What does a tech startup founder look like? I can almost guarantee that your idea won’t match up with my guest for today’s show. She’s smart, spunky, creative, loves to roller skate, is only five feet tall, and she’s a perfect example of someone who found her passion, followed her dreams, and created something truly remarkable.
Christy Laurence is the founder, CEO, and Director of Product of Plann, an award-winning Instagram planning, scheduling, and analytics app. Today, Plann helps over 800,000 businesses, personalities, and marketing teams around the globe in 150 countries build influence and make sales on Instagram. In this episode, Christy shares about bootstrapping to her first million in revenue in her first two years as a non-technical founder, why tech products should be built by creatives and not developers, and how she deals with bias, including her clever response to an investor who called her “a five-foot pipsqueak,” and why she recruited her husband to work on her team.
Finding the passion to make it happen
Christy was working in the corporate advertising world while working on websites on the side, but she always felt that she was destined to have her own company, especially since she came from an entrepreneurial family. She put her illustrations online and things took off; she began making more money selling her illustrations than in her corporate job. Her friends were amazed! She saw Instagram as a visual storytelling platform but had specific ideas of how she wanted it to work for her. One day she realized she was passionate enough to make it happen.
Bootstrapping her “customer-funded platform”
Christy became the artist, visionary, developer, and designer, and she bootstrapped it all, accepting no external funding. With her “lean team,” ideas now come to life quickly, but there were scary parts in getting there, especially learning the technical aspects of the business. Through the launch and scaling process, she had to teach herself the development of the Instagram strategy, and now her team of 29 people in 9 countries is hard at work. They are nearing one million downloads!
Leveling up her skills
Christy Laurence says that if she had known how difficult this journey would be, she’s not sure she would have taken it on. She read a lot of books on growth, traction, and branding to level up her skills as a startup founder. She’s had to balance the growth with having the resources to build the company. She knew she would need to have a revenue-generating business from Day 1, but the growth hasn’t been without pivots and changes along the way.
“Go big or go bust”
This seemed to be the mantra of being a tech founder in America. Christy was already a creative and an Instagram user, so she developed her ideas and asked people if they’d be willing to pay for those kinds of services. In the tech world, it’s all about the execution, so step one in getting her business going was to create an email list and things took off from there.
Creatives have the edge
Christy Laurence says that tech products should be built by creatives, not developers. Creatives have “big, open, blue sky ideas” with no one to tell them it’s a bad idea. With everything we have at our disposal today, there is no excuse for your product not to look beautiful. Christy looks at it like there are no problems, just challenges we will learn to fix. She always asks how she can invent the “faster car” to solve the challenge.
Embrace your crazy
Christy Laurence shares how to build influence and a successful platform. It starts with embracing your crazy and standing out because you’re you. “People come for the images, but they stay for the captions.” She says to layer your story because you’re missing out if you aren’t telling a great story. Her three top tips are: tell a great story, use great imagery, and just be you.
Hiring her husband?
The conversation began with, “Babe, I’m gonna quit my job and spend $100 grand on an app.” He was supportive but didn’t understand the sheer amount of work, when Christy Laurence ended up doing it all for the first two years. Their relationship became troubled, and they had a rough patch to work through, but he jumped in to help, saw that the business was working, and became passionate about it, too. Now they share the same goals and dreams.
Keeping control and handling bias
Christy turned down a multimillion-dollar acquisition because she didn’t want to work for someone else and realized that she hadn’t yet accomplished all she wanted to do. As a five-foot-tall lady who wears quirky clothes, is hyperactive, creative, and loves to roller skate, she doesn’t look or sound like a typical tech founder. One lawyer investor picked her up and spun her around, saying no one would listen to her because she was a “five-foot tall pipsqueak.” She says the solution to bias is to call people out on it.
Taking care of yourself first
Christy Laurence has dealt with stress and anxiety and panic attacks. She is into cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to help her stay on track and healthy. She put in a lot of work, and now has a personal trainer, roller skates often, and eats better. She makes mental health part of her workflow. Also, she had to combat that dreaded imposter syndrome and now mentors in three different programs to help other women in tech.
Highlights of this episode:
- 4:21 – Bringing her ideas to life as a bootstrapper
- 5:06 – Challenges in launching and developing
- 9:00 – Learning to be a founder, as a creative
- 10:40 – Why you have to be obsessed with what you’re doing
- 11:45 – Balancing growth and needed resources
- 13:36 – The key to profitability
- 15:10 – Developing product market fit
- 17:13 – Why tech products should be built by creatives
- 20:01 – Key elements to building influence
- 22:32 – Embracing your crazy
- 23:48 – Why Christy hired her husband-and how it works
- 27:29 – Turning down a multimillion-dollar acquisition
- 29:05 – A “five-foot pipsqueak”
- 31:37 – Dealing with stress and anxiety
- 33:13 – Advice for dealing with imposter syndrome
- 34:56 – The Fem Five
Resources Mentioned:
- Find Christy on Instagram: @PlannThat or @ChristyLadyLaurence
- Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers by Justin Mares
The Fem Five:
- Favorite book to recommend for women?
- Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers by Justin Mares and any of Brene’ Brown’s books
2. Favorite self-care hack?
- “Roller skating and taking baths with bath bombs in overindulgence”
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
- “Live your life like it’s already rigged in your favor.”
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
5. One piece of advice you’d give your five years younger self?
- “It’s going to happen. Just be patient.”
Last Time on The NextFem Podcast
Schadenfreude: The Revenge of the Powerless- with Dr. Tiffany Watt Smith
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