Build Your SaaS
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Justin and Jon reconnect after a two-year podcasting hiatus. What's happened since their last episode? Lots! They talk about big changes in their personal lives, and then move on to how they're thinking about Transistor as a business. These discuss burnout and motivation, the evolution of the podcasting industry, the pressure of being a leader, and the possibility of taking a sabbatical. The Transistor team is off to Banff for their annual retreat!
Quote:
"Working hard does not lead to burnout, but the lack of hope leads to burnout. So if you're working really really hard for something that you don't believe will pay off, it's super easy to lose motivation. And that has happened to me in the past! But! If you believe that the thing you're working on will have a payoff, the amount of work almost doesn’t matter." – Aaron Francis
Links:
- The last episode Jon and Justin recorded together
- Aaron Francis' newsletter
- "Everything you've been told about burnout is wrong."
- Matt Wensing's tweet
Have feedback on this episode?
Timestamps:
- (00:00) - Who remembers how to do this anyway?
- (00:30) - Where has Jon been for the last 2 years?
- (08:56) - What's Justin been up to?
- (11:36) - Maybe there's more to burnout than we think
- (24:40) - Should we build something else as a backup?
- (27:31) - What need to be true for you to be happier?
- (33:38) - Remote work kind of sucks
- (39:06) - Brainstorming more ideas around connecting better
- (42:32) - What about sabbaticals?
- (51:03) - Thank you to our Patreon supporters
- Rewardful.com
- Greg Park
- Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co
- Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af
- Bill Condo (@mavrck)
- Ward from MemberSpace.com
- Evandro Sasse
- Austin Loveless
- Michael Sitver
- Colin Gray
- Dave Giunta
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Harris Kenny was a long-time listener of the podcast, and dreamed about building his own software product. After multiple attempts, over 5 years, he finally did it. How? He shares his experiences transitioning from a corporate job to entrepreneurship. He also discusses the challenges of user engagement, the exploration of various SaaS ideas, and the importance of foundational work in entrepreneurship.
Links:
- Harris Kenny on Linkedin
- OutboundSync - Integrate outbound campaigns in HubSpot and Salesforce
- IntroCRM (Archived) - Access Blocked
- How Loom Found PULL - Growth Strategy Case Study
- Follow Justin on Bluesky
Have feedback on this episode?
Timestamps:
- (00:09) - I did it! I build my saas!
- (02:59) - Why did Harris quit his job?
- (11:03) - When you don't have a boss, do you have the drive to go get work?
- (15:45) - How did you hear about saas businesses?
- (27:02) - Recognizing a need and building something for it
- (34:44) - So many opportunities in inventory software
- (41:03) - The difficulty of getting people to just log in
- (49:18) - The saas that worked
- (01:01:01) - Where are you getting new customers from?
- (01:06:47) - Using Tinyseed as a bridge
- (01:11:02) - Going over the top on support is a key
- (01:24:04) - Showing results helps agencies show value
- Rewardful.com
- Greg Park
- Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co
- Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af
- Bill Condo (@mavrck)
- Ward from MemberSpace.com
- Evandro Sasse
- Austin Loveless
- Michael Sitver
- Colin Gray
- Dave Giunta
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Bootstrapping a business is like getting a plane to lift off the ground. But what do you do once the plane is in the air?
Dave Giunta and Justin Jackson recorded a recent phone call about maintaining motivation after the initial startup phase. How does founder energy shift once you've achieved your early goals? Dave prods Justin to find new sources of motivation – whether through mentoring junior team members, connecting with customers in fresh ways, or knowing when it's time to explore new horizons.
They also discuss why Dave left Home Chef (after 8 years) and what he's doing next.
Links:
Have feedback on this episode?
Timestamps:
- 00:00:17 - Giuuuuuunta
- 00:01:15 - Chatting in Guatemala: maintaining motivation, remote work, career transitions
- 00:02:12 - Motivation in early vs late stage startups
- 00:06:00 - Challenges with maintaining motivation once the business is established
- 00:15:35 - Working with different team member motivations
- 00:26:42 - Importance of understanding individual team members
- 00:29:20 - Remote work advantages and challenges
- 00:35:35 - Working with junior team members and mentorship
- 00:54:00 - Why Dave left Home Chef after 8+ years
- 00:57:00 - Discussion of career transitions and giving yourself space to explore
- 01:02:20 - Future plans and exploration after leaving long-term role
Thanks to our monthly supporters
- Rewardful.com
- Greg Park
- Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co
- Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af
- Bill Condo (@mavrck)
- Ward from MemberSpace.com
- Evandro Sasse
- Austin Loveless
- Michael Sitver
- Colin Gray
- Dave Giunta
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
How do founders of small bootstrapped companies hire new employees?
