Startups For the Rest of Us

Latest Episodes:

Episode 688 | Growing Boot.dev From $6k to $110k in Monthly Revenue in 15 Months Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

In episode 688, Rob Walling interviews Lane Wagner, founder of Boot.dev. Boot.dev is a learning platform gamified to teach backend development. They discuss the journey of bootstrapping Boot.dev, its explosive growth, and its unique business model. Lane also shares challenges of running a B2C business, why he took some funding, and the significance of customer lifetime value over MRR in his business.

Topics we cover:

2:38 – Boot.dev seeing incredible growth
3:35 – Growing on YouTube with partnerships
5:42 – Teaching Python and Go as a B2C business
7:49 – “This is not really SaaS”, considering JTBD
11:18 – The beginnings of Boot.dev, serving the backend niche
14:21 – Gaining the confidence to quit the day job
15:51 – Deciding to raise funding and “mostly” bootstrap
20:31 – Enduring hardship before turning the corner on growth
26:38 – Finding the right revenue metric for the business

Links from the Show:

MicroConf US - Atlanta - April 21 - 23, 2024
Interested in Sponsoring MicroConf Content?
Subscribe for Exclusive Episodes
Lane from Boot.dev (@wagslane) | X
Boot.dev
Profitable, at last!
Purple Cow by Seth Godin

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 687 | An 8th Thing You Should Never Do, Things That Don't Scale, and More Rob Solo Topics Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

In episode 687, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where discusses a variety of topics. He revisits a recent episode to add one more item to the list of things founders should never do. Rob also offers a hot take on Meta’s new subscription plans and weighs in on a Hacker News post about doing things that don’t scale.

Episode Sponsor:

Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups

The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce.Lemon.io helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America.

They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running.

When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week.

And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups

Topics we cover:

1:50 – There’s one more thing that founders should never do
8:44 – Facebook and Instagram will offer a subscription for no ads
12:42 – Ask HN: Paul Graham’s “Do Things That Don’t Scale”
19:53 – Lugg, doing what it takes to prove out an idea

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 686 | How Much is Enough?, Outsourcing Marketing, and More Listener Questions Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

In episode 686, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He answers how to evaluate monetary success, combat hedonic adaptation, and how to evaluate the capabilities of technical co-founders. Rob also discusses whether outsourcing sales and marketing is possible and considers some alternative no-code approaches.

Topics we cover:

4:20 – Success after stair-stepping, confronting hedonic adaptation
15:35 – Sales funnels, friction before demos, and collecting email addresses
19:24 – Outsourcing marketing and sales
23:54 – Evaluating the technical capabilities of your technical co-founder(s)
29:41 – Reducing the platform risk of developing in typical no-code tools

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 685 | 7 Things You Should Never Do (A Rob Solo Adventure) Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

In episode 685, Rob Walling goes solo to share his insights on 7 common mistakes that SaaS founders make. Be sure to listen to the end to hear Rob’s spicy take on launching a portfolio of products to see what sticks.

Episode Sponsor:

As a founder your plate is full. So when you have to hire devs, there’s no time to search for that perfect culture-fit, get-things-done developer. Lemon.io’s new product, Lemon Hire saves founders time by connecting them with a pipeline of 80K+ senior engineers. Each dev is filtered through a 4-step vetting process, available to interview within 48 hours of choosing, and backed by a 30-day replacement guarantee.

Find your great-fit candidates fast with Lemon Hire. Claim a special discount for our fans. Visit https://lemon.io/hire/, sign up, and mention “Startups” to receive $2000 off your first hire.

Topics we cover:

1:29 – Sign the National Association of Manufacturers Letter, Section 174
3:52 – Compiling a list of things founders shouldn’t do
6:49 – B2C applications, “the worst of all the worlds”
9:42 – Don’t build a second product if your first has stopped growing
10:40 – Defining a new category of software is usually a bad idea
19:59 – Avoid multi-language support
24:13 – Dig deep to find root causes beyond the symptoms
27:41 – The portfolio approach

Links from the Show:

The Small Software Business Alliance
MicroConf Remote
The SaaS Playbook
Dan Andrews (@TropicalMBA) | X
Episode 681 | Why Launching a Second Product is Usually a Bad Idea
Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 684 | Key Takeaways from MicroConf Europe 2023 Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

In episode 684, Rob Walling is joined by Dr. Sherry Walling to share their experience from MicroConf Europe 2023 in Lisbon. They discuss a continued shift in MicroConf’s focus towards fostering founder connections and networking, and the value of face-to-face interactions. Rob and Sherry reflect on their own talks and highlight others by fellow founders and attendees.

Topics we cover:

1:28 – Reflecting on MicroConf locations
6:28 – Continuous event improvements, focus on community
9:41 – Michelle Hanson’s talk “Frameworks For Making Product and Strategic Company Decisions”
10:38 – Rob’s talk about the five stages of customer awareness
13:21 – Einar Vollset’s talk on applying AI iteratively to solve problems
15:07 – QuietLight’s live business valuation
16:39 – Attendee talks from Sophie, Johannes Akhison, and more
19:25 – Dr. Sherry Walling discusses motivational archetypes
22:46 – Steven Craven’s founder story

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 683 | Bringing on a Partner, Attending Trade Shows, Pre-launch Discounts, and More Listener Questions Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

In episode 683, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He addresses gathering feedback from customers that are reluctant to give it to you, whether to bring on a partner, and the value of going to in-person events. Rob also covers topics such as equity for advisors, pricing strategies, & productized services.

