Smash Notes
Build Your SaaS – bootstrapping in 2019
Can you bootstrap a profitable startup in 2019? 37signals did it in 2004, and since then thousands of entrepreneurs, developers, designers, and product people have tried to launch their own web apps. But with so many venture-backed startups now, is it still possible? Follow Jon and Justin as they build & launch their new product: Transistor.fm.
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Episodes
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Startup advice from Justin Kan, Stephanie Hulburt, and Naval
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Jon & Justin reveal everything (part 2)
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Jon & Justin reveal everything (part 1)
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Bootstrapping in France (Baptiste Jamin from Crisp)
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What's it like getting acquired by Spotify? (Dave Zohrob from Chartable)
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Patrick Campbell: why ProfitWell sold to Paddle for $200M
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Going from $0 to $2 million in ARR in 7 years (the Missive story)
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Taylor Otwell: the business of Laravel in 2022
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Why Customer Support = Startup Success
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What's it really like to work at Transistor?
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Founders' retreat
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The Christmas bonus check
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Brian Casel, of Bootstrapped Web, chats about his new app
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What does my daughter think of the podcast industry?
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A few questions
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Why should we care about our customers' feelings?
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This is a big step for us
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Why are bootstrappers hostile towards VCs?
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Basecamp | Hiring | How to have a calm company
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A good business will change your life (for real)
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We're doing this and it's weird
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Podcast companies losing money?
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Jason Fried – you can't control the market
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What happened after Simon went full time on his SaaS?
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Landsman on software
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How fragile is the prosumer SaaS market?
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What it takes to launch a SaaS
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THE FEAR
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Do you really need to build an audience?
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Break out
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Talking about an acquisition
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It's just too much
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Waking up
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Why there's no episode today
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Building software for 2030
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Simon is going full-time
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They stole our idea!
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What SaaS would we start today if we started over?
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What should we build next?
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How coronavirus is impacting revenue
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Giuuuuuuuunta
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Pants-driven development
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How are founders handling the pandemic?
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Maybe you shouldn't start a software company
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All that he wants
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Should you start a startup with your spouse?
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What's driving you now?
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Clearing the air
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Anxiety about what might happen with the business
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A cloudy feeling of dread
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Who gets paid, and who doesn't?
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What's your sustainable competitive advantage?
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The challenges of being in (the wrong) business
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What happens tomorrow?
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A Christmas Eve SEO scare
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Should you build an audience first?
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How did we do on last year's predictions?
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What should we do in 2020?
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Why we stopped sharing our revenue numbers
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Throwing computers off a tall building
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Why did this take so long?
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Desktop life
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Limitless growth!
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"Launched" with quotation marks
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What's threatening our business?
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User tracking, Basecamp, $30k
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How do you even sleep at night?
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Bootstrapping loneliness
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Is it a good idea to be a transparent startup?
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How much MRR is enough?
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Change is in the air
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The constant feature release cycle
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WHO DELETED MY CODE?!?!
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How we're Shaping Up
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"Backlogs make you feel guilty." – Jason Fried
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No sleep 'till Brooklyn (what we learned in New York)
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Once you launch, you're immediately behind
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Your backlog is making me thirsty
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What if there's an accident?
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Jon's big announcement
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I want to work at Transistor.fm
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We took funding (from our customers)
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"I can't believe you're using that in production"
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How big of a market should you target?
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Four different git branches in various unfinished states
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You can't put me in a box
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Wrestling with our company's growth
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Burn it all to the ground
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Keeping the dream alive in Portland
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The "charge more" debate
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Taylor Otwell: "PHP (and a cheap laptop) changed my life"
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The market for your startup matters
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When should bootstrappers get paid?
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Worst day ever
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Pro athletes are mocking me on the internet
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Do startups need specialists or generalists?
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Full-on sweatpants mode
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Did we solve our bandwidth cost crisis?
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Counting beans and getting hit by a bus
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Is this the best time to start a podcasting startup?
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Getting real: sharing our founder struggles
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How to grow your audience
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Should startups worry about their competition?
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Marketing tactics for your SaaS: how to get the word out
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Our predictions for 2019
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How to find the right customers for your software business
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Let's chat about the podcast industry
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Why does Jon need a co-founder?
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How did you split equity in Transistor?
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Interesting ways you can use a podcast
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Insulating our recording studio with dollar bills
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There's a new funding option for bootstrapped founders
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Your startup's expenses are too high
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How'd you get into computers? (Apple II, PC clones, BBSes, CYBERSPACE)
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You forgot $20,000 in your snowboard pocket
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You drew a prototype on that napkin from Portland
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What's the most important metric for a web app?
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We have some explaining to do
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Your revenue forecast is wrong
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The problem with podcasts
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What's a good conversion rate for a web app?
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Launch week hangover
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The opposite of bored money
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Meet me in Chicago
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I see Spots
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Our Voltron needs fuel
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Teaser: I don't want to get crushed by the VC monster
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Bonus: building a SaaS on the side is hard!
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SaaS pricing advice from Rob Walling and Patrick Campbell
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What does Nathan Barry think of podcast hosting pricing?
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How should we price our SaaS?
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Should we make our revenue numbers public?
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How to validate your product idea
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Live from Las Vegas
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How to organize your time when your startup is your side-hustle
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Startup money
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We need to talk
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My teenager wants to play Dungeons & Dragons
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Six screens and a power glove
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What are you scared of?
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I want Castle Grayskull
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How to find a cofounder (our story)
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What does it take to build a SaaS in 2018?
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