Startups For the Rest of Us
472 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★★ - 669 ratingsThe original podcast for bootstrapped and mostly bootstrapped startups, this show follow the stories of founders as they start, acquire, and grow SaaS companies. Hear when they fail, struggle, succeed, and take you with them through the tumultuous life of a SaaS founder. If you like Mixergy, This Week in Startups, or SaaStr, you’ll enjoy Startup for the Rest of Us.
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Episodes
Episode 707 | Once.com, Open Source to FT Income, and More (Hot Take Tuesday)
April 02, 2024 10:00 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBIn episode 707, Rob Walling, alongside guests Tracy Osborn and Einar Vollset, give their hot takes on some recent news in the world of SaaS. They discuss Once.com’s launch, liquidation preference nuances in startup buyouts, with moving from open source to full time income 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...
Episode 706.5 | Rethinking My Most Common Advice
April 01, 2024 10:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBIn episode 706.5, join Rob Walling as he reconsiders some of his most common advice. He explores why lowering prices might make sense and discusses the benefits of a B2C business model. Rob also walks back his prior advice on bootstrapping two-sided marketplaces and launching multiple products to see what sticks. Topics we cover: 1:04 – What would happen if you lowered prices? 3:56 – Benefits of a B2C approach 7:05 – Two-sided marketplaces allow to reach two audiences 8:47 – Launch a ...
Episode 706.1 | MicroConf US Tickets Will Sell Out Soon!
March 28, 2024 10:00 - 2 minutes - 2.94 MBMicroConf US in Atlanta is here in just a couple weeks, and this is your last call to buy tickets. We've sold more than 90% of the tickets, and we will sell this event out as we have for many years. The event is April 21st through the 23rd in Atlanta, Georgia at the amazing Starling Atlanta. There are going to be 200-ish of your closest bootstrapped and mostly bootstrapped founder friends who are showing up to hear talks from folks like Rand Fishkin of SparkToro, Asia Orangio of DemandMave...
Episode 706 | 2/20/200 Validation, Prior Art, and Designing by Committee (A Rob Solo Adventure)
March 26, 2024 10:00 - 25 minutes - 23.9 MBIn episode 706, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he discusses a variety of topics. He starts with why it’s important to both consider and credit “prior art” in business. Rob outlines his 2/20/200 idea validation framework used to repeatedly evaluate ideas. He also covers why, though there are some advantages, designing by committee has some significant downsides. Episode Sponsor: Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just c...
Episode 705 | From Bootstrapped to Mostly Bootstrapped to Venture Backed
March 19, 2024 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBIn episode 705, Rob Walling interviews Braden Dennis, co-founder and CEO of FinChat. They discuss Braden’s journey going from fully bootstrapped, all the way to taking venture capital as FinChat scaled. Braden shares his experience in initially launching to an audience, how they successfully launched a second product, and how FinChat operates well with multiple co-founders. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers...
Episode 704 | Landing Pages, Buying a SaaS, the Right Tech Stack, and More Listener Questions
March 12, 2024 10:00 - 37 minutes - 34.8 MBIn episode 704, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He weighs in on buying a SaaS, how to validate ideas using landing pages, and what tech stack to choose. Rob also provides guidance for those considering leaving their comfortable day jobs in favor of being a founder. 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...
Episode 703 | The Accidental SaaS Entrepreneur
March 05, 2024 10:00 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBIn episode 703, Rob Walling interviews Jordan Hansen, founder of Cobalt Intelligence. They dive into Jordan's unexpected journey into SaaS and the growth of his company, which specializes in business verification through API. Jordan reflects on quitting his job to pursue his startup and the benefits of community and mentorship he has received from TinySeed. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers ...
Episode 702 | Revenue vs. Profit Multiples, When to Lower Prices, and More Listener Questions
February 27, 2024 10:00 - 31 minutes - 29.7 MBIn episode 702, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He answers how to introduce friends to bootstrapping, when to lower your prices, and addresses the difference in revenue and profit multiple valuations. Rob also offers advice when weighing a career move versus building side projects and scaling your MVP. Episode Sponsor: Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision...
