Startups For the Rest of Us

In his second appearance on the show (he first appeared on Episode 367), we chat with Benedikt Deicke from Userlist. Along with his co-founder, Jane Portman, they are building an easy to use customer messaging tool catered specifically towards SaaS companies. In this show, we talk about some of the challenges in building a product while working full-time, finding the ideal SaaS pricing model, their underwhelming Product Hunt launch, as well as their recent purchase of the Userlist.com domain name. Jane & Benedikt are also part of Tinyseed batch #2, and we explore Benedikt's experience so far in the program, and the lessons he's learned. What we discuss with Benedikt Deicke 1:37 The story & motivation behind helpfounders.com 4:30 Userlist and slow growth in the early days 5:30 Challenges with building a SaaS while not full-time 7:50 What has helped with recent Userlist growth 9:00 Navigating SaaS pricing 12:30 An underwhelming Product Hunt launch 15:30 Acquiring the userl

In the first episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us since our 500th milestone, Rob checks in with Mike Taber about his progress with Bluetick. It's been nearly 7 weeks since Rob last checked in (Episode 494) and a lot has happened in the world since then. They talk about business trajectory amidst COVID-19, the health of the sales pipeline and unique partnership opportunities, as well as technical debt and making decisions about code optimization. What we discuss with Mike Taber 6:38 Rob and Mike reflect on what made the podcast successful 12:05 Has Bluetick seen an uptick in interest since COVID-19? 16:58 Is Mike an optimist, or a pessimist (and what would Mike's wife say)? 18:55 The highs and lows from the past few weeks 20:41 Mike on driving new prospects for Bluetick 22:38 Bluetick and unique partnership opportunities 30:47 Managing technical debt and making decisions on optimizing your code Links from the show: Mythical Man-Month | Book Mike Taber on Twitter Blue

This is a big milestone episode for Startups for the Rest of Us. Episode 500. Since the very first episode nearly a decade ago we've had more than 10 million downloads, answered more than 1,500 listener questions, and shared more than 292 hours of startup content. Over the years, this podcast has developed a particular lens through which we view building and growing startups. We've focused on: Maintaining freedom, purpose, and relationships throughout the journey Diving deep into topics relating to building and growing startups, using an ambitious yet sane approach. Thinking in years, not months Not talking about the typical Silicon Valley startups (where fundraising is a goal in and of itself) Building real companies with real customers who pay us real money Not sacrificing our health or our relationships As we look to 1,000 episodes and beyond, we decided to highlight the stories from the community as they share how the past 500 episodes have made an impact on their path to starting and growing successful

This episode is part two in a two-part conversation. If you haven't already, listen to Part 1 first. This week is the second part of a conversation between Rob and Jordan Gal, the founder of CartHook. In the episode, Rob and Jordan dig into the 4th, 5th and 6th stages of SaaS growth and compare their journeys 1:1 between growing Drip and growing CartHook. They come across several parallels between their journeys, as well as some differences. This episode is part two in a two-part conversation. Jordan started CartHook as cart abandonment software and later pivoted into a checkout replacement solution for Shopify. He has been on the podcast several times answering listener questions and has spoken at a handful of MicroConfs. He is also the co-host of the Bootstrapped Web podcast. Every time we come up against the hill and then climb it and get to the top, when we look outward, we see so much more. So, the opportunity just keeps getting bigger the further we go. We're not even close. We're just barely

This week is a conversation between Rob and Jordan Gal, the founder of Cart Hook. We dig into the six stages of SaaS growth. We compare our journeys 1:1 between growing Drip and growing CartHook. It's shocking how well the journeys line up with each other. Some of the differences in the journey are also quite striking. This episode is part one, and part two will go live later this week. Jordan started CartHook as cart abandonment software and became a checkout replacement solution for Shopify. He has been on the podcast a few times answering questions, and he has spoken at MicroConf a few times. He is also the co-host of the Bootstrapped Web podcast. The finer points of the episode: 6:00 - Stage 1: Prelaunch 8:33 - How to create your own luck when your SaaS app is in the prelaunch phase 13:37 - Stage 2: Post Launch 14:25 - The journey to finding product-market fit 22:25 - The most challenging parts of the journey for Rob and Jordan 23:29 - Stage 3: Product Market Fit Items mention

