Episode Details

Ed Buckley has built companies across fitness, healthcare and education, including Peerfit, Sword Intelligence and now Scholar.

Along the way, he’s changed how he thinks about what makes a product successful.

Distribution is a much bigger part of the equation now. Ed would rather have a good product with great distribution than a great product with good distribution. For him, that starts with knowing who will use the product, who will pay for it, and where the biggest opportunity for distribution actually is.

Ed joins Marco and Jonas to talk about what he’s learned from building and selling products across very different markets. They get into finding the right distribution channels, the deal with Peloton during COVID, building inside Sword Health, what happens when a product looks right on paper but people don’t use it, and where he draws the line on customization.

Ed breaks down:

→ Why he’d rather have a good product with great distribution than a great product with good distribution
→ Why product teams need to think about who uses the product and who actually pays for it
→ How product adoption and usage shape what matters in an enterprise product
→ Why selling Sword Intelligence meant bringing product and engineering into the sales process
→ How an earlier relationship with Peloton turned into a deal when COVID changed the fitness market
→ What to look at when a product makes sense on paper but customers still aren’t using it
→ How a feature around special education accommodations became the focus of Scholar
→ Where he draws the line between enterprise customization and individual personalization

Follow Ed Buckley:
Website: edwardjbuckley.com
LinkedIn: Ed Buckley
Instagram: @ejgatoriii
Scholar Education: joinscholar.com

Follow Marco Benitez and Jonas Dücker
LinkedIn Marco: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcobzg/
LinkedIn Jonas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-ducker-37460bb3/

Get in touch with This Feature Will Save Us Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/this-feature-will-save-us
Website: https://thisfeaturewillsaveus.com/

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0:25 - Welcome and rapid-fire questions with Ed
5:45 - Why Peerfit was the hardest company Ed built
7:05 - Why great distribution can beat a great product
9:30 - What changes when almost anyone can build a decent product
11:30 - The difference between the person using the product and the person paying for it
13:30 - How product supports distribution in enterprise
16:45 - Selling across employers, insurers, schools and hospitals
17:55 - Why Sword Intelligence brought product and engineering into sales
19:55 - Learning to lead when you’re no longer the subject matter expert
21:35 - From Peerfit to FitOn Health, Scholar and Sword Intelligence
24:50 - How the Peloton deal came together during COVID
30:20 - When a product should work on paper, but doesn’t
32:15 - The teacher request that changed Scholar
33:55 - How one feature became the focus of the company
36:30 - How easier development changes the customization question
37:40 - Enterprise customization vs. individual personalization
40:55 - The next feature Scholar is trying to figure out