Startups For the Rest of Us

In Episode 588, Rob Walling chats with Courtland Allen about a wide range of bootstrapper and indie hacker topics including the struggles with motivation/depression, bootstrapping today, fighting the urge to quit, and frameworks for getting your first dollar. The topics we cover [3:43] Hiring a podcast producer [6:21] Letting go in business [7:09] Invite-only experiment on Indie Hackers [16:03] Thinking about the future [20:47] Financial freedom and starting a business [25:05] Depression as a founder and rediscovering purpose [37:10] Fighting the urge to quit [41:10] Getting your first dollar [52:35] The bootstrapper scene in 2010 and the relevance of bootstrapping Links from the show Rob Walling on Twitter The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life Courtland Allen (@csallen) | Twitter 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 episod

In Episode 587, join Rob Walling as he answers listener emails including feedback and a critique about the podcast, the state of microentrepreneurship, and where to start with user growth. The topics we cover [2:22] The reason Rob continues to podcast [5:26] Renaming a company or podcast [8:40] Revisiting inflation [15:06] The state of microentrepreneurship [20:00] Where to start with user growth Links from the show Where to Publish Plugins Episode 581 | Inflation for Founders Start Small Stay Small Quiet Light Brokerage MicroAcquire, the #1 Startup Acquisition Marketplace Empire Flippers Rob Walling - Serial Entrepreneur | Building, Launching and Growing Startups 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 586, Rob Walling chats with Michele Hansen about her new book where she talks about how to master customer interviews as a startup founder. The topics we cover [5:00] User experience research for startup founders [11:20] Customer Interviews for developers [12:30] Feature requests as customer research springboard [19:55] Practicing customer interviews [23:37] Comparing to Jobs to Be Done framework Links from the show Deploy Empathy: A practical guide for talking to customers Software Social Episode 524 | Bootstrapping a Commodity SaaS Michele Hansen (@mjwhansen) | Twitter 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 585, Rob Walling chats with Sherry Walling about moving outside your comfort zone, the power of relationships, psychedelic-assisted therapy, as well as her new book about grief launching later this year. The topics we cover [3:22] Deciding against self-publishing [12:00 ] Building an audience vs. a network [14:26] Psychedelic-assisted therapy [24:00] The power and importance of relationships Links from the show The Entrepreneur's Guide To Keeping Your Sh*t Together Touching Two Worlds: A Guide for Finding Hope in the Landscape of Loss Sherry Walling (@zenfounder) | Twitter 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 584, Join Rob Walling for a Happy New Year edition of the show where looks ahead to 2022 and evaluates what he wants to focus on. The things we choose not to do are just as important as the things we chose to do and Rob encourages you to think hard about what is and is not working for you today. The topics we cover [3:00] Founder's retreat [4:36] Estimating growth [9:23] Hiring a full-time content producer [15:32] The power of focus Links from the show The Zen Founder Guide to Founder Retreats 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 583, Rob Walling chats with Sam Parr about about building an email list, selling to Hubspot, podcast growth, and how to spot business opportunities. The topics we cover [3:53] Building Hustle to 8 figures in revenue [5:52] Growing an email list [11:01] Selling to a B2B SaaS [19:00] My First Million and growing podcasts [23:45] TikTok marketing [27:30] Spotting interesting opportunities [34:70] Manifest cowboy Links from the show Sam Parr (@theSamParr) | Twitter 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 582, Rob Walling is joined by Einar Vollset to answer listener questions about enterprise sales, crowdfunding, replacing yourself, and things that every B2B SaaS founder should know. The topics we cover [1:26] Investing with Reg CF [6:20] Enterprise plans and pricing [13:31] Finding your replacement [19:29] Best way to give software demos [21:55] What fundamental things should startup founders should know Links from the show Sales Funnel Optimization for Bootstrapped Founders – Steli Efti – MicroConf Europe 2019 Einar Vollset (@einarvollset) | Twitter 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 581, Rob Walling discusses how to grow money sensibly while protecting the principle during inflationary times. He explores real estate, collectibles, crypto, stocks, bonds, and other strategies to consider as inflation and other economic changes occur. The topics we cover [2:00] Inflation is here [7:20] Pricing flexibility with SaaS [9:44] Rules when inflation goes up [13:53] Inflation and home mortgages [16:29] Emergency funds during inflation [17:36] Bonds during inflationary times [18:40] Growth stocks 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 580, Rob Walling chats with Ross Hudgins, an SEO expert, about seven common things that SaaS founders either do well or frequently get wrong. The topics we cover [4:42] Put your blog in a subfolder, not a subdomain. [7:18] With keyword-focused content, make the URL exactly the main keyword. [10:10] Be thoughtful about feature page keywords [13:39] It’s really hard to rank for “best X software” queries [16:24] Use on-page content marketing best practices [20:50] Build passive link assets around keyword [22:58] Answer keyword questions immediately, right after the H1 Links from the show On-Page Content Marketing Best Practices Readability: the Optimal Line Length Ross Hudgins (@RossHudgens) | Twitter This episode of Startups for the Rest of Us is sponsored by Software Promotions. Get better results from Google. 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 epi

