Startups For the Rest of Us

Latest Episodes:

Episode 633 | Building SaaS Plus a Two-Sided Marketplace Nov 01, 2022

Show notes

In episode 633, Rob Walling chats with Matt Wensing, the founder of Summit. Matt is no stranger on the podcast. And we talk about Matt's decision to change Summit's brand positioning and the far-reaching impact on his business.

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:

2:24 - Matt’s decision to change Summit’s positioning
15:22 - Redesigning Summit’s website
22:39 - The dangers of scaling up before you have product-market fit
24:43 - The response to Summit’s relaunch
29:33 - How Summit is evolving into a 2-sided marketplace

Links from the Show:

Matt Wensing (@MattWensing) I Twitter
Summit
MicroConf Remote

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.

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Episode 632 | Hot Take Tuesday: Figma Exit, Side Project Distraction, No Code Dogma Oct 25, 2022

Show notes

In episode 632, join Rob Walling and Einar Vollset for Hot Take Tuesday, where they analyze and discuss some of the latest news. Some topics covered include the Figma exit, side project distractions, no-code apps, and more.

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:

2:35 - Adobe acquires Figma
8:20 - Growing one product to $20k MRR vs. launching a bunch of side projects
18:43 - Apple’s anti-ad tracking crackdown
25:58 - Building no-code apps
31:12 - Watching movies at 1.5x speed

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 | Stitcher

Episode 631 | Re-writing Your Codebase, Stair Stepping, and Difficult Founder Decisions Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

In episode 631, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he answers listener questions on topics ranging from when to rewrite your codebase to founder salaries and balancing your founder vs. developer mindset.

Episode Sponsor

Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io

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:

2:32 - Is there any validity that rewriting our code and changing our tech stack will get us to a higher multiple at a future exit?
8:08 - Founder salaries
12:16 - Using the stair step approach to create a course
15:20 - Can you sell a Zapier-type connection between several products as an early MVP for your target market?
20:06 - Founder mindset vs. developer mindset

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 | Stitcher

Episode 630 | Approaching $1M ARR as a Niche SaaS Founder Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

In episode 630, Rob Walling chats with Jonathan Weinberg, who is the founder of Builder Prime, a CRM software for home improvement contractors. We chat about how he came up with the idea for Builder Prime, getting early traction, and finding product-market fit.

Topics we cover:

2:46 - Getting Builder Prime to almost $1M ARR
3:32 - Deciding who to hire next
4:40 - How did Jonathan come up with the idea for Builder Prime?
8:29 - Jonathan's decision to quit his day job and work on Builder Prime before it made any money
10:55 - The unique steps that Jonathan took to get early traction
17:05 - When did Jonathan realize he had product-market fit?
24:04 - Jonathan’s hockey stick growth moment
28:31 - What’s next for Jonathan?

Links from the Show:

Jonathan Weinberg @Jonathan_codes) I Twitter
Builder Prime
TinySeed

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 | Stitcher

Episode 629 | TinySeed Tales s3e6: Looking Ahead to $1M ARR Oct 06, 2022

Show notes

In the final episode of TinySeed Tales Season 3, Rob Walling checks in with Tony Chan of CloudForecast. They reflect on some of the most prominent challenges and milestones that the business has faced over the last year.

Topics we cover:

1:31 - Tony reflects on attending his first MicroConf Growth in Minneapolis
3:30 - An update on how CloudForecast’s content marketing efforts are going
7:59 - Getting an article featured at the top of Reddit
11:16 - An update on how their new senior engineer is doing
16:18 - Why Tony prefers to hire full-time employees
18:26 - An update on CloudForecast’s sales pipeline
20:50 - Tony reflects on the challenges of figuring out where to invest time and capital
24:30 - The importance of getting low-level tasks off your plate
28:36 - What is Tony least looking forward to in the next year?
30:38 - What is Tony most looking forward to in the next year?