Episode 701 | The Long Journey to Product-Market Fit
February 20, 2024 10:00 - 33 minutes - 31 MBIn episode 701, Rob Walling interviews Matt Wensing, founder of Summit, a SaaS platform for lead scoring and qualification. Matt shares insights on finding product-market fit, the importance of following customer workflows to get there, and the challenges of marketing and positioning. Rob asks about his choice to raise venture capital, and how keeping a lean team maximizes that opportunity. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for inc...
Episode 700 | Playing the Long Game
February 13, 2024 10:00 - 30 minutes - 28.7 MBIn episode 700, Rob goes solo to celebrate another milestone of Startups For the Rest of Us. He reflects on playing the long game and doing so publicly enough to create larger luck surface area. He also emphasizes building skills in the process, and highlights several founders who have done this well. 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’...
Episode 699 | How to Build Elegant, Scalable Software Products with Derrick Reimer
February 06, 2024 10:00 - 47 minutes - 44.1 MBIn episode 699, Rob Walling chats with fan favorite Derrick Reimer, the founder of SavvyCal, about scaling products tastefully. Derrick offers his perspective on maintaining a tidy UX and deciding which features to implement. They also cover best practices for maintaining knowledge bases, changelogs, and documentation. As a bonus, Rob and Derrick offer podcasting advice to their past selves. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for in...
Episode 698 | How to Launch a Million Dollar Business (With Noah Kagan)
January 30, 2024 10:00 - 44 minutes - 41.4 MBIn episode 698, Rob Walling interviews Noah Kagan, CEO of AppSumo. They discuss the importance of eliminating distractions, cover strategies that led to growth in Noah’s businesses, and share insights from growing YouTube channels. Noah also shares why he decided to write his new book, Million Dollar Weekend. 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 the...
Episode 697 | 7 Predictions for SaaS Bootstrappers in 2024
January 23, 2024 10:00 - 31 minutes - 29.6 MBIn episode 697, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he makes predictions for SaaS in 2024. His predictions focus on Vertical SaaS, emerging markets, the professionalization of No-Code, subscription fatigue, AI and more. At the end of the episode, he evaluates predictions he made over the past 10 years to see if they held up. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierc...
Episode 696 | The Truth about Product-Market Fit + Doing Sales as an Introvert (With Ruben Gamez)
January 16, 2024 10:00 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBIn episode 696, Rob Walling and Ruben Gamez cover a variety of topics. They discuss how product market fit is achieved across customer segments and use cases, not simply broadly. Ruben shares how he approaches effective decision making and sales as an introvert. They wrap up by sharing how they evaluate candidates when hiring to build their teams. Topics we cover: 4:47 – Product market fit, increasing average revenue per customer 7:58 – When did you know you had product market fit? 11:0...
Episode 695 | Ideal Customers, Moving from B2C to B2B, and More Listener Questions (with Asia Orangio)
January 09, 2024 10:00 - 53 minutes - 49.3 MBIn episode 695, Rob Walling and Asia Orangio answer listener questions. They take questions about ideal target customers, moving from B2C to B2B, and how to advertise for a product in a new space. They wrap up discussing the challenges of making freemium work while bootstrapping. 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 gr...
Episode 694 | 2023 In Review: Amazing Growth & Fighting Burnout
January 02, 2024 10:00 - 19 minutes - 18.7 MBIn episode 694, join Rob Walling as he recaps 2023. He reflects on growing TinySeed, MicroConf, the YouTube channel and this podcast. Rob also addresses his struggle with "arrival fallacy" and the continuous journey of success. Alongside the growth, he describes seeing burnout on the horizon, emphasizes the importances of addressing that early, and what it means for him and his team in 2024. Episode Sponsor: Going from an idea sketched on the back of a napkin to a robust, stable product re...
Episode 693 | Building a Mid-Six-Figure SaaS in Less Than 3 Years
December 26, 2023 10:00 - 28 minutes - 26.7 MBIn episode 693, Rob Walling interviews Grant McConnaughey, founder of Postpone, a social media scheduling tool. They discuss the app's growth from inception to mid six figures, early growth tactics, a successful price increase, and platform risks with Reddit and Twitter. Grant also shares his experience going all-in on one idea, joining TinySeed, and reveals what he can still improve upon. Topics we cover: 2:04 – Postpone starts off as part of a New Year’s resolution 4:13 – Validating an...
