Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Startups For the Rest of Us
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 728 | Bootstrapping Gymdesk to a More Than $32.5M Exit | 27 Aug 2024 | 00:36:05 | |
In episode 728, Rob Walling interviews Eran Galperin, founder of Gymdesk, about his incredible exit. Eran shares his journey of transforming Gymdesk from "Martial Arts on Rails" into a successful gym management software company. He discusses how they succeeded in a competitive market, the role of TinySeed in their growth, and how feelings of burnout eventually led to a majority buyout for the company. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! | |||
| Episode 727 | Gymdesk Sells for More than $32.5 million, Hiring Gets Easier, and More Hot Take Tuesday Topics | 20 Aug 2024 | 00:29:31 | |
In episode 727, Rob Walling is joined by Tracy Osborn and Einar Vollset to give their hot takes on some recent news. First they celebrate Gymdesk’s recent funding and evaluate what that means for TinySeed companies. Then, they weigh in on bootstrapper hiring, grappling with new challenges as MRR grows, and how to really move the needle in your business. Episode Sponsor:Hiring senior developers can really move the needle in your business, but if you bring on the wrong person, you can quickly burn through your runway. If you need help finding a vetted, senior, results-oriented developer, you should reach out to today’s sponsor, Lemon.io. For years, they’ve been helping our audience find high quality, global talent at competitive rates, and they can help you too. Longtime listener Chaz Yoon, hired a senior developer from Lemon.io and said his hire ”definitely knew his stuff, provided appropriate feedback and pushback, and had great communication, including very fluent English. He really exceeded my expectations.” Chaz said he’d definitely use Lemon.io again when he’s looking for a senior level engineer. To learn more and get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups. Topics we cover:
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| Episode 718 | When to Give Up, Open Source Competition, Painful Features, and More (with Derrick Reimer) | 18 Jun 2024 | 00:43:08 | |
In episode 718, Rob Walling and Derrick Reimer tackle listener questions about giving up on ideas, competing in crowded markets, and developing painful features. They also chat about SavvyCal’s recent design refresh, finding founder-market fit, and whether Derrick has retired from podcasting. Episode Sponsor:Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America. Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts. Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves. Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cove | |||
| Episode 635 | Where Are They Now? Catching up with TinySeed Tales' Tony Chan | 15 Nov 2022 | 00:32:27 | |
In episode 635, Rob Walling catches up with Tony Chan, the co-founder of CloudForecast, an AWS cost monitoring tool. Tony shared his victories, challenges, and failures in TinySeed Tales Season 3. It has been over eight months since we recorded the final episode. In this episode, we reflect and catch up on what’s been happening with Tony and CloudForecast. Episode Sponsor:Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce. Lemon.io helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America. They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running. When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week. And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 634 | Naming Your Startup, Tapping Out a Niche, and Licensing Your IP | 08 Nov 2022 | 00:31:19 | |
In episode 634, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions on topics ranging from naming your startup to initial aha moments and how to know if you have tapped out a specific niche. Episode Sponsor:Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce. Lemon.io helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America. They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running. When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week. And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 633 | Building SaaS Plus a Two-Sided Marketplace | 01 Nov 2022 | 00:34:47 | |
In episode 633, Rob Walling chats with Matt Wensing, the founder of Summit. Matt is no stranger on the podcast. And we talk about Matt's decision to change Summit's brand positioning and the far-reaching impact on his business. Episode Sponsor:Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce. Lemon.io helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America. They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running. When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week. And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 632 | Hot Take Tuesday: Figma Exit, Side Project Distraction, No Code Dogma | 25 Oct 2022 | 00:37:32 | |
In episode 632, join Rob Walling and Einar Vollset for Hot Take Tuesday, where they analyze and discuss some of the latest news. Some topics covered include the Figma exit, side project distractions, no-code apps, and more. Episode Sponsor:Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce. Lemon.io/ helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America. They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running. When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io/, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week. And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 631 | Re-writing Your Codebase, Stair Stepping, and Difficult Founder Decisions | 18 Oct 2022 | 00:28:11 | |
