Rob Walling

Yeah, so to be honest, general manager Fraser, who runs MicroConf, went and did a lot of research on all the platforms. Because obviously we are in Slack for MicroConf Connect. But as you said, you're not going to run a course from there. You need a learning management system or an LMS, unless you're just dumping files. Hey, here's some MP4s in a folder.

Yeah, so to be honest, general manager Fraser, who runs MicroConf, went and did a lot of research on all the platforms. Because obviously we are in Slack for MicroConf Connect. But as you said, you're not going to run a course from there. You need a learning management system or an LMS, unless you're just dumping files. Hey, here's some MP4s in a folder.

That's not really what we're going for here. And so as we researched that and honestly started putting our heads together of like, how long is MicroConf Connect, which that's the online community, how long is that going to be in Slack? Are we going to be on it next year? All they do is keep raising rates and screwing us around and wanting to do phone calls.

That's not really what we're going for here. And so as we researched that and honestly started putting our heads together of like, how long is MicroConf Connect, which that's the online community, how long is that going to be in Slack? Are we going to be on it next year? All they do is keep raising rates and screwing us around and wanting to do phone calls.

It's the biggest pain in our ass, probably in the business right now, is dealing with Slack. And so we were kind of thinking two ways of like, we want an LMS and it would be really nice if it had community features built into it. So that if and when it comes time to migrate off of Slack, that now MicroConf is just all in one place.

It's the biggest pain in our ass, probably in the business right now, is dealing with Slack. And so we were kind of thinking two ways of like, we want an LMS and it would be really nice if it had community features built into it. So that if and when it comes time to migrate off of Slack, that now MicroConf is just all in one place.

You can buy the course, you can consume whatever other things, the member directory and all this stuff. And so what I don't remember is GM Fraser looked at four or five platforms and we kind of evaluated them and Circle just seems to be... I don't know. As we looked at it, it's like, well, that doesn't, it's disqualifiers. Oh, well, that's a red flag on that one. And that one hasn't been around.

You can buy the course, you can consume whatever other things, the member directory and all this stuff. And so what I don't remember is GM Fraser looked at four or five platforms and we kind of evaluated them and Circle just seems to be... I don't know. As we looked at it, it's like, well, that doesn't, it's disqualifiers. Oh, well, that's a red flag on that one. And that one hasn't been around.

And I know that other people like yourself have used Circle and the features seem to be there for what we need.

And I know that other people like yourself have used Circle and the features seem to be there for what we need.

Right. But the real benefit is what you pointed to, the network effect, is I want whatever community we run, I want people to have it on their phone. That's really what I want. And way more people have Slack than Circle, so it is 100% a step down in that respect.

Right. But the real benefit is what you pointed to, the network effect, is I want whatever community we run, I want people to have it on their phone. That's really what I want. And way more people have Slack than Circle, so it is 100% a step down in that respect.

But for all the other things it does, it's just a, gosh dang it, it's so cheap compared to, I'm used to paying Slack six figures a year to run my, you know what I mean? And it's massive. I think it's more than 50% of our profit on Connect goes to Slack. It's insane. And so when I look at Circle and I'm like, oh, we're going to need the premium super enterprise plan.

But for all the other things it does, it's just a, gosh dang it, it's so cheap compared to, I'm used to paying Slack six figures a year to run my, you know what I mean? And it's massive. I think it's more than 50% of our profit on Connect goes to Slack. It's insane. And so when I look at Circle and I'm like, oh, we're going to need the premium super enterprise plan.

Yeah, well, I mean, there's a couple things. Anytime I put out content, I'm always like, this is going to be pretty hard, so don't do this unless you're willing to put in the work, right? So it's like an upfront expectation.

Yeah, well, I mean, there's a couple things. Anytime I put out content, I'm always like, this is going to be pretty hard, so don't do this unless you're willing to put in the work, right? So it's like an upfront expectation.

You called out several things there that we've mentioned of the gamification, even of accountability, of, hey, come join Connect, and there'll be channels to be talking about the course. We are talking about... I would like to see masterminds. If you've taken a course, you get matched into a mastermind with other course takers, so there's a common vocabulary, so that adds accountability.

You called out several things there that we've mentioned of the gamification, even of accountability, of, hey, come join Connect, and there'll be channels to be talking about the course. We are talking about... I would like to see masterminds. If you've taken a course, you get matched into a mastermind with other course takers, so there's a common vocabulary, so that adds accountability.

And then I can't force anyone to do anything, but I feel like the way that I've presented it, tried to present it as super approachable and very tactical, like this is the next step, this is how I think about it. So it's like even just structuring the way that the videos come together and all the checklist quizzes and like everything we have is like, do the next thing.

And then I can't force anyone to do anything, but I feel like the way that I've presented it, tried to present it as super approachable and very tactical, like this is the next step, this is how I think about it. So it's like even just structuring the way that the videos come together and all the checklist quizzes and like everything we have is like, do the next thing.