Random thoughts on what's happening in AI and startups. Jordan and co move to self-signups. Brian and co work on marketing projects. Jordan's business, Rally Brian's business, Clarityflow (formerly ZipMessage )
Both Jordan and Brian are in the thick of redesigning their SaaS websites. Plus some tax talk. Jordan's business, Rally Brian's business, Clarityflow (formerly ZipMessage ) Learn about Section 174 tax issue for software businesses and join in the effort to repeal at ssballiance.org...
Brian shares the news rebranding ZipMessage to a new name and the transition roadmap ahead... And the new name is... Jordan and team step away to a conference while go-to-market heats up. Oh yeah, and recorded on the day the Silicon Valley Bank saga unfolded in realtime... So that was a (and scary) discussion. Jordan's business, Rally Brian's business, Clarityflow (formerly ZipMessage )...
Jordan and Brian both feel overworked this week. Putting in more hours than usual, and more importantly, strategizing on which priorities get those hours. Jordan's business, Rally Brian's business, Clarityflow (formerly ZipMessage )
Another week in the chaos that is startup land for Brian and Jordan. Topics include: Starting and finishing our day Managing focus through daily distractions Delegating strategy and teeing up for results And other rants… You know the drill Hit us on Twitter @casjam @jordangal with feedback on what we should talk about next week! Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes ....
The episode streak continues! Brian’s product design process, Jordan’s annual budget meeting (and takeaways), outbound vs. inbound marketing, and an interesting discussion around the usefulness of projections. Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes ....
This week, Brian and Jordan yap about: – Strategic partnerships – Pricing on transactions – Communicating company direction (internally) – Developer-focused content – …Creatine pills? We’re running out of ideas! Hit us up on Twitter (@casjam, @jordangal) and tell us what we should talk about. Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes ....
Back for our weekly founder therapy session, err… podcast episode Here’s what’s up this week: – Brian (finally) ships sub-threads in ZipMessage – Jordan’s hiring an SDR – Learning from strategic decisions that went wrong – Product insights with vs without a product in market Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes ....
We kick off 2023 with a grab bag of topics: – Jordan’s building in public more – Brian’s building solo with contractors – Headless ecom becoming “a thing” – ChatGPT is firmly in Brian’s coding workflow Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes ....
We look back on the ups and downs in 2022 and look ahead to 2023. The emotional rollercoaster rolls on… Thanks for listening and for sticking with us another year on Bootstrapped Web. “Everything before product-market fit is a form of suffering” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Talking Points: Viruses, holiday cards, and coming back from vacation 2022 for ZipMessage and Rally Lack of product-market fit Tim Ferriss’ Fear Setting The Ten-Year Business Staying “based” and stayin...
We asked ChatGPT to suggest some topics for today’s episode but it came up short. So you’ll have to settle for the boring human versions of Brian and Jordan, talking about what’s happening in ZipMessage and Rally. Enjoy. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here . “What can this do? How does this change our product? Does this change things significantly enough that we should come off our roadmap?” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin T...
Our obligatory take on Twitter in the Elon era. Also: SEO, board meetings, and growth targets. What are your thoughts on Twitter in the time of Elon? How do you run your board meetings? When it comes to growth targets, where do you focus your energy? If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “The more Twitter is in everyone’s everyday lives, the more leverage Twitter and Elon have to start taking marketshare in these parts of life.” – Brian...
Jordan talks defining their category and stepping back into the sales demo seat. Brian launched a community strategy while big product plans are underway in Q4. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here . “The single, most important element was… record your demos.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Here are today’s conversation points: NoSnowTinyConf Recap Residual issues that arise after raising funds Rally updates Launc...
What tools do you use for sales and support? Which tools work best for project management? How do you know who to hire first if you’re a bootstrapped company? Brian and Jordan asked for your questions and Twitter delivered. Today, they are answering Twitter’s questions about what tools they use, and who to hire, and when. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here . “It’s interesting the way we think of tools and how we sell tools to other c...
Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic and are powered by the chilly fall weather and some pretty strong cold brew. Are you ready for the most random Bootstrapped Web episode yet? How do you navigate the Catch-22 that is operations versus growth? If you were to jump into a completely different niche or industry right now, what business would you start? Brian and Jordan are answering some of your questions and topics submitted through Twitter. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas...
What are the rocks in your life right now? How do you balance work and life? What are some good compartmentalizing tactics, so you can leave work at work? What are routines and habits that work for your schedule and team? Today, Brian and Jordan are talking about their daily routines and how they plan their days around work, their personal life, exercise, and with team members that are scattered all around the globe. They share different time-saving tricks, apps that help hold them accountable t...
How do you figure out the next iteration of your business? What keeps you unemployable? Does your environment change your outlook on personal and professional goals? After a short but busy couple of weeks, Brian and Jordan are back to talk about updates in their businesses and their lives. Jordan is starting to settle into Chicago and has come up with some interesting revelations. Meanwhile, Brian has also come up with some interesting revelations after listening to and analyzing customer feedba...
