Bootstrapped

Ed and I chat about Ed's recent trip to London, my upcoming trip to London, the return of in-person events, and getting exposed to ideas and concepts outside of our normal channels. We mentioned Geomob and Business of Software . In or near London? And interested in joining me for a Bootstrapped mini-meetup in central London on the evening of April 6th or 7th? Let me know at steve@bootstrapped.fm  

I talk with Brian Casel, founder of ZipMessage , an asynchronous video messaging tool. Brian has created several successful products in the past, and sometimes ran them in parallel. But he recently sold his entire portfolio of products to focus on ZipMessage. Brian explains why he made this decision.  He also talks about why sometimes you need to shut something down, even if it does seem to be kin...

Ed tells me why and how he obtained a trademark for his business. We discuss when it is worthwhile to do this. We then talk about the trouble with having competitors clone your product or website content. Ed mentioned how we got the EU to refund most of the costs of obtaining a trademark. Learn about the EU's "Ideas Powered for business SME Fund" here .  

I chat with Robert Brandl, founder of ToolTester.com . We talk about Robert's recent experience changing the domain name of his website. It was an expensive experience, and one that, for a while, did not go to plan.

Ed and I chat about my recent experience hiring a marketing manager for Feature Upvote . Amongst other topics, we discuss how I went about finding the right person.   

Ed  interviews Charles Perry, founder of RelaNet . Charles was the co-host of Release Notes, a long-running podcast that Charles and his co-host recently ended. It's a great conversation, addressing how, over the years, we change, our industries change, and how sometimes things do come to an end. Charles on Twitter The Release Notes podcast's back catalog of 450 episodes  

We talk about Ed's launch of his new product line. That leads into a meandering conversation about ethics and personal beliefs and values. In particular, when a customer signs up for our product and then we discover that customer is in a business that clashes with our own beliefs and values, what should we do and what can we do? When is it right, ethically or legally, to refuse a customer?  

Frequent guest Peldi, founder of Balsamiq , makes another welcome appearance. We talk about some ways to strengthen company culture in a fully-remote team, we discuss advice that Peldi often gives to first-time entrepreneurs, and Peldi tells me why he might finally start with traditional product marketing - 14 years after he launched his product. Find out more about Balsamiq's Office Hours .    

Part 2 of Ed Freyfogle's 50 tips for running a stress-free SaaS. There was a lot of good content in this recording and we recorded for much longer than usual. So we have split this recording over two episodes. Part 1 is here .

Ed Freyfogle shares with us his 50 tips for running a stress-free SaaS. This is based on Ed's talk he prepared for MicroConf late last year, but was unable to deliver due to misfortune. There was a lot of good content in this recording and we recorded for much longer than usual. So we have split this recording over two episodes.

This week I go solo and rant about the dismal deeds of a desperate competitor. I also talk about the freedom that bootstrapping gives us to change our approach, our style, our audience while staying true to the nature of what we do.  

Ed and I discuss the goals we'd like to achieve in 2022. While we were recording this episode, we had some problems with our recording software. Now I was able to rescue the recording, but you will hear a few audio glitches. In this episode, I mentioned that I'm hiring a part-time digital marketing expert for Feature Upvote . If you know someone who suits the position, please let them know.

Back in episode 163, Ed and I set our goals for 2021. In this episode we look back at those goals and we ask ourselves, how well did we do in achieving them? Steve mentioned the Catalan Christmas tradition of Caga Tió . Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Caga Tió .

I give Ed an update on what I've achieved on Saber Feedback in recent months. A new app design, ripping out the SPA architecture, replacing our payment processor with Paddle, and hiring a marketing assistant. It's been busy! If you have a friend or colleague or acquaintance who you think would enjoy this episode, please let them know about it!  

Ed tells us about his accident he had, and the impact it had on his life and business. He also talks about how it got him reflecting about his business.  

I conclude the mini season of interviews with a brief summary of the five interviews I conducted. A few weeks ago, my cohost had a cycling that student that broke his jaw. As a result he had to take a break from the podcast while he was recovering. In the meantime, I invited a few people to come onto the podcast and talk about their businesses, their work and themselves. The episodes: #198: Simon...

Bridget is co-founder and CEO of YouCanBook.me, an online scheduling tool. I chat with Bridget Harris about the 10-year journey of starting and growing her company as a bootstrapped SaaS. Amongst other things we discuss the financial sacrifices bootstrappers have to make in a rapidly growing business. Links: Bridget's scheduling tool, YouCanBook.me   Bridget's email: bridget@youcanbook.me Bridget...

I chat with Peter Cooper, who runs several email newsletters, including JavaScript Weekly , Ruby Weekly , React Status , and Postgres Weekly . These all live under the collective banner of Cooperpress. Links: Cooperpress Peter on Twitter  

April Dunford has a well-deserved reputation as the expert in product positioning within the tech industry. April and I discussed how bootstrappers can go about product positioning. Links: April's website April's book, Obviously Awesome April on Twitter    

Jane Portman is the host of UI Breakfast, a podcast covering UI/UX design, products, marketing.  Jane recently crossed the  2 million downloads milestone. Jane and I discussed the journey from the first episodes, with almost no listeners, to where she is today. Jane is also co-founder of Userlist. We discuss how Jane's podcasting experience helps with Userlist. Links: The UI Breakfast podcast  How...

Simon runs SnapShooter, a service that performs scheduled server backups. We discuss: why backups is NOT a dull business how the pandemic pushed him to make the jump to full-time charging his first customer just $2/month - and quickly learning to charge much more a "I did a rm -rf on the wrong server" story Links:  SnapShooter Simon on Twitter

Ed is recovering from an accident, so Steve goes solo in this episode. Ed's accident gets Steve musing on the unpredictability of life, and what we can do to partly prepare ourselves and our businesses for this. Steve then abruptly changes topic and challenges all listeners to make a bold pricing experiment. Email Steve at steve @ barbarysoftware dot com Steve on Twitter: https://twitter.com/steve...

Three-time guest Robin Warren, founder of Corrello , achieves "very infrequent guest co-host" status. We chat about a number of aspects of mental wellbeing for bootstrappers - getting out of the house, taking breaks, dealing with boredom, and making your business less dependent on you. Show links: Robin on Twitter Blue Cat Reports website Blue Cat Reports on Trello  

Ed and Steve talk about the challenge of continuing to learn how to run our businesses better, and the challenges we encounter in ongoing learning.  

It's good to take a break! In this episode Ed and I get self-indulgent and talk about our vacations. From time to time we make a tenuous link between our vacations and our  bootstrapped businesses.