Download this episode , in which Ian and Andrey talk about Florida, children, stupid teenagers, growing up, stories that go nowhere, growth hackers, hiring a content engineer, unit testing, John Carmack, spending $13,000 on marketing automation software, motorcycles, and baseball tickets. Irene McGee – and her recent article . Userscape is hiring a Content Engineer Ruben Gamez on Bootstrapped.fm John Carmack – The Physics of Light and Rendering Michael Abrash Doom playthrough with John Romero Pa...
Jan 30, 2014•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 33
Download this episode . Andrey talks about Gone Home and the impact it’s had on his life, but won’t give details! Voiceovers, Antair is 9 years old, UserScape is almost 9 though Ian considers it 10, the good old days of bootstrapping, the constant re-inventing of Antair, Ian goes on a rant about Growth Hacking, project management apps, Ian rants again about marketing automation tools, remote work, Ian talking at Microconf, beards, Ian ranting about taking his family to Disney Gone Home – Andrey’...
Jan 21, 2014•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 32
Download this episode , in which Ian and Andrey talk about growing to a point where you have no idea where stuff is in your own company, building mobile clients for Snappy and Quintu, Minecraft, live coding streams, games, client work, system administration with SaaS, the Sturgeon/Laravel argument, the forums, SaaS growth curves, the PHP Book Book, Seinfeld, Bill Gates, and the Gone Home game. Ionic framework Asteroid Jane Phil Sturgeon on The Tribal Framework Mindset Ian’s side on the Sturgeon/...
Jan 09, 2014•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 31
Special guest Gavin Bowman of RetroDreamer talks about bootstrapping a mobile gaming company. The business of software forums come up… again, expanding a gaming shop and how creativity factors into that, Ian asks too many questions about gaming and such, Being able to be done, revenue fear, ads vs paid, platforms, Apple review controversy Gavin Bowman Retro Dreamer Sneezies – Still a great iOS game Ryan Evans – Retro Dreamers first full time hire Velocispider What Now Podcast Andy Brice on Boots...
Jan 07, 2014•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 30
We talk about school lunches, fast food, Ludum Dare, game development, Minecraft, Userscape’s new employee, taking a vacation, 2013 year in review, amount of revenue to have before hiring full-time, the first two years of running a software consultancy, being too open about your employee information, Laracon 2014, and running an online retail shop. Gavin Bowman of Retro Dreamer What Now Podcast Bootstrapped.fm episode on movies for programmers Ludum Dare Notch live-coding for Ludum Dare 28, part...
Dec 30, 2013•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 29
This is one of our best episodes yet. If you’re interested in content marketing be prepared to take notes. We also discuss the SaaS release cycle and lifestyle, working hours, business coaching and Andrey abducting Ruben. Ruben’s client proposal software Bidsketch Ruben’s personal blog Seth MacFarlane’s tweet on the Family Guy Brian stuff Ruben’s post on getting to his first 1K a month regarding Andrey’s previous question on Bootstrapped 15 Keyword Funnel – Adwords keyword finder/organizer Old B...
Dec 19, 2013•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 28
Ian and Andrey talk about kids’ toys, Uberdeck , making sense of Adwords, Snappy , content marketing, finding a regular job after years of running a bootstrapped software company, selling physical products, Userscape’s new hire, running a conference, and moving to a consultancy. Startups for the rest of us, episode 160 – podcast with Rob Walling and Mike Taber Andy Brice , his software business training course , and his upcoming Keyword Funnel tool . Pusher – Real time messaging service for web ...
Dec 04, 2013•59 min•Ep. 27
Andrey sings Party All the Time by Eddie Murphy, booze, big UberDeck update, marketing, Snappy mobile app, mobile app reviews, VM’s,16 terminals tiled (huh?), everything is noodles (huh?), coworking, healthcare plans, more marketing, doing marketing under your own name, Ian’s idea for a new app Party All the Time by Eddie Murphy Doc’s Hard Cider UberDeck v2 – new push notifications, concierge installation service, great new pricing Moz Mochibits Slideroom – Happy Snappy customer PHP Townhall Pod...
Nov 25, 2013•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 26
We talk about dollar stores, dogs and babies, the new Helpspot release, support contracts, requiring a credit card at signup, pricing and recurring billing, info-products, SaaS being unsatisfying, digging new holes, the point of growing, all software going to zero. Helpspot – Ian’s helpdesk product. Snappy – Ian’s newest product. Uberdeck – Andrey’s mobile-app marketing product. Stripe – payment processing service. Star Trek Generations Ian’s “all software is going to $0.00” theory Edge of My Se...
Nov 13, 2013•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 25
We talk about Batman, Software going to $0, Pricing again, Saas sucking, High school/depression, Business of Software Conference, A/B testing, Insurance, Andrey and me opening a coffee shop comic book store, Batman Arkham Origins, how we’re the Seinfeld of bootstrap podcasting, Everpix closing, soup delivery, $7.95 cupcakes, our side projects that make us no money. We’re going to try to do a Bootstrapped.fm meetup if you’re in the NYC area. Contact us or post to the board if you’re interested. B...
