017: Zero to $4M/year with an Excel Spreadsheet? The YNAB Story via Jesse Mecham.

Background on Jesse Mecham:

Jesse Mecham is a recovering CPA that started You Need A Budget (aka YNAB) while in college. YNAB teaches people their unique Four-Rule Method that completely transforms how they view and manage their money. When people follow the YNAB Method, they break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, get out of debt, and save more money.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:25] Jesse is the CEO of You Need A Budget (YNAB), a company that teaches people 4 rules to help them manage their money a lot better.
[3:26] He and his wife Julie decided to sell the system they both developed.
[4:55] “Of course, there’s a need for people to manage their money better..”
[5:08] The system was originally just a spreadsheet and cost $10 and nobody bought it. He changed it to $20 and that’s when people started buying it.
[10:14] From spreadsheet they developed it into a software that customers really like.
[17:07] “I don’t see it always as this great thing, you just have to be really intentional about it” – Jesse talking about expansion.
[18:32] Jesse believes that it is not just about the right people, but also the right structure.
[20:37] “It's easy to find people with the skills. It’s far harder to find people that jive with you.”
[26:39] In 2009, Jesse lost a lot of money on a failed software and he was almost out of funds.
[37:56] “I think I would only exit if I stop learning stuff that I find interesting.”

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Really like the Coconut Milk I just bought.
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? This isn’t a tool per se, but implementing a company wide quiet time every day has helped people get uninterrupted deep work time.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Scaling Support to give high touch service as we grow.