Adam Wathan got over 1600 people who applied for two new roles at Tailwind Labs (a small team of six people). They ended up hiring two people, but neither of them actually applied. This wasn't how Adam expected (or hoped) this process would go. There were lots of surprising takeaways and lessons learned from the whole experience.
"If you figure we spend 5 minutes on every single application, that was like 133 hours straight reading applications. Processing these job applications was basically my full time job for 2 months." – Adam WathanLinks:
- Hackers Inc podcast
- Tailwind job opening announcement
- Design Engineer job posting
- Staff Software Engineer job posting
- Reddit: 11 months of job searching visualized
Have feedback on this episode?
Timestamps:
- (03:40) - What's the size of Transistor and when did you last hire?
- (05:24) - How did you meet or find your employees?
- (07:12) - Adam's process for hiring
- (12:44) - The energy required to process applications
- (17:32) - What got people in to the 100 list?
- (21:03) - Did Adam get any videos in applications?
- (24:49) - Previous employment was a good indicator
- (30:16) - Painting a picture of what the position looks like
- (32:02) - The kinds of people who applied
- (34:52) - How did the application process work out?
- (38:52) - The kinds of questions we asked applicants
- (42:25) - Does a great conversation impact a hiring decision or not?
- (49:24) - Does having the position open in public help?
- (51:36) - How Adam was connected to the people they hired
- (59:31) - The importance of conference conversations
- (01:02:20) - Finding ways to share your work in public
- (01:06:11) - The process does work... just not this time
- (01:12:30) - Could I ever get comfortable with a 70% success rate?
- (01:20:53) - Bringing in someone you knew vs a fan
- (01:26:45) - Keeping a tab in different areas to pull from
Thanks to our monthly supporters
- Rewardful.com
- Greg Park
- Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co
- Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af
- Bill Condo (@mavrck)
- Ward from MemberSpace.com
- Evandro Sasse
- Austin Loveless
- Michael Sitver
- Colin Gray
- Dave Giunta
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
A panel discussion on 37signals' first ONCE product, the launch of Campfire ("pay for it once, install it, and run it on your own server"). Ian Landsman, Tyler Tringas, and Justin Jackson share what they expected to happen before the launch, what did happen, and what it means for indie hackers and bootstrappers who want to launch SaaS companies. Is this the end of SaaS?
Links:
- Once landing page
- Campfire sales page
- DHH's tweet: "ONCE/Campfire hasn't even been for sale for a week, but we've already sold more than quarter of a million dollars."
- Tyler Tringas's video
I want to hear your thoughts:
If you listen to the episode, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts:
- Can you think of a low-price, pay-once, on-prem software product that's succeeded? (The only one I could think of was Statamic CMS)
- Do you think a different Once product might have made more sales? What kinds of products do you think might work?
- Did you buy Campfire? What did you buy it for? Are you using it as a chat tool for your company?
- Other thoughts on our discussion.
Timestamps:
- (00:00:00) - "I appreciate that 37signals exists."
- (00:01:58) - 37signals' influence in the bootstrapped startup space
- (00:03:58) - What did we expect from the Campfire/Once launch?
- (00:06:23) - DHH's tweet on Campfire sales – is that what we expected?
- (00:09:49) - The Once model, philosophy, and Campfire's history
- (00:17:21) - Misconceptions about what IT Managers want
- (00:19:49) - How Campfire was marketed and positioned
- (00:26:01) - Basecamp's PR, virality, and audience
- (00:28:29) - Can you do customer research to validate demand?
- (00:32:01) - The volume of sales as a success metric
- (00:33:33) - The Potential for Campfire's expansion
- (00:37:37) - Distribution opportunities with hosting providers
- 00:39:31) - The intuition behind HEY Email's success
- (00:43:42) - The Value of an Audience and Customer Overlap
- (00:45:12) - The Compounding Advantage of Longevity
- (00:49:54) - Scorecard
Thanks to our monthly supporters
- Rewardful.com
- Greg Park
- Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co
- Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af
- Bill Condo (@mavrck)
- Ward from MemberSpace.com
- Evandro Sasse
- Austin Loveless
- Michael Sitver
- Colin Gray
- Dave Giunta
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!