Paul Xue is a serial CTO and founder who built Space Station Labs into a $500k+ solo dev agency. In this episode, we get into how he structures project-based pricing to escape the hourly trap, how he handles negotiation and pushback, and why he targets venture-backed startups as his go-to client profile.
Timestamps:
- [00:01] Why Paul went solo instead of scaling horizontally
- [00:03] The negative flywheel of agency growth
- [00:07] Switching from hourly to value-based project pricing
- [00:09] Charging 10% of client value – real example at $280k
- [00:10] Why getting a “no” first is a sign of good negotiation
- [00:13] How to respond when a prospect says “that’s too expensive”
- [00:19] Discovery projects for unclear-scope clients
- [00:21] Cold outreach via Reddit, Slack, and community channels
- [00:25] The udeal client profile
- [00:32] Productizing the agency – what Paul’s exploring next
Key links:
- Paul on X/Twitter: https://x.com/pxue
- Spacestation Labs
- Paul’s agency playbook for founders