🚀Mechanical Engineer Hates Sales, Builds AI That Sells Itself (Now Running 30-Person Company With No Sales Team)
Ever feel like you're not qualified enough to build a SaaS company?
Yeah, Bryce felt that way too. Mechanical engineering degree. Started at Boeing. No computer science background. And now? He's running CloseBot with a 30-person team and just acquired Zappy Chat in a matter of weeks.
Oh, and he built a language-learning AI site as a hobby before generative AI was cool. 🤓
Let me tell you this story because it's equal parts inspiring and "wait, that actually worked?!"
The Boeing Escape Plan ✈️
Fresh out of college with a mechanical engineering degree (not computer science!), Bryce landed at Boeing.
His family was proud. He was excited.
Then reality hit: Big companies are BUREAUCRATIC. Like, painfully so.
But Bryce had a hobby - automating stuff. Whatever role he was in, he'd find ways to automate processes. Eventually landed in an AI software department at Boeing.
The Side Hustle:
While at Boeing, Bryce was learning languages at home (as one does for fun). He wanted to tie language learning with the software stuff he was studying.
His solution? Built a language learning site that would:
Compare blogs you wrote in a different language
Show how a native speaker would write it
Use AI to bridge the gap
This was his foundation for understanding language + AI before it was the hot thing.
The Real Estate Reality Check 🏠
Bryce got unhappy enough with corporate life that he quit Boeing to do real estate with his wife Laura.
Plot twist: He quickly realized he also didn't like sales. 😅
So what does a builder do when they don't like selling? They try to automate the sales process!
"Hey, I've done language stuff with AI before. I'm just going to automate some of the sales."
Laura's reaction? Probably not thrilled because that meant:
❌ Less time selling
✅ More time fiddling with tech
The result: Not making much money. But getting REALLY good at AI and software.
The Market Crash:
November 2022 - the real estate market took a downward spiral post-COVID.
Bryce was left with just his software skills and a solution he'd been building.
People kept asking about HighLevel integration. So he made it specifically for HighLevel.
Was it janky at first? Absolutely. But that's how it started.
Fast Forward to Today: 30 People & V2 Launch 🎉
CloseBot V2 just launched with:
🤖 30-person team (scaled up FAST)
🎯 Acquired Zappy Chat
💪 Brought on 12-14 people at once
👥 2 full-time onboarding people
🆘 Bunch more support staff
Laura's journey: Started coming into the office a couple days a week part-time. Got so busy she went full-time and referred out her real estate business.
Now? She's full-time running:
Operations
HR
Legal
Finance
No time to even refer out business anymore. That's how busy they are. 💨
The Free Plan That's Actually Generous 🎁
Most "free plans" are basically demos. Not CloseBot.
What You Get FREE:
✅ 100 free messages per month
✅ Unlimited sub-account connections
✅ No API key required (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Gemini - all supported)
✅ Works in 48 seconds from registration to responsive in HighLevel
Bryce has a video showing the entire process: 48 seconds from hitting the registration page to having it working. 🔥
The Three Plan Types 💰
1. Free Plan
100 messages/month
Unlimited sub-accounts
Perfect for single businesses or starting agencies
2. Business Plan
For businesses that don't need rebilling
Cheaper at scale than agency plan
No white-labeling
3. Agency Plan
Rebilling through the platform (connect Stripe, clients pay you directly)
White labeling coming (rolling out over next few weeks!)
User permissions - clients can edit variables you set, but you keep "god power"
You drag-and-drop to build agents, they can only edit what you allow
Think of it like HighLevel's approach - you build it, they can tweak specific things you define. 👑
When to Use HighLevel vs. CloseBot 🤔
Bryce's honest take: Always start with HighLevel's conversation AI and see if it works.
If it does everything you need? Stay there.
When to Switch to CloseBot:
Bryce talked directly with Farah (head of HighLevel's AI) who made it clear:
HighLevel's focus: Easiest solution for HighLevel. Not looking to do complicated things.
CloseBot's focus: Complex conversational scenarios like:
✅ Conversationally qualifying leads
✅ Branching based on qualification
✅ Booking on multiple different calendars
✅ Creating with third-party sources conversationally
Different tools for different needs. Simple stuff? HighLevel. Complex workflows? CloseBot.
Beyond HighLevel: The Vision 🌍
The goal: Be your foundation for AI agents regardless of CRM.
Coming Soon:
🔗 HubSpot native integration (few weeks out)
🔗 Webhook native integration
🔗 Service Titan
🔗 Follow Up Boss (real estate)
🔗 Many more requested integrations
Why this matters: You know how hard it is to get someone to change CRMs. Now you can be the solution provider without forcing the CRM switch.
Be the AI agent solution they need, not "you have to use my CRM." 💡
The Zappy Chat Acquisition Story 😂
This sounds like something from Silicon Valley (the TV show).
How It Went Down:
Matt (Zappy Chat founder): texts "Hey, I'd love to catch up."
They catch up.
Matt: "So... would you be open to buying Zappy Chat?"
Bryce: internally "Wow, drop that on me."
Bryce: "Okay, what would this look like? We have a lot going on. Maybe we can connect post-launch."
Matt: "Well, I was hoping to have it done BEFORE launch."
Bryce: "Matt, that's just a couple weeks away. I don't think we can do that."
Spoiler: They did it. 🎬
Why It Worked:
Aligned values. Matt is awesome. They both had the same approach:
On negotiation calls:
"Yeah, whatever you want, whatever's easiest."
