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Startups For the Rest of Us

Startups For the Rest of Us

721 Episodes • By Rob Walling • www.startupsfortherestofus.com/...
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 We ...more
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Startups For the Rest of Us
Startups For the Rest of Us
@startupsfortherestofus
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Episode 710 | Is Coding Dead?, The "Right" Tech Stack, Funded Competition, and More Listener Questions
In episode 710, join Rob Walling for another solo ad... more
Apr 23 2024 34m
Tech Stack Scalability and Pragmatism
Chapter 1 2 mins
Do I need a burning desire to be a successful entrepreneur?
Chapter 2 3 mins
Maintaining a day job to enable space for entrepreneurial pursuits
Chapter 3 1 min
Balancing build speed vs. scalability with your tech stack
Chapter 4 2 mins
The April Fools Episode
Chapter 5 5 mins
– Competing against VC-backed companies in a “hot” space
Chapter 6 8 mins
Is learning to code dead?
Chapter 7 6 mins
Risk in SaaS of IP theft
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Episode 709 | The 7 Greatest Investments of My Life
In episode 709, join Rob Walling for a solo adventur... more
Apr 16 2024 32m
Building Success Through Entrepreneurship
Chapter 1 1 min
A lesson on how to build wealth
Chapter 2 2 mins
Entrepreneurship was our biggest tool
Chapter 3 4 mins
Building, acquiring, then selling companies
Chapter 4 2 mins
Building slowly while staying risk-averse
Chapter 5 6 mins
– Investing in riskier assets like cryptocurrency
Chapter 6 1 min
Running profitable companies
Chapter 7 2 mins
– Angel investing, and WP Engine
Chapter 8 1 min
– Traditional, salaried employment
Chapter 9 2 mins
Typical investments: stocks, bonds, REITs
Chapter 10 4 mins
– Real estate investing
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Episode 708 | Outsourcing Marketing, Competitive Markets, and More Listener Questions (with Derrick Reimer)
In episode 708, Rob Walling and Derek Reimer tackle ... more
Apr 9 2024 47m
Full Stack Marketers in Agency Model
Chapter 1 9 mins
Should you build technical skills or business skills?
Chapter 2 9 mins
Entering a competitive market
Chapter 3 8 mins
Building a valuable analytics dashboard tool
Chapter 4 6 mins
When should a solo founder hire for marketing roles?
Chapter 5 1 min
The rare skillset of a full-stack marketer&nbsp
Chapter 6 9 mins
Implications of building on openAI and scaling infrastructure costs
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Episode 707 | Once.com, Open Source to FT Income, and More (Hot Take Tuesday)
In episode 707, Rob Walling, alongside guests Tracy ... more
Apr 2 2024 37m
Impact of Founder's Sales Strategy
Chapter 1 8 mins
Once.com and the Implications of One-Time Software Sales
Chapter 2 11 mins
Liquidation Preferences in Startup Acquisitions
Chapter 3 2 mins
Turning an open source project into a business
Chapter 4 5 mins
Book recommendations
Chapter 5 2 mins
Is building a startup actually hard?
Chapter 6 4 mins
Startups vs. lifestyle businesses
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Episode 706.5 | Rethinking My Most Common Advice
In episode 706.5, join Rob Walling as he reconsiders... more
Apr 1 2024 13m
Chapter 1 2 mins
What would happen if you lowered prices?
Chapter 2 3 mins
– Benefits of a B2C approach
Chapter 3 1 min
– Two-sided marketplaces allow to reach two audiences
Chapter 4 2 mins
Launch a bunch of products to see what sticks
Chapter 5 2 mins
This episode was released April 1, 2024
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Episode 706.1 | MicroConf US Tickets Will Sell Out Soon!
MicroConf US in Atlanta is here in just a couple wee... more
Mar 28 2024 2m
Silent Communication
Chapter 1 2 mins
MicroConf US Event Highlights and Details
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Episode 706 | 2/20/200 Validation, Prior Art, and Designing by Committee (A Rob Solo Adventure)
In episode 706, join Rob Walling for a solo adventur... more
Mar 26 2024 25m
Plagiarism in the Startup World
Chapter 1 7 mins
Learning from, and crediting, prior art
Chapter 2 5 mins
The 2/20/200 Idea Validation Framework
Chapter 3 5 mins
– Be wary when designing by committee
Chapter 4 4 mins
When to crowdsource feedback
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Episode 705 | From Bootstrapped to Mostly Bootstrapped
In episode 705, Rob Walling interviews Braden Dennis... more
Mar 19 2024 36m
Benefits of Bootstrapping vs Venture Funding
Chapter 1 1 min
What does FinChat look like today?
