The short version of the big prep page, just the parts you need in the room. The full stack research lives at /info/eric/uj-stack-research if you want it — but you don't need it to be great here. This is a 70%-listen, 30%-ask discovery conversation. We are not pitching.
Your role in the room
You're the design + build credibility. When the conversation turns to "the site feels like a brochure" or "filtering is clunky," that's your lane. You don't need to solution it live — just show you see it and you've built better.
The "make filtering better" moment: their inventory filter is basic. If it comes up, you can say "yeah, we can make finding the right boat feel a lot more like the experience you'd expect" — confident, not detailed. Save the how for later.
Show, don't deck. Have Modern Maid + the bowling alley build pulled up on a tablet. If there's a natural opening, show one. No slides.
Four things to walk in knowing
1. Read Davis Haug. Younger guy, Beaver Lake sales, but he's the trusted inner-circle gatekeeper Eric flagged. Treat him as a peer, ask his opinion, watch his reactions. If Davis trusts us, the rest follows. Don't talk past him to Jeremy.
2. The slip story is their hidden gem. UJ gives a boat slip with every boat purchase — in an area where slips are scarce. Buyers don't know it. Don't claim it as our idea; tee it up as their story the site should be leading with. ("Tell me about the slip story — what should a buyer know that they don't?")
3. Their stated pain is SEO + the website. They want more of the right traffic — buyers in budget, in their lakes, with intent — not raw clicks. Quality over volume. That's the frame.
4. Don't bring up ripping out their CRM. Their CRM (Lightspeed) is weak, but let them say it. Phase 1 is website + SEO only. Pre-qual / financing stuff is way down the road.
The Eric heads-up (important)
Eric is now a Ugly John's employee. He's our friend and our advocate inside UJ — but he also works for them now. That means in the room, Eric is on their side of the table as far as anything about our pricing, our margins, or how we'd compete goes. Totally normal — just keep those topics for Topher-and-Eric backchannel, not the group discovery.
Nothing changes about being warm with Eric. Just don't discuss what we'd charge or our internal strategy in the open room. Pricing lands in writing, later, between Topher and Eric.
Don't bring / don't say
- ▸No slide deck. No pricing numbers.
- ▸Don't say "you're not on BoatTrader" — they ARE. (We verified.)
- ▸Don't lead with the rip-out-DealerSpike narrative — let them get there.
- ▸Only call him "Ugly John" if they clearly use it first.
- ▸One small thing: congrats to Eric on the $1.7M yacht close — acknowledge briefly, don't dwell.