Dustin DeVries - Co-Founder of Caffeine Interactive Technologies

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[Music] to grow successive and entrepreneurs  we've raised the block learn firsthand from   successful business owners and create your  own path to success I'm gonna show you how   great I am it's time to hit the road to grow with  Team lead of the Enriquez group realtor Vinnie hi roach with listeners today I have Dustin uh  he is the co-founder of caffeine interactive   Technologies um apps website design any  other kind of features you guys uh do Dustin   no it says really you know he focus a lot on  product strategy and business strategy I think   that's kind of our differentiator we're not just  you know typical Dev agency and so I work with   companies on the problems and the value you know  trying to bring value to them and the problems   that they're trying to solve I mean I know the  number right I mean back in the day was how many   companies actually don't have websites right  that probably has gone up fairly drastically I   would think right in the US gone up as far as the  number that don't no the well the number that they   do now I guess oh yeah yeah yeah yeah for sure I  mean if you're running a business and you don't   have a website it's either because you just have  way too many clients and like having a website is   going to create any more problems for you or you  know you're just not trying hard I mean they're   so simple uh you know we build custom websites  so you know we're not ideal for every business   if you're a startup that's like you know you've  got five thousand dollars your pocket you're just   getting going and you're trying to get business  cards printed you know all the normal stuff you   do with the business like they're way better  options than us not to Discount us but you   know we're a little different price point but you  got options like Wix and you know these website   builders that are great options you're just trying  to get started if you're a handyman or something   like that you know it's a quick website for your  business you know I mean super easy ways to to do   that for very cheap and you can do it yourself so  so let's say the numbers 95 or something like that   something high like that right that companies have  websites how many have apps because that's I think   an intriguing aspect of it that is that like five  percent I mean how low is that number yeah that's   a good question I don't actually have the numbers  I've got to imagine it's probably under five   percent though I think you know majority uh you  have to usually be pretty established before you   start thinking about building some of that custom  infrastructure um and then also you know the   other question is how do you count the number of  companies because like how many people have an LLC   they started you know for on the side they work on  a full-time W-2 job but they've you know they're   doing something else on the side hustling or they  have aspirations to do it when do you call out a   company you know so thinking about the numbers is  kind of difficult but yeah it's I would say it's   definitely under five percent would be my guess do  you do you think apps are going to go the way of   like websites where it's going to be like you have  to have an app to uh for people to look you up   I don't know I mean since we build these for  a living I guess that should say yes but then   part of me says No as as a consumer because  I I don't like downloading a bunch of apps I   don't like every time I interact with the  brand I go download an app and so I think   there's a there's a tasteful way to to do  that I don't think everybody needs an app   um I think they're you know there's certainly  value to it and we also got to talk about how   do you classify an app because I mean we're  not just talking about like a mobile app that   you're installing your phone an app could even  be some you know we think of apps as like any   kind of custom software development so it could  be things like integrating your your business uh   you know the tools you use if you have like the  most common thing be like double entry you got   like every time we make a sell we gotta go enter  this order and over here and you know it's like   well can we integrate some of that more you know  integration automation that that certainly Falls   within our wheelhouse and the kind of things we  focus on the problems we try to solve to make   business owners lives easier and you know  I would call it in some ways that's an app   um not kind of traditional sense but you  can have internal workflows and internal   apps and things like that that you leverage and  we've built some of those for customers as well   I mean rewinding a little bit kind of going  to a young Dustin I mean was young Dustin   into computers into like design I mean who  is Young Dustin yeah I mean you know I got my   first computer I was like seven years old uh my  dad was an early so I'm 46 now for reference so   you know almost 40 years ago now uh Commodore  64. so that was kind of one of those you know   nerdy kids I guess you could say that had access  to technology uh at an early age you know I was   that was Nintendo generation so you know it was  definitely into all the video gaming and stuff   like that as a kid I think as I got to be like  a teenager uh started realizing well you know   computer gaming and stuff was was getting more  and more popular at that point in time and so   um started realizing well you know I don't have  to go buy like a 50 cartridge from Toys R Us or   whatever and play with my Nintendo