Today you’re going to hear my conversation with Vincent Woo. He is the founder of CoderPad.io, a software that helps companies hire Software Engineers.

The software is pretty cool. I, as the interviewer, can see in real time on the screen the interviewee writing and rendering code.

But we’re not getting too technical on this interview. We talk about how he came up with the idea after working at Amazon and Google.

He needed to hire people himself and found a pain point when running into troubles. He built the tool on the side. Is impressive how he managed to reach high revenues with a small team of 4.

We talk about all what he learnt along the way such as selling to enterprise, to figuring out pricing, to showing a live demo before asking for payment, and more.

Enjoy!

Episode Notes

[1:28] Vincent’s bad experience at the biggest software companies, Amazon and Google.

• “I started programming to cheat at videogames.”
• “I never though Dilbert cartoons were real until Amazon.”

[10:25] A refreshing experience at a small clothing startup company.

• “The environment is the biggest issue. When people change, they change because of their immediate environment.”

[14:13] How Vincent started CoderPad after endless frustrating hiring interviews with software companies.

• “It’s absurd you are asked a bunch of computer programming but don’t ask computers to run it.”
• “Google still requires people to write code on Google Docs to do a phone screen interview.”

[21:48] First customers and getting customers without a blog.

[28:02] Pricing and don’t being afraid to charge more. What’s behind the Enterprise form.

• “Having the buyer been totally educated before you are entering a price negotiation, I think is very valuable.”

[34:31] Team and keeping everything small.

Links

• Vincent Woo on Twitter
• Vincent Woo’s company, CoderPad.io
• Vincent Woo’s personal website
• Vincent Woo on IndieHackers
• Google
• Amazon
• Everlane Clothing Startup
• CollabEdit
• Steli Efti