Startups For the Rest of Us

Latest Episodes:

Episode 547 | Private Podcasting, Apple's Announcement, and Accelerating Growth with Craig Hewitt Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 547, Rob Walling chats with Craig Hewitt about private podcasting, Apple's announcement around their subscription podcast offering as well as the accelerating growth of Castos.

The topics we cover

[1:22] Focusing on private podcasting at Castos

[15:50] Mobile app for private podcasting

[20:21] Apple's big announcement

[28:08] Castos MRR growth

Links from the show

TinySeed Tales - Season 1
Seeking Scale
Trustshoring
Craig Hewitt (@thecraighewitt) | Twitter

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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 546 | Hiring Entrepreneurial People, Anonymity, Disruptive Innovation, and More Listener Questions Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 546, Rob Walling flies solo for a Q&A episode. With a backlog of great listener questions, Rob discusses qualified small business stock (QSBS), hiring entrepreneurially-minded employees, indie hacking while working at a large company, and more.

The topics we cover

[01:51] Should I switch to a C Corp to take advantage of QSBS in five years?

[05:40] How to attract entrepreneurial employees

[14:19] Indie-hacking while working at a large Fortune 20 company

[19:12] Finding a niche using the Disruptive Innovation

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 545 | The Value of Learning 80/20 Design Fundamentals Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 545, Rob Walling chats with Tracy Osborn about the importance of learning design fundamentals for startup founders. They also discuss her new book and the pros/cons of self-publishing vs working with a publisher.

The topics we cover

[00:52] Intros

[02:00] Deciding to self publish vs going with a publisher

[11:11] Design fundamentals for a startup founder

[16:23] Training your design eye

[18:57] The #1 thing to do to become a better designer

[20:01] Prototypes: the process of sketching ideas

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 544 | Annual Raises, Finding Good Startup People, and More Listener Questions with Josh Pigford Apr 06, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Rob Walling is joined by Josh Pigford to answer listener questions, covering topics like annual pay increases, B2B SaaS price increases, white-label vs branded product, and hiring startup-minded people.

The topics we cover

[03:04] Building Maybe, and Rob busts Josh's chops about starting a business so soon

[10:02] Question #1: Annual Raises - Anonymous

[18:24] Question #2: Explaining a Price Increase - Steve McLeod Bootstrap FM

[23:11] Question #3: Free or Discounted Plans in Exchange for Branding - Adam Wohlberg

[29:28] Question #4: Finding startup people to hire - Anonymous

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 543 | All Things Startup with #Mike Taber Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 543 of Startups For the Rest of Us, Rob is joined again by co-host emeritus, Mike Taber as he gives an update on all things startups and they analyze top tactics for superhero success.

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 542 | 10x in Two Years, Past $3M ARR with SquadCast Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

In episode 542, Rob Walling chats with Zach Moreno, the Co-Founder and CEO of Squadcast about how they grew their revenue and surpassed $3 million in ARR as a mostly bootstrapped startup. They also discuss the role and importance of having a co-founder, as well as the impact that having a "knowledge investor" had on their success.

The topics we cover

[04:18] Squadcast growth while entering into a crowded space

[16:54] The importance of having a co-founder

[22:43] The shelter in place inflection point and building out video functionality

[34:08] Choosing a knowledge investor

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 541 | Faster Horses & Product Myths, Life-changing Money, Dual Funnels, and More Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

In episode 541, Rob Walling flies solo to discuss things like product myths and the misinterpreted Henry Ford quote, selling a company, defining life-changing money, and dual funnels.

The topics we cover

[02:48] Product myths and the misinterpreted Henry Ford quote

[07:21] Post-exit thoughts

[15:32] Life-changing money

[22:30] The power of dual-funnels

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 540 | Bootstrapper News. Twitter Spaces, Indie.vc Closing, Shopify, and More Mar 16, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Rob talks with Tracy Osborn and Einar Vollset, about the recent news that's come out in the bootstrapper community. They talk about the Indie.vc shutdown, the new features coming out on Twitter, LinkedIn’s new gig marketplace, and more.

The topics we cover

[03:18] Twitter Spaces

[10:05] The Network Effect and Twitter Verification

[14:32] The Indie.vc shutdown

[24:20] Shopify removing the option to work directly with Stripe

[32:34] The new ‘Super Follow’ feature in Twitter

[35:43] Comparing Google Cloud and AWS onboarding

[40:04] The new LinkedIn Gig Marketplace

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 539 | Post-Exit Life, Writing Six Books, and Brewing Beer with Dan Norris Mar 09, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Rob chats with Dan Norris about selling his productized service to GoDaddy, his latest book, and latest business, a very successful brewery in Australia. They also ruminate on the impact that post-exit money has had on their lives.

The topics we cover

[07:04] Finding the motivation to write 6 books

[07:38] Selling WP Curve to GoDaddy

[18:11] Compound Marketing and applying the principles to Black Hops

[33:53] Life post-exit and the arrival fallacy

[45:57] Rob and the sale of Drip

[53:37] Building a SaaS to sell vs as a long-term, profitable company

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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 538 | When to Sunset a Product, Enterprise Security Assessments, Lifetime Deals, and More Listener Questions Mar 02, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Rob Walling is joined by Einar Vollset as they answer listener questions ranging from when to sunset a product, filling out enterprise security assessments, acquiring a company where the previous owner had sold lifetime deals and not disclosed it, and more.

The topics we cover

[03:20] Deciding when to sunset a feature or product

[08:27] Splitting a business to focus on two separate audiences

[17:21] How to take advantage of being a consumer of your own product.

[21:35] Acquiring a SaaS where the previous founder sold lifetime plans

[28:20] Enterprise security assessments

[35:22] Building a product to solve a problem as a full-time employee

Links from the show

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.

Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.

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