Build Your SaaS

Justin sits down with Helen Ryles and Michael Green, the two people behind almost every chat, email, and demo call that comes into Transistor, to talk about the company's secret weapon: the thing that converts 75% of trials to paid and keeps people around for years.Chapters:(02:13) - What did Helen do before she joined Transistor? (03:00) - What did Michael do before joining Transistor? (05:05) - How does Transistor do customer support different? (08:04) - What have we learned by doing demo calls with customers? (12:32) - What are some of the emotions of starting a podcast? (16:15) - What can startups learn from being a customer led company? (18:44) - How do we approach AI in customer support? (22:50) - How does customer support translate into sales? (25:49) - What else does a customer support role do at a Saas? (33:41) - How do future generations learn how to be on a team? Quotes:From Helen:"The bar with customer support is really quite low across the industry... If companies are setting the standard of getting back to people in three to five business days, we don't have to necessarily adopt that. We can set our own standards."From Michael:"There is an emotional side to podcasting, to using a product, to creation, and we help on that side as well. People are often excited or nervous or panicking or something feels urgent, and we can help alleviate all of that emotional side. It's not just about questions and answers."Have feedback on this episode?👉 ​Leave a voicemail here​🦋 Reply on Bluesky 📺 Thanks to our monthly supporters Rewardful.com Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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 FrancisLinks:The last episode Jon and Justin recorded togetherAaron Francis' newsletter"Everything you've been told about burnout is wrong."Matt Wensing's tweetHave feedback on this episode?👉 ​Leave a voicemail here​🦋 Reply on Bluesky 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube. 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 Thanks to our monthly supporters Rewardful.com Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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 LinkedinOutboundSync - Integrate outbound campaigns in HubSpot and SalesforceIntroCRM (Archived) - Access BlockedHow Loom Found PULL - Growth Strategy Case StudyFollow Justin on BlueskyHave feedback on this episode?👉 ​Leave a voicemail here​🦋 Reply on BlueskyTimestamps:(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 Thanks to our monthly supporters Rewardful.com Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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:Follow Dave on BlueskyConnect with Dave on LinkedInFollow Justin on BlueskyHave feedback on this episode?👉 ​Leave a voicemail here​🦋 Reply on BlueskyTimestamps:00:00:17 - Giuuuuuunta00:01:15 - Chatting in Guatemala: maintaining motivation, remote work, career transitions00:02:12 - Motivation in early vs late stage startups00:06:00 - Challenges with maintaining motivation once the business is established00:15:35 - Working with different team member motivations00:26:42 - Importance of understanding individual team members00:29:20 - Remote work advantages and challenges00:35:35 - Working with junior team members and mentorship00:54:00 - Why Dave left Home Chef after 8+ years00:57:00 - Discussion of career transitions and giving yourself space to explore01:02:20 - Future plans and exploration after leaving long-term roleThanks to our monthly supporters Rewardful.com Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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 podcastTailwind job opening announcementDesign Engineer job postingStaff Software Engineer job postingReddit: 11 months of job searching visualizedHave feedback on this episode?👉 ​Leave a voicemail here​🐦 Reply on TwitterTimestamps:(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 Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★