Episode 692 | Learn the Rules Like a Pro So You Can Break Them Like an Artist (A Rob Solo Adventure)
December 19, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MBIn episode 692, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he addresses a variety of topics. He stresses revisiting your onboarding to evaluate your product’s “minimum path to awesome” and warns of conducting “mirror research” instead of market research. Rob also tackles why being the cheapest option is not always the best positioning. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fi...
Episode 691 | Freemium, High-touch vs. Low-touch, Selling as an Introvert, and More Listener Questions
December 12, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBIn episode 691, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He evaluates freemium as it relates to paying by the “honor system”, competing against big incumbents, and whether to sell using high-touch vs. low-touch strategies. Rob also recommends books for introverts looking for sales advice. 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. ...
Episode 690 | When Opt-in Email Could Be Spam, Collecting Customer Feedback, and More Listener Questions
December 05, 2023 10:00 - 33 minutes - 31 MBIn episode 690, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He advises on the ethical considerations of email marketing and answers how he would value a business when buying out a partner. He also addresses the best ways to collect customer feedback and the value of high-fidelity customer calls. Episode Sponsor: Going from an idea sketched on the back of a napkin to a robust, stable product requires a wide range of skills. You can spend ages looking for...
Episode 689 | How to Keep Your Remote Team Motivated and Engaged
November 28, 2023 10:00 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBIn episode 689, Rob Walling interviews Robert Cserti, co-founder of SessionLab. Robert and his team provide tools and resources for designing workshops and SessionLab operates fully remote. Rob and Robert discuss strategies for motivating remote teams, fostering team culture and communication, and being intentional about synchronous meetings and team bonding. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers...
Episode 688 | Growing Boot.dev From $6k to $110k in Monthly Revenue in 15 Months
November 21, 2023 10:00 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBIn episode 688, Rob Walling interviews Lane Wagner, founder of Boot.dev. Boot.dev is a learning platform gamified to teach backend development. They discuss the journey of bootstrapping Boot.dev, its explosive growth, and its unique business model. Lane also shares challenges of running a B2C business, why he took some funding, and the significance of customer lifetime value over MRR in his business. Topics we cover: 2:38 – Boot.dev seeing incredible growth 3:35 – Growing on YouTube with...
Episode 687 | An 8th Thing You Should Never Do, Things That Don't Scale, and More Rob Solo Topics
November 14, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MBIn episode 687, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where discusses a variety of topics. He revisits a recent episode to add one more item to the list of things founders should never do. Rob also offers a hot take on Meta’s new subscription plans and weighs in on a Hacker News post about doing things that don’t scale. 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 he...
Episode 686 | How Much is Enough?, Outsourcing Marketing, and More Listener Questions
November 07, 2023 10:00 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBIn episode 686, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He answers how to evaluate monetary success, combat hedonic adaptation, and how to evaluate the capabilities of technical co-founders. Rob also discusses whether outsourcing sales and marketing is possible and considers some alternative no-code approaches. Topics we cover: 4:20 – Success after stair-stepping, confronting hedonic adaptation 15:35 – Sales funnels, friction before demos, and co...
Episode 685 | 7 Things You Should Never Do (A Rob Solo Adventure)
October 31, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBIn episode 685, Rob Walling goes solo to share his insights on 7 common mistakes that SaaS founders make. Be sure to listen to the end to hear Rob’s spicy take on launching a portfolio of products to see what sticks. Episode Sponsor: As a founder your plate is full. So when you have to hire devs, there’s no time to search for that perfect culture-fit, get-things-done developer. Lemon.io’s new product, Lemon Hire saves founders time by connecting them with a pipeline of 80K+ senior engineer...
Episode 684 | Key Takeaways from MicroConf Europe 2023
October 24, 2023 10:00 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBIn episode 684, Rob Walling is joined by Dr. Sherry Walling to share their experience from MicroConf Europe 2023 in Lisbon. They discuss a continued shift in MicroConf’s focus towards fostering founder connections and networking, and the value of face-to-face interactions. Rob and Sherry reflect on their own talks and highlight others by fellow founders and attendees. Topics we cover: 1:28 – Reflecting on MicroConf locations 6:28 – Continuous event improvements, focus on community 9:41...
