Podcasts about bootstrapped web

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies. In episode #15, Anna Nadeina talks with Brian Casel, serial indie hacker, founder of ClarityFlow and Instrumental Products, host of the Bootstrapped Web podcast, and a celebrity of the indie hacking world. ----------Episode's Chapters------------ 00:00 - Introduction to Brian and His Journey 03:00 - Transitioning from Services to Products 05:48 - The Acquisition Process: Insights and Experiences 11:56 - Focusing on ClarityFlow: The All-In Approach 18:06 - Balancing Pressure and Growth in SaaS 23:56 - Reflections on Investment and Business Strategy 30:41 - Navigating Business Transitions 32:28 - Understanding Burnout and Stress Management 39:01 - The Reality of Startup Success 42:25 - Diverse Goals in Entrepreneurship 50:22 - Lessons from Wins and Failures 53:58 - The Importance of Fast Execution Brian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/briancasel/ ClarityFlow - https://clarityflow.com/ Instrumental - https://instrumental.dev/ Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish twice a week - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-group Stay up to date: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaaS_group LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14790796

Join us in the (free) Bootstrapped Web community on Ripple.fm Today: Political noise.  Removing features.  Positioning.  Products for developers.  Idea wireframes (as a service).  Hiring a video editor.  Retainer-based hiring.  Frequent flyer miles.  Apple picking. Brian's stuff: Brian's products: New! Instrumental.dev "One Month MVP" service Clarityflow  Brian on Twitter: @casjam Jordan's stuff: Jordan's product, Rosie Jordan on Twitter: @jordangal

Join us in the (free) Bootstrapped Web community on Ripple.fm Today: Brian's new product (Instrumental.dev).  Comparing the open-source leadership styles of Matt, DHH, and Taylor.  Building products for builders.  Components.  Tightening the team.  Scaling consulting from 1 to...?  Let's Go Mets. Brian's stuff: Brian's products: New! Instrumental.dev "One Month MVP" service Clarityflow  Brian on Twitter: @casjam Jordan's stuff: Jordan's product, Rosie Jordan on Twitter: @jordangal

Join us in the (free) Bootstrapped Web community on Ripple.fm Today: Optimizing our onboarding funnels.  Calls to action.  Lead ads.  ARPU.  API plans.  Pearl Jam.  Sleep (or lack thereof). Brian's stuff: Brian's "One Month MVP" service Brian's SaaS, Clarityflow  Brian on Twitter: @casjam Brian on Threads: @brian.casel Jordan's stuff: Jordan's company, Rosie Jordan on Twitter: @jordangal Jordan on Threads: @jordangal

We've launched Metacast on Android. In this episode, we talk about the feedback we received, first haters, Google Play store violations, and our launch process. We cover topics of feature toggling, versionGet Metacast podcast app for Android and iOS at https://⁠⁠⁠metacast.app⁠⁠⁠.Join the ⁠⁠r/metacastapp⁠⁠ subreddit.Segments[02:16] Quick update on Android launch[07:57] Marketing and retention[11:17] Our first one-star review on Play Store[15:39] Feedback from the Overcast subreddit[19:37] Our launch process[23:15] Our first violation in the Play Store[25:13] Feature toggling[27:48] Versionarte[29:05] Transitioning of existing users[32:20] What we're listening to and readingShow notesPodcastsNetworks & Audiences on Bootstrapped Web#1881 - Rick Rubin on The Joe Rogan ExperienceBooksThe Storyteller by Dave GrohlDavid and Goliath by Malcolm GladwellGamesNeed For Speed: No LimitsGet in touch

Join us in the (free) Bootstrapped Web community on Ripple.fm Today: Why makes SaaS more difficult than other business models?  Rosie first customers!  Brian's pricing experiment update.  Training businesses.  AI waves.  Profitability at $1-2m.  College Football.  US Open Tennis. Brian's stuff: Brian's "One Month MVP" service Brian's SaaS, Clarityflow  Brian on Twitter: @casjam Brian on Threads: @brian.casel Jordan's stuff: Jordan's company, Rosie Jordan on Twitter: @jordangal Jordan on Threads: @jordangal

Connect with Brian, Jordan and fellow listeners in the Bootstrapped Web community on Ripple.fm Today: Asking the hard-hitting questions like... Coconut pastries... for or against?  Is anyone actually able to log into the black hole that is Meta ads?  Publishing a 1-page HTML landing page shouldn't be difficult.  Should it? Brian's stuff: Brian's "One Month MVP" service Brian's SaaS, Clarityflow  Brian on Twitter: @casjam Brian on Threads: @brian.casel Jordan's stuff: Jordan's company, Rosie Jordan on Twitter: @jordangal Jordan on Threads: @jordangal

Brian launches built and launched something new.  2 things actually.  Jordan changes pricing strategy for Rosie.  Brian also changes pricing strategy for Clarityflow.  And all find our AI hardware "friend". Connect with Brian, Jordan and fellow listeners in the Bootstrapped Web community on Ripple.fm Brian's stuff: Brian launched Ripple.fm Brian's new "One Month MVP" service Brian's SaaS, Clarityflow  Brian on Twitter: @casjam Brian on Threads: @brian.casel Jordan's stuff: Jordan's company, Rosie Jordan on Twitter: @jordangal Jordan on Threads: @jordangal

Hey! Just want to let you know that I'll be taking a break (for a bit) from recording new episodes of this Open Threads podcast.But don't unsubscribe! I promise to come back to this feed with new conversations as soon as the opportunity arises.In the meantime, be sure to check out my other podcast, Bootstrapped Web, which my co-host Jordan and I continue to publish on a weekly(ish) basis. That show is where we both share our behind-the-scenes real-time stories of running our businesses. 10-years in and our long-time fans really seem to enjoy it. I invite you to come along for the ride there!I'm always sharing my updates on Twitter @casjam and in my newsletter, which you can subscribe to at briancasel.com.I'll be back on this feed soon enough!

We look back on the ups and downs in 2022 and look ahead to 2023. The emotional rollercoaster rolls on… Thanks for listening and for sticking with us another year on Bootstrapped Web.  Talking Points:  Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter  ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a … Continue reading Another Year

We look back on the ups and downs in 2022 and look ahead to 2023. The emotional rollercoaster rolls on… Thanks for listening and for sticking with us another year on Bootstrapped Web. “Everything before product-market fit is a form of suffering” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points: Viruses, holiday cards, and coming back from vacation 2022 for ZipMessage and Rally Lack of product-market fit Tim Ferriss' Fear Setting The Ten-Year Business Staying “based” and staying true to your vision Themes and goals for 2023 Building features specifically for specific markets “The first year [for Zipmessage] was a dream and the second year was more bumpy and challenging.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

We asked ChatGPT to suggest some topics for today’s episode but it came up short. So you’ll have to settle for the boring human versions of Brian and Jordan, talking about what’s happening in ZipMessage and Rally. Enjoy. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. … Continue reading Hey ChatGPT, what should we talk about?

We asked ChatGPT to suggest some topics for today’s episode but it came up short. So you’ll have to settle for the boring human versions of Brian and Jordan, talking about what’s happening in ZipMessage and Rally. Enjoy. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “What can this do? How does this change our product? Does this change things significantly enough that we should come off our roadmap?” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: The future of AI and creators Q4 spreadsheets and budgeting Updates in Rally and ZipMessage SEO content Marketing and sales Product-led content “If we're not working on those growth graphs, I don't feel comfortable. But, at the same time, I need to work more on the product” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

Our obligatory take on Twitter in the Elon era.  Also: SEO, board meetings, and growth targets.  What are your thoughts on Twitter in the time of Elon? How do you run your board meetings? When it comes to growth targets, where do you focus your energy? If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “The more Twitter is in everyone's everyday lives, the more leverage Twitter and Elon have to start taking marketshare in these parts of life.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: The conclusion of Jordan's moving sagaThe new era of TwitterVerificationTwitter as a productBuilding in publicTeam retreats and all-hands meetingsZipMessage updatesSEO: quantity, speed, and AI toolsBoard meetings and keeping recordsGrowth Targets “I would love to build a culture where anyone in the company can say, ‘I think we're focusing on this thing when we shouldn't' or ‘I think we're missing this entirely.'” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitt

Jordan talks defining their category and stepping back into the sales demo seat. Brian launched a community strategy while big product plans are underway in Q4. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. Here are today's conversation points: NoSnowTinyConf Recap Residual issues that arise after … Continue reading Q4 Energy

Jordan talks defining their category and stepping back into the sales demo seat. Brian launched a community strategy while big product plans are underway in Q4. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “The single, most important element was… record your demos.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: NoSnowTinyConf RecapResidual issues that arise after raising fundsRally updatesLaunch of Coach Club and Coach Club DigestTreating marketing as a productTeam updates, accountability, and weekly stand-ups “[I love] approaching marketing like its a product in itself.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Coach Club Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes. 

