Why you Should Always Stick to Your Values When Building and Growing Your Startup with Peldi Guilizzoni | Podcast #18

06/23/2020

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Peldi Guilizzoni is the Founder and CEO of Balsamiq, a fully bootstrapped ISV focused on prototyping UI/UX.

After studying Computer Science in Italy he moved to San Francisco, where he worked for a couple of years. Through his experience at adobe systems as an Engineering lead, he discovered an opportunity to develop a tool that could make everyone more productive and help them do a better job, something he describes as a “no going back technology”.

After a series of events that lead to quitting his job at Adobe and focusing on his project, he decided to go back to Italy and found his successful company.

During this interview we cover:

Early Web Apps and conceiving Balsamiq from the beginning
Staying bootstrapped & the love of the craft (money as a consequence)
How to compete as a bootstrapped company vs VC funded competitors
Longevity rather than growth
Building a business in a non-VC friendly market
Specialist product for non specialized customers
Usability & customer service as a grow strategy
How a transparent startup gains customer trust
Why you can copy technical, but you can’t copy people (the golden puzzle concept for customer output)
Why is it important for a SaaS company to teach you what to make for dinner (unique customer interactions)
Who can start wireframing and how can someone like me get good at it
Plus policies & investing in people for remarkable results
The importance of developing company values for a better work culture (to comepte with Google, Apple)

Links and mentions:

Balsamiq Website *(Get Balsamiq cloud web app free for 3 months! Enter the code: SAASDISTRICT)*

Join the office hour program at Balsamiq for advice on:

Founders and business
UX wireframing
Product design
Careers in product design
And many more…