Chapter 2 2 mins
Starting with an audience and building a SaaS
Chapter 3 1 min
Formulating the product and moving upmarket
Chapter 4 3 mins
Launching a second product
Chapter 5 3 mins
The common pitfall of launching a second product
Chapter 6 3 mins
– How FinChat found explosive growth
Chapter 7 6 mins
Deciding to take venture funding&nbsp
Chapter 8 4 mins
Making hard decisions with incomplete information
Chapter 9 5 mins
Working with multiple co-founders
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Episode 704 | Landing Pages, Buying a SaaS, the Right Tech Stack, and More Listener Questions
In episode 704, join Rob Walling for another solo ad... more
Mar 12 2024 37m
Entrepreneurial Drive and Fulfillment
Chapter 1 5 mins
Comparing your business to successful outliers
Chapter 2 5 mins
Exploring business outside of a comfortable day job
Chapter 3 4 mins
Early access landing pages prior to development
Chapter 4 7 mins
How do you vet SaaS businesses that you are trying to acquire?&nbsp
Chapter 5 2 mins
Evaluating a seller’s intentions
Chapter 6 7 mins
Choosing a tech stack for your SaaS
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Episode 703 | The Accidental SaaS Entrepreneur
In episode 703, Rob Walling interviews Jordan Hansen... more
Mar 5 2024 34m
Validation and Focus in Business
Chapter 1 3 mins
What does Cobalt Intelligence offer?
Chapter 2 4 mins
– Team scale, market, and business origins&nbsp
Chapter 3 3 mins
Starting YouTube and finding motivation to continually publish
Chapter 4 10 mins
Working with a savings runway and applying to TinySeed
Chapter 5 3 mins
– Finding product-market fit
Chapter 6 4 mins
Unlisting content to align with business goals
Chapter 7 2 mins
“Accidental” SaaS founder
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Episode 702 | Revenue vs. Profit Multiples, When to Lower Prices, and More Listener Questions
In episode 702, join Rob Walling for another solo ad... more
Feb 27 2024 31m
Comparing SAS Playbook vs YouTube Tutorials
Chapter 1 2 mins
How to introduce friends to entrepreneurship and bootstrapping
Chapter 2 4 mins
When to focus on profit vs. top-line revenue
Chapter 3 5 mins
Considerations for building, scaling, and differentiating an MVP
Chapter 4 4 mins
Rare circumstances where you should lower prices
Chapter 5 3 mins
Pursuing career moves vs. building on the side
Chapter 6 9 mins
Managing cap tables and equity vesting
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Episode 701 | The Long Journey to Product-Market Fit
In episode 701, Rob Walling interviews Matt Wensing,... more
Feb 20 2024 33m
Onboarding and Trial Data Optimization
Chapter 1 3 mins
“Traveling many H1’s”, refining a target market&nbsp
Chapter 2 5 mins
Moving back to a self-serve model
Chapter 3 2 mins
Niching down to achieve stronger product-market fit
Chapter 4 4 mins
Tactics that Matt used to achieve traction
Chapter 5 2 mins
– Lead scoring by behavior and persona-fit&nbsp
Chapter 6 4 mins
Scoring as a whole product vs. as only a feature
Chapter 7 5 mins
Pursuing VC with a lean team
Chapter 8 4 mins
Who is your ideal customer profile?
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Episode 700 | Playing the Long Game
In episode 700, Rob goes solo to celebrate another m... more
Feb 13 2024 30m
Luck, Decision-Making, and Career Reflections
Chapter 1 4 mins
Balancing short vs. long term thinking and decision making
Chapter 2 4 mins
Examples of founders leaning into the long game
Chapter 3 4 mins
Putting in the time, and doing it publicly (enough)
Chapter 4 4 mins
Lucky or smart?
Chapter 5 2 mins
How do I know if I’m playing the correct long game?
Chapter 6 3 mins
Acquiring skills as you play the long game
Chapter 7 3 mins
Cheers to 700!
