Bootstrapping SaaS

Took a few questions from Noah https://twitter.com/noahwbragg/status/1218625288633847808 and Dan https://twitter.com/mrdanmiller/status/1218627320807772161 New registrations coming in from my sales/marketing efforts Bought a new domain for a blog/publication I've been wanting to make for the longest time Josh's tweet https://twitter.com/Shpigford/status/1217841243213922310 and positioning/distribu...

Among other things... Running a product in the sea of many competitors My readings: David & Goliath, Stillness is the Key, Atomic Habits, Obviously Awesome Claritask currently: Lower pricing, new registrations, my sales activity New client work Personal habits: fasting, working out,  A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters: Jace Richardson RepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common...

A recap of last year: bad things & good things The $20K bank loan I was about to take New Pricing and why I did it (the reasoning behind it) Healthy habits: Intermittent fasting Started Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas More open financials: What else will I be sharing moving forward Patreon Supporters A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters: Jace Richardson RepoGuard. Protect your GitHu...

Not a regular episode, just something I wrote about how I think about Luck and Getting Lucky!

There wont be any ads in the show moving forward. Instead, I will give shoutouts to my maker friends. Want to keep the show ad free Shoutouts: Helen Ryles : NamesAce.com Tony Denke Dominic St. Pierre Show notes: $20K Investment didn't happen Applied to Tinyseed, probably wont get an interview call/email Getting a loan of $20K going into 2020 Claritask is doing well. No growth in new clients, but t...

Thankful for EP25 supporters: Userlist is a tool for sending behavior-based messages to your SaaS customers. It’s great for onboarding users and nurturing them throughout their journey. You can also see who your users are, segment them, and see what they’re doing inside your product. Userlist is much more powerful than building it yourself, and less complex than enterprise tools like Intercom. Sta...

Even though I am excited to come back to Claritask, I still have to find a long-term working model. Started Cold Emailing and landed the first demo with the first 30 emails sent. Also, reading Ryan Holiday's book and highlighting most of it. Thankful for EP24supporters: Userlist is a tool for sending behavior-based messages to your SaaS customers. It’s great for onboarding users and nurturing them...

Other things I talk about: My relationship with money Stillness is the Key book by Ryan Holiday Full Stack Radio Episode 125 — "Rob Walling: Choosing the Right Idea" with Adam Wathan Traction book by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares The worst business I invested in Keeping a list of things I want to achieve The Stairstep Approach to Bootstrapping by Rob Walling What I am watching right now Thankf...

Bootstrapping with client work on one side and Claritask on another is proving to be hard. Among other things I talk about: Bootstrapping is hard in the way I am doing it Momentum in product making My current client project (consultancy work) Sales & direct Emails Also, as a chapter on its own: How to have a killer product Moving forward as a company Thankful for EP22 supporters: ColdfeetStudi...

Corey and I have been talking for quite some time on and off. We finally found the time to sit down and talk about this "fancy" bootstrapping life of ours. Among other things we challenged the bootstrapping way of building and selling a product and what would be the ideal situations of receiving an outside investment. Corey runs https://blurt.app which helps its users write better. Thankful for EP...

In this show I talk about how I am saving ~$1200 on yearly bank fees. Also, I share some lessons on what I have learned so far running Claritask and having this podcast as well as some advice on if you should run a B2B or B2C product. Another thing that has been going around lately is how much transparency is more than necessary? Does it do any good or it's just for high fives we get from our supp...

In this episode I talk about how client work is making me more disciplined with Claritask. Also, how I am positioning Claritask more as a company and less like an indiehacker side-product, which is not. I will focus more on channels that have worked before, like Linkedin, Quora, and Medium. Companies that I sell to are serious companies that want to work with a product which they feel will be arou...