What tools do you use for sales and support? Which tools work best for project management? How do you know who to hire first if you're a bootstrapped company? Brian and Jordan asked for your questions and Twitter delivered. Today, they are answering Twitter's questions about what tools they use, and who to hire, and when.   If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “It's interesting the way we think of tools and how we sell tools to other companies.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation Points:  NoSnow TinyConfTools that we use: Techstack (Laravel, Angular, React, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Tailwind)Project Management (Github, Notion, MixPanel, Confluence, Jira)Marketing Changelog Sales, Marketing, and Support (Pipedrive, Asana, Hubspot, Salesforce, Intercom, Customer.io, HelpSpace, HelpScout)Metrics and Internal Tracking (Grafana, Profitwell, ChartMogul, MixPanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, Fathom Analytics, Plausible Analytics)Communication (Slack) Hiring when you're bootstrapped, versus when you're fundedWho to hire firstWho they are hiring now

Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic and are powered by the chilly fall weather and some pretty strong cold brew. Are you ready for the most random Bootstrapped Web episode yet?  How do you navigate the Catch-22 that is operations versus growth? If you were to jump into a completely different niche or … Continue reading What We’d Build (If Not This)

Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic and are powered by the chilly fall weather and some pretty strong cold brew. Are you ready for the most random Bootstrapped Web episode yet? How do you navigate the Catch-22 that is operations versus growth? If you were to jump into a completely different niche or industry right now, what business would you start? Brian and Jordan are answering some of your questions and topics submitted through Twitter. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “Every business that I've ever had, has been a reaction to the previous business.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation Points: Operations versus growth In SaaS versus as a freelancerWhat you need to do in order to not interrupt the forward momentumInvite-only feature launch with ZipMessageDoes funding really help extend your roadmap?The Catch-22 of growth and operationsNew and different niches and industriesTime away for researchAI-driven techMedia businesses in the modern webYouTube, TikTok, OnlyFans, etc.Different use cases for almost anythingSeparating passion from a career?The formatting of new podcastsTypes of tweets and content on Twitter “Having millions of dollars in the bank doesn't help.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tunin

What are the rocks in your life right now? How do you balance work and life? What are some good compartmentalizing tactics, so you can leave work at work? What are routines and habits that work for your schedule and team? Today, Brian and Jordan are talking about their daily routines and how they plan their days around work, their personal life, exercise, and with team members that are scattered all around the globe. They share different time-saving tricks, apps that help hold them accountable to staying healthy, and their opinions on morning productivity and pulling all-nighters. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “I have some real issues with the morning. I'm not very productive in the morning.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation Points: Rocks, pebbles, and boulders (and hair and sand)Daily routines and how to optimize your dayPersonal lifeProfessional lifeMorning productivity versus night owl hoursThe ultimate productivity app: a notepad and a penProductivity hours when your team members live in different time zonesSeparating professional and personal life “I”m very much a morning person. I like waking up relatively early but these people with the 5AM and 4AM wake-ups seem just a little bit extreme to me.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter

How do you figure out the next iteration of your business? What keeps you unemployable? Does your environment change your outlook on personal and professional goals? After a short but busy couple of weeks, Brian and Jordan are back to talk about updates in their businesses and their lives. Jordan is starting to settle into Chicago and has come up with some interesting revelations. Meanwhile, Brian has also come up with some interesting revelations after listening to and analyzing customer feedback. This has all resulted in a surprising new waypoint on their roadmap. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “That's the thing that keeps me unemployable, really, is that I own my own business and what I'm building here is an asset that will result in a much bigger win down the road.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points:  Jordan's big move to ChicagoHappiness in comparison to other people and the struggles of finding your own pathThe next iteration of ZipMessageCoaching Building more features and adapting what we haveHiring, resignations, building up teams and the organizationNoCode consultants and solutions businesses “The environment has a big impact on the conversation that I'm having in my head about ambition, money, business, and that soup.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This

How do you get rid of post-illness brain fog? How do you build company culture when you're absent? What are your steps to shipping out features? There have been plenty of changes with Brian and Jordan since the last episode: moving and changing environments, changing energies, and changing up routines. Today, Brian and Jordan are talking about what they do to stay productive, how their teams are forming and evolving, and what sales in 2022 looks like. What else should we talk about? What are you hearing (or not hearing from us) that you'd like to know about? If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “The economy is going to do what it's going to do. There's not much we can do about that except work on the things we can control.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points:  Productivity during tumultuous/chaotic personal livesTreating your company like a productUpdates with ZipMessageCreating a culture for a teamReplacing SEO Asynchronous updates Building our own communityAnnouncing featuresRally updatesBuilding company culture when you feel too absentSaaS sales in 2022Building teams and laying out playbooks “The market shifted but it didn't implode. It's not like everything is over. Everything feels a little more serious right now.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources:

What has happened in the venture funding world in the past couple of months? How do you handle repositioning? Can you lean too heavily on your product, features, and roadmaps? What do you do when one of your features falls flat? It's the middle of the summer edition of Bootstrapped Web. Brian and Jordan are … Continue reading Product vs. Pipeline

What has happened in the venture funding world in the past couple of months? How do you handle repositioning? Can you lean too heavily on your product, features, and roadmaps? What do you do when one of your features falls flat? It's the middle of the summer edition of Bootstrapped Web. Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic after surviving family vacations, COVID, and cancelled flights. Today, Brian dives deep into repositioning and how ZipMessage has refocused in the past couple weeks. Meanwhile, Jordan talks about the biggest mistake he has made with Rally so far. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “It went from, everyone's growing and there's plenty of money to fund what you want to do to, all of a sudden, the water went back out and it turns out a lot of people don't have pants on.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points: ZipMessage and Rally updatesThe changes in the venture funding and the bootstrapped entrepreneur worldRepositioning and refocusing at ZipMessageDifferent pipelines: influencers, coaches, consultants, etc.Building CRMs (Airtable, Pipedrive)Learning from mistakesBeing led by productHow Jordan built a stronger working relationship with his teamLearning from an existential crisisThe truth behind SaaS companies “It doesn't make sense to focus on product unless we have a daily pipeline that is ready to present that product too.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

How do you avoid consistent churn with new products? What tools do you use to learn about your market? What influences the changes in your products? It has been a while but Brian and Jordan are back, and they've brought updates with Rally and ZipMessage. Jordan talks about his fundraising efforts. Brian talks about his customer research project and what he has learned through that process. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “It went from, ‘This is going to be a piece of cake' to… ‘That's not what's going on in the market.'” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points: Trends in the industry and the economyCan you avoid consistent churn numbers in new products?Jordan's fundraising effortsInvestor behaviorsAre people driven by FOMOThe various stages in the funnelBrian's research project The lessons that Brian learnedWhat motivates customers and what makes them think?Shifting product features based on the marketLearning from other competitors and their customers “When you actually talk to [a customer], you not only learn a ton, it also helps me emotionally and mentally” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian’s Twitter thread documenting his customer research project Brian on Twitter

Brian and Jordan are both in flux between school, stressing over work, selling houses, and MicroConf. They summarize their chaotic couple of weeks and then do a deep dive on what content marketing will look like in 2022. Recently Aaron Francis (Tuple's first marketer) talked about their $200,000 loan from Stripe and how he plans on publicly talking about how they will be spending that money. Brian and Jordan give their take on Aaron's content marketing technique. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “You can make it happen, but not really. Your customers make it happen.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points: The timeline for Jordan's big moveWhat's it like to sell and buy a house in this marketZipMessage updatesChanges on the websiteSurveys after signing upCoining “ZM”Perfect uses for ZipMessageHiring strategists for SEO researchTraction with RallyConversations with investorsThe importance of honesty and “when” to be honestLooking for marketersTuple's marketing campaign Aaron Francis as Tuple's first marketerAaron's tweet about their $200,000 loan from Stripe “When a customer explains the whole value prop, it gives me so much more energy.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage

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How do you decide what features you should work on now? How do you stay unplugged during a vacation? What are the milestones and progress markers that tell you if you are on the right path? As Brian comes back from a vacation and conference (and before Jordan leaves for his own), we're catching up on the latest updates on ZipMessage and Rally. We're also talking about how to best judge our own traction, and how to decide which feature to work on first. “All the best paying customers are usually pretty quiet. ” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Staying unplugged during a vacationRecognizing milestones and gauging progress Updates on ZipMessage and RallyDealing with big competitors head-onFuture plansBeing a SaaS business owner and a SaaS customerIntegration partnerships: the approaches, the benefits, and the selection processDeciding how to move forward: short term decisions versus long term/strategic decisions If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “I highly recommend working with a lawyer that you both trust and like, because there's some moments out there…” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on

We have some big news to share before we go on a (much needed) two-week hiatus. Brian talks about his sale of Productize, in addition to nearly every other business he has owned. Jordan talks about his latest tweet thread, responding to Moiz Ali's criticisms of Shopify. We also talk about the power of audio, networking through podcasting, and marketing. “The relationship built through audio is so much more powerful. It's really hard to do that with copywriting, with a website, with ads. It's just much harder to do.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Taking a break and staying away from the computer while on vacationMoiz Ali's tweet about Shopify's problemsThe problems that they need to solveMarketing and speaking your mindThe sale of the Productize brand (and everything else)Networking through podcasting Connecting with people through audioCompetitors and marketing If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “I would focus on one thing at a time, but (in my experience) it's not the end of the world to have a few different things going and learn and hone different types of chops and skillsets and meet different people.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This

What do you get out of conferences? Do you mute competitors on Twitter? How to you utilize Twitter as a budding SaaS entrepreneur? After a brief hiatus, Brian and Jordan are back with some big news: Carthook was officially acquired! Jordan shares what details he can about the acquisition as well as the process and journey of the company. They also talk about the upcoming MicroConf and what conferences can do for you. After all, they're not just about networking, there are a lot of things gained when meeting with colleagues, competitors …and podcast listeners. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “The thing that I want out of a conference is a huge boost of confidence.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points: Carthook officially acquiredShutting down and selling the supported Shopify appA mixture of emotions after a crazy journeyUnwinding after the stress of a tripWhat conferences can do to your mindsetThe energizing effect of conferencesMeeting podcast listenersHow it feels to be an anonymous company in a space with huge companiesCompetitors on Twitter: To Mute or Not To MuteHow many people do you need for a startup?Access the gratitude “Since Day 1, we've had a fundamental difference of what ZipMessage is and that's the intake ability.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter

How are you and your company changing with the times? Are you considering tokenizing your software company? Have you begun adopting web3 technology? Today, we're talking about marketing, hiring developers and writers during “The Great Resignation,” and tokenizing. Token-based economics is the future of SaaS. Web3 tech isn't just in the future, it's happening right now. “I would aim for zero commercial partnership: no rev share either way. Those are the best partnerships.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Dealing with bad days, finding additional sources of joyBig Snow Tiny Conf (East)Marketing: calming down after product launch and initial promotionIntegrations and examples ofWriting and promotionFundraising and tokenizingAdopting web3 technologyTransitioning between developers during “The Great Resignation” If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “I'm so excited to be a part of this podcast now. I feel like I get a front row seat and I'm slowly starting to see how Web3 actually starts to change things.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Big Snow Tiny Conf Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on

Brian and Jordan are having a great time as they ride good days, give great updates, and look forward to some exciting things in the near and far future. In today's unscripted and random episode, Brian and Jordan give us some great news in terms of business updates. They also talk about one of the bigger customer issues when it comes to running a SaaS company. Not to mention, a deep dive into the metaverse: what does the future look like with Web3? “What shoe will need to drop in order for Web3 solutions or applications or products or services or platforms to spill over into the wider market?” – Brian Casel Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: That wonderful feeling when things are starting, building, and rollingHow to keep the momentum goingSaaS issues: the discomfort of having most of your market be anonymous to youForeshadowing of why we should take the metaverse seriouslyWill Web3 be corporate-owned or user-owned?Monetization through advertising and other types of modelsTinyConf, Disney, and other events in the near future If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “No one is going to get to zero. But you do need to remain underneath the line of ‘too frustrating.' And that line has not been determined yet.” – Jordan Gal Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This

Brian has sold ProcessKit! He explains the surprisingly stress-free and smooth process. Jordan talks about his upcoming move to Chicago. Meanwhile, they also give updates on Rally's marking and sales funnels, and prioritization at ZipMessage.  Today's episode is filled with business updates, optimism, and great outlooks for 2022. Don't forget to check out ZipMessage on ProductHunt! “I prioritize [the reliability of recording and playback] over shipping a brand new feature.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: The sale of ProcessKitChicago, look out for JordanZipMessage on Product HuntIs Rally ready to go to market?Marketing funnels and sales funnelsPrioritization at ZipMessageZIpMessage conversion emails If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “What helps me is knowing what the journey looks like.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

What does traction feel like? How do you authentically build a network? Brian and Jordan talk about marketing, website updates, and the different phases of product/market fit. Jordan dives into the different and unique ways Rally is marketing. Brian updates us on ZipMessage momentum: website updates, premium enrollment, and crossing a customer milestone. Today's episode is all about the different ways you can build traction but also the different ways you can define traction. “If you can work directly with your audience to monetize the people who are crazy about you, you can make more money in a different model, and everyone is the most happy.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Marketing site changes at RallyGetting credit for speed and momentumNFT Projects for marketingZipMessage website updatesPersonalization for customers Creating a WordPress pluginPremium enrollment/Private or public conversationsPhases of Product/market FitWhat does traction feel like?Are customers willing to adapt for your product? If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “We did things a certain way and, if they didn't like that, either they didn't become a customer or they adapted. And we had plenty of customers who adapted.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources:

Does experimentation affect your business and cause more stress within your leadership team? How are the communication levels within your team? How do you reach a niche market? Jordan and Brian talk about these questions and more on this episode of Bootstrapped Web. Jordan talks about his hangups and why his need for idea exploration is causing difficulties with his leadership team. Meanwhile, Brian is continuing to navigate the challenges of starting a new business with a niche target market. Is podcasting the answer? They also go over some interesting tools for searching for the perfect podcast, marketing to specific groups, as well as their excitement for Andrew Chen's newest book, “The Cold Start Problem.” “I'm very much a middle sibling when it comes to management at the leadership level. It's very collaborative.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: A new ZipMessage websiteHiring generalists or specialistsChallenging leadership team conversationsMarketing and and outreach for the podcasting communityInfluencer outreachSEO plays and search demandsAndrew Chen's newest book release If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “I'm getting these things dialed in. It's difficult but I think it's finally starting to come together.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: SparkToro Podseeker

Does experimentation affect your business and cause more stress within your leadership team? How are the communication levels within your team? How do you reach a niche market? Jordan and Brian talk about these questions and more on this episode of Bootstrapped Web.  Jordan talks about his hangups and why his need for idea exploration … Continue reading The Chaos

When launching a new SaaS business, what comes first? What features do you focus on? How do you keep an eye on your key metrics early on? How do you handle onboarding when you're shuffling team members' priorities? Brian and Jordan talk all about the newest updates with ZipMessage and Rally. From experimenting with free plans, website redesigns, and preparing themselves for an influx of activity, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Exciting things are happening but with excitement come daunting tasks, important decisions, and possible mistakes. “What we're about to do is, we're about to scramble people's priorities in a challenging way.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: New activity with ZipMessageOnboarding first merchants with RallyRemembering the excitement and joy that comes from sales demosExperimenting with a free plan on ZipMessageThe differences between the free and paid planRally's all-hands to mentally prepare for a different challenge: new prioritiesZipMessage's website redesignThe daunting task of revamping landing pages If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “Nothing like having real customers to really drive what's really important.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter ZipMessage Ra