or Super  Nintendo or whatever I can go on you know the   internet was just coming around but they're also  bulletin board BBS as we call them uh back then uh   where people were you know you go download games  for free granted don't advise this it's highly   illegal it's you know copyright infringement  do not support this I was a kid I had access to   a computer uh had access to a modem with a phone  and you know that was a great way for me to to get   into the hobby of computers was through through  gaming and then it kind of kind of Grew From there   um Honestly though I mean getting into software  development it wasn't something that I don't know   that I really had a passion early on I mean  I think I've developed more of a passion over   the years but I think it was more something I  was just really good at and I had a lot of Hell   of exposure to technology and given the fact  my dad uh my parents had a software company   my dad was building software he had moved over  the construction industry and built one of the   first estimating tools which he sold to Glidden  paint company if you've heard of Glidden I think   they're known by by a Home Depot the brand but  uh yes I had exposure to that so you know that   was kind of my unfair Advantage I guess you  could say in terms of you know seeing that at   an early age and you know early adopter with the  internet and all of that yeah I mean I remember   I'm 39 I remember uh you could break your uh I  think a Super Nintendo you could download Xbox   One Xbox you could break in actually download  the game onto the platform and play this on the   platform I mean yeah it's really crazy when you  go down that rabbit hole but I mean so so you're   we have the technology I'm guessing schooling I  mean did you have a plan to get into this field   kind of growing up or was that more just a hobby  and kind of curiosity I think it's more you know   as a kid always wanted to I thought I'd be  an astronomer for a long time I really liked   astronomy and then I thought I would get into like  I kind of had a few years where I thought I'd like   to get into journalism which you know thank God  I didn't know with AI taking on the way it is but   um you know I think when I got to college it  was kind of like all right I'm good at this I'd   already done a lot of software like having to go  to high school which you know back then that was   91 to 95 1991 to 95. so most schools I  think at the time did not have computer labs   um we I went to a school as private school  happened to have a computer lab and they   actually had a computer science teacher who  taught computer science so learned like turbo   Pascal uh when I was in high school and so I  realized I was pretty good at I remember going   we even had like this the nerdy part of me coming  out I remember like programming competitions and   stuff like that that I think our school signed up  for remember going to that and came here I think   we may have won I can't really remember uh all  the details but it's remember being really good   at software development so by time I got to  college it was like okay what do I want to do   I don't really know but this is something  I'm good at I'm just gonna go down this path   and then I just kind of stuck with it and you  know it wasn't I wasn't interested in it at all   um but you know it was a natural path for me just  based on my skill set and what I could do well and   something I was interested in so you know that's  kind of where it came from how did you I mean   starting starting interact Technologies caffeine  in our Technologies I mean or co-founding it was   that a quick jump from from college or was it  you're working under someone else's umbrella and   then things happen or what happened how did that  transition happen yeah actually uh started with   um I spent 10 years working in the semiconductor  industry uh for a company called serious logic uh   they were headquartered in California when I  started there and moved to Austin I'm I'm in   the Austin area myself uh and so I worked for  them for 10 years uh during that time you know   they're they're a chip design company uh you  make chips for iPhones and things like that   so I wasn't a hardware designer though I was  uh more on the software side I helped I helped   the hardware guys automate a lot of the things  that they do and so because I had that software   background I was able well actually I majored  in computer engineering so I got a little bit   of Hardware exposure and software exposure but  really my experience was really in software   um so I think what happened to me though was being  in that job I realized I was kind of capped I'd   hit a ceiling where if I wanted to move up more  I kind of got into mid-level management but if I   really wanted to move any further than that I need  to go back and work on maybe an MBA or maybe work   on a Masters on an electrical electrical  engineering or something like that and I   don't know I'm one of those at even today I still  occasionally have these vivid dreams that I'm back   in school and it's like it's not a good experience  for me thinking about sitting in a classroom again   like no offense to anyone who's going through that  but I just you know I'm a little bit introverted   and the idea of going back into a classroom  setting and working on a degree just at my age   just isn't appealing at all so I didn't want to  do it even back you know we're talking about like   2008 2010 so I started doing some side hustles  and affiliate marketing um and that was kind of my   springboard to get out of the corporate world and  start my own thing