Productize Podcast
[39] Managing Ads as a Service to Managing Ads as Software w/ Michael Erickson (AdBadger)
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Today on the show, Michael Erickson. Mike runs Search Scientists, a productized service/agency that focuses on marketing services like pay-per-click (PPC), AdWords, and Amazon Ads management.
What is interesting about Michael is that in 2017 he made the transition from the service into a Service-as-a-Software. Michael is building AdBadger which is an ad management platform for the Amazon Ads system.
I completely relate to Michael’s recent experience, so we compare notes on managing our agencies, putting people in place, restructuring our processes and team, and of course transitioning into building a software product.
Stay tuned to listen how to work with developers, ins and outs of a remote team vs in-house, and how Michael met his developer at a dog park ????.
Enjoy!
Episode Notes
[2:29] How started Search Scientists after Michael being disappointed when being a High School biology teacher. Mindset shifts from being a self-employed, to freelancer, to having a team. Separating deep practitioners and managers roles.
- “When will AdBadger go public? people ask me. I want to be sure that when you put in your Amazon paid traffic campaign it will spit out a better campaign.”
[13:46] Roles at Search Scientists. Client Success Specialist, a role introduced whose only job is to brainstorm new initiatives auditing clients’ campaigns.
- “One thing I decided early on is not having Customer Service dedicated people.”
[21:33] Why Michael stripped away all of their SOPs.
- “If you have professionals on your team, let them be professionals.”
[27:20] Going from productized service to building software.
[34:59] Funding the launch of AdBadger. The rationale behind partnering with people vs hiring. Finding developers in dog parks. Remote vs in-house team.
- “Business is really fun with great partners.”
- “It’s OK to optimize for experience too.”
Links
- Michael Erickson on Twitter
- Michael Erickson marketing agency, Search Scientists
- Michael Erickson new SaaS, AdBadger
- Mike’s Personal Blog
- Michael Erickson on The Tropical MBA
- Design Pickle
- The Lean Startup book by Eric Ries