Building a $15k MRR side project while working at Stripe - Justin Duke, Buttondown

Justin Duke is the founder of Buttondown, a simple email newsletter tool without all the bloat. In December 2022 Buttondown was around $15k MRR. He also runs Spoonbill, which is a way to stay updated on what people change on their social profiles. At the time of recording this Justin was an engineering manager at Stripe so you’ll hear references to that, but he’s since left to go all in on being a founder.

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Timestamps

00:00 Intro01:57 Origins of Buttondown03:25 Buttondown launch05:37 Keeping Buttondown as a side project07:47 A pricing conundrum09:26 Having a free plan10:20 Finding balance12:31 Are Stripe side-project friendly13:56 Recommendations

Recommendations

Book - The Great Beanie Baby BubblePodcast - MetamuseIndie Hacker - Amy HoyNewsletter - Matt Levine Money Stuff

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Sponsor - Ahrefs

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