Every client invoice is a small investment in our product
We've had investors since day one. They just never asked for equity. How 300 € and client invoices paid for every product we've built.
Leer más →I want fewer, better customers
For years, any client was a good client. Now I think the most important sales skill a small company has is knowing who not to sell to.
When you start with 300 €, every client is a good client.
That's not a strategy. It's hunger.
And hunger is a terrible judge of character.
Yes to everything
In the early years of Foxnice, I think Yeray and I said yes to almost anything that came with an invoice attached. Websites, shops, apps, custom developments that had little to do with each other.
I understand why. When there's no investor's money behind you and nobody to call for a loan, the client in front of you is the only safety net you have.
The problem is that "yes to everything" doesn't feel like a decision. It feels like survival. So you never stop to ask what it's costing you.
It costs focus. Every client who needs something slightly different pulls you a little further from what you're actually good at. Every hour spent on a client is an hour that doesn't go into our products. That's fine when the hour is well spent. It's not fine when it's spent bending the business into a shape that doesn't fit.
A bad client doesn't cost you what they pay. They cost you what you could have built instead.
The year we started saying no
Last year was the first time we said no on purpose, more than once.
We left the Kit Digital programme because it was eating our focus. We decided, together, that support doesn't include development. We raised our maintenance prices. We decided to specialise in WordPress maintenance instead of being a bit of everything.
None of those decisions felt brave at the time. They felt risky. Each one meant some clients might leave.
And that's exactly what I'm learning to be fine with.
What "better" means to me
I don't mean bigger. I don't mean richer. A small client can be a very good client.
When I say "better", I mean something more boring:
- They have a problem we already know how to solve.
- They value things working more than things being new.
- They pay on time. A client who pays at 30 days is still the best investor I know.
That last one sounds petty. It isn't. Predictable money is what lets us be patient with everything else.
The opposite type is easy to recognise in hindsight. The one who wants a discount and then wants more scope. The one who treats support as free development. The one whose needs are so specific that serving them means building a second company inside yours.
I don't think those are bad people. They're just not our people. And pretending otherwise is unfair to both sides.
Smaller on purpose
The obvious question is why we don't grow faster. More clients. More people. More everything.
My honest answer is that wanting to be the biggest is the fastest way I know to lose your freedom. More clients means more of the wrong clients. More of the wrong clients means more exceptions. And a company made of exceptions isn't free. It's just busy.
So the plan, if you can call it that, is simple. Fewer clients. Better chosen. Served properly.
When we started, every client was a good client.
Now I'd rather be a little hungry than badly fed.
P.S. If you're reading this and wondering whether you're a "better" client: the fact that you're wondering is a good sign.