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Episode 699 | How to Build Elegant, Scalable Software Products with Derrick Reimer
In episode 699, Rob Walling chats with fan favorite ... more
Feb 6 2024 47m
Advice for Starting a Podcast
Chapter 1 6 mins
– Establish design systems and language as you scale your product
Chapter 2 1 min
Building out a front-end directory to maintain consistency
Chapter 3 6 mins
Truly understand how customers are moving through your product
Chapter 4 2 mins
Naming convention dilemmas, industry norms vs. accuracy
Chapter 5 3 mins
– Hiding product features with feature flags
Chapter 6 8 mins
Scaling new products that serve different verticals
Chapter 7 5 mins
Best practices for maintaining a product knowledge base
Chapter 8 10 mins
Bonus: What advice would you give to your prior self starting a podcast?
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Episode 698 | How to Launch a Million Dollar Business (With Noah Kagan)
In episode 698, Rob Walling interviews Noah Kagan, C... more
Jan 30 2024 44m
Rapid Growth and Customer Acquisition Strategies
Chapter 1 3 mins
Making good decisions, consistently
Chapter 2 7 mins
– Noah’s disappointment in selling Sumo
Chapter 3 2 mins
Strategies and decisions that led to growth
Chapter 4 4 mins
Focus on eliminating distractions
Chapter 5 3 mins
Noah returns as AppSumo CEO
Chapter 6 3 mins
Making the mistake of not listening to customers
Chapter 7 8 mins
–Growing a YouTube Channel to 1M+ subscribers&nbsp
Chapter 8 2 mins
The role of YouTube content in supporting AppSumo
Chapter 9 7 mins
– Building a million dollar business in a weekend
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Episode 697 | 7 Predictions for SaaS Bootstrappers in 2024
In episode 697, join Rob Walling for a solo adventur... more
Jan 23 2024 31m
Highlight
Chapter 1 2 mins
Opportunity in vertical SaaS
Chapter 2 1 min
SaaS will continue to grow in emerging markets
Chapter 3 1 min
Twitter changes hands in 2024?
Chapter 4 1 min
Subscription fatigue has little impact on adoption of B2B SaaS
Chapter 5 2 mins
– No-Code and Low-Code will undergo “professionalization”
Chapter 6 3 mins
Is it hype, or is it not? How AI will continue to develop this year
Chapter 7 2 mins
Will Stripe go public?
Chapter 8 14 mins
Revisiting past predictions: SaaS, Twitter, VR, crypto, markets, & gadgets
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Episode 696 | The Truth about Product-Market Fit + Doing Sales as an Introvert (With Ruben Gamez)
In episode 696, Rob Walling and Ruben Gamez cover a ... more
Jan 16 2024 50m
Building a High-Performing Team
Chapter 1 3 mins
Product market fit, increasing average revenue per customer
Chapter 2 3 mins
When did you know you had product market fit?
Chapter 3 3 mins
Product market fit is a continuum, and use case specific
Chapter 4 4 mins
– Making hard decisions around product market fit
Chapter 5 8 mins
Getting better at prioritizing and making hard decisions
Chapter 6 5 mins
Doing sales as an introvert
Chapter 7 7 mins
Building a functional team that gets stuff done
Chapter 8 9 mins
– Evaluating potential hires
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Episode 695 | Ideal Customers, Moving from B2C to B2B, and More Listener Questions (with Asia Orangio)
In episode 695, Rob Walling and Asia Orangio answer ... more
Jan 9 2024 53m
Going After Fortune 500 Companies
Chapter 1 7 mins
Adjusting your target customers to chase an opportunity
Chapter 2 4 mins
Is translating marketing or educational content worth it?
