#119 From Free Promo Videos to Tech Launch Videos (ft. LV Productions)

Vlad Lapich of LV Productions on going from free promo videos to tech launch videos, rebuilding his website with AI, automating proposals, why cold email died, SEO vs Google Ads, scaling post production, and what to do when a client stops paying. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:38 From Belarus to San Francisco: photographer turned videographer 2:06 Free promo videos and the Instagram DM that changed everything 4:46 Wearing five hats at a startup, then going solo 7:21 GPT-3 cold emails and the first big clients 8:13 The team: freelance editors, animators, and DPs 8:52 The bottleneck: scaling post without losing quality 12:12 Junior prep, senior storytelling: the editing pipeline 14:44 Paying editors: hourly vs per project, and picky clients 17:30 Rebuilding the website in a week with Cursor 22:03 AI for lead intake, proposals, and Video Galaxy 27:41 Pricing on the website and the proposal tool 30:04 Cold email is dead: 80 percent SEO, 20 percent referrals 32:22 SEO takes years, and one Google update can undo it 34:00 Why Google Ads did not work in San Francisco 38:37 Weddings vs corporate at Lapse 41:28 Networking for introverts 42:11 Premiere vs DaVinci Resolve 44:44 Animation: from 10K videos to offshore competition 47:43 Goals for the rest of the year 50:53 Claude as bookkeeper: margins, salary, and a missed invoice 54:08 LLC vs corporation 59:02 Clients who do not pay 1:03:46 Invoicing: 50/50 deposits and net terms 1:06:38 The story behind the name LV Productions Creatives Grab Coffee is produced by Lapse Productions, a Toronto video production company.