Take a break every now and then to refresh!

In This Episode...

Meet Val Sopi,

Founder of Claritask, host of the podcast: Bootstrapping SAAS.

With a broad background of skills and experience ranging from design, development, acting, basketball, even joining the NBA at one point ;), Val is truly one of those unique, friendly and genuine down to earth guys.

I met with Val over a pair of microphones recently to share a conversation about what Val has been up to lately and where things are headed with his product, Claritask.

Our discussion begins with a brief introduction about Val and a few of the things he enjoys outside of building and growing his SAAS product.

We then go into a discussion about disconnecting and taking breaks every now and then in order to look after ourselves.

Val points out that as bootstrapped founders, with limited budgets, we rely on social media to let people know who we are, what we're up to and also to stay up to date with what other folks in our community are up to. However, it can take a toll on our mental health at times.

Val has been taking a break away from online life for the past few months to reset and recharge.

The Story Behind Claritask

We hear the story behind the development of Claritask, which has a history going back to 2013.

The seed for Claritask came from a product that Val was involved with called GoodWERP (short for Good Web ERP), a great tool providing business management for organisations. GoodWERP's features include task and project management, invoicing, financial reporting, collaboration and people administration.

In 2017, Val decided to teach himself how to code in order to open up new business directions. Val's foundations are in design, development and project management. It was this combination, along with the strengths Val saw in the project management aspects of GoodWERP, that provided the catalyst for Claritask.

Claritask is an online software-as-a-service (SAAS) product that prides itself on providing "No-fuss task management". With Claritask you can keep everything and everyone organized, run multiple projects and keep track of deliverables with confidence and clarity.

From the beginning, Claritask was conceived, designed and developed with a "Clarity focused mindset" that helps companies do what they do with minimal distractions.

Among the subscribers of Claritask is a venture-backed company with 8.7million in investment and 120 active users, so it certainly provides serious value.

Claritask has also recently gained further cred by making it to the top of Software Advice's 2020 Front-Runners in Task Management.

Other Topics

We also chat about a few other topics including:

  • The idea that "SAAS is Slow". It can take a while to get a product up and running but even longer still to build up the number of paying customers using your product.

  • How you feel about your product and your environment will implicitly show itself through your product.

  • Experiencing the inevitable 'demo crash' and early post-launch bugs.

  • How Val found himself getting into the technology industry, starting with a programming course when he was around 11 or 12 years old. Over the years, Val's client work led to him really enjoying the technical side of things and he naturally fell into it.

  • Where Val sees his Claritask journey taking him over the next few years including taking it back to the basics of what it does well and leaving it at that.

Key Take-Aways

Some advice Val has for others interested in building their own products includes:

  • Focus on the doing side of things. Get started by building your products, talk about it in public, make new friends and aim to have people talking about your product to get feedback early.
  • Be comfortable 'getting your ass kicked' so-to-speak in order to learn from experiences and move on to bigger and better things.

Check Out Val's Work

Reach Out to Val on Twitter

Other Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Shout Outs

Shout outs this week go to all the things we do to take a break from our desks and online life.

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Credits

  • Speaking of Products is a creation of Miller Productions.
  • I'm Dan Miller and you are a fantastic product maker. All the best with whatever you are working on, and...
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  • Thanks for listening, I'll catch you next time.