Adventures and learnings in building, launching and running a portfolio of profitable SaaS products. Get ready to learn from Mike and his guests as they share struggles, successes, best practices, and case studies.
Negotiations as a solo founder I've been part of negotiations related to agreements a few times now in my entrepreneurial career and I've been fooled a few times... https://blog.rubini.solutions/negotiations-and-power
How I stay productive Productivity for me is about how well I spend my time and energy, and how I can get more energy and time. https://blog.rubini.solutions/productivity
Is being a maker a disadvantage in the job market? As you know I believe in stacking multiple streams of income. I currently have ~10 SaaS, a productized service, a course, and I consult. But I'm missing one important stream of income. https://blog.rubini.solutions/maker-job-market
Space occupation I recently launched 10 products on Product Hunt at the same time and I wanted to expand on why I did this. https://blog.rubini.solutions/space-occupation
Announcing my tiny bootstrapped fund (and first acquisition) I'm announcing my alternative, bootstrapped fund. https://blog.rubini.solutions/fundEpisode Notes
[Interview] How to become a full-time creator An interview I did with Doc Williams on how to become a full-time creator almost 2 years ago, but still current. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aiE0qrGzD8
Reversing SaaS demos How I currently think about demos and how to go extreme on minimizing time to value. https://blog.rubini.solutions/extreme-demos
About playbooks I run three types of SaaS products. Here are the different playbooks I'm using the monetize them. https://blog.rubini.solutions/playbooks/
My first hire My journey hiring Clarice as an executive assistant, 8 months ago. https://blog.rubini.solutions/my-first-hire/
Yes and yes In life, people often think they have to choose between two things. Or, put one before the other. Here is the thing: you can just have both. https://blog.rubini.solutions/my-first-hire/
We launched Podda.io (2021) We just launched a new tool that allows you to search podcasts by guest, and more! https://blog.rubini.solutions/we-launched-podda-io-2021/
1:1 This episode is about encapsulating my thinking on the topic of hiring at this point in time. In addition, I set my weird candidate criteria. https://blog.rubini.solutions/11-2/
Does it make sense? This is an episode about finding the thing that makes the other things you do meaningless. https://blog.rubini.solutions/does-it-make-sense/
Speed by subtraction Pointing out a great tweet by Patrick Collison (CEO @ Stripe) https://blog.rubini.solutions/speed-by-subtraction/
The era of gods In this episode I clarify my position about code becoming a commodity. Is code still technology? What will we work in the future? https://blog.rubini.solutions/the-era-of-gods/
Multiple products, same product How can you differentiate yourself when code is becoming a commodity? https://blog.rubini.solutions/multiple-products-same-product/
Make it less ready ``` You can always make a project more "ready". There's always something unexpected you can account for, something you can do to make your project more robust. Here is why I don't aim for that and instead, I try to make my projects less ready. https://blog.rubini.solutions/make-it-less-ready/ ```
Events, compressing and expanding time Our life is made of days, and our days are made of events. Events are major highlights which obfuscate everything else that you do in a given day. Events are not only major social events, like a wedding could be. An event could be you going for a run, it could be you discovering something for the first time, it could be anything that moves you far more than what you usually do. They are also present in nature: for example, a rock falling into the water is an event. For you to have an event, you need to have something that is constant; a routine; a plain layer that you can shock. https://blog.rubini.solutions/events-compressing-and-expanding-time/
Permission to forget About autopoiesis and self-reference. https://blog.rubini.solutions/permission-to-forget/
Don't build for too long Eventually, all the solutions in a market end up looking the same and having the same features. https://blog.rubini.solutions/dont-build-for-too-long/
Cutting my revenue on purpose I run multiple profitable software products in parallel, and I just passed $6k MRR last month. But, I'm starting 2021 by unsubscribing some of my users. These “users” were currently paying but they were not regularly using my products. All and all, I cut around $3-400 worth of subscriptions. When I shared this on Twitter, I got controversial replies.
[Long] Open Report (December 2021) As you know, I'm big on transparency. Here is a 20-minute report on how things are going and everything I made in January 2021. If you prefer you can get this in video format on YouTube, at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afeE4A2WCoI Enjoy! Mike
The insecure entrepreneur If you are insecure, you can't be an entrepreneur. Being resolute is the name of the game
What I know about data My new course "Reverse engineering through technical scraping" is out
As you know, I'm big on transparency. Here is a 15-minute report on how things are going and everything I made in December 2020. If you prefer you can get this in video format on YouTube, at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghkj0HEUllk Enjoy! Mike
Open Report (November 2020) As you know, I'm big on transparency. Here is a 25-minute report on how things are going and everything I made in November 2020). If you prefer you can get this in video format on YouTube, at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyqxRxeCiyA Enjoy! Mike
Microfeedback How do you make sure you are actually shipping useful features and helping customers? This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Thinking about hiring helps you defining better jobs to be done
Doing a little bit of the work upfront can lead to massive upsides. Follow me on Twitter, @mikerubini This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
And, push where you feel uncomfortable. Chat with me? I'm on Twitter @mikerubini This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
What do you do when nobody sees you? Some reflections on running and turning 29! This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
We rarely optimize a tool or an activity to just return a boolean value.
As an entrepreneur, coronavirus is just another thing that was unavoidable in this reality, that we have to fight. https://blog.rubini.solutions/coronavirus/ This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
In praise of running parallel ventures. More at https://blog.rubini.solutions/parallelism/
Your product has to adapt to you and your lifestyle, not the contrary. I see many founders who are slaves of their products trying to chase growth instead of a happy life.
A great method for knowledge management is the rhizomatic approach, which I've been first in contact with from my musical studies. Here is how I am applying this concept to my business.
Competitive intelligence starts by understanding your company and your positioning into the market. A great and valid tool for this is the Ansoff Matrix.
These are some ideas about building and growing a business that are glorified by media. We need to challenge them.
There are people who read books, and people who read code. Reading someone else's code is one of my favourite ways to learn new programming-related stuff, right after getting your hands dirty by actually making something. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
The most common mistake I've seen other developers make when they first start building a product is putting too much emphasis on development.
We assume our market is saturated because we live and breathe in it. Get out of the bubble and into the real world.
By running a bootstrap business you have already better chances of not failing. Do you know why?
These are 2 tech predictions and trends that I think will emerge in the coming months or even years.
As solo founders, we assume we should outwork our competitors. Is that really a good way to think about it?This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
A quick episode that summarizes what I use to build my SaaS products.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Some investors contacted me to put money into my new SaaS. Here's why I said no.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.