InStrand is the unlimited app and development platform that builds software to scale, fast.
Meet Ryan Griffin, Founder of InStrand – a nocode agency building software ecosystems that evolve with your ambitious organisation.
We caught up with Ryan to learn more about InStrand, what it’s like being a solo founder, and the lessons learnt from his bootstrapped journey. Excerpts from our chat below:
What is Instrand? And what led to the inception of it?
InStrand is the nocode agency that was born out of my own freelance journey. While overseas during the 2020 lockdown, I pulled the trigger on learning to code. For months, I went into a coding cave until I was building full stack apps. I started freelancing in business automation which fit with my prior experience and recent coding binge. Then, as the workload grew, I formed a team to help expand what we could do.
Fast forward, we now build web apps, mobile apps, automated systems and connect them into the rest of our customers’ software stack. Nocode allows us to build at pace for a fraction of the cost – yet the tools we work with are extensible so we can pull out the code when needed. Now, as we increasingly help teams maintain and deepen the capability of their existing tools, we are building our own platform to amplify what we can provide our customers.
How have you found being a solo founder?
There are pros and cons to anything. Being a solo founder, I think the cons outweigh the pros. I have an incredible network of friends, family and mentors to lean on for advice and support. Who knows where I’d be without them!
There is a lot of scope to think about being any founder, so being able to divide entropy among two or three, in my experience, is exponentially better. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, screams out here. My big disclaimer is that the ‘whole’ means that co-founders must have a special relationship. You have to be able to be in the trenches together, have complementary skill sets, thrash out the truth, get on with the work ahead and of course have fun. I am fortunate to have an awesome co-founder in another startup to help me tacitly understand this – more on that another time.
“There is a lot of scope to think about being any founder, so being able to divide entropy among two or three, in my experience, is exponentially better. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, screams out here. My big disclaimer is that the ‘whole’ means that co-founders must have a special relationship.”
If you had let us in on some of your major achievements over the past year, what would those be?
Flipping the business from a traditional consulting agency to a subscription based service has been both the greatest achievement and challenge over the past year. The predictable, upfront pricing and overhead reduction boosts outcomes for our customers, as well as us. The flip side to this is that subscription pricing models are hard and so is articulating value provided with an unconventional approach.
In our opinion, a constantly and exponentially evolving world needs a reciprocally nimble delivery method. The feedback to date has been great, but we are just warming up for where we see this offering unfold. The model allows customers to easily switch between building and testing phases, have real users playing with it quickly, validate assumptions early on, run ongoing experiments and iterate rather than putting all their eggs in one, fixed basket.
Coupled with our model flip is the recent release of our platform! You can now sign up, monitor the ecosystem and manage the account via the InStrand platform. We have packaged up what we previously provided into a more centralised place. We are using this as the launchpad to deliver our roadmap of tools so customers can manage and get more out of their software, apps, workflows and data, but without the technical overhead.
What are some lessons that you could share from your bootstrapped journey?
I discover(ed) most of these lessons the hard way – even after seeing endless recommendations.
Don’t go at it alone. Don’t do everything yourself. Work (really) hard. Look after your body and mind. Done is better than perfect. Know your numbers. Listen to your gut. Focus on 1-2 things. Don’t please everybody. Know your customer. Tinker before studying. Plan but no more. Make time for deep work. Find mentors. Do things that don’t scale. Know the value of your time. Pay for software. Advice is full of contradictions. Take it with a grain of salt.
“Don’t go at it alone. Don’t do everything yourself. Work (really) hard. Look after your body and mind. Done is better than perfect. Make time for deep work. Find mentors. Advice is full of contradictions. Take it with a grain of salt.”
What gets you excited for a new work week?
Working on exciting problems is a great motivator. Moulding experiences and data using software is an endless fascination for me. I am lucky to be surrounded by an awesome team who is also excited by the same things.
If anything, the last couple of years have shown us that each week is a gift. Each one presents us with vast opportunities (& challenges) – what we choose to do with them is up to us. That’s something to get excited about!
What’s on the horizon for InStrand and, more specifically, you?
For InStrand, helping businesses leverage the power of software. We are also going deep into product mode to turn our platform into a nocode hub. It will be the place for teams to manage their workflows, apps and other software tools without the technical overhead.
The startup I’m working on has just moved into a closed beta. Our app has just been rolled out to Apple TestFlight. If you are or know of a local business or sole operator who needs a simple way to manage their work from their phone – I’d love to hear from you! Send me a DM or email me.
And for me personally, after spending a couple years overseas, I am looking forward to exploring more of this great country, from the alps to the outback!
You’re the co-host on the The Abstractable Podcast, so this one might be tough to answer, but if you had to pick your 2 most favourite episodes from the series, which ones would they be, and what makes them your favourite?
Ep 37 is a joint fav for my co-host Lach & I. Danny Meyer is a famous restaurateur - Shake Shack, Union Square Cafe and so on. He has shown how he turned a commoditised business into a delightful and scalable experience.
Ep 41 we recorded at the start of 2021. With some of the challenges of the last few years - health, geopolitics, economy - it was incredible to to spend two hours talking about the exciting future that awaits us including (buzz word warning): blockchain, energy, decentralisation, biotech and automation. As flimsy as any prediction is, it’s a great exercise to reflect on past forecasts to see how they stand up.
It’s been a while between episodes but we plan to restart recording again soon.
–
To learn more about InStrand, head here.
To get in touch with Ryan directly, email him here.
By Nikita Lamba
