👩💻Tech-Enabled Vs Tech-Led: Find Out Which Approach Built A $Multi-Million Business with Nicole Wood, co-founder Ama La Vida
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
"We’re focused on tech to the extent that it helps improve that experience but we’re not being hindered by the technology. We’re definitely investing in it, we’re focused on it, but it still comes down to the human experience and why people are here." - Nicole Wood
Hey, It's Alex!
It seems like everyone and their mama wants to start a revolutionary tech startup.
While new technology will always be important, the core of your company should always be to serve an unmet need. Your customers come first, not your tech.
The best companies have used technologies to create unmatched experiences that make life easier.
What you'll find in this traction briefing:
How a high-touch (aka white glove) business approach can be a major key to success.
How using a tech-enabled approach and not a tech-first approach is better.
How experimentation sets the stage for future excellence.
The rise and fall of Peloton
Founder: Nicole Wood | Company: Ama La Vida | Location: Chicago, Illinois
Where was she before Ama La Vida?
Before Ama La Vida Nicole Wood dove head-first into a career in management consulting. After hustling and networking with people from her alma mater, she landed what she considered to be her dream job. She quickly realized that it really wasn't what she thought it would be. As she rose through the ranks in her career, her company assigned her to a leadership coach who helped her gain a clearer vision of her career.
Problem
After sessions with her leadership coach, she realized just what a wonderful resource coaching is and wondered why the heck more people weren't leaning on coaches to help guide their decisions. Ama La Vida was born from her desire to help more people access the benefits that she received from coaching. Their name is Spanish for "helping people love life" - and that is what her team helps people do!
Here's what you'll learn...
How A White Glove Approach Worked For Her Business
Premium Service For Brand Loyalty: It's 2022 and doing the bare minimum when it comes to your customers' experiences just won't cut it. Your customers have experienced quality service and they expect it from all businesses. White-glove service isn't just for high-value clients, it's for all your clients.
Lesson -No matter what industry you are in, there's competition left, right and center. To make a mark on your customers, you need to be able to offer quality service. Go over and above what the rest are doing. When starting out her business, Nicole Wood was extremely keen on ensuring her coaches had quality service and quality experience. That meant that she had to offer additional services that were not offered by her competitors. That has given her business an edge that other competitors still do not have till this day. To learn more about how to apply a white-glove approach to increase brand loyalty, click here.
Learn why high touch can be transformative here.
How A Tech-Enabled Approach Proved Better Than A Tech-Led Approach
Tech-Enabled Over Tech-Driven: Winning a competition is easier when you have a headstart. That's great news if your new tech is the first one on the playground. Unfortunately, that also doesn't guarantee longevity. Inevitably, there will be new players who can offer the same if not better. A tech-enabled approach on the other hand uses technology to create new user-experiences that simply make life easier and better.
Lesson - Your customers don't care about your AI, or how revolutionary your tech is. They care that your tech can serve their needs. Bottom line! Focus on improving your customers' experience and how technology can effectively do that. A successful tech-enabled approach is at its core customer-centric. Ama La Vida successfully used a tech-enabled approach to improve their coaches' experiences. As a result, they have created a platform that is desirable within their market. Learn more about how they did this here.
Here's why your brand needs to become tech-enabled
How Experimentation Sets The Stage For Future Excellence
It's Never A Perfect Science: As founders we're naturally overachievers. That means that the risk of failure can stop us from making key decisions. We always need to feel ready and we need to have everything in order before jumping into any thing. The good or the bad news is - you'll never be 100% ready, so just do it!
Lesson - "A lesson that I’ve had to learn. There are very few inherently bad or good ideas. It’s what’s the right thing for your business at its place in its evolution. " - Nicole Wood. No, we're not here to validate your choices. We're letting you know that you will make a ton of mistakes but those mistakes will put you one step closer to success. For Nicole Wood, simply trusting that things will work out at the end is what saw her through her mistakes. As one of our Traction Queens once said, Fail Fast and Fail Forward! Learn how to successfully use experimentation to grow your business here.
Here's Your Weekly Tea
The Rise And Fall Of Peloton
Peloton has gone through some high highs and some devastating lows. Even though investors expected a rough quarter for the company, it was nothing as bad as what was seen last week. With losses of $757 million this quarter, how did this pandemic marvel fall so fast?
Quarantine is long gone: The pandemic led to exponential growth for the company. We're talking about a 66% increase in sales and whopping 94% increase in subscribers!!!With no access to gyms and outdoor workout classes, Peloton was it. Peloton increased their production all the while overestimating demand, especially once restrictions were lifted.
Competition: While Peloton was the pandemic darling, competitors like Echelon and iFit were on the rise. Their subscriptions rates were cheaper while still providing similar products. Although Peloton had a cult-like following, consumers still wanted to save some coin.
Controversy: It seemed like Peloton was always in the media and not for the right reasons. From black staff members complained about unequal pay, to their CEO throwing parties amid plummeting stock prices, the company was in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Key Takeaway: Overconfidence precedes carelessness. At the end of the day, Peloton overestimated the demand for their product. As a result, they overspent on logistics and were left with supply chain challenges that will take a while to unravel.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Gain 50k Customers!: Finding customers is one thing, but retaining them is another. Find out here how one of our queens was able to successfully attract and retain 50k customers!
Tech-Enabled Vs Tech Driven: Find out why a tech-enabled approach is always better here.
Build A Strong Company Culture: A positive company culture greatly reduces attrition. Learn the 7 ways to build a strong company culture here.
The Discipline Of Experimentation: Trying out new strategies can be scary. Here are a few success stories to motivate you to take that leap.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Explore community membership here.