and I didn't jump straight from   the corporate world into our software business  I went and was doing some other things some   freelancing I mentioned the affiliate marketing  thing doing that for a little while and then it   just sort of grew into you know as I was doing  the freelance work we got enough clients where   I had to make decision okay let me start selling  people no or I need to start building a team and   I decided to go with the ladder and that was back  in around 2013 is kind of when I plant the flag   of when we started caffeine Interactive the inter  introvert aspect of it I mean starting a team and   kind of getting people underneath you how was that  transition for yourself yeah I don't know it's   not that hard I mean there's I'm sure if you did a  like personality test of all the you know take all   the business in the world successful businesses  in the world and look at the the the makeup of the   the founders I'm sure there's plenty of introverts  out there that have started businesses I think the   difference between an introvert and extrovert  maybe comes a little more naturally for an   extrovert for me I know it doesn't necessarily  come naturally speaking and so I have to be   intentional about things a little bit more it's  a little more of a blind spot for me it's easy   for me to get caught up in you know I don't have  any meetings today I want to just go hide out in   my office and work all day and not really talk to  anybody and also it's actually for an introvert I   mean you know going through what we've gone  through with with covid and now post kind of   postcoded world you know all the tools we have  for virtual meetings and tools like slack uh for   communicating it's kind of a an introvert's dream  because I don't have to see anybody in person you   know you do everything virtually so I don't want  to sound like I'm this big anti-social person   although my wife would probably say I am but  you know it was uh uh it really wasn't that that   difficult I mean a lot in a lot of ways moving  transitions into this favored the fact that I was   introverted because I was going into a job every  day from nine to five walking into conference   rooms having meetings all day and stuff like  that and you'll be on the mid-level management   definitely a lot more meetings than I had when I  first started there so moving into doing things on   my own actually kind of fed my introversion  maybe a little more uh kind of favorite it are most of your your employees local they  are you mostly doing online kind of having   your Zoom meetings and stuff like that yeah  we're all we're Global so we have uh three   of us here in the Austin area um including myself  but then um you know we have a few other employees   scattered throughout the U.S up in the Northeast  in particular and then uh we have a development   team over in the Philippines uh we have a  couple developers also down in Bolivia so   um and we've experimented with hiring you know  we're not I guess we're kind of partial now to   the Philippines we've started hiring quite a bit  there and we've had good success finding people   that match our culture and our values and so we've  just continued to do that the biggest problem   with that obviously is the time zone difference I  mean I'm in the central time zone being in Texas   so it's like literally 12 hours opposite me so um  collaborating and getting online at the same time   is is sometimes difficult and I'm not the type  of person that requires all of our employees   to be online from nine to five Us hours I think  that's I don't know to each his own I guess I feel   like a little bit unethical I wouldn't want to I  wouldn't like it if someone asked that of me so   we offer that freedom of flexibility for our  Filipino employees and I think it it pays off   well where they have a little bit overlap with U.S  hours we still get on calls but they're working  

during the day their time and uh you know and it  works well because we we get projects and we load   up the work and most interfacing we have with our  customers are from our us-based employees so for   the most part our offshore employees don't do a  lot of customer interfacing so it's not really a   big a big challenge for us what was that process  of actually hiring uh globally I mean also knowing   the laws and the different different countries  I've done that myself in hiring different   communities I usually he's an Outsourcing company  but I mean for yourself what was that process like   well I hope we're not breaking any laws I mean uh  you know I would say like for us you know we just   we treat them essentially like 1099 contractors I  guess maybe they don't send them 1099s but we're   it's kind of like on a contract basis I guess but  we look at them as full-time employees we you know   demand some level of exclusivity from them we  still have them sign you know ndas and things   like that we have uh confidential projects we're  working on in some cases our customers have their   own uh you know legal agreements that they want uh  our employees to sign so it's not uncommon for us   to be working with a customer where maybe we have  an overall corporate agreement between our company   and theirs and then they ask to extend that out to  our individual employees who are actually working   on that project like you know we have some some  customers and Banking and finance industry that we   have to do that for because of compliancy issues  and things like that so um yeah but you know it   hasn't really been hasn't been too difficult I  mean maybe in some ways it's actually easier uh   hiring