No hardball negotiation
Just win-win everything
This is Matt we're talking about. Future acquisitions might not be as smooth. 😊
The Details:
Zappy Chat sunset date: January 1, 2026
What they're honoring: EVERYTHING
✅ All lifetime deals
✅ Zappy Chat Council plans
✅ Any current paid plan
✅ Lifetime users get $0 forever cost
Matt wanted them to honor promises he made to his community. Because he's proven his word. 🙌
What Stayed Intact:
🛠️ HL Pro Tools for support (Zappy Chat side)
👨💻 Retained their developer (code base maintained)
🎯 Retained head of customer success (office hours 2x/day)
Nothing really changed on the Zappy Chat end until the January sunset.
No Sales Team? No Problem! 📞
How many salespeople does CloseBot have?
ZERO. 🤯
The strategy: Product-led sales
✅ Lean hard into the free plan
✅ Let people feel it out
✅ Self-decide if they want it
Eventually? Maybe a sales team for enterprise clients later this year when they have:
Their lightweight CRM
More features
But for now? The product sells itself.
The Roadmap (Buckle Up) 🗺️
By End of 2025:
Voice AI 🎙️
Taking a serious look at voice
Training infrastructure around it
Probably won't launch this year (too much other stuff)
But next year? Voice is happening
Lightweight CRM 💼
The problem: Someone doesn't have a CRM at all. HighLevel feels like overkill.
The solution: Simple, clean UI CRM solution from CloseBot
Sit on TOP of whatever CRM they use (or provide one if they don't have any).
Marketing Tools 📊
Split testing different AI personas
See which qualifies leads at higher rate
Automatically pick winners
Like A/B testing for ads, but for AI agents
Really detailed reporting coming too. 📈
Agent Sharing 🔗
Already live! Similar to HighLevel snapshots:
Build agents
Get a shareable link
Drop into other CloseBot accounts
People are already building libraries of agents with descriptions. The community is creating resources, not just CloseBot.
The Advice That Hit Different 💎
Lesson #1: Sell First, Build Later
Bryce's failed project: Spent 1.5 years building a CRM from scratch before trying to sell it.
The result? Didn't sell. All that time wasted.
The lesson: Sell first. Build later. Especially if you're ADHD (like many entrepreneurs).
Why it works: You work better under pressure anyway. Sell something that doesn't exist yet → You'll be under pressure → You'll build faster and better → Plus you have an actual client to match things with.
Lesson #2: 50% Rule Under $30K MRR ⏰
The critical threshold: If you're below $30,000 monthly recurring revenue, at least 50% of your time NEEDS to be spent selling product instead of building product.
Above $30K MRR? You can shift focus. But below that? SELL, SELL, SELL.
Bryce doesn't spend 50% of his time selling anymore. But when he was starting? He had to.
Lesson #3: Imposter Syndrome Means You're Growing 🌱
Bryce's confession: "I'm not special. This all feels like it's not reality."
The truth: People way further ahead say the same thing.
We ALL have imposter syndrome.
And here's the kicker: If you AREN'T feeling imposter syndrome, you're not pushing yourself hard enough.
You should absolutely try to feel that. Keep pushing. Keep growing. You can do it. 💪
Hiring: Look in Your Own Backyard First 👥
Caroline's story: Bryce put out a job rec, interviewed a few people, picked who he vibed with best.
She didn't have specific qualifications. He just knew he was overwhelmed.
She started as: An assistant doing office errands, managing calendar and inbox.
She now leads:
Affiliate program
Sales training
Billing staff
The pattern: Most of the team are people Bryce knew before:
Max (head developer)
Jared (product manager for V2)
Laura (his wife)
The recurring theme: Get people you've known first. Don't marry them into the business until you've tried them.
The Launch Chaos (And Why It's Normal) 🎢
V2 launch: Amazing. But of course, there were issues.
Bryce's reality check: "If you haven't put out software into production, you can't understand. It is literally IMPOSSIBLE to not have issues."
Just put it out there.
Most issues? Misunderstandings around pricing (mainly from Zappy Chat community since the acquisition was so fast).
Some people:
❌ Didn't check emails
❌ Didn't know CloseBot acquired Zappy Chat
❌ CloseBot starts billing them
❌ Zappy Chat never emailed them when cards were charged (so they forgot they had it!)
The solution: Sales and billing team armed with SOPs. Access them through CloseBot V2.
The Just Do It Speech 🎤
I love how Bryce echoed what I was telling someone that same morning:
You don't need 50 videos queued up. Just do the first one.
You don't need everything figured out. Just get started.
Can't get to first base, let alone a home run, if you haven't stepped up to the plate.
Same with sales: So many people say "I don't know how to sell it."
The answer: Just get on the phone and talk to people. 📞
The Bottom Line 💭
From Boeing engineer to AI SaaS founder. No computer science degree. Started with a hobby. Didn't like sales so he automated it. Market crashed. Pivoted. Now running a 30-person company that just acquired a competitor.
The lessons:
✅ You don't need the "perfect" background
✅ Sell before you build
✅ 50% of your time = sales (under $30K MRR)
✅ Imposter syndrome means you're growing
✅ Hire people you vibe with, not just qualifications
✅ Product-led sales works
✅ Issues in production are NORMAL (just ship it)
You're not special. I'm not special. Bryce isn't special.
We all just kept pushing. And you can too. 🚀
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