In this guest episode, Justin chats with Brian Casel. Bootstrapped Web podcast ZipMessage Brian's other projects What should we talk about next? Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda Leave a review/comment on Podchaser; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts. Email us: mail@transistor.fm Thanks to our monthly supporters: Anton Zorin from ProdCamp.com Mitch Harris Kenny, Intro CRM podcast Oleg Kulyk Violette Du Geneville Take It EV podcast Ethan Gunderson Diogo Chris Willow Borja Soler Ward Sandler, Memberspace Eric Lima James Sowers (like Flowers) Travis Fischer Matt Buckley Russell Brown Evandro Sasse Pradyumna Shembekar (PD) Noah Prail Colin Gray Josh Smith Ivan Curkovic Shane Smith Austin Loveless Simon Bennett Michael Sitver Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis,  Dan Buda  Darby Frey Samori Augusto Dave Young Brad from Canada Sammy Schuckert Mike Walker Adam DuVander Dave Giunta (JOOnta) Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

What is the difference between going to market and marketing? What mindset do you need to be in to accomplish your goals for both of these stages of business? In addition to answering these questions, Brian and Jordan dive into their marketing goals, content strategists, and updates on where they are with their Rally and ZipMessage. Jordan talks about Rally's methodical blog posts, which will be released slowly over the next few months. Brian shares some of the new features on ZipMessage and his plans for ‘going to market.' They also talk about how uncomfortable and rewarding the process can be. ‘Going to market' is humbling and requires authenticity after all. “There's a lot going on inside the company and inside the product. And ‘go to market' is one element of that but you can't just focus on that because there's a lot of other things going on that we have to get right.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: The difference between going to market and marketingWhat is involved when you go to marketMarketing techniques and content creatorsDifferent versions of networking If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “It's this idea (especially in the first year) where you've got to be doing activities that are introducing the product to more and more new people.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

Jordan shares some big news, 5.8 million dollars worth of news. At the feet of the news of Rally's seed funding announcement, Brian and Jordan talk all about raising money for businesses. What are the mechanics of starting the funding journey? Which funding path should you take? What does it mean for a fund to lead a round? Meanwhile, Brian gives updates on ZipMessage including marketing projects (comparison/competitor pages), hiring designers for website redesigns, and falling behind on content. “What we did was, we only worked with seed funds, because I wanted everyone to be focused on success at the seed stage.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Rally funding announcementsPlanning for funding and growth for RallyStrategic funding approaches and plansComparison/competitor pagesWebsite redesignsSEO content opportunities for ZipMessageHow to get the right response and the right person for the job If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “In this early stage, there is an element of creativity and strategy. I have to bring that knowledge to the project. I can't just hand that off to someone else.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jorda

Bootstrapped Web is no longer bootstrapped, on either side! Jordan starts off this episode with his “coming out” strategy, which all starts with his initial three-post series on Rally. He also dives into Rally updates, comparing your start-up businesses, and the importance of developing a unique view of the market. Brian takes funding from Calm Fund (formerly Earnest Capital), which has been a month in the making. He talks about the different decisions and considerations to be made when exiting Audience Ops and taking funding for ZipMessage. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “I love this [angel funding] ecosystem and how it's been evolving.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Jordan’s “coming out” strategy for RallyBrian takes funding from Calm Fund (formerly Earnest Capital) “I have been sitting on so many secrets, it's not healthy. It's not healthy to be quiet and fearful. It's not my natural state.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources Rally Blog “Your Startup is a Movement” by David Sacks Calm Fund Brian on Twitter

Bootstrapped Web is no longer bootstrapped, on either side! Jordan starts off this episode with his “coming out” strategy, which all starts with his initial three-post series on Rally. He also dives into Rally updates, comparing your start-up businesses, and the importance of developing a unique view of the market. Brian takes funding from Calm … Continue reading Should We Rename the Podcast?

Some news! Brian has sold his business, Audience Ops, to JD Graffam! And what better way to announce this transition than to bring JD on the show! Jordan leads the way as Brian and JD talk through how this deal came together, the process from each of their perspectives, and the successful close and transition that’s now underway. If you’re thinking about pursuing an exit from your business or thinking about acquiring one, we hope you’ll find some of our real-world experience from this deal helpful. You can read Brian’s blog post that dives deeper into the deal and thought processes that led up to the exit. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here Mentioned on today’s episode: Audience Ops JD Graffam on Twitter JD’s article, Fourteen Things That Will Keep Me from Buying Your App As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

Introduction: Do you work with a full-service accounting and admin company? How do you create markers on your business's path to success? What unique marketing platforms and ideas do you use? Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic, during this horrendous heatwave. Today's topics range from admin and accounting tasks they would rather avoid, their very professional podcasting process, Rally's current markers and goals, and Brian's exciting marketing ideas. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “Something didn't sit right. It wasn't ambitious enough. We need to challenge ourselves more.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Forming a new corporation with ZipMessageThe need for full-service accounting/adminOur “professional” podcasting processListening back on episodes to help sharpen your gutRally's current markersDo we have what we need to raise money?Working backwards from and mapping out the goal and markersHow to project numbers at this stageCreating a safe space to make mistakes, changing your mind, and getting appropriate push-back Marketing ideas and promotionThe Shipped Podcast (using ZipMessage)Testing audiences and different marketing platformsPodcast sponsorships: targeting small podcastsYouTube advertisingAlternative free trial program “Let's not think of the worst case scenario but the realistic scenario.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This

After a month hiatus, Brian and Jordan are back with stories about trips, waking up in pain, and prepping for competition. They also talk about growth in terms of profitability versus milestones, the newest developments with ZipMessage, and introducing “common, everyday tools” to people outside of the SaaS community. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “Growth as headcount as an acceptable growth metric. And the reason for that is if you're not shooting for profitability and you're shooting for milestones.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: The relationship between founder and VCHeadcount versus profitability as growthHiring a recruiterZipMessage goalsPrioritizing requestsSetting up new featuresOpening it up to the publicThe Shipped podcastBrian's new technical marketerIntroduction of technology to othersNiche toolsSummit, whiteboards that do math. The easiest way to create, test, and present your logic.Taming the chaos “If profitability isn't the goal on this path (which makes sense), what are the metrics that you're looking at for the next 12 months or 18 months?” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Mentioned on today’s episode: Leave us a message here Rally On

Brian and Jordan are back to back-to-back weeks before vacation and travel plans kick in because… It's summertime! While Jordan deals with a minor lacrosse injury, they both gush over Matt Medeiros, and give updates on their latest business endeavors. They talk about the progress on the search for a media creator for both Rally and ZipMessage, hiring funnels and hiring hurdles, getting feedback, and ways to get out of a funk. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “I saw a ZipMessage pop up in my Slack the other day. I love seeing it organically used because that's the tool that fits.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Matt Medeiros and the media creator roleThe technical side of ZipMessageReading stats and getting feedbackGetting out of a funkCompleting tasks, self-induced stress, and forgivenessFiguring out the right workflow and the right peopleHiring funnels, hurdles, testimonials, and role-specific adjustments “People get value from it and they don't tell you they're getting value from it. It's just happening and you don't see it right in front of you. You have to see the stats.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Mentioned on today’s episode: Matt Medeiros' Twitter Thread on the media creator role ChartMogul DynamiteJobs

The important role of an in-house media creator (or content creator) to a brand, especially in the software space, has been a topic weighing on my mind for a while. In today's episode, I break down a few clips from a recent episode of Bootstrapped Web, where hosts Brian & Joran discuss their challenge of filling this role. I refer to this as Founder Marketing. When a young company is hiring for this role, it's a responsibility that can't be left to the fundamental content creation tasks. A capable candidate must be able to channel their inner founder in order to create content that resonates across: sales, marketing, product, and support. Someone that not only knows how to create a piece of content, but that also is as passionate for the business as they are the audience. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments or engage with the following Twitter thread. My friends @CasJam and @JordanGal are looking to hire for the "Media Creator" role. I do this for @CastosHQ and have lots of thoughts. Someone that can execute, what I call, "Founder Marketing." Let's start a ★ Support this podcast ★