Episode 683 | Bringing on a Partner, Attending Trade Shows, Pre-launch Discounts, and More Listener Questions
October 17, 2023 10:00 - 28 minutes - 26.9 MBIn episode 683, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He addresses gathering feedback from customers that are reluctant to give it to you, whether to bring on a partner, and the value of going to in-person events. Rob also covers topics such as equity for advisors, pricing strategies, & productized services. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has neve...
Episode 682 | The Pros and Cons of Large vs. Small Startup Events
October 10, 2023 10:00 - 27 minutes - 26 MBIn episode 682, Rob Walling interviews Alex Theuma, the founder of SaaStock, a conference for SaaS founders. They discuss the challenges of bootstrapping an event and the pros and cons of large startup events versus small startup events. Alex also shares his experience of building credibility and authority in the industry, the importance of maintaining a positive attendee experience, and ensuring financial sustainability. Episode Sponsor: Tired of searching endlessly for highly skilled sof...
Episode 681 | Why Launching a Second Product is Usually a Bad Idea
October 03, 2023 10:00 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBIn episode 681, Rob Walling and Ruben Gamez go deep on the drawbacks of launching a second product. They both generally advise against doing so, as it can distract from the existing product. However they do share some successful attempts, strategic insights, how to approach feedback on second ideas, and the benefits for founders that beat the odds. Topics we cover: 1:31 – When you should launch a second product 5:32 – Ruben’s experience growing Bidsketch and SignWell 9:45 – Responding t...
Episode 680 | Problems vs. Solutions, Doing What it Takes, and More Listener Questions (A Rob Solo Adventure)
September 26, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 22.2 MBIn episode 680, Rob Walling goes solo again, covering a wide variety of topics including listening to customers, but not necessarily their solutions. He also cautions against making decisions based on one customer's feedback, but listening to the crowd. Finally, Rob highlights the importance of doing whatever it takes to succeed as a founder. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been m...
Episode 679.5 | The Future of MicroConf (7 Announcements!)
September 21, 2023 10:00 - 7 minutes - 7.08 MBIn episode 679.5, Rob shares seven announcements about the future of MicroConf in the upcoming year. Whether you're a long-time supporter or a new member of our crew of misfits, you know we're all about empowering bootstrapped SaaS entrepreneurs. For nearly a decade, we've been fueling the permissionless entrepreneurship movement that's gripped founders worldwide - and we're nowhere close to finished. Our next big leap is coming, and you won't want to miss it. If you want to get the ins...
Episode 679 | Mock Features, A Failed Launch, Becoming a Freelancer, and More Listener Questions (A Rob Solo Adventure)
September 19, 2023 10:00 - 26 minutes - 25.2 MBIn episode 679, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He discusses how “mock features” can be implemented to close deals with certain buying dynamics, how to recover from a failed launch, and the benefits of phased launches to minimize those. Rob also gives advice on creating organic content for a SaaS and suggests alternative marketing strategies to content creation. Finally, he covers what an engineer might encounter during an acquisition in a sma...
Episode 678 | Selling a Half-Finished Product, Phased Launches, and More Listener Questions (Rob Solo Adventure)
September 12, 2023 10:00 - 26 minutes - 24.9 MBIn episode 678, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He answers how he might find buyers for a half-done SaaS product, addresses platform risk that accompanies no-code development, and shares insights on bookkeeping for SaaS startups. Rob also details what frameworks new marketers should be looking into and gives advice on launching a new SaaS tool to an email list. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The ...
Episode 677 | Design Faster and More Effectively With Wireframing
September 05, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBIn episode 677, Tracy Osborn interviews Leon Barnard from Balsamiq about wireframing and design. They discuss the book "Wireframing for Everyone" written by Leon and his co-authors from Balsamiq and they emphasize the value of low-fidelity wireframes for founders. They also cover how wireframing can improve ideation and communication processes among teams. To wrap up, they recommend resources for non-designers interested in learning more about wireframing and design. Episode Sponsor: Life ...
