Ed interviews Charles Perry, founder of RelaNet . Charles was the co-host of Release Notes, a long-running podcast that Charles and his co-host recently ended. It's a great conversation, addressing how, over the years, we change, our industries change, and how sometimes things do come to an end. Charles on Twitter The Release Notes podcast's back catalog of 450 episodes...
We talk about Ed's launch of his new product line. That leads into a meandering conversation about ethics and personal beliefs and values. In particular, when a customer signs up for our product and then we discover that customer is in a business that clashes with our own beliefs and values, what should we do and what can we do? When is it right, ethically or legally, to refuse a customer?
Frequent guest Peldi, founder of Balsamiq , makes another welcome appearance. We talk about some ways to strengthen company culture in a fully-remote team, we discuss advice that Peldi often gives to first-time entrepreneurs, and Peldi tells me why he might finally start with traditional product marketing - 14 years after he launched his product. Find out more about Balsamiq's Office Hours ....
Part 2 of Ed Freyfogle's 50 tips for running a stress-free SaaS. There was a lot of good content in this recording and we recorded for much longer than usual. So we have split this recording over two episodes. Part 1 is here .
Ed Freyfogle shares with us his 50 tips for running a stress-free SaaS. This is based on Ed's talk he prepared for MicroConf late last year, but was unable to deliver due to misfortune. There was a lot of good content in this recording and we recorded for much longer than usual. So we have split this recording over two episodes.
This week I go solo and rant about the dismal deeds of a desperate competitor. I also talk about the freedom that bootstrapping gives us to change our approach, our style, our audience while staying true to the nature of what we do.
Ed and I discuss the goals we'd like to achieve in 2022. While we were recording this episode, we had some problems with our recording software. Now I was able to rescue the recording, but you will hear a few audio glitches. In this episode, I mentioned that I'm hiring a part-time digital marketing expert for Feature Upvote . If you know someone who suits the position, please let them know....
Back in episode 163, Ed and I set our goals for 2021. In this episode we look back at those goals and we ask ourselves, how well did we do in achieving them? Steve mentioned the Catalan Christmas tradition of Caga Tió . Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Caga Tió .
I give Ed an update on what I've achieved on Saber Feedback in recent months. A new app design, ripping out the SPA architecture, replacing our payment processor with Paddle, and hiring a marketing assistant. It's been busy! If you have a friend or colleague or acquaintance who you think would enjoy this episode, please let them know about it!
Ed tells us about his accident he had, and the impact it had on his life and business. He also talks about how it got him reflecting about his business.
I conclude the mini season of interviews with a brief summary of the five interviews I conducted. A few weeks ago, my cohost had a cycling that student that broke his jaw. As a result he had to take a break from the podcast while he was recovering. In the meantime, I invited a few people to come onto the podcast and talk about their businesses, their work and themselves. The episodes: #198: Simon Bennett of SnapShooter #199: Jane Portman of UI Breakfast #200: Positioning for bootstrappers with A...
Bridget is co-founder and CEO of YouCanBook.me, an online scheduling tool. I chat with Bridget Harris about the 10-year journey of starting and growing her company as a bootstrapped SaaS. Amongst other things we discuss the financial sacrifices bootstrappers have to make in a rapidly growing business. Links: Bridget's scheduling tool, YouCanBook.me Bridget's email: bridget@youcanbook.me Bridget on Twitter...
I chat with Peter Cooper, who runs several email newsletters, including JavaScript Weekly , Ruby Weekly , React Status , and Postgres Weekly . These all live under the collective banner of Cooperpress. Links: Cooperpress Peter on Twitter...
April Dunford has a well-deserved reputation as the expert in product positioning within the tech industry. April and I discussed how bootstrappers can go about product positioning. Links: April's website April's book, Obviously Awesome April on Twitter
Jane Portman is the host of UI Breakfast, a podcast covering UI/UX design, products, marketing. Jane recently crossed the 2 million downloads milestone. Jane and I discussed the journey from the first episodes, with almost no listeners, to where she is today. Jane is also co-founder of Userlist. We discuss how Jane's podcasting experience helps with Userlist. Links: The UI Breakfast podcast How to sponsor Jane's podcast Userlist Better Done Than Perfect podcast...