Nov 08, 2013•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 24
We talk about Andrey finally leaving the house, street cred, Quintu, the work that goes into a typical SaaS app, implementing push in Uberdeck, OS X 10.8 update woes, git and distributed source code control, supporting developers vs. supporting end users, downloadable vs. SaaS, playing with SaaS marketing at an early stage of the product, being organized with marketing, tracking the marketing flow, onboarding, pricing based on volume, seasonal stores, celebrities in NYC, the new Panic office, an...
Oct 16, 2013•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 23
We give away an amazing social mobile podcast product idea, Blackberry (sorry), App stores, Andrey’s gripes with Laravel 4 and other techy things, asset management in front end web development, Vi, Breaking Bad finale!!!, Living in NYC, Perch CMS meetup, Business of Software conference Blackberry sale Number Two Antair Notes on Amazon App Store Twitter Ads (also great just to see your RT’s/Fav’s even if you don’t buy ads) Laravel 4 PHP framework Grunt – JS task runner Sentry Laravel Auth Library...
Sep 30, 2013•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 22
Ian and Andrey sit down with special guest, Andy Brice, to discuss Perfect Table Plan, software marketing, creating desktop software vs. SaaS web apps, software pricing, cross-platform development with QT, analytics, measuring how many people are ‘word-of-mouth’ customers, Andy’s 2-day intensive training course on starting your own software business, practical software products, the legacy of shareware, the effect of SaaS apps on lifestyle, A/B testing, Adwords, email vs. helpdesk system for one...
Sep 23, 2013•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 21
Ian and Andrey discuss their appearances on other podcasts, depression caused by taking consulting work, how Andrey will structure his day, Apple keynote and how new hardware relates to mobile development, releasing software in the app store, SaaS searching tech and more. Chasing Product podcast DNL Consulting Apple iPhone 5s/5c keynote Fertile Ground – Marco Arment on supporting new mobile API’s Number Two – Andrew Garrison on his mobile release strategy Antair Sodoku for Playbook Successful So...
Sep 11, 2013•44 min•Ep. 20
Ian and Andrey discuss Laracon EU, Snappy, web app activity tracking and analytics, Uberdeck, marketing as your primary daily activity, Andrey’s next app, native clients vs. mobile web apps vs. responsive design for a SaaS product, front-end web dev frameworks, annual SaaS billing, getting dumber, Vincent van Gogh, San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Texas. Laracon EU Snappy 3-tier pricing Uberdeck iDeveloper.co – podcast for iOS developers. ChasingProduct.com – podcast for consultants looking to mo...
Sep 04, 2013•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 19
Ian and Andrey sit down with special guest Chase Clemons of SupportOps to discuss customer service for bootstrappers. We also get an Uberdeck update on leaving beta and pricing strategy. This episode is being cross released on both Bootstrapped.fm and Support Ops Podcast . Check them out! 37Signals Support Ops and the Support Ops Podcast Uberdeck is released! Andrey’s Essential Voice Recorder – type notes while you record audio (Android) Basecamp Mobile Bootstrapped customer service and using se...
Aug 27, 2013•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 18
Ian and Andrey sit down with special guest Rachel Andrew from EdgeOfMySeat.com , to discuss Perch , the really little CMS, the new Bootstrapped.fm forums , marketing, customer support, product dependencies, how important personal visibility is to your business, content management systems, writing and speaking, and self-publishing. Rachel Andrew Perch: the really little CMS – Rachel’s product. EdgeOfMySeat.com – Rachel’s company. Drew McLellan – Rachel’s husband and business partner. Drew on 24 W...
Aug 06, 2013•59 min•Ep. 17
Ian and Andrey discuss Andrey’s new mobile apps, doing press releases in unique cases, HARO, bringing on a partner, Valentino movie, Breaking Bad, Andrey on being abducted, dress code in fancy steak joints, optimal steak restaurant design, Snappy marketing, doing a giveaway Note: this podcast was recorded before we released http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm , next week we’ll discuss that in more detail. Bootstrapped Ep 15 with Special guest Patrick McKenzie Be a source on Help a Reporter Out We ate...
Aug 01, 2013•46 min•Ep. 16
Ian and Andrey are joined by special guest, Patrick McKenzie (patio11), to discuss the “early” days of the Business of Software forums, Patrick’s journey and daily routine, Helpdesk systems and support, Appointment Reminder, systemizing and automating daily tasks, SaaS, B2C vs. B2B, pricing of software, consulting, learning from Blackhats, Hacker News, marketing, Uberdeck, making money from open source, dual-licensing, running a conference, hacker meetups, Patrick’s biggest mistake in business, ...
Jul 24, 2013•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 15
Ian and Andrey are joined by special guest Scott Watermasysk. We get the back story on KickoffLabs Scott’s company, Andrey laments about having to do “stuff”, we don’t get Quora, we go deep on Uberdeck pricing strategy, how Agant went back to being a one person shop, starting solo or with a co-founder, Ship It!, a few landing page tips from Scott. Special guest Scott Watermasysk of KickoffLabs IBM Ideating commercial CampaignMonitor pricing What Next for Agant Rise of the Millon Dollar One Perso...
Jul 11, 2013•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 14
Ian and Andrey discuss getting ready to deploy Uberdeck, Snappy progress, what’s next for Snappy marketing, stories of first job interviews, the benefits, if any, of a college education, selling into the consumer space, the experience of buying software in a box, selling software before making software and vetting product ideas. Uberdeck – Andrey’s new product. ( preview screenshot ) Fabric – a Python SSH tool. Snappy – Ian’s newest product. SupportOps.co – a site dedicated to customer support b...
Jun 26, 2013•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 13
Andrey and Ian discuss mistakes with Snappy’s initial website, building multiple products vs focusing on a single product, fixing the app store, recommendations on going into the mobile space, and Derek Sivers new company and how he outsourced it all. FocusLab Slambots – the latest RetroDreamer game Marco on removing mobile app store top lists Spider Web Games CD Baby Sivers article on new company...
Jun 19, 2013•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 12
Andrey and Ian sit down with Carl Diesing from DNL OmniMedia, and Chris Hawkins from Cogeian Systems, to talk about bootstrapping a successful software consulting company. Chris Hawkins on Twitter, and his website with lots of good articles and advice. Cogeian Systems – The software consultancy where Chris is the founder. Carl Diesing on Twitter DNL OmniMedia – The software consultancy where Carl is a co-founder. Expensd – DNL’s SaaS product SmallSpec – Chris’ new SaaS product Parscale Media – A...
Jun 12, 2013•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 11
We go over the launch of Snappy, the Laravel 4 release, taking care of kids and kid gym options, Bootstrap conferences, app metrics and Infoproducts! Snappy goes live Eric Sink on pricing Laravel 4 – THE PHP framework Laravel three docs DNL Omnimedia Cogeian The Little Gym Gymboree Imitation Gruel – Andrey referenced this, check it out JDate BaconBizConf – Original announcement Bidsketch Dribbble Focus Lab SmoothMouse Beach Haven, NJ Kissmetrics Mixpanel – recommended So You Want To Be a Wall St...
Jun 05, 2013•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 10
In this episode, which Ian and Andrey discuss Uberdeck, system administration, pricing strategies, news coverage for startups, Jeff Atwood, Trello, and Snappy. Uberdeck – Andrey’s latest project Alwin Hoogerdijk (collectorz.com) – on email marketing Campaign Monitor – email campaign service DNS Made Easy – DNS service Amazon Route 53 – DNS service Linode – hosting for Uberdeck Trello – project management Coding Horror – Jeff Atwood’s blog Amazon SQS – hosted message queue service EngineHosting –...
May 22, 2013•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 9
In this episode, Ian and Andrey discuss sweet games, SaaS downtime, UserScape Bizarro Week, Brooklyn, Microconf and more. Bioshock Infinite – Andrey says this is one of the great games of all times with perhaps the best ending of all time Heavy Rain – Another great game Rainbow Six – Classic The Secret of Monkey Island – I assume you’ve all heard of and played this Supervisor – A process control system DB Tenancy Information EngineHosting – Private resource clusters for your big app needs Review...
May 07, 2013•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 8
In this episode, Ian and Andrey discuss the Apple app store release process, making video games for a living, people and companies that “get it”, fonts for web development, trademarks and names, Helvetica – Documentary about the typeface (and design, in general). Indie Game the Movie – Documentary that follows several indie game developers. What Now podcast – Gavin’s and Andrey’s podcast about making mobile apps for a living. Typography.com – the site Andrey was referring to when he mentioned “ ...
Apr 30, 2013•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 7
In this episode, Ian and Andrey discuss screen real estate, hiring a part time developer, Apple II parts, a segment which went way too long on Authorize.net, funding open source projects and code naming. See Andrey’s setup Divvy – Mac windows manager Antair part time developer position – 20-30 hours a month Hacker News – Hacker New Popular Twitter stream Vienna RSS – Andrey’s choice for a Mac desktop RSS reader Dave Winer discusses the concept of a River of News – (audio) Temperature in David Le...
Apr 23, 2013•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 6
In this episode, Ian and Andrey talk about a gauntlet of client work, consulting, competitors, talking about your product early, stock options and bonuses, a little bit on wall street programming, hiring, contributing to open source, life after programming, and movies! Links: Bitsplitting Podcast – episode 2, with Erika Hall of Mule Design Studio . Shipping an Empty Box – Andrey’s blog post about supporting large companies. Helpspot – Ian’s product. Snappy – Ian’s newest product. Uberdeck – Andr...
Apr 17, 2013•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 5
In this episode, Ian and Andrey cover a host of issues, including an apology of sorts to Patrick McKenzie, a discussion on if in fact the customer is always right, how you support .99 cent apps, non-mistakes from Ian’s past, VC funding and an extremely important tax tip! Links: Appointment Reminder – by Patrick McKenzie Patrick McKenzie Interview Podcast with Patrick & Amy Hoy Freckle Shutting down Charm – Interesting look at shutting down a SaaS app before it launches History of “the custom...
Apr 10, 2013•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 4