In this special episode of Startups For the Rest of Us, Rob Walling chats with Einar Vollset about not only the announcement of the TinySeed Syndicate but also the investment landscape for B2B SaaS today. Even if you don't think you'll raise funding, it's important to understand the dynamics of the investment and acquisition market as a bootstrapped founder. The topics we cover [1:40] Investment landscape for bootstrapped SaaS [10:26] What is a syndicate? [13:57] Introducing the TinySeed Syndicate Links from the show Invest — TinySeed Apply — TinySeed Einar Vollset (@einarvollset) | Twitter If you have questions about starting or scaling SaaS that you'd like us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 578, Rob Walling is joined again by co-host emeritus, Mike Taber for an update on his progress with Bluetick. Today we find out how Mike's merger that he has been working on for the past year has panned out. The topics we cover [3:55] Mike reflects on time and effort working on partnership [7:20] What to do when a deal stalls [9:00] Doubling down on Bluetick [14:50] Differentiating Bluetick [17:47] Moving fast as a startup [19:03] Finding your intrinsic motivation [26:10] Mike's 90 day plan Links from the show Bluetick.io Mike Taber (@SingleFounder) | Twitter This episode of Startups for the Rest of Us is sponsored by Software Promotions. Get better results from Google. 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 577, Rob Walling chats with Jim Kalbach about how to uncover the right problem to solve with the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework. If you haven't been exposed to JTBD, this episode will be a great primer as we dive into practical examples for bootstrapped or mostly-bootstrapped founders. The topics we cover [3:00] Defining Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) [6:45] JTBD are stable over time [10:27] Be solution-agnostic [11:20] JTBD for pre-product or pre-solution [17:53] Questions to ask to find JTBD [20:50] Switch interviews [24:41] A switch interview case study Links from the show The Jobs To Be Done Playbook: Align Your Markets, Organization, and Strategy Around Customer Needs JTBD Toolkit Jim Kalbach (@jimkalbach) | Twitter This episode of Startups for the Rest of Us is sponsored by Software Promotions. Get better results from Google. If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question fo

In Episode 576, Rob Walling chats about permissionless entrepreneurship, why you probably shouldn't be a media company if you're an early stage or bootstrapped SaaS, and the importance of exploring beyond what your customers ask for to find out what they actually need. The topics we cover [2:01] Permissionless entrepreneur [9:25] All startups should not become media companies [15:10] Find out what your customers need, not what they ask for This episode of Startups for the Rest of Us is sponsored by Software Promotions. Get better results from Google. 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

In Episode 575, Rob Walling is joined by Derrick Reimer for a quick update on SavvyCal and some recent hiring decisions he has made. They also answer listener questions about shipping code as a bootstrapper, pivoting, selling a business through a broker, and more The topics we cover [2:23] The latest with SavvyCal [12:02] Shipping code as a bootstrapper vs larger team [21:39] Considering a zoom-in pivot [25:15] Progressive web app vs two native app [28:20] Thoughts on white-label approach for SaaS [33:55] Selling a bootstrapped business through a broker Links from the show Episode 530 | Making Development Decisions, Regrets about Selling, and More Listener Questions (with Derrick Reimer) Episode 559 | Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace with MicroAquire SavvyCal MicroAcquire Quiet Light Brokerage Derrick Reimer (@derrickreimer) | Twitter This episode of Startups for the Rest of Us is sponsored by Software Promotions. Get better results from Google. If you ha

TinySeed, MicroConf's venture fund and SaaS accelerator, is launching their Fall 2021 accelerator batch this week.