internationally um because I don't think  there's quite as much much paperwork you know   at least from my my pers I don't know my CPA May  disagree but from our perspective haven't hasn't   been been too painful is it is it do you have a  company that you go through or is it posting on   different websites in other countries or what do  you usually do well so this is a cool little hack   so you know there's a few things I do one is uh um  there's a website in the Philippines onlinejobs.ph   and I don't have any relationship with them  hope you're okay with mentioning them but   um they're basically just a front end for for  interfacing it's like I mean if people are like   upwork and sites like that some of the upwork but  this focused just on the Philippines and there's   some other Regional sites like that Eastern Europe  there's you know some some employment sites like   that you can find people that's one one way I do  it but be quite honest you know one of one of my   uh beliefs is that typically people I don't want  to generalize things but like if someone's looking   for a job it might be because they have a really  crappy boss and they just you know they're great   employees they want to get away but it also could  mean that they're having a hard time keeping their   job right and so you know if you're always just  hiring for people looking for jobs like you're   going to get some good employees we can get some  bad apples in there too and so one of the things   that I like is doing more of an interrupt driven  approach of going out and actually finding people   that have jobs and soliciting them as opposed to  waiting on them to come to me and so the hack I   guess if you call it would be using LinkedIn and  sales navigator to go and you know filter down a   list of people with certain skill sets within a  certain geographic region for example and then   there's automation tools which I will like if any  of your listeners use this and get in trouble with   LinkedIn do not come blaming me I'm warning you  right now but there are automation tools uh out   there that you can use it'll help you like go in  and let's say you build a list and sales Navigator   you can download that list and then go Prospect  to them in this case it's a little better than   maybe prospecting trying to sell stuff because  you're trying to offer people jobs and so I think   people are a little more receptive to that than if  you're going out trying to like cold spam you know   a bunch of people on LinkedIn um but uh that's  been a pretty successful way to find people that   already that are maybe already comfortable but if  you catch them at the right time and whispering   in their ear hey there's an opportunity here and  this is what we do and by the way we have a lot   of flexibility and working with the US company we  don't require you know with different things we we   kind of you know ties them with and that it's  been good we've been able to hire some really   great employees that way is sales navigator  that is that a CRM that is the uh it's like   kind of a corporate what would you call it it's  part of LinkedIn but it's basically um it gives   you access you have to pay a subscription to it  I think it's like I don't remember the price it's   like 80 bucks a month or something like that but  you get a subscription it allows you to go and do   searches like you can you can search on people's  profiles and you know find people that are uh you   know forget how they you know how many degrees of  separation you are and stuff like that and how you   can reach out to people the sales Navigator gives  you the opportunity to be able to go and filter   people you can do all kinds of things filters  on geographic regions you can filter based on   job title years of experience um keywords like  for us we do you know for example we do like   for simple websites we're trying to hire someone  for that might be like WordPress we'll go do a   keyword search for WordPress developers in the  Philippines um you know and pull back a list from   that and then go through and you know massage that  list pick out you know who we want to go Prospect   to about a job opening that we have and then go  start up the automation tool and it starts going   to town for us so do you you constantly have a  flow of like prospecting for new team members and   then when you need them you reach out to them is  that kind of how it works pretty much I mean we're   not we're not so busy that we're constantly hiring  we typically do have some kind of opening but   um you know we I don't I don't know I'm one of  those that believes you need to when you hire   you need to like absorb that hire and kind of let  them assembly kind of grow and should it be higher   too quick grow too quick you can have all kinds  of problems from that right so um you know we're   a small team or just under 25 employees I think  total so uh you know we're not we're not like   constantly hiring and as a matter of fact most of  our employees have been with us for uh you know   quite a long time um we had one employee that  was with us like seven years and left for like   six months because someone threw a bunch of money  he just came back and I was like so happy because   I'm like all right we still have that continuity  we're kind of keeping our staffs together with   like how long we've kept employees around where  people are loyal to us and we're loyal to them   um but yeah I mean we're you know we're always in  growth mode and wanting to be in growth mode so   you know that that's it's well it may not always  be running you know at least once every two or   three