WORK IN PROGRESS

Dot-Com Crash, the $63M Exit and Conquering Enterprise IoT (Eric Simone, ClearBlade CEO) - Episode 24

Silicon Valley runs on stories. Reality runs on systems. Eric Simone has lived through multiple tech eras, from mainframes to the dot-com crash to modern IoT hype, and built ClearBlade while others chased narratives that collapsed under real-world scale. This episode is about what actually breaks companies: bad timing, fragile platforms, and founders who confuse momentum with durability. Strip away the mythology and what’s left is execution, patience, and uncomfortable tradeoffs. Chapters * (0:00) Eric Simone’s background and perspective * (4:30) Early Silicon Valley before startups were cool * (13:40) IBM, mainframes, and learning the hard way * (27:50) Bootstrapping Compete and surviving the dot-com bubble * (40:10) Bad timing, good ideas, and why Webvan failed * (54:00) Selling a company does not mean you are set for life * (1:10:30) The painful birth of ClearBlade * (1:23:00) Why IoT platforms keep failing at scale * (1:32:40) Google IoT shutdown and ClearBlade’s breakout moment * (1:39:00) Industrial IoT, edge computing, and real use cases * (1:44:00) Fear, naivety, and why action beats certainty Our Guest Eric Simone Founder & CEO at ClearBlade Website: https://clearblade.com The WORK IN PROGRESS podcast hosted by Ian Piepenbrock and Wes Botman, two founders who are scaling and refining their businesses every day. Wes Botman is founder and CEO at Eli5 (https://eli5.io), a software studio making complex ideas simple and accessible. Ian Piepenbrock is CEO at Noco (https://noco.agency), an agency dedicated to helping B2B SaaS and tech companies grow through strategic web design and branding. Watch/listen on Youtube [https://youtu.be/mUGQ01nzle8?si=G-HGDZe3-GKq08qy] Follow us on X for more raw insights, thoughts, and a good dose of founder reality:Wes: https://x.com/wesbotman Ian: https://x.com/lamswolprins

From Sugar to Systems: Productized Focus for Founders - Episode 23

Founders don’t burn out from work alone. They burn out from running on stress, guesswork, and broken systems. Ian and Wes start with the Ray Peat diet, then pivot into the operating systems that keep startups sane: Brand Sprint, ICP-first messaging, and the tradeoffs between Framer and Webflow when you need to ship fast and stay scalable. Highlights: * Ray Peat playbook: sugar, sleep, and founder energy management * Why adrenaline-driven grind kills judgment * Brand Sprint as the shortcut to clarity * Framer vs Webflow for early-stage speed vs long-term scale * Validation and prototyping before building * Productized focus and founder discipline Chapters: (0:00) The Ray Peat diet, sugar, and founder energy (4:10) Stress vs sugar: energy for creative work (9:15) What carnivore gets wrong about energy balance (12:20) Resetting the Noco and 20 MINUTES workflow (15:30) Productization and the pain of scaling (17:20) The ELI5 stealth SaaS project (21:40) The Brand Sprint: clarity through speed (25:40) Why ICP definition fixes bad marketing (28:20) Framer vs Webflow: how to decide (33:30) Validation and prototyping before building (40:05) Founder energy, pace, and systems (46:20) Life balance, focus, and living outside the city (49:50) Closing thoughts: productized freedom The WORK IN PROGRESS podcast hosted by Ian Piepenbrock and Wes Botman, two founders who are scaling and refining their businesses every day. Wes Botman is founder and CEO at ⁠⁠Eli5⁠⁠ (https://eli5.io), a software studio making complex ideas simple and accessible. Ian Piepenbrock is CEO at ⁠⁠Noco⁠⁠ (https://noco.agency), an agency dedicated to helping B2B SaaS and tech companies grow through strategic web design and branding. Watch/listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cOqBRM... Follow us on X for more raw insights, thoughts, and a good dose of founder reality: * Wes: ⁠⁠@wesbotman⁠⁠ (https://x.com/wesbotman) * Ian: ⁠⁠@lamswolprins (https://x.com/lamswolprins)

Building a Media-First SaaS Agency, Why We Love Texas and WTF is Waifu? ep. 22

After a deal-closing trip to Dallas and Austin, Ian and Wes dive into cultural differences between the US and Europe, the boldness of American founders, and why Austin might be the ultimate tech base for their next wave of growth. They also reveal Noco’s new Webflow Enterprise Partner status, unpack the playbook to build a $10M ARR AI agent business, and debate whether media should become the business itself. Chapters: (0:00) - Intro & why we vanished (2:00) - Texas trip recap: Dallas, Austin, Shake Shack & ClearBlade (5:00) - US vs Europe mindset: opportunity vs risk (10:30) - Coffee, roadside diners, and cultural details (13:50) - Austin impressions & Waymo weirdness (19:00) - Comedy clubs, nightlife, and 6th Street observations (24:00) - Why Austin might be our new business base (29:00) - Noco’s local targeting strategy explained (34:00) - Eli5’s bottlenecks and growth constraints (38:30) - The content pivot & lead magnet strategy (42:00) - Greg Isenberg’s playbook breakdown (48:00) - Putting media before services: the hard shift (53:00) - Why personal brand still matters (but has limits) (58:00) - The Every.to model and what we’re building (1:04:00) - Noco updates: Webflow Enterprise Partner status (1:08:00) - CRO dashboard and automation at Noco (1:14:00) - GROK, AI companions & MechaHitler mode (1:22:00) - Final thoughts: summer planning & European maximalism The WORK IN PROGRESS podcast hosted by Ian Piepenbrock and Wes Botman, two founders who are scaling and refining their businesses every day. Wes Botman is founder and CEO at ⁠⁠Eli5⁠⁠ (https://eli5.io), a software studio making complex ideas simple and accessible. Ian Piepenbrock is CEO at ⁠⁠Noco⁠⁠ (https://noco.agency), an agency dedicated to helping B2B SaaS and tech companies grow through strategic web design and branding. Watch/listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cOqBRM... Follow us on X for more raw insights, thoughts, and a good dose of founder reality: * Wes: ⁠⁠@wesbotman⁠⁠ (https://x.com/wesbotman) * Ian: ⁠⁠@lamswolprins (https://x.com/lamswolprins)

