This week Jon and Justin discussed: Tweet: what should we talk about? Justin's daughter wrote an article for the Transistor blog: https://transistor.fm/gen-z/ Customer case studies Dynamic audio insertion Integration with Descript Book: Range by David Epstein What should we talk about next? Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda Leave a review/comment on Podchaser ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Email us: mail@transistor.fm Thanks to our monthly supporters: Anton Zorin from ProdCam...
Oct 12, 2021•52 min•Ep 130•Transcript available on Metacast This week Justin chats with Michele Hansen , founder of Geocodio . I got fired up about interviewing customers! Get Michele's new book! Deploy Empathy Listen to Michele's podcast: Software Social "Empathy is a skill you can learn." Get Michele's newsletter "There's so much shame in the tech community." What are the boundaries for deploying empathy? When, and how, do we deliver critiques? Podcast: a respectful interview with a flat-earther "This book isn't just about deploying empathy to customer...
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep 129•Transcript available on Metacast This week Jon and Justin discussed: Our values determine how we make decisions Hiring FT: we hired Jason Pearl ! Summer SaaS slowdown Tweet: worst month ever ConvertKit’s public numbers What should we talk about next? Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda Leave a comment on PodHunt ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Email us: mail@transistor.fm Thanks to our monthly supporters: Mitch Harris Kenny, Intro CRM podcast Oleg Kulyk Violette Du Geneville Take It EV podcast Ethan Gunderson D...
Aug 17, 2021•51 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast This week Spencer Fry, founder of Podia.com , joins Justin Jackson to talk about venture capital and bootstrapping. Spencer's tweet : "The hostility that the bootstrapper community has towards the VC community continues to perplex me." Justin's interview with Jason Calacanis (2013) VC brags Roy Bahat on Big Technology Podcast: Why VCs are mad 06:30 "Capital changes lots of dynamics in society. It's not neutral." – Justin Jackson Silicon Valley: No Revenue (video) Blog post: Podcasts and capital ...
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 127•Transcript available on Metacast This week Jon and Justin discussed: Basecamp Note: we recorded this before Casey Newton's second article on Basecamp came out. Also: this article is a really thoughtful take on the whole situation. Ruby/Rails open source world. https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/effect-of-the-last-week-on-ruby-on-rails/77702 SO EXCITED: HELEN IS ON THE TEAM! 🎉 https://transistor.fm/helen/ Cost/benefit analysis It’s really difficult to make that calculation: should we commit to this? How do we know that the cost ...
May 04, 2021•49 min•Ep 126•Transcript available on Metacast This we, we chatted about: Evil Crypto Teletubbies Voltswagon Fathom has acquired Google Jon is trying out a new private office, in a coworking space ( Deskpass ) Justin had a quick chat with Derrick Reimer , SavvyCal Tweet : Two years ago (March 2019), Justin posted a screenshot of our revenue numbers and we were just about to hit $10k in MRR. Jason Fried: Your company history is a myth Justin went full-time the next month (April 2019). Tweet : A mere six months after hitting $10k (April 2019),...
Apr 06, 2021•50 min•Ep 125•Transcript available on Metacast Real humans making a business together: Taking the leap Why is Justin jealous of Ben? Pros and cons of building a remote company in 2021 Limited exposure to your co-founder What would take to get Jon to move to Canada? Story: confronting a burglar with a crowbar The algorithm rewards you for being early Spending a lot of time on Clubhouse Apple Podcasts going into subscription podcasts roundtable “Podcasting needs better distribution” “Podcasting needs better discoverability” “There needs to be ...
Jan 26, 2021•39 min•Ep 124•Transcript available on Metacast Jon's back! He and Justin share their feelings/thoughts about the new year: Closing the door on the past Exciting revenue milestone Podcast companies losing money https://podnews.net/update/pocket-casts-for-sale https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/spotifys-big-bet-on-podcasts-is-failing-citi-says.html https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/15/apple-podcast-subscription-service/ Twitter's Trump ban https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1347948903921045511 https://www.fastcompany.com/90592060/capitol-attac...
Jan 19, 2021•45 min•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin and Jason discuss the dynamics of market demand. Justin's original tweet Jason's response What should we talk about next? Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda , @jasonfried Leave a comment on PodHunt ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Email us: mail@transistor.fm Thanks to our monthly supporters: Take It EV podcast Ethan Gunderson Anton Zorin Bill Condo Chris Willow Mason Hensley Borja Soler teami.io Ward from MemberSpace.com Travis Fischer Matt Buckley, from NiceT...
Dec 29, 2020•54 min•Ep 122•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin catches up with Simon Bennett of Snapshooter: Every once in a while, we highlight one of our listeners who are building their own SaaS. This week: Simon Bennett , comes back to tell us what's happened since he left his full-time job 7 months ago. Looking for automatic backups for Digital Ocean, AWS, WordPress, or Laravel? Check out https://snapshooter.io . Simon had just put his kids to bed (he's in the UK) and sat down in his office to have a chat with Justin. What should we t...
