
329 episodes

Startups For the Rest of Us Rob Walling
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- Business
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4.9 • 664 Ratings
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The original podcast for bootstrapped and mostly bootstrapped startups, this show follow the stories of founders as they start, acquire, and grow SaaS companies. Hear when they fail, struggle, succeed, and take you with them through the tumultuous life of a SaaS founder. If you like Mixergy, This Week in Startups, or SaaStr, you’ll enjoy Startup for the Rest of Us.
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Episode 690 | When Opt-in Email Could Be Spam, Collecting Customer Feedback, and More Listener Questions
In episode 690, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He advises on the ethical considerations of email marketing and answers how he would value a business when buying out a partner. He also addresses the best ways to collect customer feedback and the value of high-fidelity customer calls.
Episode Sponsor:
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Topics we cover:
2:59 – Emailing users about other projects you are working on
9:26 – Avoid sending spam-like emails
12:55 – Building a service vs. selling it as an affiliate
17:34 – SaaS evaluation after business partner falling out
21:25 – The best ways to collect customer feedback
25:36 – Determining which group of buyers to sell to, HOA’s or property managers
Links from the Show:
The SaaS Playbook
Ask a Question on SFTROU
Start Marketing the Day You Start Coding
The Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping
Quiet Light
FE International
Discretion Capital
MicroConf Connect
Producer Xander (@ProducerXander) | X
Episode 139 | 6 Questions You Should Ask In Your Customer Development Survey
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submi -
Episode 689 | How to Keep Your Remote Team Motivated and Engaged
In episode 689, Rob Walling interviews Robert Cserti, co-founder of SessionLab. Robert and his team provide tools and resources for designing workshops and SessionLab operates fully remote. Rob and Robert discuss strategies for motivating remote teams, fostering team culture and communication, and being intentional about synchronous meetings and team bonding.
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:
2:01 – SessionLab, for creating workshops
3:42 – Keeping employee engagement high in remote teams, intentionally creating a workplace culture.
7:15 – Daily check-ins, synchronous vs. asynchronous communication
10:32 – Finding a cadence for synchronous calls and “all-hands”
13:20 – Planning in team retreats
15:18 – Meetings specifically for team bonding
18:42 – Regularly scheduled, random 1:1 social chats
21:05 – Experimenting with tools to facilitate communication and identify issues early
26:02 – Managing synchronous working overlap across time zones
Links from the Show:
Are you considering selling your SaaS business?
The Psychology of Exiting Your Company
Quiet Light
Robert Cserti | LinkedIn
SessionLab (@SessionLab) | X
SessionLab
SessionLab’s Library of facilitation techniques
Geekbot
Cozy Juicy Real
Donut
SpatialChat
If you have questions about start -
Episode 688 | Growing Boot.dev From $6k to $110k in Monthly Revenue in 15 Months
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
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:
MicroConf Connect
Episode 685 | 7 Things You Should Never Do (A Rob Solo Adventure)
Ruben Gamez (@earthlingworks) | X
TinySeed
Facebook and Instagram To Offer Subscription for No Ads in Europe
Ask HN: PG's 'Do Things That Don't Scale' manual examples?
Do Things that Don't Scale
Lugg
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 -
Episode 686 | How Much is Enough?, Outsourcing Marketing, and More Listener Questions
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:
State of Independent SaaS Survey and Report
MicroConf Local in Austin
MicroConf Connect
Bernard Huang (@bernardjhuang) | X
WP Engine (@wpengine) | X
Tracy Osborn (@tracymakes) | X
The Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping
Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup
The SaaS Playbook
This Took 11 Years to Be An "Overnight Success" - SaaS Exit Strategy
Once
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)
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:
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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
Customer Reviews
Honest, tactical, real stories and advice for bootstrappers
This is my go-to podcast for inspiration from other bootstrapped entrepreneurs! I so appreciate Rob’s candidness about his personal journey and the tactical business advice and honest opinions he shares based on his experience investing and advising tons of startup founders. Thank you for this wonderful podcast, Rob!!
The best startup podcast by far
Thanks Rob for all the invaluable information you provide around startup, SaaS, and bootstrapping businesses. Your podcast became my top source of info that came right on time for my professional career. Just continue with the great content 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
The podcast I look forward to every Tuesday!
Thanks Rob, especially enjoy the listener questions episodes.