From Amsterdam to Austin: SaaS Growth, CRO and Sales Funnels - Episode 21

From Amsterdam to Austin. From Bitterbal to Brisket. From Seed-stage to Unicorn.In this episode, Ian and Wes dive into what it really takes to scale a modern SaaS agency. They explore why “boring” businesses are winning, how Noco is evolving with CRO subscriptions and funnel services, and why in-person still matters—even in a remote-first world. Plus, an inside look at Eli5’s new AI tools and their upcoming Texas trip.Timestamps (0:00) Why “boring” businesses might be smarter than SaaS (5:27) What’s actually boring: screen work vs. building stuff (9:35) How Noco’s subscriptions are built for compounding value (14:42) Adding CRO & funnel services: what’s working, what’s next (22:36) Eli5’s internal lab: AI tools for private equity & beyond (30:12) Building a public index of top product studios (33:07) Why we're going to Austin (and why it matters) (38:45) In-person still beats remote—if you want long-term trust (40:25) Wrapping up: pendulums, parenthood, and the next episodeThe WORK IN PROGRESS podcast hosted by Ian Piepenbrock and Wes Botman, two founders who are scaling and refining their businesses every day.Wes Botman is founder and CEO at ⁠⁠Eli5⁠⁠ (https://eli5.io), a software studio making complex ideas simple and accessible.Ian Piepenbrock is CEO at ⁠⁠Noco⁠⁠ (https://noco.agency), an agency dedicated to helping B2B SaaS and tech companies grow through strategic web design and branding.Watch/listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cOqBRMjjgcXKSDDIboKrt?si=6990da66e09e4ef2Follow us on X for more raw insights, thoughts, and a good dose of founder reality:Wes: ⁠⁠@wesbotman⁠⁠ (https://x.com/wesbotman)Ian: ⁠⁠@lamswolprins (https://x.com/lamswolprins)

How GDPR Crushed European Startups, Pre-Elon Twitter Stories and The Future of xAI and X ads - ep 20

What happens when everything is going well, but you still feel off? In this episode, Ian and Wes open with an unfiltered conversation about burnout, energy swings, and the strange self-sabotage that kicks in when business finally gets calm. That spirals into a full teardown of GDPR, where they walk through the real-world consequences of the EU's regulatory overreach and why it did irreversible damage to Europe’s tech scene. They break down exactly how GDPR slowed down product launches, blocked marketing experiments, and forced startups to spend thousands on compliance infrastructure. It's not a theoretical rant. It’s firsthand experience from founders who’ve lived through it. Later, they shift gears to talk about X Ads, Grok, and what it will take for AI to finally make media buying efficient. Ian shares insights from a meeting with X’s official audience data partner and why Grok-powered ad targeting could be the next cheat code for performance marketing—if they ever get it right. One part philosophy, one part EU critique, one part startup therapy session. Topics Covered - The psychological tension of being calm during growth - Why founders self-sabotage when things go too smoothly - Naval Ravikant, mimetic desire, and shallow decision-making - How GDPR destroyed startup agility in the EU - Specific compliance tasks that crushed marketing teams - Why “easing” GDPR won’t fix anything - X Ads and why Grok hasn’t delivered yet - What a Grok-powered media engine could unlock - Why most ad workflows are still too slow and bloated - Founders need faster iteration cycles in 2025 Chapters (0:00) Wes for Government, Opening Banter (2:21) Burnout During Calm, When Things Go Too Well (7:06) Do You Still Like What You're Doing (13:01) Naval, Mimetic Drift, and Life Choices (19:03) Why Wes Launched a Holdco (22:57) Praise for Bureaucracy (Not Really) (24:02) GDPR Breakdown, What Really Happened in 2018 (38:03) Compliance Hell, What Marketing Teams Actually Faced (43:02) X Ads, Grok, and the AI Targeting Dream (48:04) Founders vs Agencies, Speed vs Bureaucracy (54:02) Engagement Bait and the Broken X Algorithm (58:01) Still Value on X, but Time for a Fix The WORK IN PROGRESS podcast hosted by Ian Piepenbrock and Wes Botman, two founders who are scaling and refining their businesses every day. Wes Botman is founder and CEO at ⁠⁠Eli5⁠⁠ (https://eli5.io), a software studio making complex ideas simple and accessible. Ian Piepenbrock is CEO at ⁠⁠Noco⁠⁠ (https://noco.agency), an agency dedicated to helping B2B SaaS and tech companies grow through strategic web design and branding. Watch/listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cOqBRMjjgcXKSDDIboKrt?si=6990da66e09e4ef2 Follow us on X for more raw insights, thoughts, and a good dose of founder reality: Wes: ⁠⁠@wesbotman⁠⁠ (https://x.com/wesbotman) Ian: ⁠⁠@lamswolprins (https://x.com/lamswolprins)