This week Rob talks with Steli Efti about selling during a pandemic. They also talk about how to set yourself up for success as a founder during a possible recession and how to adjust your sales process. You don't want to shy away from sales, but you also don't want to be tone-deaf to the current state of the world. Steli is one of the world's experts in startup sales and B2B sales. He runs a successful app called Close.com. He has written a number of ebooks on the topic of sales, and he has been a recognized expert for over a decade. The finer points of the episode: 4:15 - Two big sales trends that Steli has noticed during the COVID-19 crisis 9:09 - The main thing you can do for your business right now 13:55 - How to approach a sales conversation while being sensitive to the current circumstances 16:33 - How Close.com managed to increase their revenue and grow through 2020 25:00 - How Steli sees his sales process looking after COVID-19 30:25 - Best practices for sending cold emails duri

This week Rob answers listener questions with TinySeed co-founder Einar Vollset. Einar has been on the selling side of many SaaS acquisitions. He is also a developer with a Ph.D. in computer science, so he has a well-rounded experience, and it makes him the perfect person to answer these listener questions. There are some interesting questions from listeners who are growing SaaS apps. The finer points of the episode: 2:38 - What metrics you should be documenting on your SaaS app 9:04 - The things buyers checked on when we were selling Drip 13:00 - How to navigate creating the terms for a business partnership 18:43 - Should you be sending unsolicited marketing emails? 24:18 - Best strategies to make sales 27:32 - Potential opportunities to make sales during the COVID-19 crisis Items mentioned in this episode: tinyseed.com/invest Find Einar on Twitter

This interview was recorded several months ago, but is still relevant despite the pandemic. Colin Nederkoorn, the co-founder of customer.io has taken a unique approach to building their company. Customer.io does marketing automation for the entire customer lifecycle. They have raised funding, but not traditional venture money, and they've run it more like a self-funded SaaS. Colin and his cofounder John left their jobs with no savings, and they set out to build an analytics tool. Their story is powerful because of their unconventional approach and ability to persevere through hard times. The finer points of the episode: 4:05 - The customer.io founder journey 5:23 - Their approach to selecting investors 7:01 - Reflecting on how Colin and John bootstrapped a SaaS app after leaving their jobs with no savings 8:02 - Why they pivoted from an analytics company to selling marketing solutions 13:15 - Finding the balance between innovation vs following the best practices 18:37 - How customer.io b

Today, Rob flies solo to talk about 7 different things that he has learned in his 20 years of entrepreneurship. He also offers some feedback about what he is seeing in the startup communities today, advice on how to deal with competition, marketing tips, and how to build a team of developers. The finer points of the episode: 2:35 - Be careful about over-generalizing from one win 3:33 - The three things you need in order to succeed in building a startup 8:10 - How to handle feedback you get on your product 12:48 - Rob's personal experience and opinion on dealing with competition in the startup space 15:35 - Why word-of-mouth is not the right answer for where your leads are coming from 18:40 - The real reason why some startups are "transparent" 21:05 - Advice on how to build a team of developers Items mentioned in this episode: Start Small Stay Small

This week we catch up with Mike Taber, he comes on the show every once in a while to share his progress as he grows his SaaS App, Bluetick. We haven't checked in with Mike since before the quarantine, and the last time we spoke to him, he had more than doubled his revenue in the past 4-5 months. We will talk about how the COVID-19 crisis has affected Bluetick and other SaaS apps, some new insights that Mike has been learning about his customer base, and decisions he has made about the positioning and marketing of Bluetick. It is difficult to try and land new customers when we are facing a global pandemic and a possible recession. If you are working on a startup, you might find it helpful to know how someone else is handling this crisis in their business. The finer points of the episode: 5:00 - How Bluetick and other SAS apps have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis 8:35 - Mike's biggest success and biggest defeat in the past 7 weeks 11:32 - Where Mike's customers are finding him? 12:53 - W

