Bluetik

Mike Tabor's Bluetik has an unusual origin story—the idea came to him in 2013, but he didn't actually start building it until 2016. He didn't even open up the signup process until 2017, keeping it in beta for years. While the exact inspiration isn't detailed in this conversation, the product exists and has accumulated customers over time, though it has never reached the point of supporting Tabor full-time.

The product eventually launched in 2017 and accumulated some baseline revenue and a customer base. However, Tabor found himself distracted and unable to focus fully on growth. For the past several years—and especially in the last 18 months—the product has been running on what amounts to autopilot, with Tabor investing minimal effort while the business meandered without clear direction or meaningful growth.

The source material doesn't detail how Bluetik found its first customers. What we do know is that it has accumulated some revenue and has customers, but it's not a high-maintenance product—Tabor reports very few support calls or emails, suggesting a small but stable user base.

The major detour for Bluetik came when Tabor attempted a merger with another company from August 2019 through summer 2021—approximately 18 months of effort that ultimately failed. The merger partner's business was in serious trouble due to massive technical debt accumulated over 8-10 years, and Tabor felt obligated to dive into fixing those technical problems rather than walking away. Though his work may have saved that business, the merger fell apart due to miscommunications and misaligned expectations. Critically, there was no partnership agreement in place despite a year-long negotiation, and Tabor spent all that time essentially working without equity—what he calls "a day job without equity."

Rob Walling, the podcast host, had expressed concerns early on about this exact scenario, warning that without a formal agreement on equity splits and merger terms, the arrangement risked becoming a time sink. Those concerns proved prescient. Tabor acknowledges he could have walked away earlier (around 6 months in) when things became clear, but felt trapped by obligation to the other founder.

After the merger fell through in late summer 2021, Tabor is essentially back where he was in 2019—facing the same fundamental question: how to grow Bluetik. He's committed to a 90-day marketing-focused sprint, planning to dedicate 95% of effort to marketing (not product features) and has written down several pages of marketing channels, tactics, and concrete activities. His mastermind group will hold him accountable weekly.

However, Tabor admits he's not particularly excited or optimistic. The 18-month detour has left him discouraged, and he's unsure whether marketing efforts will actually move the needle. The 90-day deadline is meant as an external forcing function: if things don't show upward trajectory at the end, he plans to put Bluetik on autopilot and pursue something else—potentially one of several other ideas he's been considering but not yet acting on.

The core tension is one of motivation. Tabor has enough freedom and passive income from Bluetik that he doesn't need to grind—he could sleep until 10 AM and work half the week and still be fine financially. But that same comfort means he lacks the urgency that typically drives entrepreneurs. Without clarity on what excites him intrinsically, and with a product that's been stalled for years, the 90-day experiment is as much about forcing a decision as it is about trying to grow the business.