In episode 631, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he answers listener questions on topics ranging from when to rewrite your codebase to founder salaries and balancing your founder vs. developer mindset. Episode SponsorFind your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce. Lemon.io helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America. They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running. When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week. And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 630 | Approaching $1M ARR as a Niche SaaS Founder | 11 Oct 2022 | 00:33:56 | |
In episode 630, Rob Walling chats with Jonathan Weinberg, who is the founder of Builder Prime, a CRM software for home improvement contractors. We chat about how he came up with the idea for Builder Prime, getting early traction, and finding product-market fit. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 629 | TinySeed Tales s3e6: Looking Ahead to $1M ARR | 06 Oct 2022 | 00:32:46 | |
In the final episode of TinySeed Tales Season 3, Rob Walling checks in with Tony Chan of CloudForecast. They reflect on some of the most prominent challenges and milestones that the business has faced over the last year. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 628 | The 5 PM Pre-Validation Framework | 04 Oct 2022 | 00:29:32 | |
In episode 628, join Rob Walling on a solo adventure where he dives into his newest framework. The 5 PM Pre-Validation Framework is a helpful way to evaluate different startup ideas through a set of criteria to gauge the size of the opportunity. Want to download the PDF version the the 5 PM Pre-Validation Framework? Join the Startups For The Rest Us Mailing List, and we'll send you the link in the first email. Look for the orange email opt-in widget on the page. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 627 | TinySeed Tales s3e5: Meeting the Co-Founder | 29 Sep 2022 | 00:24:44 | |
In the penultimate episode of TinySeed Tales Season 3, Rob Walling checks in with Tony Chan of CloudForecast. Tony shares some recent big wins, including hiring a senior engineer. We also meet Tony’s cofounder, Francois Lagier, for the first time. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 626 | Scratching an Itch, Launching a Free SEO Tool, and Growing to $18k MRR | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:40:34 | |
In episode 626, Rob Walling chats with Nick Swan, the founder of SEOTesting.com. SEOTesting helps SEO professionals and agencies automate the reporting of page updates and changes. Nick originally launched it as a free tool under a different name. In this episode, we cover when Nick decided to charge for it, renaming the tool, rewriting the codebase, and the journey to growing to $18,000 MRR. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 717 | Bootstrapping to $1.3M ARR and 300,000 Free Users | 11 Jun 2024 | 00:34:22 | |
In episode 717, Rob Walling interviews Marie Martin, co-founder of Tally. They discuss the company’s journey to $1.3M ARR and the unusual pricing strategy that got them there. Marie details how they keep their support volume low, how they differentiate Tally from other form builders, and how they grew to over 300,000 free users. Episode Sponsor:We have been partnering with Lemon.io for several years, and they’ve proven to be a great choice when it comes to hiring for a highly skilled developer to work on your project. Here are five reasons why you should consider working with Lemon.io.
Customers of Lemon.io typically stick around for at least a year, proving they know how to gain your trust by delivering consistent results. Quit wasting time searching for a solid developer at a great price. Get in touch with Lemon.io. As a bonus for our podcast listeners, you’ll get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups. That’s lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! | |||
| Episode 625 | TinySeed Tales s3e4: Doubling MRR | 22 Sep 2022 | 00:21:01 | |
In the fourth episode of TinySeed Tales Season 3, Rob Walling checks back in with Tony Chan of CloudForecast. Tony shares that they’ve doubled their MRR in the last couple of months, and it feels like he has unlocked a cheat code. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you | |||
| Episode 624 | Moving from Free to Paid, Prioritizing Marketing vs. Development, and More Listener Questions | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:26:11 | |
In episode 624, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he answers some listener questions on topics ranging from customer interviews to transitioning from a free to a paid product and prioritizing marketing vs. development. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 623 | TinySeed Tales s3e3: Paternity Leave | 15 Sep 2022 | 00:27:36 | |
In the third episode of season 3 of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling checks in with Tony Chan of CloudForecast to see how he is faring since his co-founder is now on paternity leave. During this time, Tony shares a big win along with dealing with some hiring and growth setbacks. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 622 | Making Hard Product Decisions & Growth vs. Profitability with Derrick Reimer | 13 Sep 2022 | 00:49:53 | |
In episode 622, join Rob Walling and fan favorite Derrick Reimer, the founder of SavvyCal, as they discuss topics like balancing profitability versus growth and deciding which features to build and not. They chat about some specific features that Derek has decided to build, those he has not decided to build, and the thought process behind them. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 621 | TinySeed Tales s3e2: Onboarding Their First Hires | 08 Sep 2022 | 00:25:16 | |
In this episode of TinySeed Tales, Rob chats with Tony Chan from CloudForecast about the progress his rapidly growing team has made over the previous few weeks. Tony is riding the roller coaster that is entrepreneurship and in this episode you get to follow along. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 620 | Finding SaaS Ideas, Customer Pain, SaaS Metrics, and More Listener Questions | 06 Sep 2022 | 00:29:11 | |