Dec 15, 2020•54 min•Ep 121•Transcript available on Metacast Justin is joined by everybody's favorite Twitter Uncle: Ian Landsman (founder of HelpSpot ). Ian's encounter with his internet hero Joel Spolsky Do you get worried that this all going to go away? How scared should we be of the competition? How do you hedge your bets? We prognosticate about what our bootstrapper friends' blind spots are. 🤣 We both ask for investors live, on air. How founders should manage their personal finances. How our past experience can make us blind to opportunities. How ca...
Nov 17, 2020•48 min•Ep 120•Transcript available on Metacast We're back! Justin's voice sounds terrible (sorry!) When is the next wave of economic despair going to happen? The maker/creator market is on 🔥 right now. How long will it last? How "soft" is the prosumer market? How fragile is it? A BUNCH OF NEW TRANSISTOR FEATURES: Zapier integration Podcast:locked Easily submit your podcast to the major podcast directories. Podcast distribution checklist How do you work on your startup when you're feeling down? "There were weeks when I got almost nothing don...
Nov 10, 2020•30 min•Ep 119•Transcript available on Metacast We have a bonus episode for you this week! Justin was on the Framework podcast. Check out the other Spec.fm shows Subscribe to Framework in Overcast Want to reply to something we said? Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda , @tomcreighton , @therobhayes Leave a comment on PodHunt ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Email us: mail@transistor.fm Thanks to our monthly supporters: Take It EV podcast Ethan Gunderson Helmut Irle Colt Borg Marc Beinder Anton Zorin Bill Condo Sofia Quintero C...
Sep 22, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep 118•Transcript available on Metacast Jon and Justin talk about "optionality" in bootstrapping. (Justin is concerned, Jon thinks we should just enjoy the moment). DHH : "Part of what gave us the confidence to turn down the whole world of venture capital was a small sale of equity to Jeff Bezos. That gave our personal bank accounts just enough ballast that the big numbers touted by VCs and acquisition hunters lost their lure." Are we at peak podcasting? Things are good right now - will they be good for 10 years? 20 years? Fred Wilson...
Sep 15, 2020•41 min•Ep 117•Transcript available on Metacast Late-summer update! This week on the program, we bring you a super spicy interview that Justin did on the TechZing podcast . Do you really need to build an audience before you build your product? Justin's tweet There's this idea that you need to grow an audience, talk to an audience, and then build something they want. Is that really necessary? IndieHackers interview with Vincent Woo justinjackson.ca/surfing Tweet : what do we mean when we say "audience?" Want to reply to something we said? Twit...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep 116•Transcript available on Metacast Mid-summer update! This week on the program, Justin and Jon talk about: If you're bootstrapping SaaS, how many monthly trials do you need? Tweet : "You probably need more trials than you think." Breaking out of your own way of thinking "All it took was someone talking to me to have a different way of thinking about it." Want to reply to something we said? Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda Leave a comment on PodHunt ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Email us: mail@transistor.fm T...
Aug 04, 2020•47 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast This week on the program, Justin and Jon talk about: Updates on Transistor: new API is almost done, static site generator, growth slowed in June? Questioning whether we should slow down for the summer Talking about the Simplecast acquisition What would sell for? Mike: “Anything that’s a life-changing amount.” Want to reply to something we said? Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda Leave a comment on PodHunt ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Email us: mail@transistor.fm ★ Bootstrapp...
Jun 30, 2020•53 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast This week on the program, Justin and Jon talk about: A friend, whose SaaS has grown 300% since the beginning of the quarantine. They just hit $6k in MRR. At that stage, he's in the "almost but not yet." You're either: Brainstorming how to make money faster Brainstorming how to work less Different stages: Pre-launch stage: you're working on your product on the side. It's fun! There's nothing stealing your time and attention because you don't have customers yet. The beta stage: still pretty fun! Y...
Jun 16, 2020•40 min•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast Structural racism affects every part of the economic system. It affects bootstrappers too! It defines: Who we hire Who we invest in Who we promote Who we chat with Who sees our numbers Who we invite to speak Who gets access to our platform "It's not just about being oppressed or being an oppressor, it's about resisting oppression and resisting being an oppressor; being an ally, being an advocate for social justice." – Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum ( clip ) Right now, in cities across America, people ...
Jun 09, 2020•26 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast 👋 Justin here. This episode is to let you know why there's no episode today. (I've had a few DMs from folks that were worried!) We're good; we had some server trouble this morning that took all our time and attention today. We're hoping to be back next Tuesday with a full episode. Thanks everyone; we appreciate your support! ✌️ Special thanks to Dean Layton James, from CloudPeriscope and Benedikt Evans from UserList for giving us ideas on how to fix our issues today! ❤️ You can reply to this po...
