From Consultancy to $10M in ARR — Vince Mayfield, TalkingParents

On the podcast: The right way to raise prices, the painful lessons from picking the wrong tools, and why you should respond to every single app review.

Top Takeaways

✍️ Start surveying as soon as you start developing, and don’t stop. Identify your MVP by understanding customers early on, and develop new features with key customer insights when you’re growing.

📈 Bundle extra value if you must raise prices to soften the blow of a tough sell and demonstrate attentiveness to customer needs.

🧰 Cheaper, easy-to-integrate tools might not scale on infrastructure and unit economics, which could lead to a painful re-engineering process down the line.

🏗️ Plan for scalability from the start by adhering to solid software engineering principles and ensuring your tooling integrations are easily switchable.

🤑 Provide premium support for a premium product price. Respond to every store review — each interaction leaves a lasting impression on customers and drives loyalty.

About Vince Mayfield

👨‍💻 Co-founder and CEO of TalkingParents, an app that helps divorced or separated parents manage communication and share responsibilities.

💪 Vince and his partner jumped from professional services to building a scalable app with $10 million in ARR.

💡 “People like to compartmentalize elements of their life and they don't want to have a million apps.”

👋 LinkedIn

Links & Resources

‣ Connect with Vince on LinkedIn

‣ Check out TalkingParents

‣ TalkingParents on Instagram

‣ TalkingParents on Facebook

‣ TalkingParents on Pinterest

‣ TalkingParents on X (formerly Twitter)

‣ Get TalkingParents from the App Store

‣ Get TalkingParents from Google Play

Episode Highlights

[1:35] Origin story: Making money while we sleep is the ultimate goal — Vince talks about how he moved from agency to product company to $10 million in ARR.

[4:44] From hired gun to product growth: Lack of app monetization and not understanding customers early on may make pivoting to a product focus challenging.

[7:59] Risk management for risk mitigators: How do you make money from the court system? Easy: Switch focus to the real customers.

[10:32] Freemium tinkering: Vince dives into the app’s early strategy for monetization and subscription — burning through close to $1 million in the process.

[12:59] Chartered surveying: When it seems like an app is charging too little, asking customers what features they want and need is the ticket to nailing down value.

[15:59] Downhill slalom vs. uphill climb: Raising already low prices can be delicate, but bundling additional value with a rollout often softens the blow. Look for opportunities to layer on deeper value.

[28:33] Nudges and needs: From surveying to app instrumentation, Vince and his partner had to understand the customer journey before making the right moves.

[32:08] The ultimate tool belt: Not paying attention to how apps can scale from the very beginning is an easy mistake for app developers to make — especially when using tools.

[38:28] Best-in-class assessment: Starting with best-in-class tools isn’t always doable, but adopting good software engineering techniques as you go is a satisfactory quick fix.

[41:28] Lightning round: Vince talks about why support matters and how that translates into running a business and customers’ responses.