The important role of an in-house media creator (or content creator) to a brand, especially in the software space, has been a topic weighing on my mind for a while. In today’s episode, I break down a few clips from a recent episode of Bootstrapped Web, where hosts Brian & Joran discuss their challenge of filling this role. I refer to this as Founder Marketing. When a young company is hiring for this role, it’s a responsibility that can’t be left to the fundamental content creation tasks. A capable candidate must be able to channel their inner founder in order to create content that resonates across: sales, marketing, product, and support. Someone that not only knows how to create a piece of content, but that also is as passionate for the business as they are the audience. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or engage with the following Twitter thread. My friends @CasJam and @JordanGal are looking to hire for the "Media Creator" role. I do this for @CastosHQ and have lots of thoughts. Someone that can execute, what I call, "Founder Marketing." Let's start a — Matt Medeiros (@mattmedeiros) June 17, 2021 Transcription This episode of the Matt report is brought to you by mal care. Learn more about Malik here at Dot com. You’ve heard me talk about mal care before, but they’re back with some interesting updates. Not only are they the WordPress plugin with instant WordPress malware removal. Well, let me read some of these features.[00:00:15] Deep malware scanning. They know about malware that other plugins don’t. Number two, that one click malware removal process makes it super easy to remove from your WordPress website and number three, a new feature called auto bot ultra defense system. Okay. I made that ultra defense system part up, but get this, it automatically blocks the bots hitting your website.[00:00:35]So, not only does that protect your website, but in the long run, it’ll improve speed of your site from not letting those bots through the doors. Check out mal care at care.com that’s mal care.com. I don’t want to be a malware specialist. You don’t either check out mal. care.com. thanks for supporting the show[00:00:56] Matt: This episode of the Matt report is brought to you by lockdown SEO, you can find it at lockdown. seo.com. That’s luck. With an E. LOC K E D O w N S E o.com. Lock down seo.com. His name’s John Locke. He helps industrial companies with search engine optimization so they can get more qualified leads. If you’re a WordPress developer.[00:01:18] Helping. This customer type. Industrial companies. Manufacturing companies. Reach out to lock down seo.com. See if John can help on the SEO side, if you just do design development. You don’t want to do the SEO part of it, nor should you. John Locke can help you@lockdownseo.com. He also does site audits. So if you want to partner up with John on your next WordPress venture with someone, he can do some SEO audits for you and your John’s a great guy and super helpful. He can help you with your SEO or web design needs. Again, if you don’t service customers in the industrial space manufacturing space, but you do get leads in that space. Send them over to John. At lock with an E lockdown seo.com.[00:02:02] Welcome back to another episode of the Maryport podcast. This is a topic that we’re going to talk about today. It’s called something. I call founder marketing. Uh, my friends, Brian castle and Jordan Goll recently talked about this on their podcasts. They’re both hiring. For this media creator role.[00:02:19] And I guess it’s going to come in many forms. Uh, and fashions. This is something that I do here at my day job at Casos where I create the podcast. I do the YouTube channel. I do some marketing stuff generally is about creating this content. To help. Not only promote, uh, the Castle’s product and the brand.[00:02:38] But to know where the synergies needed to create. You know, sales. Um, onboarding product enhancements, support enhancements, building out community. It’s not just do a podcast. Get listeners get downloads, that kind of thing. Or do a YouTube create a YouTube video. And try to get likes and views and subscribers, although.[00:03:03] It does contain the sum of those many pieces. This founder marketing thing or this creator It’s a bit of a unicorn. If, if I pat myself on the back just a little bit, it’s a bit of a unicorn. Because when you’re hiring for this role, As Brian and Jordan, uh, find themselves in. The challenge is to find somebody who can, can understand.[00:03:25] The business and the opportunity in the market and the customers. Just like the founder. So, this is where I get the founder marketing title from it. Maybe could be ironed out a little bit more, you know, into something else or a little bit something more direct that you could put into a job listing. But the way I see it is as you have to.[00:03:44] Feel like the founder and know the market and the product and the customer, like the founder in order to create the content that attracts. And the customers to it. Otherwise you’re just telling somebody to go create this piece of content and they can shoehorn it. Right. And they people do it all the time. People outsource this to agencies and there’s nothing wrong with it.[00:04:04] But it’s very much from a. A strategic standpoint. Uh, almost utilitarian, I guess, where you make a top 10 list or, you know, do a tutorial or a how to, or comparison piece of content, which can be researched. And understood at that capacity, but the emotional side of it is, is very hard to fine tune.[00:04:28] So on bootstrap web, where Jordan and Brian host their podcast, uh, I’ve had both of them on the show before countless times. They started talking about this journey of hiring this media creator person. So number one, if that’s you check out that episode, it’ll be in the show notes. And reach out to either Brian and Jordan for a potential role. It’s going to be kind of interesting to see them.[00:04:48] Going head to head. In this space and seeing who they hire and how they hire. Uh, I think it’s a great time. It’s a great opportunity for us creators that are out there. So if that’s you. Creating your own little, uh, YouTube channel or podcast. And by little, I mean, maybe you’re just starting out and you’re trying to gain traction, but this could be a great opportunity to say, you know what.[00:05:09] I have a small audience here it’s growing might not be growing as fast as I’d like, but this is an opportunity for us. It really puts the power in the hands of the creators. I think. When software businesses, or any businesses in general think like media companies. Because if you looked at. Traditional Hollywood, let’s say.[00:05:28] And how much of a closed ecosystem that. Well, probably still is, but was definitely 20 years ago. Four. You know anybody to produce a movie, any actors to show up comedians, et cetera, et cetera. And then you look at. Introduction of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon. Everybody is now. Now has this secondary market of content.[00:05:53] Where it’s not just the big television channels and the big movies. So that’s the only distribution points anymore. There are far more distribution points, far more opportunities. For creators to create no, the traditional media that we, that we think about movies and television. Let’s break down a few clips. Uh, I also have a Twitter thread on this, which will be in the show notes. If you want to engage with the Twitter thread and see some of the activity happening over there. So we’re gonna play each clip from.[00:06:20]This episode, the most important clips I think from their conversation. And then i’m gonna break it down uh verbally here okay so let’s dive into the first clip[00:06:28]Brian Casel: The first and most important position I think is, is the media creator, uh, role. And so this is a person who I’m, I’ve been talking to a couple people, but it is a really difficult one to find potential candidates.[00:06:42] So I’m looking for somebody to essentially like co-host podcasts, be a show runner for, for new podcasts, video content produce videos. Um, so somebody who is like a great storyteller and has the technical chops, like the video production podcast, chops, you know, doing interviews with other people, uh, coming up with creative, uh, premises for a new show and just, you know, being like just driving the creative content that comes out of this.[00:07:10][00:07:10]Matt: So we go back to, this is the founder marketing role, right? This is why it’s so important to me. For somebody to have that founder, like experience. Which again, I know it was very difficult. It’s that unicorn position, but I think the best candidate for what Brian. Is looking for. Is going to be somebody who has, uh, that close relationship to the customer, to the product, into the market. Somebody who’s as excited.[00:07:37] For his product. Uh, as they would be, if it were their own product now, again, very difficult to find, but I think that’s where he’s going to find. Uh the best candidate for[00:07:47] Jordan Gal: it feels like what you’re really what you’re saying is that there needs to be a function. That creates an audience and does that by understanding what the audience wants and providing value to it.[00:08:00] And then the media that supports it and delivers that value,[00:08:04] Brian Casel: I would say yes. And coming up with creative, new ideas, like a new new premise, not just find a hundred founders to go interview every week. Like. New angles, new, new premise.[00:08:18]Jordan Gal: that you, you emphasize that in the job listing where it was like, we don’t want to do the same stuff.[00:08:24] We want to really think about why we would do something. And then, and then look at the format that way. Not just, well, let’s just do another podcast because that’s what everyone does.[00:08:34]And this is on the flip side. This is where a great creator is going to really enjoy a role like this because. Which, and I’ll preface this preface, this breath preface with saying that. This is also a challenge for, uh, Brian and Jordan. I feel. Because they have to be hands off. They have to let the creator create because that’s, what’s going to yield the best result.[00:09:01] And if you’re a creator out there, Doing your thing. You know this, you know, that. If there’s less restrictions. Uh, You know, unless sort of control and you have more autonomy to do. What you need to do to create a great piece of content. That doesn’t have to be just a podcast. It spans across podcasts, audio, video.[00:09:21] Written, uh, email newsletter, even if you were doing some kind of like social campaign. You understand where. Your strengths are and how you’re going to communicate this message. And if Brian and Jordan can, can let the creators create, I think that’s going to be the best outcome, but also the hardest for them.[00:09:42] To not manage, but I have expectations for, because I think so many founders might be. Uh, so goal oriented or developer oriented where there’s sprints and there’s sales goals. And there’s marketing goals where like visits and conversions that the creative side is very hard to measure, especially when you turn to them and you say, Hey, I need, I need time.[00:10:05] To do this. The more time you give me the better it’s going to get, but it’s not going to be like this constant production wheel happening. I mean, it eventually will write, like I found a pretty good stride at Casos. But in the beginning it’s like i just need time to absorb this I need the time to look at my creator canvas and i think that’ll be the biggest challenge for brian and jordan moving forward[00:10:27]Jordan Gal: So first step. Audience. And now this technical marketer role is really the transition between the audience and the product.[00:10:37] It’s like the bridge on identifying some people in the audience. Are are, are going to be interested in what we’re doing as a product, not everyone. And, and you’re not building the audience solely for the purpose, like, cause that people see through that you want the authentic version of media and an audience and value and then allowing for a bridge from there over to the[00:10:58] Brian Casel: product.[00:10:59][00:10:59]Matt: And just to wrap some context around this. This is Jordan, uh, explaining back the technical marketing role that Brian also wants to hire. So he wants to. Hire it in tandem. This content media creator, plus a technical marketer to sort of carry the ball. The other. Uh, half of the way down, down the field to use a sports analogy, terrible one at that. But.[00:11:23] Hiring the media creator go out and do the creative. Do the show running, create the actual content, hire a marketing technical marketing lead. To help distribute the content, help convert the content and, and measure the success. Of the content. So number one, very smart move for, uh, for Brian to be thinking that because it can’t, it can be two people.[00:11:47] In a very low pressured setting. Um, and by pressures, not even just the pressures of, uh, of the owners or the other teams, but just the market in general, like how much content do you need to create to compete with others? Uh, how much time do you need for each piece of content? Having somebody else carry the ball. The rest of the way on the marketing side is very smart.[00:12:09] Uh, you definitely gonna need a budget to do that. You need to be able to hire two people at once. Um, you can do it in the beginning. It really depends on what your capacity is as a creator, but also, uh, how you can streamline your processes and, and what the actual overall goals are. So very smart to have these two separate roles, because largely they are two separate. Parts of your brain thinking about how to approach this stuff[00:12:33]Brian Casel: it’s about thinking about that target audience and distribution before we even create. The content. So if the technical marker and myself are in the mix on coming up with ideas in collaboration with our, with our, uh, media creator, It’s about, we know that at the end of the day, we want to reach this segment of people.[00:12:57] So how can we start to come up with creative ideas for, for a show, with an awesome premise for, for that, that, that, that audience would just eat up every single day. And the technical marketer can think about as we’re ideating on this stuff. Okay. If we’re going after that audience, these are the types of channels that we can go to distribute that, that show and grow the audience for it.