In this episode I talk about how client work is helping me keep the lights on with Claritask, but it's getting me away from it on daily basis, which I hate. Also, I talk about how I don't want money to be the measuring stick of my product, or self in general. I want to be more disciplined where I split my day in half in both client work and Claritask, which I haven't been able to do Talking about...

Louis Nichols was a cofounder of a VC backed startup that exited and now he consults startups and founders on sales and marketing. In this Episode we go down into the basics of what Sales mean for a bootstrapped Saas and how to go about succeeding with it. Some of the things we talked about were: The difference between Sales and Marketing for early stage bootstrapped startups How to go about findi...

Two big announcements: Next show (EP17) I will have a guest who I will announce a few days before the show. He is a sales marketer for B2B #Saas businesses I have new sponsors for the show starting EP17. One will be sponsoring for 6 weeks and the other for 3. They are both services and products made for us I will be taking off for a few days just to recharge. Doing things differently with consulti...

It's tricky, focusing on tire kickers and those who are not sure about using Claritask — because they require the most time to support (time that I do not have) and chances are will not convert. These are users who it's best to support when you have a larger team and have the time to wait/support until they convert. Also, Claritask is not part of Baremetrics Open Startups, where you get to see eve...

In this episode I go into detail on how I divide my tasks in Claritask (Features & Quickies). Also talk about latest in Claritask (features & new clients). On Youtube: https://youtu.be/1A4cib0LkfU There's a new client trialing Claritask with a 7-day trial, which I have introduced recently. Hopefully they convert to a paying client. Also, if you want to sponsor this show I am starting at $2...

In this episode I talk about how I am embracing the bootstrapping life more and more and how taking controlled risks and having more money in the bank is helping me make better decisions. Please, fill out this 1 question survey on how I can make this show better for you (Google form) — https://bit.ly/2Mkuahb I am also opening up this show to sponsorships where companies can advertise for as little...

Also, how taking side projects in costing me more time than it's worth the cash that I am *NOT* getting. Claritask is doing great with current clients, they are adding more people, new features are coming, existing ones are being improved upon. New Claritask website is coming up, which will be mostly type/copywriting without many icons/photos and no salesy fluff. Will include user guides, case stu...

The angel investment possibility I mentioned on EP10 didn't go through and glad it actually didn't. I can continue building Claritask on my own terms for my clients. Also a listener, Kevin Ratez from Germany https://twitter.com/KevinRaetz , helped me realize a few things and inspired me to give direct sales a real try. Thanks Kevin! MRR at $150/month. Lost the first client. User base is growing fr...

There are ton of positives I am feeling about my talks with the potential angel investor. There are a few things which make me reluctant in taking this investment, but overall — the mood is positive. There's a new paying client and I launched an upgrade which caused a few clients to write me 10 seconds later about a bug (Is this PMF? People crying 'fire' seconds later?) Started doing Case studies...

I start with a little bit of venting on how I am not doing enough with my outreach efforts and hanging out in places (Twitter) where my clients are not. My best visits come from Linkedin, Medium, Quora — and I should be more there. I talk a bit about on how our business should be a flower with a ton of nectar to support a bee and help it invite all its friends to join (word of mouth) — and not be...

I talk about the boring bits, how Saas is a long game and you really have to love the grind. Then I continue on how things are getting serious because a new client signed up with +30 staff and "daily active users" went up to 70 on Wednesday. The idea of an investment crossed my mind and I spoke to two sources (fund/vc in Europe and an angel in New York City). Not sure it's the route I would see my...

In this episode I talk about how to know when you have a product with some positive signals and how to push through. I also, quickly talk about the benefits of thinking of your business as a hobby and how it could have a positive impact in your growth. Towards the end I share what I have done this past week and what I will be doing the coming week.

In this episode I talk about how leads are still a problem and that I will focus on content (I describe in detail what is working for me and where I will focus my efforts). Also, that I will be giving cold emailing another try but a bit differently (highly prospected) and on a new target market (content marketers). Claritask, the app, is in good shape with great comments coming from current users....