Hey all,

I wrote a forum post not long ago on marketing as one of the rising in importance hires for all startups. This is all the things we've done, with some results and free resources.

I didn't know no-shows waste 15-40% of every sales team's calendar until I met a stranger at Web Summit.
I was standing by our booth when someone wandered over and started asking about what we're building at @Meet-Ting. I assumed he was just curious.
Then he mentioned his company loses a lot of time to no-shows across his sales team. I asked how many.
"We get 10,000 inbound demos a month."
He walked off eventually, and someone came over to me and said: "Do you know who that was?".

Turns out he was the Head of Sales at a European unicorn.

We stayed in touch. And that conversation became a feature!
We call it 'No Show Recovery'.
Ting watches your calendar. If it notices the other person didn't show up, it asks if you want help rescheduling - automatically, inside the same thread.
When you're running 10k sales calls a month and 15-40% don't show, recovering even 1-5% is hundreds of meetings saved and potential $$$s.
Other lesson, talk to people as if you want and expect nothing in return.

This post is actually inspired by a tweet from @sandradjajic + an update here on PH from @chrismessina.

A few days ago I saw this:

Dear Product Hunt community,

If you re reading this and you ve launched something - or you're close to launching - you are already incredibly special.

Hey all,

We just made a much overdue update to our website based on some key insights that I thought helpful to share.

Hey all,

15 years ago I wrote an article about the rise of a more social web for Huff Post.

I wrote a list of all the things I learnt by becoming a first-time founder and leaving a role in big tech. It s more than I had when I started, so I hope it finds you at the right time:

Here we go:

• Getting going: Make sure you have a clear reason and those in your life are on same page. It is consuming!

• Unfair advantage: Founders aren t special, they just optimize to what makes them different (becomes important when raising too). It can be as simple as "worked in big company, saw firsthand the XXX problem"

• Getting started isn t easy: Make sure you consider the financial impact if leaving a job to get going Consider 12-18 months of no revenue or funding and if you can manage that

• Full-time or nothing: You can t do both a job and a startup. Investors won t back part-time conviction

• The pitch doc: Forces clarity, the problem, the customer, the market, and why you should solve it

• Raising money: Start with belief and momentum. An idea, a plan, and an MVP are enough to find your first backers

• Accelerators: Early programs like YC or Techstars can help refine your product and give you fuel to move faster. I have a longer list of Accelerators in case anyone needs it...?

• Foundations: Lock down your domain, name, trademarks, and structure early - future you will thank you

• Advisors: Find people who open doors and offer perspective, not control, ideally top % in their domain

• SaaS reality: You ll spend more on tools than you expect, it s part of building

• Building: Nothing s real until users touch it. Ship early, get feedback, iterate. It was extremely painful to hear users complain about our early bugs, but without that, we wouldn't be more reliable now...

• Co-founder: Pick someone with complementary skills and shared energy. You ll need each other

• Runway: Track every cost. I have a spreadsheet with every single one, also helps with tax reporting. Burn awareness is survival

• Energy: In a startup, you are the momentum. Working Saturday isn t working Saturday , it s pushing your dream forward

• Loved ones: Communicate early. The work will consume you; don t let it quietly consume them too

• Attention: Building is one thing. Getting noticed is harder. You ll code-switch between product, marketing, finance, and sanity

• What if you fail: Most startups do. But you ll come out sharper, braver, and more ready than ever

I put together a digest of the last few months building Ting - the good, the meh, and the lessons I can imagine me wanting to tell future founders so they can dodge the bruises and get to the good stuff quicker...

The good:
- Nearly 1,000 users - ~50% MoM growth with no ads.
- Added Outlook, Teams, Zoom + multi-calendar.
- Launched Memories, micro product moments when the AI remembers small details + you feel seen.
- Team is now 2 founders, 2 engineers, AI QA + day-one consultant. Oh, and a baby was born yesterday!
- Inbound pilots from a top 10 tech company, top 3 ad network, top 3 bank.
- Great investor convos at Web Summit + SF.

We're constantly looking for ways to reduce the pain and cognitive load of managing your calendar.

We started with something simple: CC Ting in an email and it schedules the meeting for you.

Self-centred update today, but adding the top Product Hunt badge to our site felt real good. See bottom right of image, also online here: meet-ting.com

Thanks again, gives us pride and satisfaction.