This is a round table discussion with Craig Hewitt (founder of Castos), Einar Vollset (cofounder of TinySeed), and myself. We are in three different cities on two different continents, so we have plenty of different perspectives on the COVID-19 crisis. We are talking about our own businesses and the advice we give to other founders. We also talk about the payroll program, and whether we think it's going to be helpful to small businesses and startups. We share our tips and experiences working from home, for founders who may be just now transitioning to a remote team, and we discuss Stewart Butterfield's Twitter feed, talking about the human side of experiencing this pandemic. Listen to get some insight, hope, and fresh ideas on being a startup during COVID-19. The finer points of the episode: 8:09 - Advice we all have for startups during the COVID-19 crisis 12:51 - Common mistakes we see businesses make working from home 14:42 - The main things that change when your team goes remote 17:37 -

This bonus episode of Startup For The Rest Of Us is from a MicroConf On Air live stream in which Rob interviews Courtland Allen, founder of Indie Hackers, about interviewing 155 startup founders and what he learned from building a community from scratch. It was such a great conversation, I wanted to put it in this podcast feed, so more people can benefit from Courtland’s insight.    The finer points of the episode: 6:28 - Why B2C businesses are more attractive, but B2B may be more lucrative  11:30 - Competitive advantages that can’t be surmounted by the competition.  17:50 - How Courtland jumpstarted the Indie Hackers online community  22:46 - Why you can’t just rely on internal motivation to get your startup off the ground  25:36 - The common thread Courtland has seen in successful founders  30:00 - The truth about how hard you have to work when building a business  31:57 - Overcoming imposter syndrome when entering a new industry    Items mentioned in the episode:  Indie Hackers Podcas

In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob interviews Danielle Simpson and Arvid Kahl, co-founders of FeedbackPanda, a SaaS business they bootstrapped to $55k MRR with no outside funding and no employees. They sold directly to teachers, a price-sensitive market, and they used referral programs and word of mouth to create rapid growth. You will hear about the struggles, victories, highs, and lows of their startup journey. Arvid and Danielle give honest, powerful insight into what it was really like to manage their company just the two of them, and what ultimately led to their decision to sell their company for a life-changing amount of money.   * We are in a slightly different headspace in this episode, because we recorded this before the COVID-19 crisis. But we still wanted to share this episode, because we want you to benefit from this powerful conversation.  The finer points of the episode: 2:12 - What it was like to sell FeedbackPanda for a lifechanging sum of money  6:40 - Why they u

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob along with guest Matt Wensing, answer a number of  listener questions on topics including reaching high-touch prospects, finding advisors and more. Items mentioned in this episode: RiskPulse Olive Crewbooks Out of Beta Podcast Patrick Campbell's MicroConf Talk

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob along with guest Einar Vollset, talk about the current crisis and as a founder what your mindset should be and what to do to be prepared. #1: Don't panic, clear heads will prevail #2: No business is recession proof #3: Be cautious #4: Heavily scrutinize all marketing and sales efforts #5: Take care of yourself and those around you #6: At times like these, cash is king #7: We're going to make it through this   Items mentioned in this episode: ZenFounder Bidsketch MicroConf MicroConf On Air

Show Notes 10 years to the day....Startups For The Rest Of Us was born. In this episode Rob reflects back on he and Mike Taber starting the podcast all those years ago and the journey its been. This episode includes a 5 minute play of the very first episode of the podcast. Items mentioned in this episode: Startups For The Rest Of Us Episode:1 Product Hunt SFTROU Post

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob talks with Matt Wensing about his exit from his company Riskpulse, dealing with multiple investors, his new company Summt, and why forecasting is crucial. Items mentioned in this episode: TinySeed MicroConf On-Air Castos Summit Out of Beta Podcast

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob checks in with Mike Taber about his progress with Bluetick. They talk about new growth, where that growth is coming from, theories on why customers are choosing Bluetick over competitors, and more. Items mentioned in this episode: MicroConf Connect Bluetick.io

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob is joined by Jordan Gal and Tracy Osborn for a roundtable discussion. Some of the topics in this episode including Basecamp reinventing email with Hey.com, Leadpages being acquired by Redbrick, the growing popularity of subscription based pricing and how many active subscriptions a person or business has nowadays. Items mentioned in this episode: Bootstrapped Web Podcast CartHook Hey.com Leadpages acquired by Redbrick How a 2 person startup already uses 28 other tools Tracy Osborn