[00:13:19][00:13:19]Again, this is where I go back. Let the creators create. This will be the challenge. All right. How do we give somebody the freedom, but also at the same time, like push this marketing and promotional thing forward so that we know it’s working. I would say it’s going to take a solid six months in order to really hit a stride.[00:13:37] You know, working together. How content calendars are created, how content is created, how it’s shipped, how it’s promoted, how it’s repurposed. Which is very, very difficult. Two. Even like, think about and make time for it because you, you create so much content. That you just don’t want to let it.[00:13:57] Be done. Right. You spend all of this time, all this investment in it. How do you keep that? Content fresh. Newsletters communities, et cetera, et cetera. So things like that big challenge, but good that Brian’s thinking about it as two independent. Uh[00:14:12] responses.[00:14:13]Jordan Gal: I’m going to argue that there’s a third function, a third role that we we’re going to bump up against immediately.[00:14:23] And that is of community. Because it is a really tall task to ask someone to lead the media creation efforts and also focus on community. Some people are like magically talented and do that almost like inherently. They just can’t even help it. They just create media and form an audience around it and communicate with that community at the same time.[00:14:49] And it can be the same person for a certain amount of time, but they are like, Uh, there’s a third element there around community and fostering it and, and kind of[00:15:00] Brian Casel: communicating with, for that community piece[00:15:03][00:15:03]So my last comment, just foreshadowed this clip. Uh, in, it’s interesting to see Jordan already with the wheels turning you’re you’re already thinking about, okay, what’s that third pillar that comes next and he’s saying it’s it’s community. And it most certainly is maybe not for every product and brand that’s out there.[00:15:22] But the key thing here is that, that. That, even those two people, the creator and the technical marketer. Can not be responsible for. Building and cultivating and supporting a longterm community. Again, everything can be done temporarily. Just won’t be done. Great. And it. Won’t be done. Very organized.[00:15:44] And there’ll be a lot of pressure on one person to do everything. But hopefully what this does is bring it to light. Because a lot of people just say, oh, I’m going to hire somebody who does marketing, oh, by the way, do a podcast, do a YouTube channel, do this marketing thing, report on the metrics. Tell me what the conversions are, do the email newsletter. And can we do it a community with that? I mean, sure. Anyone can tackle all three of those at once, but it’s just going to be done poorly to the point where the person who’s responsible for it is ultimately just going to burn out because.[00:16:16] Uh, approaching a community, which is something that I even struggle with at Casto. So it’s something that I want to do, but I’m quickly realizing I can’t do all the content creation. And do the community well. What I can do is I can see the foundation of the, of the community. I hope. And then that can be carried through.[00:16:34] By somebody else in the future. Uh, or I take it at a really. Minimal viable product approach, where it’s just very, very. Small chunks of what a community aspect might be. And that could just be conversations that are happening. Uh, in a circle app. Right. But a true community is going to be just constant engagement.[00:16:53] Constant engagement, constant, you know, pruning and supporting and making sure people are engaged and that there’s. Value being taken away from it, because if there’s not somebody doing that, it’s very, very hard to get the momentum for our community to take off where it just supports itself. I think a lot of people think community cause they’re like, oh great.[00:17:12] This will be interaction that’s just on autopilot. Yeah, everybody gets into a room and of course they want to talk about. The product, the brand and you know, what their experiences are. But you need somebody. Constantly engaging in that. Again, whole new responsibility, smart to think about it. Smart to think about it as an independent responsibility[00:17:32]Brian Casel: My thinking on that is now if you want like a, like a, an engaged community who, who is interacting with each other. The audience has to come first,[00:17:42] Jordan Gal: the audiences, the is the raw material in some ways that, yeah.[00:17:46] Brian Casel: And, and like for a brand new community, like if you want to start slack group or a circle or whatever you’re going to use for your community, it’s just such an insanely difficult Boulder to push up a hill.[00:17:59] If you don’t have an audience to begin with, or if your audience is very small, because truth of the matter is for every hundred people who follow you. Only five of them or less are the type of people who will actually leave a comment in the community. The other 95 might lurk. They might watch, but they’re just not commenters.[00:18:18] That’s just the nature. So you need thousands and thousands of followers to just spark a community[00:18:25]I think that too early on trying to create a community out of a very small audience, you’re going to waste resources.[00:18:32] You’re going to waste like people or waste hours waste money on a extremely difficult uphill battle.[00:18:40]And that’s Brian, just proving my point. He’s been doing it now for a while. He understands. Um, The challenge of community so i have nothing much more to say on that other than what i just said previous to brian what brian just said in that statement[00:18:56]Brian Casel: especially for that media creator role, it’s a really difficult, I am talking to a couple people, but I think what I’m also starting to look at, I don’t even know how viable this is, is to sort of be like a scout and try to find.[00:19:10] People who have like a small, like a young podcast or YouTube channel or both sort of in the space. And maybe look to acquire them and that show and, and enroll with that, you know, but like how do you find someone who hasn’t blown up yet? You know, um, this is what we talk. You can see, you can see the talent, like on the page and it’s.[00:19:36] So, yeah, so about that[00:19:38] Jordan Gal: too, and this is kind of an opportunity for someone listening or someone that they’re familiar with to just raise your hand and basically say, well, I’m talented. I just need a chance. I just need some budget. I need, I need a bigger stage to perform on[00:19:53][00:19:53]Again, finding this person is. We’ve been talking about all these challenges, but it’s going to be finding this person who, who meets this criteria. Who’s able to produce this kind of content. Uh, it’s just a super challenge. So I’ll speak towards just who the creators are. If you’re a creator out there listening to this, and I can tell you from my firsthand experiences,[00:20:13] You start running with a project. You love the project. You never want to see that project go away. Uh, or yet you could never consider yourself part of another brand. You just let it go. Right. Like at some point you realize like, okay, In order to get better as a creator in order to challenge myself and then move on to something else.[00:20:33] Then, if this is something that’s interesting to you, what Brian and Jordan are talking about. Look. Being able to, Hey, I got my, my YouTube channel up to whatever, whatever your number is, a thousand subscribers, 5,000 subscribers or whatever it is. And you’re, and you’re feeling like you’re hitting a plateau, both from the growth side and from the creative side.[00:20:54] Then you have leveraged there. So I guess what I’m getting at is if you’re building something and you’re not super happy with it, It’s valuable to somebody else valuable to somebody in this position and Brian and Jordan, aren’t going to be the last brands, hiring somebody to create content for them and create to create content well.[00:21:11] That you can leverage that. And I’m not even saying you necessarily get rid of it. Uh, or give up on it or, or, or sell it so where maybe you do sell it. Right. So if you are in the technical space, cause there’s lots of us. That do the technical review, the software. The plugins, the tutorials, that kind of thing.[00:21:29] This would be a great. In road to say, well, look, I’ve, I’ve built up this. Audience. This brand, I have this many subscribers. I’ve had this many videos or this many listeners. Let me sell this value to you and, um, I think that’s perfectly fine. And one that you know is only up to you as a creator, whether or not you want to do it.[00:21:49] But the options are there and the options are, are going to keep coming. I think. Um as more people invest in this space[00:21:56]Jordan Gal: I can’t help, but I keep going back to news, like what’s happening here, industry. Who’s doing what who’s collaborating with, who, who raised money, who hired, who, who left this, who starting something new? Like that’s the stuff you talk about on a day-to-day basis. And I think there’s an opportunity.[00:22:11] To create media around that, that turns that media brand into a destination and somewhere that people look to regularly, and that would be, that would be power.[00:22:24][00:22:24]Uh, the context around this clip. From Jordan was he’s looking for something that’s that’s unique. Like what could he produce? At his new company rally, that would be a unique twist on content creation that isn’t just the interview trans. Uh, the interview podcast or even well, a high produced podcast where it’s more storytelling and engaging.[00:22:46] Um, you know, in much, in much higher production. Is thinking about news and sort of just staking a claim in whatever market you’re in, you can’t report the news and have your unique angle on it. And I totally agree. This is a huge opportunity in this space. For many reasons. One it’s more topical and.[00:23:05] When you’re creating content like this, like I do with the WP minute.com podcast. It’s very specific. It’s very specific to WordPress news. It’s very specific to only five minutes. And that is. The premise there because. I’m serving. I have clear definition of the audience that I’m serving no more, no less.[00:23:26] It’s it’s targeted. So. I know who I’m serving. I know why they listen. And I know how to produce it on repeat. Whereas even a show like this, which is much more long form. Sometimes it’s solo shows sometimes. We’re talking to somebody and doing an interview. You know, it’s 30, 40, 30 to 45 minutes, maybe sometimes an hour. There’s a lot of stuff that can happen. It’s it attracts different types.[00:23:52] Uh, of listeners production is always different. Uh, shownotes are always different. Value is always different. And while it’s it’s great. And it’s, it’s a brand building experience and it’s engaging for a lot of people. Uh, the audience that tunes in and the brand awareness that it raises can kind of be all over the board, which is.[00:24:14] It’s good. It’s still good. Um, but when you do something hyper-focused as a news, Or a super, super hyper-focused, um, maybe educational podcast. Then you just have clear definitions and things or. Are much easier that way. Um, From, uh, from an audience perspective, maybe from the creator’s perspective.[00:24:36] A little bit harder to just stay within those lines all the time. Depending on what it is that you’re, that you’re doing and covering. Uh but definitely easier to create a process for and ultimately uh raise awareness[00:24:49]Jordan Gal: This is the same thing that we talked about with Barstool. Sports wear is a draft Kings, right? The gambling site, they just bought the exact audience that gambles. So it’s very natural alignment. Yep. Yep. Cool man. Well, I have a feeling we’re gonna, we’re gonna talk a lot more about this and we’re going to pretend not to be fighting over people for the same world.[00:25:13] Right. But we,[00:25:17] Brian Casel: so, uh, yeah. What, what else you got going on?[00:25:19][00:25:19]So I’m really interested to see how Brian and Jordan end up, uh, sort of tongue in cheek here, like feuding with one another. Right? Sort of you think about like big Hollywood executives sort of sparring over the, the, the, the best actors and actresses and best, uh, directors and, and scripts to buy. And, and, and it’s almost like that huge.[00:25:40] You know, world of Hollywood that’s feels so water out of touch being really shrunk down to this, you know, finite thing that could be. Uh, happening across many brands trying to hire talent. Um, trying to find the talent is a challenge at a higher them trying to acquire them. Put a number on it. It’s very difficult.[00:26:01] Uh, and to find the right person to do it all. So it’s, uh, I I’m sitting here smiling ear to ear because I’m really interested to see this challenge unfold for both of them and how they both go about it. And interested to see if they do cross paths and find somebody who has applied to both because they have a strong listenership. And if you are listening to this, you could be applying to, to their job openings as well.[00:26:23] Um, But at the same time, lots of opportunity in this space now. And I think this is sort of validating it. This founder marketing role. Um, And I think that there’s going to be a lot more of this happening. Because there’s a lot of, at least in the WordPress space. And even the people that I talk to now and know code and software as a service.[00:26:44] Founders are either. Hyper-focused on sales. And growth. So that’s the other angle of it. This is stuff that you need sort of after, I’ll say with air quotes, after the content creation. Um, or they’re they’re founders and they’re the founder developer, right? So they’re actually building the product. There’s no time.[00:27:00] Uh, there’s no creative aspect. There’s no social aspect for some to just get out there and create that content. So. Big big opportunities ahead. I don’t know. Let me know what you think if you, uh, are interested in, uh, number one, applying for that role, check out the bootstrap web podcast. What Brian and Jordan are doing. Jump on that Twitter thread, click on that in the show notes. And you can just engage with them right there. If that’s the quickest route to it. I have a let me know what you think about founder marketing right on twitter okay that’s it that’s the Matt report. we’ll see you in the next episode[00:27:30]