Chapter 3 9 mins
Moving from B2C to B2B
Chapter 4 7 mins
Defining a cross-channel marketing approach
Chapter 5 8 mins
Advertising for a product in new product category
Chapter 6 11 mins
The issues with making freemium work while bootstrapping
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Episode 694 | 2023 In Review: Amazing Growth & Fighting Burnout
In episode 694, join Rob Walling as he recaps 2023. ... more
Jan 2 2024 19m
Highlight
Chapter 1 1 min
2023 growth, launch of The SaaS Playbook
Chapter 2 1 min
Audience growth and supporting the mission
Chapter 3 4 mins
Seeing burnout on the horizon, content calendars, and travel
Chapter 4 2 mins
Dealing with burnout if you are experiencing it
Chapter 5 1 min
Adjusting travel schedules and amount
Chapter 6 4 mins
– Doing the things that “give me life”, sustainably
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Episode 693 | Building a Mid-Six-Figure SaaS in Less Than 3 Years
In episode 693, Rob Walling interviews Grant McConna... more
Dec 26 2023 28m
Small Business Struggles and Successes
Chapter 1 2 mins
– Postpone starts off as part of a New Year’s resolution
Chapter 2 2 mins
– Validating and building the MVP to schedule content for Reddit&nbsp
Chapter 3 2 mins
Launching lean to slow growth in the beginning
Chapter 4 1 min
Doing things that don’t scale&nbsp
Chapter 5 2 mins
What were the reasons for joining TinySeed
Chapter 6 4 mins
Full time focus and pricing changes enabled strong growth for Postpone
Chapter 7 4 mins
Initial hesitation for raising prices at first
Chapter 8 3 mins
Experiencing and overcoming Reddit platform risk
Chapter 9 2 mins
What could Grant be doing better?
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Episode 692 | Learn the Rules Like a Pro So You Can Break Them Like an Artist (A Rob Solo Adventure)
In episode 692, join Rob Walling for a solo adventur... more
Dec 19 2023 23m
The Beatles
Chapter 1 2 mins
Walking customers through signup to first value, revisit your onboarding
Chapter 2 4 mins
The early entrepreneur’s trap: "We are pre-revenue still…”
Chapter 3 5 mins
Not being the cheapest option
Chapter 4 2 mins
Mirror research vs. market research
Chapter 5 6 mins
Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist
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Episode 691 | Freemium, High-touch vs. Low-touch, Selling as an Introvert, and More Listener Questions
In episode 691, join Rob Walling for another solo ad... more
Dec 12 2023 23m
Chapter 1 4 mins
Charging for your product using the “honor system”
Chapter 2 6 mins
Competing against big, entrenched incumbents
Chapter 3 4 mins
Low-touch vs. high-touch sales strategies
Chapter 4 3 mins
Selling as an introverted founder
Chapter 5 2 mins
Skipping the “Stair Step” approach to quickly validate a SaaS
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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 ad... more
Dec 5 2023 33m
Effective Communication in Email Marketing
Chapter 1 6 mins
Emailing users about other projects you are working on
Chapter 2 3 mins
Avoid sending spam-like emails
Chapter 3 4 mins
– Building a service vs. selling it as an affiliate
Chapter 4 3 mins
SaaS evaluation after business partner falling out
Chapter 5 4 mins
– The best ways to collect customer feedback
Chapter 6 7 mins
– Determining which group of buyers to sell to, HOA’s or property managers
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Episode 689 | How to Keep Your Remote Team Motivated and Engaged
In episode 689, Rob Walling interviews Robert Cserti... more
Nov 28 2023 30m
Company Building and Remote Team Engagement
Chapter 1 59 sec
social chats
Chapter 2 1 min
SessionLab, for creating workshops&nbsp
Chapter 3 3 mins
Keeping employee engagement high in remote teams, intentionally creating a workplace culture
Chapter 4 3 mins
Daily check-ins, synchronous vs. asynchronous communication
Chapter 5 2 mins
Finding a cadence for synchronous calls and “all-hands”
Chapter 6 1 min
Planning in team retreats
Chapter 7 3 mins
Meetings specifically for team bonding
Chapter 8 2 mins
Regularly scheduled, random
Chapter 9 4 mins
Experimenting with tools to facilitate communication and identify issues early
Chapter 10 4 mins
– Managing synchronous working overlap across time zones
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Episode 688 | Growing Boot.dev From $6k to $110k in Monthly Revenue in 15 Months
In episode 688, Rob Walling interviews Lane Wagner, ... more
Nov 21 2023 32m
Bootdev Business Model and Industry Understanding
Chapter 1 56 sec
Boot.dev seeing incredible growth
Chapter 2 2 mins
Growing on YouTube with partnerships
Chapter 3 2 mins
Teaching Python and Go as a B2C business
Chapter 4 3 mins
“This is not really SaaS”, considering JTBD
Chapter 5 3 mins
The beginnings of Boot.dev, serving the backend niche
Chapter 6 1 min
Gaining the confidence to quit the day job
Chapter 7 4 mins
Deciding to raise funding and “mostly” bootstrap
Chapter 8 6 mins
Enduring hardship before turning the corner on growth
Chapter 9 5 mins
Finding the right revenue metric for the business
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