<p>In this episode, Marc Thomas, founder of Positive Human, mentor at TinySeed, and former Sr. Growth Marketer at Podia, traces an unlikely path from freelance journalism to co-founding doopoll, surviving a COVID-era near-meltdown, and ultimately reinventing himself as a lifecycle/email operator for SaaS. Marc shares the chaotic “we priced it in the hallway” moment, the lesson of raising money before true validation, and the four-day surge that took doopoll from 1.6M to 16M votes—and nearly torched the company with usage-based bills.</p><p>He and Nick dig into the solopreneur head-game: optionality vs. salary, why Marc would take less money for more freedom, and how “punk” DIY energy: charisma, coaching, and seeing work through end-to-end wins in growth. Marc shares candid reflections on confidence dips, building pipeline without becoming your own worst client, and a pragmatic cash-flow system that lets him sleep at night while he eyes a return to software on his own terms.</p><p><br></p><p>(00:00) Intro</p><p>(00:29) Starting as a freelance journalist</p><p>(01:58) Creative gigs lead to a voting tool idea</p><p>(03:48) Building doopoll in four days</p><p>(04:19) Landing a 25k deal on the spot</p><p>(07:01) Fundraising before validation</p><p>(08:51) From 1.6M to 16M votes and server crashes</p><p>(10:32) Choosing stability and leaving doopoll</p><p>(17:22) The banker vs. taxi driver analogy</p><p>(20:52) Taking less money for more freedom</p><p>(26:18) Emotional whiplash of solopreneurship</p><p>(27:00) Lifecycle email and intersecting skills</p><p>(30:26) Punk marketing and DIY growth</p><p>(33:29) Learning charisma and coaching clients</p><p>(43:24) Cash-flow forecasting and personal runway</p><p>(45:39) Pipeline focus and new software projects</p><p><br></p><p>Follow Marc on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammarcthomas"><u>https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammarcthomas</u></a> </p><p>Check out Positive Human: <a href="https://www.positivehuman.co/"><u>https://www.positivehuman.co/</u></a> </p><p>Check out Tinyseed: <a href="https://tinyseed.com/"><u>https://tinyseed.com/</u></a> </p><p>—</p><p><br></p><p>Create your next digital offer: <a href="https://harnessandhone.com/"><u>https://harnessandhone.com/</u></a> </p><p>Join How Solos Scale: <a href="https://www.howsolosscale.com/"><u>https://www.howsolosscale.com/</u></a> </p><p>Download the free roadmap: <a href="https://fullstacksoloroadmap.com/"><u>https://fullstacksoloroadmap.com/</u></a> </p>