Simon runs SnapShooter, a service that performs scheduled server backups. We discuss: why backups is NOT a dull business how the pandemic pushed him to make the jump to full-time charging his first customer just $2/month - and quickly learning to charge much more a "I did a rm -rf on the wrong server" story Links: SnapShooter Simon on Twitter...
Ed is recovering from an accident, so Steve goes solo in this episode. Ed's accident gets Steve musing on the unpredictability of life, and what we can do to partly prepare ourselves and our businesses for this. Steve then abruptly changes topic and challenges all listeners to make a bold pricing experiment. Email Steve at steve @ barbarysoftware dot com Steve on Twitter: https://twitter.com/steveofmcleod
Three-time guest Robin Warren, founder of Corrello , achieves "very infrequent guest co-host" status. We chat about a number of aspects of mental wellbeing for bootstrappers - getting out of the house, taking breaks, dealing with boredom, and making your business less dependent on you. Show links: Robin on Twitter Blue Cat Reports website Blue Cat Reports on Trello...
Ed and Steve talk about the challenge of continuing to learn how to run our businesses better, and the challenges we encounter in ongoing learning.
It's good to take a break! In this episode Ed and I get self-indulgent and talk about our vacations. From time to time we make a tenuous link between our vacations and our bootstrapped businesses.
If you've ever thought of selling your business, or acquiring one, you'll enjoy this episode. Matt Zeunert, founder of DebugBear , was curious about the details of my acquisition of Saber Feedback . So we switch roles for this episode, and the guest became the interviewer. Matt asks the questions, and I answer!
Mark Littlewood runs the Business of Software, a series of annual conferences to help us run our software companies better. Mark very openly shares how COVID-19 has hit his business, and his need to adapt almost overnight. We talk about the upcoming Business of Software online conference, 27 - 29 September 2021, and how Mark's team make online events work. Business of Software website Use this code when buying a ticket for BoS Conf: Fall, 2021 for 20% discount: BootstrappedFM...
In this solo episode, I talk about successful yet quiet SaaS business all around us. I also tell the full story of why our forum has been closed and put permanently into archive mode. Bootstrapped website Steve on Twitter Recommended alternative communities to our now-closed community: Indie Hackers - if you are just getting started and want to chat with others just getting started Founder Summit (paid) - if your business is viable and you like to run a calm company MicroConf Connect - “a space ...
Peldi, founder of Balsamiq , drops by. We discuss two unrelated topics. First, resellers - why they exist and how to accommodate them. Second, the challenges and benefits of having a podcast for your product.
Ed and Steve go in deep on some enterprise sales work they've both been doing lately for their bootstrapped, mostly self-service SaaS products.
Craig Hewitt runs Castos, a podcast hosting and analytics company. He returns to the show to talk about why he recently sold a chunk of his bootstrapped company to a round of investors. Links: Castos: https://castos.com/ TinySeed: https://tinyseed.com/ Craig on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCraigHewitt
It's 15 months since I acquired Saber Feedback. I talk about the challenges I've faced so far, the bottleneck I'm currently facing, and where things are headed. Steve on Twitter: https://twitter.com/steveofmcleod Bootstrapped on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bootstrapped_fm
While Steve enjoys a summer break, Ed Freyfogle steps in this week to interview Adam DuVander. Adam helps companies like yours market to developers. Ed chats with Adam DuVander about his book "Developer Marketing Does Not Exist" Adam on Twitter Adam's site Learn more about Developer Marketing Does Not Exist...
Moritz Dausinger, three-time bootstrapper, tells me why he recently sold a small stake of Refiner.io to Earnest Capital. Between recording and publishing this episode, Earnest Capital renamed as the Calm Company Fund. Links: Refiner.io Calm Company Fund (was Earnest Capital) Moritz on Twitter SAFE agreement...
Ed and Steve discuss what it is like when a core team member quits, how to reduce the chance of it happening, and how to make our businesses resilient enough to handle it. Watch this episode on YouTube .
