Startups For the Rest of Us

Latest Episodes:

Episode 593 | Retaining Employees + The Ideal SaaS Business (A Rob Solo Adventure) Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 593, join Rob Walling for a Solo Adventure as he chats about accidentally deleting all of his old tweets, retaining talent, the ideal market for a SaaS business, and more.

The topics we cover

[3:10] Deleting old tweets

[8:43] Retaining talent

[12:39] Ideal market for a SaaS business

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 592 | Nine Tactics for Amazing Customer Support Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 592, Rob Walling is joined again by Cody Duval for a technical conversation about the dos and don'ts for amazing customer support.

The topics we cover

[2:00] Customer success vs customer support

[5:10] Response time

[8:59] Post-support surveys

[10:58] When to hire first customer support person

[13:02] Chat widgets

[17:09] Doing customer support early on as a founder

[18:01] Training customer support to ask a question

[19:00] Dealing with abusive customers

[21:10] Customer support tool

Links from the show

How to Deal with Rude Customers
Cody Duval (@codee) | Twitter

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 591 | Acquiring and Scaling in a Crowded Space Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 591, Rob Walling chats with Cody Duvall about his story of acquiring and growing Keeping in a really crowded space of help desk and customer support tools.

The topics we cover

[4:34] Launching into a crowded market

[8:00] Keeping's sales process

[10:01] Background on acquiring Keeping

[14:53] Outsourcing a team to rewrite the codebase

[20:03] Migrating customers

[24;01] Challenges with building in a established category

[26:09] Hitting product-market fit

[28:30] Applying for TinySeed

Links from the show

Keeping
Cody Duvall (@codee) | Twitter

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 590 | Buying vs Building, Zombie Companies, and More Listener Questions with Craig Hewitt Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 590, Rob Walling chats with Craig Hewitt about building versus buying internal tools, how to compete in a competitive space, accounting software, a founder who has a zombie company where investors want their money back, and more.

The topics we cover

[5:03] Finding a co-founder as a non-technical founder

[11:20] Balancing priorities between day job and a SaaS idea

[17:35] Zombie company where investors want their money back

[26:00] Accounting software for startups

[28:10] Building in a competitive market as a solo-founder

[32:24] When to buy vs build internal 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 | Stitcher

Episode 589 | Finding a SaaS Idea Through 70 Cold Calls Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 589, Rob Walling chats with Jason Buckingham about how he found a startup idea from making more than 70 cold calls. It's a great story about staying focused, putting in the time and doing the hard work.

The topics we cover

[7:14] Finding a problem via cold calls

[13:07] Identifying a problem and deciding what to do next

[22:32] Getting spouses on board with entrepreneur journey

[25:06] Working day jobs while building the product

[30:09] Getting into Tiny Seed right before COVID-19

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 588 | In Which Courtland Allen and I Cover a Lot of Startups Topics Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 588, Rob Walling chats with Courtland Allen about a wide range of bootstrapper and indie hacker topics including the struggles with motivation/depression, bootstrapping today, fighting the urge to quit, and frameworks for getting your first dollar.

The topics we cover

[3:43] Hiring a podcast producer

[6:21] Letting go in business

[7:09] Invite-only experiment on Indie Hackers

[16:03] Thinking about the future

[20:47] Financial freedom and starting a business

[25:05] Depression as a founder and rediscovering purpose

[37:10] Fighting the urge to quit

[41:10] Getting your first dollar

[52:35] The bootstrapper scene in 2010 and the relevance of bootstrapping

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!

Also, if you haven't seen, applications are open for TinySeed's Spring 2022 programs. TinySeed is a year-long remote accelerator program is designed to help founders with a revenue-generating SaaS optimize product-market fit and grow faster. Read about the program and how to apply here.

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Episode 587 | Renaming a Company, Revisiting Inflation, and Micropreneurship (Listener Email Edition) Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 587, join Rob Walling as he answers listener emails including feedback and a critique about the podcast, the state of microentrepreneurship, and where to start with user growth.

The topics we cover

[2:22] The reason Rob continues to podcast

[5:26] Renaming a company or podcast

[8:40] Revisiting inflation

[15:06] The state of microentrepreneurship

[20:00] Where to start with user growth

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 586 | Mastering Customer Interviews with Michele Hansen Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 586, Rob Walling chats with Michele Hansen about her new book where she talks about how to master customer interviews as a startup founder.

The topics we cover

[5:00] User experience research for startup founders

[11:20] Customer Interviews for developers

[12:30] Feature requests as customer research springboard

[19:55] Practicing customer interviews

[23:37] Comparing to Jobs to Be Done 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 585 | Moving Outside Your Comfort Zone with Dr. Sherry Walling Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 585, Rob Walling chats with Sherry Walling about moving outside your comfort zone, the power of relationships, psychedelic-assisted therapy, as well as her new book about grief launching later this year.

The topics we cover

[3:22] Deciding against self-publishing

[12:00 ] Building an audience vs. a network

[14:26] Psychedelic-assisted therapy

[24:00] The power and importance of relationships

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 584 | Looking Back and Looking Ahead Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 584, Join Rob Walling for a Happy New Year edition of the show where looks ahead to 2022 and evaluates what he wants to focus on. The things we choose not to do are just as important as the things we chose to do and Rob encourages you to think hard about what is and is not working for you today.

The topics we cover

[3:00] Founder's retreat

[4:36] Estimating growth

[9:23] Hiring a full-time content producer

[15:32] The power of focus

Links from the show

The Zen Founder Guide to Founder Retreats

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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