In Episode 574, Rob Walling chats with Andrew Fiebert, a founder who just couldn't get away from software. He's a software developer, turned podcaster, turned marketer, and now he's a software entrepreneur and on this episode, they discuss his success and struggles while building Lasso. The topics we cover [2:40] Introductions [4:15] WordPress plugin with an annual subscription [5:51] Starting a podcast [8:00] Experiments with monetizing a podcast [13:26] Starting Giftlab.co [15:08] Starting another software business [16:35] Building Lasso [21:23] Launching without the right pricing/product [23:32] Discovering the sticking points in the UI/UX [29:29] Freemium vs paid users [31:06] The biggest struggle with building Lasso [35:23] The future for Lasso Links from the show Lasso GiftLab Listen Money Matters Andrew Fiebert (@andyfieb) | Twitter This episode of Startups for the Rest of Us is sponsored by Software Promotions. Get better results from Google.

We need your help!  The 2022 State of Independent SaaS Survey is now live and we need as many eligible founders of B2B SaaS businesses to complete the survey.  This survey will be used to create our third annual State of Independent SaaS report, offering recommendations, insights, and pitfalls critical to planning for a future in B2B SaaS. Venture funded businesses have a wealth of research and data helping them make decisions about the next steps they should take with their business - our community and niche of indie funded SaaS businesses shouldn't miss out on these best practices. Fill out the 2022 State of Independent SaaS survey today! microconf.com/state-of-indie-saas

In Episode 573, Rob Walling chats with Einar Vollset and Tracy Osborne about the part-time contractor versus hiring full-time debate, the acquisition of Sandhills Development, as well as the launch of a TinySeed Europe. The topics we cover [02:14] FT vs PT Contractor [09:06] When could part time contracting work? [10:25] Sandhills Development acquisition [14:50] TinySeed Europe announced [21:04] DuckDuckGo and Privacy Links from the show Episode 551 | Task-level vs. Project-level Thinkers, No Such Thing as an Autopilot Business, and More (A Rob Solo Adventure) Awesome Motive has acquired our WordPress products and services – Sandhills Development, LLC Josh Pigford on Twitter Regarding FT vs PT Contractor DuckDuckGo and Privacy Careers — TinySeed Invest — TinySeed Tracy Osborne on Twitter Einar Vollset (@einarvollset) | Twitter This episode of Startups for the Rest of Us is sponsored by Software Promotions. Get better results from google. If you have questio

In Episode 572, Rob Walling does another solo adventure to talk about taking responsibility for the outcomes of your business and the importance of putting in the reps as a founder. Bootstrapping a startup is a marathon, not a sprint and it's important to enjoy the journey along the way. Thanks to Software Promotions for supporting this podcast! Learn more about their SEO and AdWords services The topics we cover [1:56] Intro [2:20] It's not your fault, but it's your responsibility [8:35] It's not the game, it's the practice [15:23] Dietary patterns Rob wishes he would've known 15 years ago Links from the show Episode 551 | Task-level vs. Project-level Thinkers, No Such Thing as an Autopilot Business, and More (A Rob Solo Adventure) 11 Years to Overnight Success: From Beach Towels to A Successful Exit – Rob Walling – MicroConf 2017 Thanks to Software Promotions for supporting this podcast! Learn more about their SEO and AdWords services If you have questions about starting or

In Episode 571, Rob Walling chats with Peter Suhm about moving on from WP Pusher and Branch. We also dive into how he came up with the idea for Reform and his process for validating the idea with a landing page before building. The topics we cover [1:28] Intros [2:48] Default alive and selling Branch [8:15] Changing customer behavior is hard [12:25] Struggling through customer interviews from a small studio [16:20] Thinking through all the options and deciding to keep going [18:45] Moving from a list of requirements to a form builder [27:23] Building a high-quality MVP, starting with a landing page [34:52] Entering a big, horizontal, crowded space Links from the show Branch - Automated deployments for WordPress Reform - Hosted forms. No code required. Start Small, Stay Small Obviously Awesome - How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get it, Buy it, Love it Peter Suhm (@petersuhm) | Twitter If you have questions about starting or scaling a software busine