Episode 676 | Exit Valuations, Choosing Between Ideas, and More Listener Questions
August 29, 2023 10:00 - 33 minutes - 31.4 MBIn episode 676, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he answers more listener questions. He answers questions around the inflated valuations in the B2B SaaS market, choosing between ideas, and validating a SaaS idea before building. Rob wraps up evaluating the effectiveness of building a podcast or YouTube following prior to launch. Topics we cover: 0:56 – TinySeed applications for fall 2023 batch 1:42 – The Future of MicroConf announcement event 2:13 – Why are B2B SaaS valuation...
Episode 675 | Storytelling as a Sales Superpower (Book Recommendation)
August 22, 2023 10:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBIn episode 675, Rob Walling interviews Stephen Steers, author of "Superpower Storytelling." They discuss Stephen’s experience in selling and teaching startups how to sell better. They cover Stephen’s storytelling “AREA” framework and the concept of the problem stack. They also talk about when founders should consider delegating sales, the importance of documenting successful sales processes, and using humor in the sales process. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lem...
Episode 674 | SparkToro Pays Back Investors, When to Raise Funding, and X.com (Hot Take Tuesday)
August 15, 2023 10:00 - 43 minutes - 40.6 MBIn episode 674, join Rob Walling, Einar Vollset, and Tracy Osborn for Hot Take Tuesday, where they analyze and discuss some of the latest news. They talk about Elon rebranding Twitter to X and the emergence of Instagram's Threads. They also cover the pros and cons of taking VC and SparkToro's unique funding model and paying back investors. Topics we cover: 2:49 – Twitter is now X 5:53 – Does the rebranding make sense? 12:15 – Instagram launches Threads 19:18 – SparkToro pays back inv...
Episode 673 | Lifetime Plans vs Subscriptions, Testing an Idea With a Landing Page, and More Listener Questions
August 08, 2023 10:00 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBIn episode 673, Rob Walling chats with Ruben Gamez, the founder of SignWell, as they answer listener questions. They cover topics related to pricing models for SaaS products, marketing strategies for new products, the concept of copycat apps, and the challenges of balancing customer requests with product development. Additionally, they address a question about choosing between working at a startup or a big tech company. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/sta...
Episode 672 | Bootstrapping, Building, Buying, and Selling SaaS Companies
August 01, 2023 10:00 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MBIn episode 672, Rob Walling speaks with Jon Hainstock, M&A advisor at Quiet Light and previously ZoomShift. They discuss Jon’s bootstrapper journey, his exit from ZoomShift, the benefits of buying versus building, and how he helps other founders sell their businesses at Quiet Light. To wrap up, Jon exposes some common pitfalls to avoid when buying businesses. Topics we cover: 2:17 – Timeline of building and selling ZoomShift 6:07 – Deciding to sell ZoomShift 11:06 – Jumping into a new p...
Episode 671 | Working on What Matters, Left-handed Threads, and Being Lucky (A Rob Solo Adventure)
July 25, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 22.2 MBIn episode 671, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he covers a variety of topics. First, he shares an example of why successful founders move the needle rather than staying in their comfort zone. He shares an anecdote about discovering left-handed threads and how it applies to startups, and wraps up with some thoughts on the role of luck in audience building. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineer...
Episode 670 | Relying on Luck, Avoiding Burnout, and Bad Player vs. Bad Instrument (A Rob Solo Adventure)
July 18, 2023 10:00 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBIn episode 670, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure, where he discusses why, while striking luck in your SaaS journey is great, working hard and building skills is the sustainable way to build businesses for the long haul. He also shares his personal approach to work when burnout is on the horizon and finally an anecdote relating to SaaS marketing approaches. Topics we cover: 0:41 – RSS feed issues, undesirable startup tasks 2:52 – Two exclusive episodes of Startups For the Rest ...
Episode 669 | 10 Years to Overnight Success: Bootstrapping to a Multi-Million Dollar Exit
July 11, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.9 MBIn episode 669, Rob Walling chats with Rick Hymanson, founder of detamoov and previously Shugo. They discuss Rick’s exit from Shugo in 2018 in what Rob calls “ten years to overnight success”. Rick recounts an early pivot for the company in finding product market fit, building the business with a day job, the logistics of the exit, and why he’s excited to join TinySeed with detamoov. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible ...