May 26, 2020•4 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast This week on the program, Justin and Jon talk about: The new Transistor UI , and how folks are responding to it. "Damn the torpedoes!" – seeing if our update worked in IE11 after we deployed. Tobias Lütke, Shopify : “All the trends have been accelerated. The pandemic has moved everything forward 10 years. So now we need to build 2030 level software in 2020.” Restaurant trends: https://www.exploretock.com/ https://themargins.substack.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage Bug bounties - what do other...
May 19, 2020•46 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast This week on the program: As requested, we're going to start highlighting our listeners who are building their own SaaS. This week: Simon Bennett , a long-time Patreon supporter and a friend of the show. He just went full time on his project https://snapshooter.io , which does automatic backups for Digital Ocean. Simon had just put his kids to bed (he's in the UK) and sat down in his office to have a chat with Justin. You can reply to this podcast here: Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jon...
May 13, 2020•57 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast What do you do when a competitor steals your idea? (plus: Justin and Jon have the giggles). People in tech get bent out of shape about who owns certain ideas, UI patterns, and business models. “They ripped off my idea” "They copied us!" This blog post by Justin Mitchell: https://medium.com/@itsthisjustin/no-idea-is-unique-but-this-is-insane-a247ec80f6a7 Good Stackexchange thread : “In the history of science, this is known as "Railroad time". I.e, when the economy has reached a certain state of i...
May 05, 2020•49 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast Justin and Justin talk about where they're at. Podcasts like the Project Journey show , are at the beginning of their journey. Marie Poulin is a good example of an entrepreneur who's experienced a breakthrough this year; we should celebrate those! Justin's tweet : "What are we doing this for? Is the purpose of life to "Start business. Make most money. Die." We want to engage with an audience that wants more out of life." "Stay in your lane." The people who listen to this show aren't one-dimensio...
Apr 28, 2020•59 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast This week on the show: Jon baked bread. Got some sunshine. Avoiding social media, the other disease Justin WAS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Read this Andreesen post that everyone’s talking about: https://a16z.com/2020/04/18/its-time-to-build/ That conversation lead to this tweet: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1251946371050954752 What does the future hold? Dan Price tweet : "After the most recent 15 deadly outbreaks, wages grew over the ensuing 3 decades by a lot." Jamie Lawrence tweet : "What I’d like...
Apr 21, 2020•49 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin called up Josh Pigford , founder of Baremetrics : Baremetrics does analytics for SaaS companies I called him up just to get a sense of how this pandemic (and looming recession) has already started to affect different SaaS companies He's already noticing some trends: "A lot of SaaS companies are seeing the biggest loss they've seen in the past 4 weeks. I've heard from some companies that are seeing a 10-20% decrease in MRR." "Payroll is the biggest challenge over the next year. ...
Apr 14, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we are joined by a very special guest: Dave Giunta! What does Daft Punk look like without their helmets? HomeChef How has demand for meal kits and food delivery increased since coronavirus? You can reply to this podcast here: Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda , @dgiunta Leave a comment on PodHunt ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Leave a comment on Breaker , the podcast app for iPhone. Interact on WhatPods . Email us: mail@transistor.fm Thanks to our monthly supporters: S...
Apr 07, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast Jon and Justin, still making sense of life (and business) in a pandemic: Jon put on pants today. Justin is mad at Amazon . You can reply to this podcast here: Twitter: @buildyoursaas , @mijustin , @jonbuda Leave a comment on PodHunt ; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Leave a comment on Breaker , the podcast app for iPhone. Interact on WhatPods . Email us: mail@transistor.fm Thanks to our monthly supporters: Sofia Quintero Diogo Chris Willow Mason Hensley Borja Soler teami.io Ward from MemberS...
Mar 31, 2020•44 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast Jon and Justin are hunkered down, and reeling from COVID-19: This is moving fast, so this podcast might already be out-of-date. Difference between the restrictions in Chicago and Vernon. "It's hard to focus on Transistor and write any code." "There are all these people out there suffering, it's hard to know what to do." "You see these effects rippling through society, and then rippling towards you." 7:50 – "It'd be nice to donate to everyone, but you just can't." 8:40 – It's a multidimensional d...
Mar 24, 2020•45 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Justin is joined by Marie Poulin , co-founder of Oki Doki . They discuss: Chatting with Marie Poulin, Oki Doki 3:40 – "I used to be in the 'Ra Ra! Everyone should build a web app' crowd." 4:18 – "Now there's this feeling that maybe everyone shouldn't start a SaaS?" 9:30 – When you're starting a business, there are so many dynamics you need to get right. 13:40 – Why so many people fail to go from zero to one in business. 16:20 – Why are you starting a business in the first place? What'...
Mar 17, 2020•52 min•Ep 101•Transcript available on Metacast 