months I'm going out doing prospecting to  find a new hire for for some need that we have   okay makes sense I mean so in building your brand  and building your company I mean we're looking   back I mean what are some of the big things you've  had to like overcome to get where you are today um gosh I mean certainly Building Systems  and processes I'm I'm big on that I don't   feel like my our company always reflects that I  think we can always do a better job on that but   just building out those systems and processes  and figuring out how to to do those things and   you know mentioned earlier I think we're talking  about journalism or something I mentioned AI like   as that comes into play now you know that's kind  of reshuffling the deck again and there's a lot   of great opportunities out there to automate  your business and so that's something that has   been a big focus of mine a big challenge to find  ways to just like how do we handle relationships   with customers we do a lot of agreements where we  might have a customer who's on retainer uh which   means basically you know they're paying for a  bucket of hours and we're supporting them we   need to have some accountability around how we're  using the retainer and we have employees working   on their projects we need to run the reports and  so how do we do that what tools do we use where   are the gaps that we need to go build you know  additional software and we have it and at times   built our own internal tools to help us with some  of that interfacing with our customers so that's   been a big challenge that's another challenge is  the fact that you know we're a husband and wife   founded company so my background is in building  software my wife's background is in product   strategy as a as a product manager not project  manager I want to be clear on that product manager   um and so we have we have the technology side  covered really well but we don't have covered   really well as sales and marketing which is okay  because overwhelming the majority of our clients   come through referrals uh which you know speaks to  the fact we're doing a good job at least I think   we're doing a good job with our clients and you  know they're reciprocating by referring us out   to to their friends and co-workers and everything  else and so uh but you know I've always envisioned   being able to have almost like a spigot I can go  turn on and leads come falling out and then when   we fill up our pipeline it's all full we turn  it off and we go you know do that work and when   we need more leads we turn the spigot back on  again and we haven't quite figured that out and   uh I'm oversimplifying it of course but that's  something that I'm not a marketing guy neither   is my my wife so that's something that we've had  so there's been a challenge for us to build out   those those resources and that that ability um  you know and I've tried things like Outsourcing   it hiring a marketing company to come in and  help us with with certain things and we have   some marketing resources on our team and we we  do some lightweight marketing ourselves you know   if you look at our website you'll see we actually  advertise marketing services but be quite honest   you know that's really kind of like most website  agencies that go out and we have to have some   marketing knowledge in order to be able to build  successful websites and successful products for   our customers but if someone's wanting to do like  a deep dive on SEO or something like that that's   not something that that we necessarily do we have  partners that we work with who help us with those   sort of things but that's been a big big difficult  for I kind of got off track there but that's been   a big problem for us just the fact that we like  us as co-founders we're not sales people and I   think when you start a business the number one  thing you have to do is be able to sell and so   that's something that I kind of ignored for a long  time and I finally something had kind of the kick   in the butt a couple years ago realized this is  something that as a business owner I have to do   I've got to be good at selling got to be good  at marketing um doesn't mean I don't Outsource   or hire people to help me with that but I have to  be I have to be able to do that and you know so   I've taken on that challenge what's the what's  the mindset of the process I mean if it's down   the road where you bring on this this marketing  agency or marketing individual right because it   seems like most likely you brought on I mean  it may be separately from like your your uh   financial advisor or your financial department  most of these people are kind of under under the   pyramid I guess under under you and kind of you've  already kind of walked their steps and especially   with the sales aspect of it I mean especially  if you don't like it too much and most of us   it's been referral based you're gonna have to  almost give freedom I guess to to that individual   yeah and I don't know it's necessarily I don't  like it I mean there's an element of that I guess   but like I think it's just something I've had to  accept as part of the job and rather than looking   at it as like this uh you know this burden on  me I've I've embraced it more as a challenge and   when I look at it through that light it's it's  excited me um you know I mean we've done things   like I've hired like a sales coach a team that  that helps us with kind of outside counsel when   we're thinking about how to Market ourselves and  how to position ourselves um I'm a you know early   on we uh we tried hiring a marketing agency and uh  paying