Why I finally embraced SEO as a technical founder
Today’s advice post is by Dan Lesley, Founder of Homestar. Dan has over 20 years building, growing, and selling SaaS tech startups.
Back in 2019, I found myself buried in code at Homestar with our small dev team, building what we hoped would be the CRM that real estate agents wanted to use. Having built and sold three SaaS companies before this, you’d think I’d have known better than to fall into the same product-obsessed trap. But there I was, doing that.
Product development has always been my comfort zone. Squashing bugs, refining features, optimizing performance - that’s where I thrive. My past startups taught me the hard way that brilliant code means nothing without users. Marketing, especially SEO, used to make my eyes glaze over with its technical jargon and murky metrics. That changed pretty dramatically at Homestar.
We started like most technical founders do - throwing money at paid ads. The logic seemed sound: set budget, target users, watch signups roll in. Then reality hit. Our CAC kept climbing while conversion rates dropped. The math wasn’t working anymore.
Sarah, our marketing director, kept pushing for an organic strategy. I resisted until the paid acquisition numbers forced my hand. We started with basic stuff - cleaning up meta tags, fixing site speed issues, rewriting our documentation to sound less like a technical manual.
The systematic nature of SEO eventually clicked for me. It wasn’t so different from debugging code - identify problems, implement fixes, measure results, iterate. As we refined our approach, Homestar started showing up where our target users were looking.
- Our content strategy evolved beyond generic CRM topics to address specific challenges real estate agents face daily, backed by real customer stories
- Keyword research revealed gaps in the market where agents were struggling to transition from manual processes to automation
- Technical audits uncovered critical issues in our site architecture that were killing our rankings
SEO turned out to be this fascinating blend of technical optimization and creative strategy. The engineering side of me appreciated the measurable aspects, while the founder in me saw the bigger picture of building lasting value. When our organic traffic started delivering better qualified leads at a fraction of our previous CAC, I was sold.
Expanding beyond pure technical work stretched me in unexpected ways. Running a startup means wearing different hats, but SEO forced me to think differently about how we built and marketed our product. It became part of our DNA rather than just another marketing checkbox.
We started building real relationships with industry influencers and real estate tech blogs, focusing on genuine value exchange rather than just link building. The community aspect of SEO surprised me - it was less about gaming algorithms and more about establishing Homestar as a trusted voice in the space.
The compounding nature of SEO really hit home. Unlike the temporary spikes from paid campaigns, our organic growth built sustainable momentum. Each piece of content, every technical improvement, all the relationship building - it accumulated value over time instead of evaporating when the ad budget ran dry.
My initial skepticism about SEO wasn’t unique among technical founders. We tend to gravitate toward immediate, measurable solutions. But Homestar taught me that sustainable growth requires playing the long game.
Now I see SEO as an integral part of product strategy, not just marketing. Understanding user intent, creating valuable content, and optimizing for discovery - it’s all part of building something people want and can find.
The transition from viewing SEO as marketing fluff to recognizing it as a core business driver marked a turning point for Homestar. For technical founders walking this path, accepting SEO isn’t about becoming an expert - it’s about understanding its role in connecting your product with the people who need it.