🚀 The Early Days with Jean: Building FuelBlock

Meet Jean, co-founder of Fuelblock and a father of two. He has a wealth of experience in developing SaaS products and has worked for several tech companies. However, he always felt like something was missing until he decided to take the leap and start his own business.

This is Jean’s story of building FuelBlock.

What is FuelBlock?

Grow your revenue with SaaS startup leads that just raised MILLION$ and that are looking to outsource - delivered monthly in your inbox.

Search less. Close clients faster with warm leads delivered to your inbox month

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- 20% off monthly subscription for 6 months ($359 savings)
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Path into Entrepreneurship

I had never thought about being an entrepreneur until my late 20s. My dad, who was a store owner, would often complain about his job. I remember him telling me, ‘Study hard at school, get good grades, and get a well-paying job so you can retire well.’ That's not bad advice in itself, and I'm thankful for everything my parents taught me. However, in a nutshell, it is ‘Stay on the well-travelled path’. My entrepreneurial interests only started eight years ago, and since then, I've been learning every day with books, research, podcasts, and everything out there really.

I've been working in product development in data analytics and databases in healthcare for my entire career. I had two "soft attempts" at side-hustles in 2017 and 2019 with limited success, and I didn't like the problem I was working on. In this third attempt, I "knew" how to develop this kind of product, but I wanted to start in an industry I enjoyed, so I chose the blockchain world. So, no "Aha!" moment for me. I had built similar products in the healthcare industry as an employee, so I figured I could make it work elsewhere as a solo-entrepreneur.

Now, how did I come up with the idea? Let's start with the two main principles for a buyer: to take a sales call, two things need to happen: have a need and a budget. Say you are a tech startup and you just raised M$ last week. You took money from VCs, and you need to deliver on growth now. Therefore, the budget is less of a barrier, and you need to spend to grow. You are likely to outsource your marketing, buy software, hire people, or even look for new offices. So in short, we send those B2B leads to our customers as soon as they raise money so that they can accelerate their sales and grow revenue faster.

Do you have any cold outreach tips or tricks you can share with us?

Nothing fancy here, I apply the best practices I found in my research; Cold outreach, tracking competitors on social media, LinkedIn outreach, and scanning Reddit and communities where my customers hang out.

I use a straightforward approach when it comes to my cold outreach strategy. I apply the best practices that I have discovered through my research, which includes techniques such as:

• Developing personas and your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and pivot when new information comes up,

• I get my leads by tracking competitors on social media, conducting LinkedIn outreach, and scanning relevant subreddits and online communities where my potential customers are present.

• By implementing these tactics, I am able to effectively reach and engage with my target audience in a meaningful way.

• Last one here, ask to talk to customers always. The more you understand them, the more you can adapt your messaging that resonate with them.

How do you think cold outreach will change in the coming years?

I believe that cold outreach will be more targeted and customized with the aid of AI, resulting in better success rates and conversions for marketers and other stakeholders. This will help increase sales in a more scalable manner.

Can you share a success story from people using Fuelblock?

Adam who’s the CEO of a marketing agency has been using Fuelblock for more than a year. One of my first customers and still is today. We deliver value in accelerating his sales cycle and closing his deals faster.

How do you keep up with the latest trends and best practices in sourcing leads and outreach? How do you incorporate these into your curriculum?

As an entrepreneur, I believe it is important to constantly learn and adapt to the latest trends and best practices in sourcing leads and outreach. Here are some ways I keep up with these changes and incorporate them into my curriculum:

• Staying close to my customers and understanding what made them sign up, what’s missing and how they see their job changing.

• Conduct research and read books: I read adjacent books that help me build additional knowledge and apply them. I stay informed about the latest tools and strategies for sourcing leads and outreach.

• Follow thought leaders on lead generation: Following thought leaders on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter allows me to stay informed about the latest trends and best practices.

• Incorporate those insights into my product building: applying this feedback loop I learn as a tech product leader in my formal career “ test, learn and adapt”.

How do you balance the demands of running a successful business?

I apply a mental framework to keep me focused whenever I’m in “startup mode”: early on this startup journey, I focused 80% on building and 20% on marketing Now I'm switching gears to 20% building and 80% marketing, at least that's my strategy and I see progress. I ruthlessly deprioritized everything else - hard but it is critical to use a mental framework as it keeps you focused. 

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs who are just starting out on their journey?

I do not want to tell the cliché advice as you know them all already. One thing I’d say is No matter what people say is best, ignore it and do it anyway if you think it makes sense. It may or may not work for your specific business. You need to find what works for you and that learning is critical in your journey.

What are your future plans for Fuelblock?

I aim to develop an advanced data insights platform that can accelerate the sales cycle for my customers even further. Currently, my company operates solely in the SaaS and blockchain verticals, but I am considering expanding our offerings to target other industries as well. With the insights platform, we will provide valuable data-driven solutions that will help our customers make informed decisions and achieve their business goals.

Lightning Round ⚡️

• Favourite tool?
  My favourite tools are Convertkit and lemlist.

• Top productivity hack?

  • Leverage mental framework: 2 focuses per day max and I do just this! Eg. Linkedin outreach and cold emails all day OR learning about SEO objective - no distraction

  • Close my emails and listen to piano music

  • Work in the evening

  • This is just me but all of those is to help me focus on what matters the most.

• Top book to share with the Kernal community?

  Atomic Habits from James Clear and Thinking, Fast and Slow from Daniel Kahneman

• A one-liner for a business idea you can share with the Kernal community?

  Build an AI-powered skin analysis tool - a big market for women or even men with sensitive skin

• Top person, you would like to have a coffee with?

  Sam PARR, founder & CEO of The Hustle

💭 Closing Thoughts

In closing, Jean's story of building FuelBlock teaches us that entrepreneurship is not always a straight path, and success is often the result of perseverance and continuous learning.

His experience shows that building a successful business requires a deep understanding of the target market and customer needs, and constant adaptation to the latest trends and best practices.

Jean's approach to cold outreach is simple but effective, focusing on developing personas, tracking competitors on social media, conducting LinkedIn outreach, and scanning relevant online communities. As an entrepreneur, Jean believes that staying close to customers, conducting research and reading books, following thought leaders on lead generation, and incorporating those insights into product building is critical to success.

Finally, Jean's mental framework of focusing on building early on and then switching gears to marketing is a valuable lesson for all startup founders who are trying to balance the demands of running a successful business.

Keeping up with Jean👀

Kernal: https://kern.al/u/jean
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmvp_fb 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanmichelvan

Do you have an idea that you're itching to share? Post here and watch your seeds grow into a forest. 🌲🌳🌲🌳

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