Stop Coding Emails: Loops Co-founder and CEO Chris Frantz
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
This episode features Chris Frantz, co-founder and CEO of Loops, the email sending platform for software companies. (00:00) Chris explains why email is still a massive problem for software companies and how Loops aims to solve it with a unified approach. The conversation explores his journey from marketing and growth at companies like Curiosity Stream to building and selling Snazzy AI (an early GPT wrapper) to Unbounce. (33:36) The discussion covers the importance of product-led growth over hype, the challenges of building a defensible business, and his unique approach to customer service where all engineers handle support. (59:58) Chris shares insights on startup fundraising, why he skipped Series A, and his philosophy of building products by talking to users, building, and sharing updates continuously.
Speakers
Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz is the co-founder and CEO of Loops, the email sending platform for software companies. Before founding Loops, he was one of the first employees at Curiosity Stream (now publicly traded), where he served as their marketing lead and spent millions on advertising across national TV, radio, and digital platforms. (17:59) He also built and sold Snazzy AI, one of the first GPT wrapper companies, to Unbounce for a seven-figure sum in under a year. (30:00) Chris is a Y Combinator alumni and has invested in six companies, three of which have had Series A rounds.
Key Takeaways
Email is Mission-Critical Infrastructure
Chris emphasizes that email is undervalued by many companies despite being critical infrastructure. (00:47) If your transactional email provider goes down and users primarily log in through email authentication, your entire application becomes unusable. This highlights the importance of treating email as core infrastructure rather than an afterthought. Companies often use 2-5 different tools for various email needs, creating complexity and potential failure points.
Product Quality Trumps Marketing Spend
Having spent millions on advertising at previous companies, Chris learned that "the best way to actually improve your CAC is not to have better ads. It's to have a better product." (18:57) This insight led to Loops running no marketing or sales, instead focusing entirely on product quality. The company operates with almost zero analytics and relies on word-of-mouth growth, demonstrating that exceptional products can drive growth without traditional marketing.
Engineers Should Handle Customer Support
Loops has all engineers handle customer support, which Chris believes creates fewer bugs. (59:57) "If there is anything that an engineer hates, it's being told by 10 different people that this one thing doesn't work" - and they're the ones who can fix it immediately. This approach creates better products, faster resolution times, and ensures the team building the product directly hears customer feedback.
Build Defensible Products, Not Hype
Chris argues that "if you want to build something very good, very defensible, and something that has the foundations to be a decade, multi-decade long business, it's unlikely that you're going to get to that defensible state in three months." (49:17) While hype-driven companies can raise money quickly, building lasting value requires time and deep product development. Loops spent a year and a half building before launching, prioritizing long-term defensibility over quick wins.
Never Compromise Control of Your Compensation
From his experience selling Snazzy AI, Chris learned to "never really let anybody take your own compensation under your control if you can avoid it." (35:19) When selling a company, avoid earnout structures or tranches based on goals you can't fully control. The acquiring company's incentives may not align with helping you hit those targets, potentially leaving money on the table.
Statistics & Facts
- Seven or eight publicly traded companies exist that are primarily email sending businesses, including Mailchimp which sold to Intuit for $12 billion. (05:27)
- Pre-Series D software companies typically use between 2-5 different tools to email their users, creating complexity and integration challenges. (08:46)
- Loops' churn rate above a certain price point (around 5,000-10,000 users) is practically zero after four years in business, indicating strong product-market fit for their target segment. (13:32)
