How Big Is My Fish? Building Fishtechy From a North Idaho River | Lawrence Sowell

Every fish photo has a rod or a hand in it for scale. Lawrence Sowell thought there should be a better way to answer the oldest question in fishing: how big is my fish? Lawrence is the founder of Fishtechy, the company behind the Proof Ball and an app that measures fish from a photo or video. Before Fishtechy he promoted shows in college, flipped foreclosures, ran a marketing company, built apps from Panama and spent five years living in an RV. Blake asks him how he moves from one industry to the next, why Fishtechy won't charge a subscription, and what he's learned about raising money. Quick answers from this episode: Why is the Proof Ball a ball? A ball is the same size from every angle, so the app can always use it for scale. 26:14 Why no subscription? Subscription fishing apps top out with a small slice of anglers. Lawrence wants millions of users, so Fishtechy makes money other ways. 28:36 Will anglers give away their spots? No. Users choose which catches to share, fish by fish, and locations are never public. 39:10 Why launch an app before it's great? The model only gets better with more real fish, so he shipped early and fixed it in public. 40:51 When should you talk to investors? Before you need the money. Share progress along the way so the raise is easy when it comes. 48:24 Is "find something you love" good advice? Lawrence says find a problem inside something you love, then make a plan to execute it. 52:54 Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:29 From a small Oregon town to throwing parties at Oregon State 4:14 Flipping foreclosures 5:53 Marketing, a pool league and a year in Panama 8:33 Five years in an RV and finding Coeur d'Alene 11:02 The entrepreneur dream vs reality 14:36 Generalist or specialist? 17:49 Knowing when to close a chapter 21:13 Founder and investor 23:51 Where Fishtechy started 26:14 Inventing the Proof Ball 28:36 No subscription 31:52 Data for fish biologists 34:07 Three months on the road 36:14 It starts with ego 39:10 Who gets your fishing spots 40:51 Launching before it was ready 42:34 Building from Cataldo, Idaho 45:40 AI and a remote dev team 48:24 How to raise money 52:06 Everything is not an emergency 53:46 "It must be nice" 58:22 The next five years Subscribe for more conversations with Inland Northwest founders, operators and business owners:    / @cowlesventurespod   #Fishtechy #Fishing #Startup #NorthIdaho #CowlesVenturesPodcast