How do you get rid of post-illness brain fog? How do you build company culture when you’re absent? What are your steps to shipping out features? There have been plenty of changes with Brian and Jordan since the last episode: moving and changing environments, changing energies, and changing up routines. Today, Brian and Jordan are talking about what they do to stay productive, how their teams are forming and evolving, and what sales in 2022 looks like. What else should we talk about? What are you...
What has happened in the venture funding world in the past couple of months? How do you handle repositioning? Can you lean too heavily on your product, features, and roadmaps? What do you do when one of your features falls flat? It’s the middle of the summer edition of Bootstrapped Web. Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic after surviving family vacations, COVID, and cancelled flights. Today, Brian dives deep into repositioning and how ZipMessage has refocused in the past couple weeks. Meanw...
How do you avoid consistent churn with new products? What tools do you use to learn about your market? What influences the changes in your products? It has been a while but Brian and Jordan are back, and they’ve brought updates with Rally and ZipMessage. Jordan talks about his fundraising efforts. Brian talks about his customer research project and what he has learned through that process. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “It went ...
Brian and Jordan are both in flux between school, stressing over work, selling houses, and MicroConf. They summarize their chaotic couple of weeks and then do a deep dive on what content marketing will look like in 2022. Recently Aaron Francis (Tuple’s first marketer) talked about their $200,000 loan from Stripe and how he plans on publicly talking about how they will be spending that money. Brian and Jordan give their take on Aaron’s content marketing technique. If you have any questions, comme...
How do you decide what features you should work on now? How do you stay unplugged during a vacation? What are the milestones and progress markers that tell you if you are on the right path? As Brian comes back from a vacation and conference (and before Jordan leaves for his own), we’re catching up on the latest updates on ZipMessage and Rally. We’re also talking about how to best judge our own traction, and how to decide which feature to work on first. “All the best paying customers are usually ...
We have some big news to share before we go on a (much needed) two-week hiatus. Brian talks about his sale of Productize, in addition to nearly every other business he has owned. Jordan talks about his latest tweet thread, responding to Moiz Ali’s criticisms of Shopify. We also talk about the power of audio, networking through podcasting, and marketing. “The relationship built through audio is so much more powerful. It’s really hard to do that with copywriting, with a website, with ads. It’s jus...
What do you get out of conferences? Do you mute competitors on Twitter? How to you utilize Twitter as a budding SaaS entrepreneur? After a brief hiatus, Brian and Jordan are back with some big news: Carthook was officially acquired! Jordan shares what details he can about the acquisition as well as the process and journey of the company. They also talk about the upcoming MicroConf and what conferences can do for you. After all, they’re not just about networking, there are a lot of things gained ...
How are you and your company changing with the times? Are you considering tokenizing your software company? Have you begun adopting web3 technology? Today, we’re talking about marketing, hiring developers and writers during “The Great Resignation,” and tokenizing. Token-based economics is the future of SaaS. Web3 tech isn’t just in the future, it’s happening right now. “I would aim for zero commercial partnership: no rev share either way. Those are the best partnerships.” – Jordan Powered By the...
Brian and Jordan are having a great time as they ride good days, give great updates, and look forward to some exciting things in the near and far future. In today’s unscripted and random episode, Brian and Jordan give us some great news in terms of business updates. They also talk about one of the bigger customer issues when it comes to running a SaaS company. Not to mention, a deep dive into the metaverse: what does the future look like with Web3? “What shoe will need to drop in order for Web3 ...
Brian has sold ProcessKit! He explains the surprisingly stress-free and smooth process. Jordan talks about his upcoming move to Chicago. Meanwhile, they also give updates on Rally’s marking and sales funnels, and prioritization at ZipMessage. Today’s episode is filled with business updates, optimism, and great outlooks for 2022. Don’t forget to check out ZipMessage on ProductHunt ! “I prioritize [the reliability of recording and playback] over shipping a brand new feature.” – Brian Powered By th...
Brian’s product, ZipMessage, is live today on Product Hunt the same day this episode airs—Tuesday, January 11th
Does experimentation affect your business and cause more stress within your leadership team? How are the communication levels within your team? How do you reach a niche market? Jordan and Brian talk about these questions and more on this episode of Bootstrapped Web. Jordan talks about his hangups and why his need for idea exploration is causing difficulties with his leadership team. Meanwhile, Brian is continuing to navigate the challenges of starting a new business with a niche target market. I...
What does traction feel like? How do you authentically build a network? Brian and Jordan talk about marketing, website updates, and the different phases of product/market fit. Jordan dives into the different and unique ways Rally is marketing. Brian updates us on ZipMessage momentum: website updates, premium enrollment, and crossing a customer milestone. Today’s episode is all about the different ways you can build traction but also the different ways you can define traction. “If you can work di...
