The Last 60 Days - In Review

So, the other day we sent out a quick NPS Survey, which asked all of our beta users how likely they would be to recommend us to their friends. As I suspected, our score was on the lower side because of how quiet we've been these past 8 weeks. Still got a strong score (+3 for those of you familiar with NPS scores), but we are working to make SamCart the best shopping cart tool on the planet, so we have very high standards for ourselves. I knew we should have sent more updates about what's going on at the SamCart office, and the truth is, I just didn't make the time for it. So, in an effort to make sure our loyal customers know exactly what we've been doing all this time, I wanted to write a quick review of the last 90 days, and give you a sneak peak into what we've been up to, and what exciting updates are coming your way very soon. (If you're curious how we sent this survey out, check out Promoter.io. It's pretty bad-ass)

November 2014

So, lets start with November. November was a lot about adding some key features to the "old" SamCart (you know it as "Beta", we call it 'Legacy'). We started with adding the ability to send HTTP Posts, which lets you integrate with some other cool tools like iDevAffiliate and DigitalAccessPass. We also added the integration with WishList Member, and the ability to customize the button text on your checkout pages.

The Big Decision - Rebuilding SamCart

Throughout October and November, we spent a lot of time fixing some bugs that kept popping up in SamCart Beta. Nothing surprising, bugs happen in Beta. These few bugs that kept popping up started to make our new dev team reevaluate how SamCart was built. As we tested new merchant accounts (PayPal, Authorize.net, and others) more and more problems would pop up. Obviously, with the vision we have for this tool, that just couldn't happen. We have to be able to accept all forms of payment, all currencies, and any merchant account. And the Beta version of SamCart was proving not to be up to the task. So, after a week of deliberation and weighing our options, the decision was made to rebuild most of SamCart, from the ground up. That meant pausing adding more new features to SamCart Beta, focussing instead on building this new version ASAP. I knew this would be a tough task, but well worth it in the end. It would mean keeping the Beta closed until after the new year, and keeping our customers waiting a lot longer than I planned, even though in the end, it would give them possibly the most powerful shopping cart online marketers have ever seen. So, it was time to get to work. We need to hire more developers, get a plan in place, and get going...while continuing to support the Beta version of the platform so our customers could continue to drive sales. Lastly, we closed open enrollment into the Beta program and wrote "the letter" explaining why we were shutting down to new customers and what we would be working on over the coming months. November was also the first month over $1,000,000 in sales was processed through SamCart by our Beta users. Pretty cool. On the company side, two more key roles were filled by new people joining our team. Rob and Jon, both developers, started with us in November, doubling the size of our development team, allowing us to start moving even faster. And on the personal side, my wife and I moved into our new home, less than a mile away from the new office, which was under construction at the time.

December 2014

As if December wasn't busy enough, my wife thought it would be a good time to give birth to our first kid :-) Teagan Louise Moran was born December 9th at 8 pounds 15 ounces. Needless to say, I wasn't in the office for a little while, but the entire development team was hard at work rebuilding SamCart from the ground up and making awesome progress while I was away, with my brother Scott running the show in my place. [Personal Side Note: one of the benefits of owning your own business is the freedom to create the lifestyle you want. We choose the neighborhood we now live in because it let us build our house and my new office in the same development, which allowed me to stay at home with my wife and new baby without worrying about being too far from the team if they needed something (I could literally walk to the office from my house).] Just like November, we added 2 new teammates in December. Bob, another developer, and Stephanie, our new Office Admin joined the team, again allowing us to move even faster. The new SamCart was coming along great, and we now had a working version of the tool that we could login into on our local machines so we could start playing around with it. But we were still pretty far off even from being where the old (Beta) version of SamCart was.

January 2015

The biggest news in January was moving into our new office. Now that the team is up to 15 or so, we just couldn't fit into 700 square feet anymore, lol. So, on January 1st, we got the keys to our brand new 5,000 square foot space.

After a crazy day of moving boxes, building desks, and debating about the new Wi-Fi password, we got back to work. And January has been the most exciting month yet. This month has been all about getting the new SamCart up and running, and out to its first batch of users. We have now completely rebuilt the tool from the ground up, and redesigned the user interface with the goal of making it even easier to use. It's faster. It's more reliable. It's more flexible. And it will let us move faster than we ever thought possible. By the end of this month, we'll have our first group of users fully on-board in the new tool, including our 2 brands, Get 10,000 Fans and 5 Minute Marketing. And remember, this is no "Beta". This is the powerful, full-featured SamCart we've been working so hard to create for you. Here's a sneak peak at the new dashboard. (keep in mind, a lot of the pieces will change before you get access to it, but this should give you a good feel for it)

February 2015

February will, by far, be the most exciting month since we release SamCart's Beta publicly. I can't wait to see you all using the new version. And I can't wait to use it myself. Trust me, it's been frustrating for me to have to wait for it as much as it has been for many of you (remember, we run our sites on SamCart too). The first half of the month will be used for testing internally, with close friends, and with colleagues. The second half of February will be your opportunity to test this new version! We'll be sending out an invite to a select number of Beta users, asking you to jump into the new tool and help us iron out any kinks (which shouldn't take long at all, we'll have tested this plenty by then). Next, we'll be focusing on moving over 100% of you all, our Beta users, into the new system and quickly adding the last couple features that will bring us to where SamCart Beta left off.

March 2015

March will be where the fun begins. Assuming everyone is on the new version, we'll be able to start adding new features and integrations insanely quickly.

We know which integrations and new features are most important to you thanks to all your feedback from last week's survey, and from all the emails, calls, and texts many of you have sent me personally. I've had the chance to work personally with a lot of the software companies we'll be integrating with, in order to make sure you get exactly what you need. For example, I met directly with InfusionSoft at their headquarters in Phoenix, AZ, specifically about the integration we're building with them. Talk about a sick office...

Moving Forward...

Like I said before, this update was a long time coming, and my guess is, it's nice for you guys to hear where we're at, and what we have coming. But I don't want to make any assumptions. So, my question is: do you like these updates? Would it be good for me to keep writing up weekly/monthly/bi-monthly updates? Let me know below.