them like five thousand dollars a month and   we didn't get a single lead out of that we did it  for like 12 months and I don't know why we did it   for that long but I you know I had like a bitter  taste in my mouth from that experience I was just   like I don't really want to want to do that again  and so I realized that you know we're successful   when we hire developers because I know how to do  do software development my wife the co-founder she   knows product strategy and she knows uh you know  product and building products and requirements and   all that so should we when she makes a hire she  knows how to hire the right people because of that   experience and so my mindset is that I don't think  you necessarily have to be a marketing expert in   order to build a marketing team or in order to  hire people to build a marketing team you have   to have enough experience in order to know if  people are bsing you you know the whole world   of marketing there's so many different angles  and directions you can go and so you know you   back then I thought well I'll just throw some  ads on Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever and   like leads will format well it's not that easy  especially in something like what we do which is   very commoditized websites and apps I mean there's  not you know there's not a lot of Industries more   commoditized than that so um you know we got to  find ways to stand out and find channels to to get   our message out and differentiate ourselves from  just the other agencies that are out there just   you know that are Hired Guns that will go build  whatever you want them to build and that's been   a challenge for us but it's important for us and  our growth because we got to do that and like who   are we going to Outsource that to I mean it has  to come ultimately I think that has to come from   from the founders and so I've kind of Taken on  that challenge where do you see the growth I mean   if we're talking next five years where do you  see the growth in with yourself in the company   that's a good question I think with all the no  code stuff AI stuff coming into play you know I   think everyone's kind of a little bit concerned  about what's going to happen uh I've always   thought that any industry like this is going to  get more and more commoditized you know websites   have definitely gotten that way um they're still  a strong need for custom website development but   um I think there will be more and more options  you know a system like WordPress there's a huge   ecosystem of plugins and the theme Frameworks and  stuff that are out there for WordPress now you   can easily throw up a WordPress site drop in some  plugins and create a pretty custom experience just   off the shelf without having any coding experience  um I think that's going to continue to happen on   the app development side uh so I think where I see  us in terms of growth it's trying to get more on   top of not just building out products and doing  custom development but really becoming partners   with with our customers and being being strategic  partners with them so understanding where their   pain points are and where we can bring value  to them and strategizing around how they can   be successful we not where they have needs we  may not be able to fill all of those like they   may need to have some strong marketing needs  we may identify they need to go get help on   you know with certain certain type of marketing  agency to do some sort of initiative for what it   is they're doing but if we can be there to be that  resource to help them solve their problems even if   it's not us if we're working with other partners  that's where I see us having you know provide more   value because if you're just a Hired Gun sitting  out there and waiting for the next contract to   come in to go build something for someone and  they're calling all the shots telling you what   to build and you're just saying yes you know I  think that's something that's going to go away   more and more over time it's going to get harder  and harder to to compete in that in that space uh before I forget Dustin what's the best way of  people reaching out to you if they have questions   about website ad design or any other products you  guys offer yeah best way just go to our website   caffeine interactive.com fill out the form  we're a small company so I see a resubmission   even the spam stuff that I see on there so just go  there and you know fill out the form that's easy   way like my email address Dustin the caffeine  interactive.com uh Happy sharing that as well   I think I've got my contact info on our website as  well so that's that's the easiest way to reach me   question do you guys uh only do websites for  companies or apps for companies uh us-based   no I would say 98 of our customers  are us-based uh we're not necessarily   opposed to working internationally we have  an international team so obviously you know   we're fulfilling the work internationally um  yeah that's not a limitation for us so just   we don't we don't tend to venture too far  outside the US when it comes to marketing   um so we've as a result of that we just  haven't had a lot of customers worldwide   do you I mean with the small companies that you  have worked with outside the U.S is there a a   theme that varies from like the like us-based  website site because for example I was talking   to a realtor in Europe and her usually her  competition is about seven days on return   returning emails and and calls and so that was one  of the things that she had to uh change to focus   on american-based individuals so I'm wondering