In episode 620, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he answers some listener questions. These questions range from which SaaS business metrics to pay attention to and how to find good SaaS ideas to helping an employee transition from a task-level to a project-level thinker. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 619 | TinySeed Tales s3e1: Moving from Bootstrapped to Mostly Bootstrapped | 01 Sep 2022 | 00:24:30 | |
Welcome to Season 3 of TinySeed Tales, where we follow the founders of one SaaS startup throughout a year as they share their struggles, victories, and failures. On the first episode of Season 3, Rob introduces us to Tony Chan, the cofounder of CloudForecast. CloudForecast is a daily AWS cost monitoring service for busy engineering teams. Tony is one of 33 startup founders from TinySeed’s Spring 2021 accelerator batch. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 618 | How to Achieve Financial Freedom | 30 Aug 2022 | 00:32:41 | |
In episode 618, join Rob Walling as he chats with Sam Dogen, the founder of Financial Samurai, which is one of the longest-running and most popular personal finance blogs. Over the last 13 years, Sam has personally written over 2,500 essays along with a Wall Street Journal Bestselling book. We talk about achieving financial freedom, money mindsets, and relentless execution. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 617 | News Roundup: Profitwell $200M Exit, Spreadsheet Mentality, and Watching an Acquirer Ruin Your Company | 23 Aug 2022 | 00:40:22 | |
In episode 617, Einar Vollset and Tracy Osborn join Rob Walling for a bootstrapper news roundup episode. They cover a wide range of topics from ProfitWell’s big 200 million exit, spreadsheet mentality, watching an acquirer ruin your company, and much more. Topics we cover:[3:06] What’s your take on ProfitWell’s acquisition? [5:52] Watching an acquirer ruin your company [14:03] The spreadsheet mentality [23:09] If you can’t buy it twice, don’t buy it [36:00] Balancing realism with optimism as a founder Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 616 | An 8-Figure SaaS Founder's Approach to Remote Work | 16 Aug 2022 | 00:33:41 | |
In episode 616, Rob Walling chats with Liam Martin, the co-founder of Time Doctor and author of the new book, “Running Remote: Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote Work Pioneers.” We dig into the fundamentals of asynchronous communication, how to do remote work better, and some surprises they saw during the pandemic. Episode SponsorHiring developers has been tough for years, but it is even tougher these days. Lemon.io is on a mission to make the process of hiring an experienced developer or even an entire team easier. They only have experienced developers on their marketplace, and each one is hand-vetted. It is virtually risk-free as they’ll guarantee a replacement in 48 hours if something goes wrong. Find your perfect developer or a team with Lemon.io. You can also claim a special discount for our podcast fans. Visit lemon.io/startups to receive a 15% discount for the first 4 weeks of work with a developer. Topics we cover:[2:46] What Liam has learned running Time Doctor for the past 12 years [6:23] Can extroverts thrive long-term in a remote work environment? [11:14] Liam’s approach to metrics and KPIs for engineering teams [18:23] Why remote companies that move faster collaborate less [21:31] How far can you take async communication in a remote team [24:29] Combating isolation on remote teams Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 716 | Positioning Against Incumbents, Changing Your H1, How Tech Stack Affects Valuation, and More Listener Questions | 04 Jun 2024 | 00:31:13 | |
In episode 716, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He shares how he would position against incumbents, when to change an H1, and how choosing a tech stack affects your business valuation. Rob also weighs whether to skip a “Step 1” or “Step 2” business and start directly with a standalone SaaS in the Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping. Episode Sponsor:Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America. Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts. Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves. Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please | |||
| Episode 615 | Bootstrappable Businesses, Cargo Culting, and How Pricing Affects Growth (A Rob Solo Adventure) | 09 Aug 2022 | 00:27:10 | |
In episode 615, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he covers what makes a business bootstrappable (and things to avoid), cargo culting, and how large of a business you can build at different customer lifetime value levels. Episode Sponsor:Hiring developers has been tough for years, but it is even tougher these days. Lemon.io is on a mission to make the process of hiring an experienced developer or even an entire team easier. They only have experienced developers on their marketplace, and each one is hand-vetted. It is virtually risk-free as they’ll guarantee a replacement in 48 hours if something goes wrong. Find your perfect developer or a team with Lemon.io. You can also claim a special discount for our podcast fans. Visit lemon.io/startups to receive a 15% discount for the first 4 weeks of work with a developer. Topics we cover:[1:51] What makes a business bootstrappable? [14:15] Cargo culting [20:05] How large of a business can you build at a specific annual contract value or lifetime value? Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 614 | Deciding When to Quit Your Day Job, Founder Anxiety, and More Listener Questions | 02 Aug 2022 | 00:42:42 | |
