Some weeks are about output. Shipping. Launching. Announcing.
This one was more behind the scenes.
Progress happened. Dots connected. But mostly, we leaned further into something we’ve been circling for a while now:
We want to build Masset our way.
Integrations are never just “plug and play”
Tyler spent the week deep in the trenches of our HubSpot integration — and like all integrations, this one came with its own “oh no” moment.
The short version: we thought we had everything working. Contact, company, and deal syncing was all humming along. Then we realized we’d overlooked permissions. Our users shouldn’t see everything in HubSpot — only what they’re allowed to see. But HubSpot doesn’t make that easy.
And just when we thought we’d hit a wall, they released a new permissions API — literally weeks ago. We must be one of the first companies using it.
Now, we’ve got a proper, permission-aware, bi-directional sync that makes us genuinely proud of the integration we’ve built. This one’s really close to done.
Cold email (again)
Ben’s had a love-hate relationship with cold email for months now.
Everyone swears by it. “It scales.” “Just automate it.” “Send 30,000 a day.”
But let’s be honest — most of it sucks. And none of it felt like us.
So we went back to the drawing board.
We asked: What if we used cold outreach not to sell, but to connect?
The result: we rewrote our outreach to invite people onto the podcast — no sales pitch, no bait-and-switch. Just an offer to tell their story, be heard, and maybe make something cool together.
It worked. Open rates, replies — night and day difference.
Not because of magic subject lines. Because it was actually genuine.
And while it's not resulting in instant demo requests, we’re building something way better: relationships.
Some of these folks are giving us product feedback. Others are showing up again weeks, months, or years later, saying, “Hey — I’m finally in the market. Can we talk?”
That’s how we want to grow.
Content as a strategy, not a tactic
Every week, we seem to circle back to the same question:
What’s the content-first version of this?
Whether it’s email, advertising, or sales, we’re trying to find the long game — not the quick win. And over and over again, we keep seeing that content (real content — not fluffy listicles) is the path forward.
It’s not about blasting our brand. It’s about being useful, being real, and building trust long before someone’s ready to buy.
It’s slow. But it compounds.
Real relationships > clever funnels
This week, we shifted how we think about outreach. We paused the “growth hack” mindset and asked ourselves, what would feel right?
So we started inviting people to join us on the podcast — not as a pitch, not as a trick. Just an honest invitation to share their story. It’s fun. It’s meaningful. And people are responding to it.
Some of them might never buy what we’re building. And that’s fine.
But a few? They’ve circled back months later and said, “Hey, I’m actually in the market now — can we talk?”
That’s not the point of doing it. But it’s a nice outcome when it happens.
We’re not trying to engineer a funnel. We’re trying to get to know people in our space — to learn from them, support them, and build something worth remembering.
If they end up needing what we’ve built someday, great. If not, we still got to make something cool together.
Closing thoughts (and spring break dreams)
Not a big shipping week. But a big alignment week.
We’re dialing in the way we want to do things — with content at the core and relationships over transactions.
And that feels really good.
Also, it’s spring break next week. Tyler joked about spontaneous Disneyland trips. Ben laughed (and cringed) at the cost. Neither of us is going anywhere. But we’ll probably still sneak in a walk, a card game, and a few hours of focus work between kid chaos.
Founder vacations hit different.
Until next week —
Ben & Tyler