if  it'd be similar in like apps and websites where   it doesn't have to be as I got to get them in the  first five SEC five to ten seconds or something   and then they're gonna leave me is do you see  that stuff in the the small the other company   you've done outside the US you don't know if we've  had enough experience outside you know I said 98   are in the US and I'm sitting here trying to think  of who we've had internationally I'm remember we   had a a client who had a real estate website and  this is probably four or five years ago uh and   um so yeah I don't I don't know that I have a big  enough sample size with that and I guess that's   probably also why like you know that's one of  the challenges like when people think about   let's just take a step back here and talk about  building apps for example like if you're gonna   go higher this is a problem you hear all that  we see all the time you Outsource uh your app   by day you go find someone who will build  it for pennies on the dollar uh offshore   well one of the problems you have is just like  special like real estate for example you know   just explaining stuff like how does how does  the address system work in the United States   like what is the street address what is the  zip code you know those sort of things it's   like those basic things that are like part  of our culture here in the US and they have   their own system it's not like it's completely  different outside of the US but everyone you know   zip code may be a foreign concept to someone  in the in the Philippines for example right   um and so and there's a lot of things like that  it's kind of just get lost in translation so I   think that's also important because if you're if  you're a European company and you're catering to   you know European customers I mean go hire someone  in the US and I'm not saying it's necessarily a   bad idea but there are probably some some things  about the cut you know in order to solve this   problems I think we need to not only understand  problems that the companies happen but the   problems they solve for their customers and if I'm  not there you know living in Germany or whatever   where they're serving clients then you know I'm  I'm already at a little bit of a disadvantage   again it doesn't mean I can't help them but or  that anyone in the U.S couldn't help them but  

it's just it's it's just one of those variables  that you have to consider I think if you're you   know if you're over in Europe or wherever else  and you're looking to hire someone uh doesn't   mean always you need to get local but uh you  know sometimes there's some advantages to that   so local I mean I guess locally then I mean  being there in Austin but you have people across   the U.S I mean how does it change from community  community in the US does it change that much how   websites are designed layouts of it or what kind  of research goes into I guess you assessing the   company and then kind of figuring out what's the  best strategy for them um I mean it's it's largely   the same I mean I guess it depends on the product  and you know the the vertical that they're in   um I think that's probably the more differentiator  because we work with a wide variety of Industries   and so you know sometimes different Industries  have just weird Oddball kind of things that we   have to learn on the fly if we're not experienced  with that industry if we are experienced with that   industry it puts us in a position of advance of  an advantage so I think that's probably a bigger   uh concern than say geographical but like even  from a geographical perspective it still comes   up because there's things like gdpr and like  cookie policies and stuff that we hear a lot about   now and California has their own policy that's  specific to California that you know California   websites need to adhere to some extra things that  others don't and there's you know certain regions   where yeah I think accessibility is a big thing  with uh the Americans with Disabilities Act uh   we're hearing more and more about people who may  put up a website and then just like if I go open   a restaurant I've got to have like handicap  access and ramps and stuff for people who are   disabled to be able accessible the same concept  applies if your website is your storefront you   know you need that needs to be accessible and  there's a lot of questions a lot of gray areas   here but there have been some some known and  publicized lawsuits around you know people   who have sued because they they go to the website  and the website's not accessible I think there's   a lot of scare tackers going on with this too  companies like like ours we don't necessarily   do this but companies like that do what we do  going around telling people like your website's   not accessible you'd be sued for you know tens of  thousands of dollars unless you hire us to come   fix it right it's like that doomsday thing right  and so that comes up from time to time too uh but   you know from our perspective uh you know we we  don't necessarily lead with that but those can   create some geographical differences you know from  from reach in the region well thank you so much uh   Dustin uh for being on the the roach with podcast  um yeah I appreciate you being here telling you a   person a kid from playing video games to uh  to building apps and uh websites what more   could you want uh thank you again Dustin everyone  hopefully you got some great nuggets right there   uh please go in uh the show notes go find  Dustin subscribe and share bye everyone [Music]

2023-05-15

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