SaaS Entrepreneurship: Untapped Insights By Instant Housecall Founder Corey Fruitman

In this interview series by Website Planet, I talk to executives from the best digital companies, who share their stories, tips and perspectives on what it really takes to create a successful website and online business.

A deep dive into decades of hands-on experience and technical expertise to learn untold truths and practical advice that will immediately help you build and grow your website.

My guest today is Corey Fruitman, founder of Instant Housecall, a remote support software that allows small to medium-sized businesses to provide on-demand remote support to customers by installing a server-side application on their computer and having customers download a small client application.

In addition to Instant Housecall, Corey is also the founder of Regarding, a new app for Slack that lets you send silent messages that don’t interrupt people and automatically categorizes them in a convenient inbox as FYIs, Questions, and ToDos. During her career she has worked for companies of various sizes, including a Norigen, AT&T Canada, Sprint, and Rogers Communications.

What pain point(s) do you solve for your customers? What was the “aha Moment” that led to the idea? Can you share that story with us?

The idea for Instant Housecall came about when I was working as a notetaker for deaf students at George Brown College. One of the students I was working with wanted to become a computer technician, but was concerned about dealing with his hearing clients, so I put together a small remote support app for him that also had text chat so he could communicate with customers. I realized that there was a market for that, so I continued to build it, and as they say, the rest is history.

Regarding was an idea that I had just prior to my Instant Housecall days. At the time, e-mail was the primary mode of communication. My boss complained that he was getting too many emails, so I added “[FYI]”, “[Please advise]”, and “[Action required]” to the subject lines of emails to help him organize his days. I was originally going to make an email program called Re:Mail, but decided to pursue Instant Housecall instead.

Fast forward to 2023, and Slack and Teams have replaced email as the primary communication. So I took the idea of being “polite” in communications with others and made it into a Slack app – Regarding Silent Messages.

What do you think makes your company stand out? What are you most proud of?

Being human. Almost all of my marketing has my face on it. I don’t hide the fact that I’m a small business owner. While lots of people seem to think that being a “big” company attracts attention, I’ve found the exact opposite.

Building relationships with actual people has led to more sales than a faceless marketing campaign ever could.

Data confirms that. In fact, according to a study by Hubspot, 82% of sales professionals think building strong relationships is the most crucial aspect of their work, and consider in-person meetings, phone calls, email, video calls, and live chats as the most effective channels.

Source:
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/hubspot-sales-strategy-report

From your experience, what are the most important things to build a highly successful website and online business? Please explain each in detail.

If there’s a formula, I don’t know what it is. I’ve read countless books, and none of them give a definitive answer on how you can be successful. So much of it is just a state of mind. I often say to myself, “This is what it costs to find out” when I have an idea that I’m not sure about. There might be people out there who know better than I do, but I spend a lot of time trying to figure this question out. I can’t say that I’ve ever been able to do that.

What’s the one key lesson you’ve learned about building a website and business that you wish you knew when you started? What’s the story behind this realization?

That there are other people out there who are simply better at most of the things I need to do.

When I started, I was shy about hiring people. I was sure I could always do a better job. I didn’t want to let go of the reins and I was suspicious that people would steal my ideas. I’ve left that behind and learned to hire people smarter than me who can do a better job than I ever could.

In your opinion, which aspect of running a website tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?

I don’t run a website. I run a business. The website is just one small part of that business, and like any other, it is one of the pieces of the puzzle, but not the whole puzzle in and of itself.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen people making when building their website and online business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

Underestimating the need for marketing.

“Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door”

That saying in my experience is not true. For example, I think Regarding is extremely high value and I’m currently giving it away for free, but I don’t have people banging on my door to get copies of it.

Is there any advice you’ve received in your career that you now wish you never followed? What happened?

Yes, to stay at a big company with stability. I used to work at AT&T Canada, and I decided to move out on my own while I was working there. Some of my friends thought I was crazy for leaving such a well-paying job to go out on my own and take the risks that I did. I was fortunate that I was successful with Instant Housecall, but even if I hadn’t been, I know I would have always regretted it if I hadn’t taken that chance. So no matter how it turned out, striking out on my own has always been something that I’m glad that I did.

Here’s how I look at entrepreneurship: the absolute worst thing that can happen is that you go bankrupt. That sucks, but you’re not going to die. On the flipside, the upside of entrepreneurship is unlimited. So when you look at the opportunity, bankruptcy or unlimited upside, the opportunity is ultimately asymmetrical and going out on your own can give you opportunities that you’d never have otherwise.