Episode Sponsor:

Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups

They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running.

And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups

Topics we cover:

1:56 – Gathering feedback from reluctant customers
8:47 – When to bring in other partners
12:45 – Weighing the positives and negatives of going to trade shows
15:36 – Staying energized and motivated
17:51 – Offering pre-launch discounts vs. offering value-added product
22:08 – Charging for products in different currencies
23:37 – Productized service, pricing, and pausing
26:40 – Fractional CTOs and equity grants

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 682 | The Pros and Cons of Large vs. Small Startup Events Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

In episode 682, Rob Walling interviews Alex Theuma, the founder of SaaStock, a conference for SaaS founders. They discuss the challenges of bootstrapping an event and the pros and cons of large startup events versus small startup events. Alex also shares his experience of building credibility and authority in the industry, the importance of maintaining a positive attendee experience, and ensuring financial sustainability.

Episode Sponsor:

Tired of searching endlessly for highly skilled software developers? CloudDevs is your solution. Gain access to over 8000 pre-vetted senior devs distributed across their Latin America and global talent pools.

All their remote developers work within your own time zone and can get onboarded within 24 hours.

The CloudDevs team can help you recruit full time hires, or part time, project based freelancers.

And every hire comes with a week-long free trial, making sure you get the right person for the job.

All of our listeners get a 15% discount on their first month of collaboration.

Hire trusted tech talent efficiently without breaking the bank by visiting CloudDevs.com.

Topics we cover:

2:44 – How Alex bootstrapped SaaStock in the early stages
4:32 – Laying the groundwork and building credibility
6:59 – Figuring out sponsor subsidies
8:53 – Reflecting on the first event, growing afterwards
12:59 – Event sizing and event types
19:44 – Setting up event programming
23:00 – Swapping crazy event stories

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 681 | Why Launching a Second Product is Usually a Bad Idea Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

In episode 681, Rob Walling and Ruben Gamez go deep on the drawbacks of launching a second product. They both generally advise against doing so, as it can distract from the existing product. However they do share some successful attempts, strategic insights, how to approach feedback on second ideas, and the benefits for founders that beat the odds.

Topics we cover:

1:31 – When you should launch a second product
5:32 – Ruben’s experience growing Bidsketch and SignWell
9:45 – Responding to market pull, avoid the sunk cost fallacy
12:26 – Dividing attention between multiple products
16:40 – Choosing when to split focus
21:13 – Why a second product worked for Ruben and others
28:54 – Gauging your product intuition and getting outside feedback
32:50 – Avoiding bias when receiving feedback on your ideas
38:21 – Strategies and goals for adding a second product
42:50 – Cross selling multiple products

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 680 | Problems vs. Solutions, Doing What it Takes, and More Listener Questions (A Rob Solo Adventure) Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

In episode 680, Rob Walling goes solo again, covering a wide variety of topics including listening to customers, but not necessarily their solutions. He also cautions against making decisions based on one customer's feedback, but listening to the crowd. Finally, Rob highlights the importance of doing whatever it takes to succeed as a founder.

Episode Sponsor:

Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups

They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running.

And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups

Topics we cover:

1:52 – Paying attention to customer problems, not customer solutions
6:52 – Don’t listen to a customer, always listen to your customers
9:42 – Finding product market fit with limited information
13:01 – Identifying the appropriate time to grind out the work
19:18 – Don’t be above “taking out the trash”

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Episode 679.5 | The Future of MicroConf (7 Announcements!) Sep 21, 2023

Show notes

In episode 679.5, Rob shares seven announcements about the future of MicroConf in the upcoming year.

Whether you're a long-time supporter or a new member of our crew of misfits, you know we're all about empowering bootstrapped SaaS entrepreneurs.

For nearly a decade, we've been fueling the permissionless entrepreneurship movement that's gripped founders worldwide - and we're nowhere close to finished.

Our next big leap is coming, and you won't want to miss it.

If you want to get the inside scoop, and to keep up to date as we roll out all of these offerings, head over to https://www.futureofmicroconf.com/.

Topics we cover:

2:03 – MicroConf Connect has leveled up, and is accepting new signups
2:41 – The return of The State of Independent SaaS Report
3:21 – Community voting for MicroConf Local 2024 cities
3:50 – New course launch, “Starting Up From Idea to Traction”
4:21 – MicroConf co-founder matching coming soon
4:58 – Host your team retreat with MicroConf’s Team Sync
5:28 – MicroConf Platinum Events for an exclusive and intimate experience

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Startups For the Rest of Us

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Episode Sponsor:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Episode Sponsor:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Episode Sponsor:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Episode Sponsor:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Episode Sponsor:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Topics we cover:

Links from the Show:

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected