail
What they did
Founder dislikes email marketing and killed it; the company does none.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Why He Crowdfunded Millions Instead of Raising VC — Jelte Liebrand, Savvy Navvy“We don't do any email marketing. I hate it, and so I've killed it, and I've just thrown it away.”
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New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Savvy Navvy: Raise money from your own users through equity crowdfunding instead of VCFirst round 3x oversubscribed in 6 days; ~£1M rounds since; 2,500 investors
- Savvy Navvy: Tell crowd investors the good, the bad and the ugly in every updateWon Seedrs Entrepreneur of the Year, voted by investors; enabled repeat rounds
- Savvy Navvy: Walk the docks with a clipboard and ask every boater what bugs themShowed the problem went far beyond ocean racers; founder says it convinced him
- Savvy Navvy: Put your app in one standout boat maker's dashboard, then announce itMany more manufacturers came asking than expected; now a B2B business
- Savvy Navvy: Include 12 months of the app with new boats, paid for by the boat makerFounder says it feeds a consumer-to-manufacturer flywheel; no numbers
- Savvy Navvy: Give boating instructors the app free and build the teaching tools they ask forInstructors send students to it first; founder says no numbers
- Savvy Navvy: Sell a two-year plan at about 30% off to get cash up frontBiggest win of the year; ad spend now paid back as soon as it's spent
- Savvy Navvy: Skip sign-up entirely and create a hidden anonymous account insteadLooked great in the test, fell apart at full rollout; support grief erased gains
- Savvy Navvy: Offer a free tier in the US but charge from day one elsewhere