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 | Stitcher

Episode 628 | The 5 PM Pre-Validation Framework Oct 04, 2022

Show notes

In episode 628, join Rob Walling on a solo adventure where he dives into his newest framework. The 5 PM Pre-Validation Framework is a helpful way to evaluate different startup ideas through a set of criteria to gauge the size of the opportunity.

Want to download the PDF version the the 5 PM Pre-Validation Framework? Join the Startups For The Rest Us Mailing List, and we'll send you the link in the first email. Look for the orange email opt-in widget on the page.

Topics we cover:

3:37 - Why is it called The 5 P.M. Idea Validation Framework?
4:06 - Problem
6:23 - Purchaser
8:17 - Pricing Model
9:00 - Market
12:48 - Product-Founder Fit
13:21 - Pain to validate the product
13:59 - Evaluating two business ideas through Rob’s 5PM framework

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 | Stitcher

Episode 627 | TinySeed Tales s3e5: Meeting the Co-Founder Sep 29, 2022

Show notes

In the penultimate episode of TinySeed Tales Season 3, Rob Walling checks in with Tony Chan of CloudForecast.

Tony shares some recent big wins, including hiring a senior engineer. We also meet Tony’s cofounder, Francois Lagier, for the first time.

Topics we cover:

1:49 - The story of how Tony and Francois first met
2:14 - Hiring a senior engineer at CloudForecast
8:51 - Tony shares two recent big wins at CloudForecast
14:31 - The paradox of choice that all startup founders face
16:30 - CloudForecast dives into some new content marketing and SEO initiatives
18:35 - What are Tony and Francois looking forward to in the next month?

Links from the Show:

Tony Chan (@toeknee123) I Twitter
Francois Lagier (@francoislagier) I Twitter
CloudForecast

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 | Stitcher

Episode 626 | Scratching an Itch, Launching a Free SEO Tool, and Growing to $18k MRR Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

In episode 626, Rob Walling chats with Nick Swan, the founder of SEOTesting.com. SEOTesting helps SEO professionals and agencies automate the reporting of page updates and changes. Nick originally launched it as a free tool under a different name.

In this episode, we cover when Nick decided to charge for it, renaming the tool, rewriting the codebase, and the journey to growing to $18,000 MRR.

Topics we cover:

3:17 - Growing SEOTesting.com to $18,000 MRR
4:53 - What kinds of businesses use SEOTesting.com?
8:11 - The decision to build SEOTesting
12:33 - Launching SEOTesting as a free tool
15:39 - When Nick started to charge for SEOTesting?
18:16 - Nick’s initial pricing strategy and rollout
27:06 - Reflecting on the initial launch
29:49 - Nick’s thought process for pivoting and changing the company name
34:45 - Reaching product-market fit
36:01 - Nick’s decision to bring on a co-founder a few years in
39:32 - Prioritizing marketing vs. development

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 | Stitcher

Episode 625 | TinySeed Tales s3e4: Doubling MRR Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

In the fourth episode of TinySeed Tales Season 3, Rob Walling checks back in with Tony Chan of CloudForecast.

Tony shares that they’ve doubled their MRR in the last couple of months, and it feels like he has unlocked a cheat code.

Topics we cover:

2:02 - What’s changed since the last episode?
3:14 - Winning a huge enterprise deal that nearly doubled their MRR
5:21 - Deploying capital
12:31 - A key mindset shift that Tony had to make
13:33 - Tony’s experience at a recent TinySeed retreat
18:10 - Tony reflects on some low points
19:35 - What is he looking forward to?

Links from the Show:

Tony Chan (@toeknee123) I Twitter
CloudForecast
TinySeed Applications are now open

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 | Stitcher

Episode 624 | Moving from Free to Paid, Prioritizing Marketing vs. Development, and More Listener Questions Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

In episode 624, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he answers some listener questions on topics ranging from customer interviews to transitioning from a free to a paid product and prioritizing marketing vs. development.

Topics we cover:

2:11 - What episodes should I start with to get up to speed?
3:27 - When to transition from a free to a paid product
11:37 - Customer interviews as a service
15:03 - Making the jump from software to manufacturing
19:32 - Prioritizing marketing vs. development

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 | Stitcher