In episode 614, Rob Walling chats with fan favorite Derrick Reimer. They start out by talking about Derrick’s decision to take a sabbatical from The Art of Product podcast after co-hosting it with Ben Orenstein for more than 5 years. Then, they answer a handful of listener questions, including when to quit your day job to focus on your startup full-time, coping with anxiety as a second-time founder, and choosing a domain name. Episode Sponsor:Hiring developers has been tough for years, but it is even tougher these days. Lemon.io is on a mission to make the process of hiring an experienced developer or even an entire team easier. They only have experienced developers on their marketplace, and each one is hand-vetted. It is virtually risk-free as they’ll guarantee a replacement in 48 hours if something goes wrong. Find your perfect developer or a team with Lemon.io. You can also claim a special discount for our podcast fans. Visit lemon.io/startups to receive a 15% discount for the first 4 weeks of work with a developer. Topics we cover:[2:18] Derrick’s decision to take a break from The Art of The Product podcast [10:22] When should you go full-time on your startup? [17:20] Before looking for tech firms, should I know the best frontend and backend architecture for my SaaS MVP and then only shop for firms who specialize in that? [24:13] I'm starting a new SaaS business, and despite a previous successful experience, I can't stop feeling extremely anxious about it. Is this something you're familiar with? How did you deal with it? [30:34] When choosing a domain name for my startup, should you go with a meaningful and expressive name, but a less serious TLD.io or a somewhat fictional name combined with the best tld.com? Links from the Show: | |||
| Episode 613 | Hacking Your Founder Psychology | 26 Jul 2022 | 00:30:24 | |
In episode 613, Rob Walling chats with Dr. Sherry Walling about the release of her new book, Touching Two Worlds: A guide for finding hope in the landscape of loss. They cover a lot in this episode, including the hustle of launching a book, the behind the scenes of how Sherry has hacked her own psychology to help promote the book, and grief in entrepreneurship. Episode Sponsor:Hiring developers has been tough for years, but it is even tougher these days. Lemon.io is on a mission to make the process of hiring an experienced developer or even an entire team easier. They only have experienced developers on their marketplace, and each one is hand-vetted. It is virtually risk-free as they’ll guarantee a replacement in 48 hours if something goes wrong. Find your perfect developer or a team with Lemon.io. You can also claim a special discount for our podcast fans. Visit lemon.io/startups to receive a 15% discount for the first 4 weeks of work with a developer. Topics we cover:[4:04] What it is like to publish a book with a traditional publisher [5:30] The process of launching and promoting a book [9:24] A clever way to reframe cold outreach [15:52] Hacking your founder psychology [21:03] A short book summary Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 612 | Balancing a Side Project and Going Full-time on Your Product | 19 Jul 2022 | 00:37:45 | |
In episode 612, Rob Walling chats with longtime friend and repeat podcast guest Dave Rodenbaugh. Dave was even at the very first MicroConf back in 2011. In this episode, we have a candid conversation on our experiences balancing side projects with a day job, struggling with the decision in our own different ways of when to quit, and the surprising habits you have to unlearn once you are finally independent of the day job and consulting work. Topics we cover:[1:27] Dave’s thought process behind expanding Recapture [5:34] The decision to go full-time on Recapture [15:05] Dave’s process for unlearning bad employee / consultant habits [20:07] The danger of the arrival fallacy [24:20] What would you do if you sold the business? [26:03] Balancing a side project with your day job Links from the Show:If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 611 | Bootstrapping ProfitWell to a $200M Exit (with Patrick Campbell) | 12 Jul 2022 | 00:47:31 | |
In episode 611, join Rob Walling as he chats with Patrick Campbell, the cofounder of ProfitWell, on how he and his co-founders bootstrapped ProfitWell to a $200 million exit. Profitwell was acquired by Paddle earlier this year. We dive into a bunch of topics you have not heard elsewhere, including details about the actual transaction, what was the stock vs. cash split, the revenue breakdown of consulting versus SaaS when they sold as well as talking through his thought process as they were deciding whether to sell. Topics we cover:[3:53] Using their consulting business to fund and grow Profitwell in the early days [8:23] The split between cash and stock in Profitwell’s acquisition [9:49] The percentage of Profitwell’s revenue from consulting vs. SaaS [13:39] The conversations that Patrick and his cofounders had from the get-go about their end goals and how much to reinvest in the business [15:02] The ownership split between all of the cofounders [17:08] How he made sure his employees were taken care of in the acquisition [19:05] Did Patrick ever consider taking funding? [26:14] How long it took to sell the business from the first contact with Paddle [31:55] Why should SaaS founders take money off the table once they hit certain milestones? [36:01] Patrick’s feelings about competing with Stripe [42:15] Why Patrick moved to Puerto Rico Links from the Show:If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 610 | How I Would Start Over Today, Bad Habits of Solopreneurs, and the Benefits of a Day Job (A Rob Solo Adventure) | 05 Jul 2022 | 00:29:17 | |
In episode 610, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he talks about the benefits of working a day job before launching your company, some bad habits he picked up in the early days, why the college dropout narrative is annoying, and what he would do if he was starting over today. Topics we cover:[1:08] The benefits of working a day job [6:20] Some bad habits Rob learned as a solopreneur in the early days [9:45] Why the college dropout narrative is bs [12:51] What would Rob do if he was starting over today [19:22] The benefits of starting a business today vs. 10 years ago Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 609 | Building Your MVP, the Bug Fix Hamster Wheel, and More Listener Questions | 28 Jun 2022 | 00:26:25 | |
In episode 609, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he answers a handful of listener questions ranging from when it makes sense to have multiple LLCs and hiring task-level vs. project-level thinkers to planning for large projects. He also shares his thought process behind ways you can build a complex mobile app prototype in a capital efficient manner. Topics we cover:[1:56] Is it worth it to create multiple LLCs? [6:10] Do you have any tips for how to find the time to work on future improvements when it feels like you don't have time to do anything but fix bugs and answer support tickets? [13:01] Do you have any advice around how to build a complex mobile app MVP in a capital efficient manner? [20:30] Should internal company, marketing and transactional emails be on the same domain? [22:27] How do you plan for a large project? Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 608 | Bootstrapping (and Exiting) a 7-Figure Info Product | 21 Jun 2022 | 00:50:51 | |
In episode 608, Rob Walling chats with Adrian Rosebrock, who bootstrapped and successfully exited his seven-figure info product company, PyImageSearch, in 2021. PyImageSearch provided digital courses around visual image detection and image classification in Python. Adrian wasn’t always an entrepreneur. He graduated with a PhD in computer science, got a day job, realized early on that he hated it, and just stair-stepped his way up to running a successful business. In this episode, we cover a lot including Adrian’s decision to start blogging and launch a Kickstarter campaign in the early days to learning how to hire employees and making the decision to sell the business in 2021. Episode Sponsor:Microsoft for Startups Founder Hub Microsoft for Startups is on a mission to help all founders innovate and grow no matter their background, location, or progress. Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a platform that provides founders with free resources to help solve startup challenges, including access to Azure credits, development tools like Github, mentorship resources, Microsoft collaboration and productivity software like Teams and Outlook and more. The program is open to all and takes 5 minutes to sign up, with no funding required. Learn more aka.ms/startupsfortherestofus Topics we cover:[2:41] The story of how Adrian first discovered MicroConf [6:29] Why Adrian didn’t want to go down the traditional path after getting his PhD in computer science [10:01] When he knew having a traditional day job as an employee wasn’t for him [11:24] How he used the stair-step approach to launch PyImageSearch [13:54] What Adrian did when he started to see early traction [16:45] Did having a PhD in computer science have a big impact in the early days of launching his business? [18:05] Adrian’s approach to learning how to market [20:31] How he balanced working a day job and his side business in the early days [23:39] Adrian’s launch plan for selling his first ebook in 2014 [28:48] The epiphanies that Adrian had in the early days to keep plugging away [33:33] How he went from making $38,000 in 2014 to $600,000 in 2016 as a company of one [36:28] The mindset shifts he had to make when he started hiring employees [39:10] Adrian’s decision to sell the business [45:03] His reflections after selling the business in 2021 Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a soft | |||
| Episode 607 | Overcoming Plateaus, Stealth Launches, Founder-Driven Sales, and More Listener Questions | 14 Jun 2022 | 00:34:43 | |
In episode 607, Rob Walling chats with Asia Orangio, and they answer listener questions about customer onboarding videos, overcoming revenue plateaus, stealth launches, and founder-driven sales. Topics we cover:[1:12] Where’s the best place to put customer onboarding videos? [5:37] How to scale a content business [15:36] What to do if revenue has plateaued? [21:41] When to do a stealth launch [26:30] Is it possible for a SaaS product to sell to the enterprise without a dedicated sales team? Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 606 | The Podcasting Landscape, Keeping Your Saw Sharpened, and Scaling Your Team with Craig Hewitt | 07 Jun 2022 | 00:34:57 | |
In episode 606, Rob Walling chats with Craig Hewitt, the founder of Castos. They talk about company building, staying up to speed when you are no longer doing the day-to-day tasks as well as their thoughts on a recent string of acquisitions happening in the podcast ecosystem. Topics we cover:[1:24] 2 MicroConf Local events happening in Chicago and Denver [3:50] The pros and cons of Spotify acquiring a couple of podcast analytics platforms [7:51] The specific challenges with podcast analytics [12:39] Spotify vs. Apple [16:31] Staying up to speed as CEO once you have a team doing the day-to-day tasks [28:32] Implementing OKRs at Castos [33:07] Castos’ Mission Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 715 | Best Uses of the Internet, a Book about Selling Your Company, and a Circus Show | 28 May 2024 | 00:35:47 | |
In episode 715, Rob Walling is joined by Dr. Sherry Walling to discuss a variety of topics. They chat about two recent and meaningful interactions made possible by the Internet, the motivations behind organizing and performing a circus show, and they chat about upcoming launches on the horizon – new books and courses for SaaS founders. Episode Sponsor:We have been partnering with Lemon.io for several years, and they’ve proven to be a great choice when it comes to hiring for a highly skilled developer to work on your project. Here are five reasons why you should consider working with Lemon.io.
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| Episode 605 | Building a SaaS with Little Dev Experience, Using No Code for Your MVP, Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace, and More Listener Questions | 31 May 2022 | 00:42:19 | |
In episode 605, Rob Walling is joined by Ruben Gamez, and they dig into a handful of listener questions. Topics range from building a SaaS with little development experience and using no-code tools to build your MVP to stair-stepping bootstrapping a two-sided marketplace. Topics we cover:[0:55] Selling to the enterprise [4:31] What level of development expertise would you say the founders of a B2B SaaS should have in order to create a successful product? [13:26] Should you launch a productized service to validate a SaaS idea before building it? [20:47] Can you use the stairstep method to bootstrap a two-sided marketplace business? [31:34] Is no-code something you see mainly for building an MVP, or is it something that you could sustainably build an actual SaaS startup on without running into scaling issues? What are the downside risks to no-code tools other than platform risk? [37:08] Do you think no-code tools will ever get to the point where you can build a full SaaS business? Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 604 | How to Decide Which Features to Build (with Derrick Reimer) | 24 May 2022 | 00:41:44 | |
In episode 604, Rob Walling talks with Derrick Reimer and gets the latest update on SavvyCal, how he makes product decisions, and they also share the best things they’ve bought for $100 and $1000 that have added much more value to their lives than the price point. Topics we cover:[4:50] Apple’s influence on startup founders [8:52] SavvyCal’s new Squadcast integration [12:51] Some upcoming features in the works for SavvyCal [14:05] Experimenting with a freemium feature—meeting polls [17:07] Derrick’s mental framework for deciding what features to build next [23:58] Switching from an employee to a founder mindset [25:56] Would you rather fight one duck-sized horse or a thousand duck-sized horses? [27:25] The best purchase Derrick has made for under $100 in the last 6 months [33:14] The best purchase Derrick has made for under $1000 in the last 6 months Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 603 | Bootstrapping HotJar to $40M ARR Using D2C Marketing | 17 May 2022 | 00:44:07 | |
In episode 603, Rob Walling chats with David Darmanin, one of the founders of Hotjar. Hotjar was bootstrapped to $40 million ARR with a fully distributed team of 170 employees. David and his cofounders sold the company for a 9-figure exit in 2021. From their incredible launch story and their unique DTC approach to sales and marketing in a B2B SaaS business to David’s mental models and the thought process behind selling the business, there is no shortage of key insights in this episode. Topics we cover:[5:07] How David initially financed building Hotjar [8:11] The biggest difference between Hotjar and its competitors [12:03] The unique approach that David took when launching Hotjar [12:44] Lessons learned from a failed product launch prior to Hotjar [15:01] How they built their initial launch list to 60,000 subscribers [19:32] How to know how much to spend on paid ads [24:53] Why David said it was easy to work 60-80 hour workweeks for the first 6-9 months of Hotjar [27:22] The two key ingredients needed if you want to sell a low-priced SaaS product [30:31] How they tripled their growth from $1M - $3M in the first year [33:26] How their initial launch strategy gave them a major competitive advantage when they started doing content marketing later on [34:03] What led him to sell Hotjar [40:39] How long the exit process took Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an | |||
| Episode 602 | Explaining SaaS Metrics to a Child | 10 May 2022 | 00:29:24 | |
In episode 602, Rob Walling explains SaaS metrics to his kid. This is a great episode to listen to if you are unfamiliar or not well-versed in SaaS because we dig into from first principles, starting with dollars, revenue, and the purpose of businesses, all the way to SaaS metrics like MRR, ACV, and LTV. And, even if you are well-versed in SaaS metrics, you’ll likely learn a few things from this conversation. Episode Sponsor:Microsoft for Startups Founder Hub Microsoft for Startups is on a mission to help all founders innovate and grow no matter their background, location, or progress. Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a platform that provides founders with free resources to help solve startup challenges, including access to Azure credits, development tools like Github, mentorship resources, Microsoft collaboration and productivity software like Teams and Outlook and more. The program is open to all and takes 5 minutes to sign up, with no funding required. Learn more aka.ms/startupsfortherestofus Topics we cover:[1:55] MicroConf Local London tickets are on sale [3:17] Starting with the basics: money, dollars, and businesses [7:01] Revenue [7:12] Expenses [10:51] SaaS [13:29] Recurring revenue [13:58] Average revenue per account (ARPA) [14:56] Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) [15:08] Average revenue per customer [17:08] Annual contract value (ACV) [18:18] Churn [19:30] Differences between Revenue Churn and Customer Churn [21:18] Lifetime value [22:10] Average customer lifetime value [25:49] Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 601 | Bootstrapping B2B vs. B2C | 03 May 2022 | 00:39:15 | |
In episode 601, Rob Walling chats with Nick Fogle of ChurnKey. Nick previously cofounded Wavve which was acquired in early 2021. In this conversation, they chat about how the idea for Churnkey came from his other business, decision to sell Wavve, and some of the key differences between bootstrapping a B2C vs a B2B SaaS. Topics we cover:[2:11] Tips for reducing churn [3:26] Asking for feedback at the point of cancellation via feedback surveys [8:09] When he knew it was the right time to double down on ChurnKey [9:06] A piece of advice for bootstrappers looking for SaaS business ideas [14:44] The process Nick and his cofounder used to sell Wavve for a life-changing exit. [22:13] The potential pitfalls of off-market deals [26:56] His initial reaction after selling Wavve [29:04] The key differences between selling B2B and B2C [30:36] Why Nick made the difference to hire a head of sales for ChurnKey [32:14] The mindset shifts he had to unlock around shifting from low touch to high touch sales [33:43] Why he decided to join the current batch of TinySeed Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 600 | When to Hire Your First Manager + What You Should Be Focused On (A Rob Solo Adventure) | 26 Apr 2022 | 00:30:10 | |