Episode 668 | 9 Key Takeaways from MicroConf U.S. 2023 in Denver
July 04, 2023 10:00 - 49 minutes - 46.2 MBIn episode 668, Rob Walling and Arvid Kahl share nine key takeaways from MicroConf US 2023 in Denver. They cover topics ranging from founder mental health, shared motivations for bootstrapping, the value of in-person conferences, and the MicroConf experimentation that led to the “Chaos Lunch”. Topics we cover: 2:04 – MicroConf 2023 in Denver, building back after COVID 9:09 – Founders are sharing an experience of struggles and pivots 11:21 – Why nothing beats being in a room together 14...
Episode 667 | Increase Your Exit Price by Decoupling Yourself from Your Business with John Warrillow
June 27, 2023 10:00 - 30 minutes - 28.7 MBIn episode 667, Rob Walling speaks with John Warrillow, author of Built to Sell, about validating and launching his second SaaS business, VidGuide. They cover how Standard Operating Procedures can help your business, from leading toward better exits to easing your burden as a founder. Topics we cover: 2:59 – Why John decided to launch VidGuide 7:23 – Validating and positioning a “scratch-your-own-itch” SaaS idea 13:45 – Considerations for novel software solutions 18:27 – Success storie...
Episode 666 | Entering a Competitive Market, Books for SaaS Founders, and More Listener Questions with Derrick Reimer
June 20, 2023 10:00 - 53 minutes - 49.3 MBIn episode 666, Rob Walling chats with fan favorite Derrick Reimer, the founder of SavvyCal, as they answer listener questions. They cover topics ranging from idea validation in competitive spaces to book recommendations to development strategies for non-technical founders. 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 ta...
Episode 665 | How to Find More "Best Fit" Customers for Your SaaS
June 13, 2023 10:00 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBIn episode 665, Rob Walling chats with Georgiana Laudi, who is the co-author of the new book, Forget the Funnel. They dive deep into key concepts from the book, including specific Jobs-to-be-done interview examples and how to apply these insights to your marketing strategy. They also chat a bit about the process of writing a book. Topics we cover: 2:37 - Gia and Claire's intentional decision to keep the book under 200 pages 5:28 - What size SaaS companies will get the most value from Cla...
Episode 664 | The Challenges of Horizontal SaaS, Adding Services to a SaaS, and More Listener Questions
June 06, 2023 10:00 - 34 minutes - 32.3 MBIn episode 664, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he answers more listener questions. These questions range from positioning a new SaaS product with many use cases to consumption vs. seat-based pricing and managing your time as a single parent. 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 net...
Episode 663 | 5 Insights SaaS Founders Should Know About A.I. (Ignore at Your Peril)
May 30, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBIn episode 663, Rob Walling and Einar Vollset share five insights SaaS founders should know about the state of AI. They offer a unique perspective by sharing a mental model around the four categories of AI and how to use this to think about the impact on your business. Topics we cover: 2:08 - Einar’s thoughts on the state of AI 7:11 - Why you shouldn’t ignore AI 9:33 - The 4 categories of AI 18:36 - AI is not a product differentiator 22:01- Should bootstrapped companies try to build th...
Episode 662 | Selling for Five Years of Runway, Profit vs. Revenue Multiples, and More Listener Questions (Rob Solo)
May 23, 2023 10:00 - 33 minutes - 31.4 MBIn episode 662, join Rob Walling for a solo listening adventure where he talks through the key factors to consider in an acquisition, whether to sell a business for five years of runway and knowing when to move on from a SaaS app you built. Topics we cover: 1:15 - Switching jobs while bootstrapping 7:36 - Key factors to consider for an acquisition 18:57 - Taking a job as a founding engineer vs. starting a lifestyle business? 23:49 - Selling a business for five years of runway 27:47- Kn...
Episode 661 | Millions in Revenue As a One-Person Software Company
May 16, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBIn episode 661, Rob Walling chats with Mike Perham, the founder of Sidekiq, who is a solo founder doing millions in revenue as a one-person business. If this isn’t unique enough, Sidekiq originally started as an open-source project before he later monetized it by selling features that aren't available in the core product. You'll also hear how it took him ten years to become "an overnight success" because of all the things Mike tried before launching Sidekiq. Episode Sponsor: Find your per...