SwitchFrame (as we know it) is coming to an end...


Good morning,

I'll be honest, I never thought I'd be writing this email with what I'm about to share, but here we are.

These last few months have included a compounding of tough decisions, and unfortunate realities, ultimately leading to all of the updates in today's email.

Is it the end of SwitchFrame? In a few ways, but not entirely. Buckle up, I've got a lot to share below for you.

This version of the email has been sent to current investors only, and includes more specific details than the version that will later be sent to all other subscribers.

✌️ PARTING WAYS WITH THE CO-FOUNDER

For starters, I had to make the incredibly hard decision to let go of the co-founder / CTO that I had hired late last year. Without getting into every detail, there was an exaggeration of technical experience, lack of accountability, poor communication, and differing views on what the product and features needed to become.

With how easy it is to build with AI coding tools these days (more on that soon), it's become impossible to be able to assess the true capabilities of technical hires β€” even with rigorous 4-hour test projects during hiring, lead by trusted developers.

Unfortunately, what seemed like an incredible hire on paper, led to more advanced features being significantly delayed, or heavy push-back on why they weren't actually needed β€” when it was really lack of experience on how to build them.

While I was able to overlook this for a while, when we started having customers asking about when core features from the v1 of SwitchFrame were coming to v2, and me getting no definitive timeline back.

With our funding quickly depleting due to his higher salary, I knew I needed to finally rip the bandaid off.

I believe he realized he was in over his head as well, and mentioned he was actually planning to resign from the role; so, it ended up being a fairly clean break, and we were able to get all equity back.

πŸ‘¨πŸ»β€πŸ’» TEACHING MYSELF HOW TO DEVELOP

As a non-technical founder, one of the hardest things for me at this company as been my inability to jump in and build at any time. With my prior company, a video agency that was later acquired, I was able to do any and all of the roles myself.

With SwitchFrame, I've been at the mercy of countless contractors, full-time hires, and then a technical co-founder to turn my ideas and wireframes in my head into reality, even with my incredibly detailed requirements.

To be honest, after being burned multiple times, I'm getting tired of relying on everyone else to bring my vision to life.

So, I've spent the last month learning how to structure, develop, and deploy my own code, assisted by the countless AI coding tools that now exist to write code 10x faster than ever before.

I've always enjoyed designing UI/UX wireframes, and turns out, putting code behind them comes pretty natural too.

🀝 SHIFTING FROM B2B TO B2C

One of the hardest realities I've come to realize over the last few months is that while I see the insane value of video testimonials, not every business owner sees it that way.

I've learned that most business owners see video testimonials as a "vitamin," rather than a "painkiller. As much as I'd disagree, given my own experience in the video space, I can't argue with that the market wants (or doesn't).

While we were able to get free customers on SwitchFrame, we found it hard to convince them to upgrade and pay, as many thought they only needed a few videos for their business, then would stop using the platform.

With that, I've made one of the hardest decisions of my life (after 3+ years of building and so much blood, sweat, tears, and money of my own), to stop supporting/growing the B2B version of SwitchFrame.

Instead, as part of learning to code this last month, I've been building an entirely new B2C platform myself, using a lot of the same technology that we used for SwitchFrame, but with new consumer-facing use case.

Introducing: LegacyFrame β€” a way to collect video stories from loved ones using weekly prompts, that are then edited into memoir video about their life at the end of a year (or as long as they keep renewing), plus a hard-copy book.

Think StoryWorth, except for submitted using video instead of written emails.

They say video is worth a thousand words, and leveraging video as the main collection source makes every story way more personal... plus gives us some crazy features we can slowly introduce (e.g., conversational AI avatars of loved ones).

🏦 THE BIG UPHILL BATTLE AHEAD: FUNDING

While I'm insanely excited to be able to hopefully build 90% of what's initially needed for LegacyFrame, I'll still need help from experienced developers (contractors) to debug and fill in the large gaps in my current knowledge.

Additionally, moving to B2C means a heavy investment into Meta ad spend. Fortunately, I have a friend who will run the ads for no cost when we're ready as a favor, but we'll still need to budget $3-5k/month for the spend itself.

With only $20k left in our bank (including another $10k of my own money recently invested), it's not going to be easy. I've cut my "salary" as low as possible, and currently burning through my savings to pay my personal living expenses / loans.

Without raising more capital or picking up a second income to be able to fully reduce my salary down to zero while I keep building, I'm genuinely not sure how I'll be able to pull it off.

One thing is certain: I'm going to continue to give it my all until I can't anymore.

I've also listed the assets from SwitchFrame (B2B) for sale on MicroAcquire and Acquisitions.com, though without significant revenue, we'd have to be really lucky to find the right strategic buyer interested in the tech itself.

➑️ MY SINGLE CURRENT ASK FOR MY NETWORK

On the job side, I'd love to find remote work in consulting, as a entrepreneur in residence, as an analyst/associate at a venture firm, or strategy/leadership/operations at a portfolio company.

In terms of industry, I have significant experience in retail/e-commerce, financial services, and home/local services.

As a reminder, before SwitchFrame and my agency, I worked in a variety of roles ranging from strategy consulting to building Bank of America's early-stage venture program and startup accelerator. (My LinkedIn)

Regardless, I'm excited to keep building LegacyFrame, even if it means continuing to spend my own savings until I can find another income to offset my monthly expenses while testing this new market.

As one of our investors, I'd love to jump on a call and cover anything in this email in further detail, or get your thoughts on how to approach the next few months; please feel free grab a time here at any point.

Best regards,

SwitchFrame.ai

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