In episode 600, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he dives into topics ranging from when to hire your first manager to a mental framework for deciding which things to work on vs. what to delegate to your team. He also shares his thought process behind when things take multiple iterations and how to know whether or not you are on the right track. Episode Sponsor:Microsoft for Startups Founder Hub Microsoft for Startups is on a mission to help all founders innovate and grow no matter their background, location, or progress. Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a platform that provides founders with free resources to help solve startup challenges, including access to Azure credits, development tools like Github, mentorship resources, Microsoft collaboration and productivity software like Teams and Outlook and more. The program is open to all and takes 5 minutes to sign up, with no funding required. Learn more aka.ms/startupsfortherestofus Topics we cover:[1:04] A mental framework for deciding what things you should focus on as a SaaS founder vs. what to delegate [7:28] The importance of resting and taking proper breaks as a SaaS founder [14:28] When to hire your first manager [14:50] The two main components of management: supervising and leading [18:45] The importance of continuous iterations [26:21] Why you need to manage your own psychology as a founder [28:11] Hitting a big podcast milestone: 600 episodes Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 599 | Finding the Bootstrapper Hockey Stick | 19 Apr 2022 | 00:33:30 | |
In episode 599, Rob Walling chats with Dominic “Dom” and Tracy Phillips of CodeSubmit. CodeSubmit provides a library of real-world, take-home tasks in more than 60 coding languages. Some of their customers are Audi, Netflix, Carbon Health, 3M, and Apple. Dom and Tracy were also a part of the spring 2020 batch of TinySeed. During that year, they managed to 25x their MRR. In this episode, we’re digging into how they did that, what led to their bootstrapped hockey stick growth moment, what it is like working on a company with your spouse, and much more. Topics we cover:[2:20] How Dom and Tracy came up with the idea for CodeSubmit [6:59] The approach they used to build their product MVP on nights and weekends [11:16] Running a startup with your spouse [13:42] The catalyst that led to their hockey stick growth moment [17:06] When they knew they had product market fit [21:46] The number of different marketing channels they tried before they decided to double down on content marketing and SEO [26:19] The biggest mistakes that hiring managers and recruiters make when vetting new developers via take-home challenges [29:40] Thoughts on building a lifestyle business Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 598 | Diversity, Mission & Values, How to Start, and More Listener Questions | 12 Apr 2022 | 00:26:44 | |
In episode 598, join Rob Walling as he answers listener emails. Topics range from diversity in the startup ecosystem and when’s the right time to write your company’s mission, philosophy, and values to how to find good business ideas and the different approaches for developing features for a new app. Episode Sponsor:Microsoft for Startups Founder Hub Microsoft for Startups is on a mission to help all founders innovate and grow no matter their background, location, or progress. Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a platform that provides founders with free resources to help solve startup challenges, including access to Azure credits, development tools like Github, mentorship resources, Microsoft collaboration and productivity software like Teams and Outlook and more. The program is open to all and takes 5 minutes to sign up, with no funding required. Learn more aka.ms/startupsfortherestofus Topics we cover:[1:21] MicroConf Remote 4.0 [1:59] Improving diversity in the startup ecosystem [8:11] Is bootstrapping the great equalizer in business? [8:51] The right time to work on company values, mission statements, and philosophy [14:02] Developing features for a new app [15:18] How to figure out your minimum lovable product [21:18] How to find business ideas Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 597 | The Challenge of Building a Business in a Regulated Industry | 05 Apr 2022 | 00:37:23 | |
In episode 597, Rob Walling chats with Ashley Baxter, the founder of With Jack. With Jack gives peace of mind and protection for UK freelancers through insurance, professional indemnity, public liability, contracts, legal expenses, etc. We dig into the lessons Ashley learned from a failed insurance business she inherited from her father, how she used her freelance photography to fund With Jack in the early days, along with sharing many of the successes and failures she has had on her entrepreneurial journey. Topics we cover:[1:49] Tickets for MicroConf Remote 4.0 are now on sale [2:55] Putting a tech twist on a regulated industry [3:27] Improving the onboarding experience [5:24] How Ashley came up with the name for her business, With Jack [8:24] How she used the money from her freelance photography business to fund the early development costs for With Jack [10:16] Lessons learned from taking over her father’s insurance business at 18 [15:20] The danger of depending on only one channel to run your business [17:49] Ashley’s three pivotal business moments [21:27] The concept of a vitamin vs. painkiller business [27:10] The challenges of hiring an executive or admin assistant in a highly regulated industry [28:42] How Ashley responded when a competitor stole her website design [31:17] Why you shouldn’t be intimidated if a competitor gets funding Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 596 | News Round-Up: Google Ends WFH, Founder Salaries, How to Use Email | 29 Mar 2022 | 00:40:18 | |
In episode 596, Rob Walling is joined by Einar Vollset and Tracy Osborn for a bootstrapper news roundup episode. They cover a wide range of topics from Google’s decision to bring employees back into the office (and the potential implications for bootstrapped companies), founder salary data trends, email management strategies, and much more. Episode Sponsor:Microsoft for Startups Founder Hub Microsoft for Startups is on a mission to help all founders innovate and grow no matter their background, location, or progress. Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a platform that provides founders with free resources to help solve startup challenges, including access to Azure credits, development tools like Github, mentorship resources, Microsoft collaboration and productivity software like Teams and Outlook and more. The program is open to all and takes 5 minutes to sign up, with no funding required. Learn more aka.ms/startupsfortherestofus Topics we cover:[0:59] The State of Independent SaaS Report & Livestream [5:38] Google is ending work from home options for most Bay Area employees [12:11] How much do startup founders pay themselves? [14:51] The impact on having cofounders and salaries [19:41] Why you are probably using email wrong [26:21] Rob’s system for filtering emails [30:45] Twitter is making it harder to choose the reverse chronological feed [37:37] Practical strategies for working with and getting money to your existing developers in Ukraine and Russia Links from the Show:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 714 | TRM not TAM, Acquiring a Competitor, and Finding a Developer Co-founder (A Rob Solo Adventure) | 21 May 2024 | 00:31:22 | |
In episode 714, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He talks about what to expect when acquiring a competitor and how he might integrate their business. Rob also covers navigating HIPAA compliance as a bootstrapper, how to find a developer co-founder, and he explores the concept of Total Reachable Market (TRM). Episode Sponsor:Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America. Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts. Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves. Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! | |||
| Episode 595 | TinySeed Tales Season 2: Where Are They Now? | 22 Mar 2022 | 00:25:56 | |
In episode 595, Rob Walling catches up with Brian and Scottie Elliott, the husband and wife co-founders of Gather, an interior design project management SaaS. This husband and wife duo shared their victories, challenges, and failures, including a cash crunch, moving upmarket, and managing to double revenue over their nine episodes of TinySeed Tales Season 2. It’s been over a year since they were last on the podcast and wanted to see how the company is doing. It turns out Gather is on track to 10x their MRR. In this episode, we reflect on what they learned in the last year, how their thought process has evolved around deploying capital to grow the business, and what they are most excited about in 2022. Topics we cover:[3:33] How Gather is on track to 10x MRR [4:26] Shifting from solo designers and small design firms to catering to large firms [5:51] Moving upmarket [8:28] Why they shut down Gather consulting services [10:38] How they knew when they had product-market fit [12:57] How they bounced back after their developer accidentally crashed their entire app [20:11] Their thought process for deploying capital to grow the business [23:02] What they are most excited about in 2022 Links from the Show:
Thanks for listening to another episode of TinySeed Tales. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out all of Season 2 of TinySeed Tales with Brian and Scottie and Season 1 of TinySeed Tales, where we follow the SaaS journey with Craig Hewitt of Castos. If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. | |||
| Episode 594 | Starting Over with the TropicalMBA's Dan & Ian | 15 Mar 2022 | 00:46:06 | |
In Episode 594, Rob Walling chats with Dan Andrews and Ian Schoen, the founders of Dynamite Jobs and the TropicalMBA podcast. We talk about how they started over. They started a new business, Dynamite Jobs, a couple of years after selling their physical products company back in 2015. Episode Sponsor:Microsoft for Startups Founder Hub Microsoft for Startups is on a mission to help all founders innovate and grow no matter their background, location, or progress. Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a platform that provides founders with free resources to help solve startup challenges, including access to Azure credits, development tools like Github, mentorship resources, Microsoft collaboration and productivity software like Teams and Outlook and more. The program is open to all and takes 5 minutes to sign up, with no funding required. Learn more aka.ms/startupsfortherestofus Dynamite Jobs was born after seeing a need within their community, The Dynamite Circle, a community for location independent entrepreneurs. It’s a need that would be hard for most people to bootstrap because it is a two-sided marketplace, but Dan and Ian had an advantage with their existing business and audience, and were able to capitalize on it. In fact, after humble beginnings, the business has grown 10x in the last year. In this episode, we chat about how they are bootstrapping and growing a two-sided marketplace, along with a wide range of other topics. Topics we cover:[2:37] Why Dan and Ian both settled in Austin, Texas and the unexpected benefits that has had for their businesses [3:22] Why their digital nomad journey in the early days was born out of necessity [4:35] The events that led to the first DCBKK event in 2012 and the impact it had on their business [6:16] Embracing the chops index instead of the old school digital marketer “guru” model [8:21] The ideas that led Dan and Ian to start Dynamite Jobs in 2017 [14:46] The first key metric for Dynamite Jobs back in the early days [17:12] How deciding to hire a CTO was the catalyst that scaled Dynamite Jobs exponentially in late summer 2020 [20:34] The critical mistake they made that cost them months of development time [22:51] The concept of CEO bombing vs. diving deeper into the core features that matter [24:53] The 1000 day principle [28:14] Where Dynamite Jobs is in relation to the 1000 day principle [29:00] How they 10x’ed the revenue for Dynamite Jobs in 2021 [30:26] The value of hiring senior people who are better than you [35:59] Actionable tips for recruiting and hiring great people [38:44] The lowest cost, highest leverage hiring advantage for founders [41:21] The rip, pivot and jam framework [43:14] Why some of their “best ideas” turned out to be the biggest failures Links from the Show: | |||
| Episode 593 | Retaining Employees + The Ideal SaaS Business (A Rob Solo Adventure) | 08 Mar 2022 | 00:25:16 | |
In Episode 593, join Rob Walling for a Solo Adventure as he chats about accidentally deleting all of his old tweets, retaining talent, the ideal market for a SaaS business, and more. The topics we cover[3:10] Deleting old tweets [8:43] Retaining talent [12:39] Ideal market for a SaaS business If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you! | |||