Brian and Jordan are back with updates about diving headfirst into team sports with an “old man lacrosse leagues,” to celebrating 10-year wedding anniversaries, job postings, and creating messages that resonate with customers. They're covering a little bit of everything today. Brian shares a couple of interesting job openings based on ZipMessage: a media creator and a technical marketer. Check out the job opening for media creator if you love to create content, are comfortable telling stories, and coming up with creative new ideas. He is also looking for a technical marketer who will work on distribution and optimizing channels and SaaS funnels. If you are interested in either job position, use the links below to apply. Media Creator Technical Marketer If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave a message here “You want the authentic version of the media and the audience and value, and then allowing for a bridge from there, over to the product.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: ZipMessage Updates:Growth and skepticism Job openings:Media creatorTechnical marketerCreating a communityThe Bloomberg ModelAxiosConversations and conveying the Rally messageWhat to lead withHow to make your message resonateShopify opinionsBrian is hiring for 2 roles: Media Creator Technical Marketer “If you want an engaged community where they interact with each other, the audience has to come first.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

It's a big day here at Bootstrapped Web now that Jordan can talk more openly about his newest endeavor: Rally. Brian and Jordan talk about what Rally is, breakdown Rally's elevator pitch, as well as the steps Jordan has taken up to this point. They also get into a few updates with ZipMessage. Brian talks about the possibility of building a small team and the stigma around hiring a team full of contractors. Are you a freelancer looking for a little work? Are you a marketing specialist? If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “I'm in the middle of that thing that happens if you post a Twitter thread just at the right time. It's fun. You have to remember to enjoy the fun days. This is one of those fun days.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Rally and RallyOn.comWhat does Rally do for customers?What does it mean to go headless?Definition of “Modern brands”What makes Rally different?Enjoying and being in the momentThe importance of elevator pitches and headlinesMultiple fits and building relationshipsThe next step and roadmap for RallyZipMessage updatesDoing everything yourself vs. building a small teamContractors and freelancers vs. employeesThe stigma behind hiring overseas Creating your perfect company culture Brian's marketing talent wishlist:Technical marketer (Google analytics, SEO, etc.) Media producer (podcasting, interviews, etc.) “I'm already all in in terms of hours. But to really go all in, I need a team with me.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

It’s a big day here at Bootstrapped Web now that Jordan can talk more openly about his newest endeavor: Rally. Brian and Jordan talk about what Rally is, breakdown Rally’s elevator pitch, as well as the steps Jordan has taken up to this point. They also get into a few updates with ZipMessage. Brian talks … Continue reading Rally On

Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic for the second week in a row. Today they're focusing on bugs over customers, or should it be the other way around? After some project and business updates, they talk about the early stages of development and launch for a new product. How do you decide if this new project is worth it? How do you find people who are as excited about it as you are? If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave a message for Brian and Jordan on their ZipMessage account at https://zipmessage.com/bootstrappedweb. “I'm slowed down by the product and the bug-fixes.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Project and business updates: marketing, development, and not moving fast enoughTalking with partners and agencies versus potential customersTaking a position and what that means for a businessHow to decide whether a project or a product is worth the time?The Catch-22 of starting and growing a new businessHow to evaluate a “head-of-growth” expertPivotal moments in ZipMessage and secret projectsGrowth hacks for ZipMessage “My favorite thing (the thing that I'm good at) is articulating that future vision clearly.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: ZipMessage SunriseKPI Productize Audience Ops ProcessKit Carthook As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on

Brian and Jordan are back with big news about both of their newest projects. Today they're doing a deep dive into some of the mental struggles when you start something new. Some touchy-feely topics, some logistics, and back to touchy-feely topics: a typical Bootstrapped Web episode. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave a message for Brian and Jordan on their ZipMessage account at https://zipmessage.com/bootstrappedweb. “We need to complement each other more. Because everyone asks for feedback, nobody asks for compliments.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today's conversation points: Updates on Jordan's secret productFeeling down and (surprising) external motivatorsWhat founders do and the meaning of being a founderThe importance of compliments and empathyUpdates, changes, and uses for ZipMessageFramework and patterns in successful niche SaaS productsThree-phase process: enter, lean-in, all-in “For founders, literally all we do is solve problems. What's the next problem to solve? What's the next thing that's not working? Every single day.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources ZipMessage New! zipmessage.com/bootstrappedweb Productize Audience Ops ProcessKit Carthook As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on

Brian and Jordan are back with big news about both of their newest projects. Today they’re doing a deep dive into some of the mental struggles when you start something new. Some touchy-feely topics, some logistics, and back to touchy-feely topics: a typical Bootstrapped Web episode. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas … Continue reading Staying positive

Will this be the week that Jordan finally gets to talk about crypto? In this episode of Bootstrapped Web, Brian and Jordan give us some updates on their businesses. Is Brian running late with ZipMessage? What has been going on behind the scenes of Jordan’s secret project? They also talk indepth about discipline and productivity. … Continue reading Know Thyself

Now that the election is over the news seems pretty boring. Joining us today on this episode as we welcome special guest, Brian Casel, a designer and software developer, who owns a company called Audience Ops, he’s Founder of ProcessKit, and he builds SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) product ideas using Ruby on Rails. In addition, he also does a podcast called Bootstrapped Web. Brian tells us all about what he does and how he got into Rails We also learn more about Audience Ops, ProcessKit, Sunrise KPI, and his newest release, Thready.

On this episode of Bootstrapped Web (dubbed the “anything but election talk” episode), Jordan and Brian go over Carthook's exciting launch in the Shopify App Store and ProcessKit's visual upgrade. Brian also has a couple of aces up his sleeve when it comes to high level changes as well as day-to-day uses for ProcessKit. Today the focus is all about what it means to satisfy customers: new and existing customers. How do you convert trial customers? How fast should you handle feature requests? How do you deal with the pressures put onto you by customers? How to show your constant level of progress but how do you filter customer feedback/expectations? [tweetthis]“Anytime you're talking about visual user updates, especially if it affects the entire app (which this did) you get nervous. People don't like change, even if it's better change.” - Brian [/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: The Carthook logo is in the Shopify App Store!Team moraleDepartments that need Jordan's focusUpdates, expectations, and reviewsThe limitations of being both the designer and founder of a productProcessKit upgrades:To dashboard or not to dashboard?Email templates with liquid tags to increase the dynamic changes for these templatesThe pressure of “What's next?” and prioritizationThe current competitive climate in SaaSPipeMainStreetVisualize Value [tweetthis]“I think we've spoken before about how I look at the company as like, ‘Where is the fire burning...the hottest?' At any point in time it's not like everything's on fire or everything requires attention. There's usually one part of your company where there's more going on.” - Jordan [/tweetthis] Resources: Jason Lemkin's post about Dashboards Pipe MainStreet Visualize Value SunriseKPI Productize Audience Ops ProcessKit   Carthook  As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

On this episode of Bootstrapped Web (dubbed the “anything but election talk” episode), Jordan and Brian go over Carthook’s exciting launch in the Shopify App Store and ProcessKit’s visual upgrade. Brian also has a couple of aces up his sleeve when it comes to high level changes as well as day-to-day uses for ProcessKit. Today … Continue reading Satisfying Customers

Welcome back Brian Casel, for his 5th time appearing on the show! Maybe we'll keep him away for at least another year — or until he launches another product.

Welcome back Brian Casel, for his 5th time appearing on the show! Maybe we’ll keep him away for at least another year — or until he launches another product. 🤫 Fun fact: Bootstrapped Web was the first time I was a guest on a podcast way back in the day! Creating a solid content marketing…

On today's episode of Bootstrapped Web, Brian and Jordan are joined by Ian Landsman from HelpSpot. Ian has made product after product over the years, from UserScape to HelpSpot to LaravelJobs and Thermostatio. You can find him on Twitter or you can learn more about him on his website. Brian, Jordan, and Ian are talking all about podcasts, business models, and privacy on the internet. They also go over the lessons they've all learned from previous products and projects they have been involved in. [tweetthis]“How many years, how many decades, can you keep pushing project management software when that space just gets so big and so competitive?” - Brian [/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: Ian's potential new podcast: structure or no structure?Hey, Clubhouse, and other email servicesThe hidden cost of privacy and complacency in a productPrevious products, projects, and the lessons learnedHow involved Ian, after being 15 years into HelpSpotWhat does feature development look like for Ian?Optimizing websites as supplementary platformsBusiness models: per user, paying per clientsAre demos worth it?Affiliate programs and consulting hang ups for ProcessKitThird party hosting and consulting companiesReal-time brainstorming about onboarding consultants [tweetthis]“Clubhouse jumped the shark from being exclusive to just being ‘annoyed that you couldn't get in and now you're resentful.' And then, of course, I got an invite and a DM a minute later. [laughs]” - Jordan [/tweetthis] Ian Landsman Clubhouse Hey SellerFlows ClickFunnels SunriseKPI Productize Audience Ops ProcessKit Carthook As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

On today’s episode of Bootstrapped Web, Brian and Jordan are joined by Ian Landsman from HelpSpot. Ian has made product after product over the years, from UserScape to HelpSpot to LaravelJobs and Thermostatio. You can find him on Twitter or you can learn more about him on his website. Brian, Jordan, and Ian are talking … Continue reading Talkin shop with Ian Landsman

We're in a great mood on today here atf Bootstrapped Web. We're talking about drive-in movies, apple picking, AirBnB's, Twitter, and business updates. This episode is a bit of a topic potpourri is as we cover new features, hiring and interview processes, big picture visions, and building communities. [tweetthis]“Aside from the obvious goal of marketing (which is to grow traffic and leads and sales), I think the bigger goal should be to build community.” - Brian [/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: ProcessKit fields and featuresWeb developer updatesCarthook's newest app for ShopifyTheir new full-time, in-house product designerSwitching ProcessKit marketing site to a static site to WordpressStatic vs DynamicThe hiring and interviewing processThe importance of culture fit and temperamentLooking at the big picture and company design“What kind of company do I want to build?”Building an ideal community, and longevityBuilding relationshipsSnap Friday and current hobbies [tweetthis]“Our culture fit is a nice, optimistic, happy person. And that might sound really thin but it really matters. If you're naturally optimistic and curious, it leads to happiness, even in times of stress.” - Jordan [/tweetthis] Resources: WeWorkRemotely Dynamite Jobs Notion SubStack SunriseKPI Productize Audience Ops ProcessKit   Carthook  As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

We’re in a great mood on today here atf Bootstrapped Web. We’re talking about drive-in movies, apple picking, AirBnB’s, Twitter, and business updates. This episode is a bit of a topic potpourri is as we cover new features, hiring and interview processes, big picture visions, and building communities. Here are today’s conversation points: ProcessKit fields … Continue reading Company Design

We’re back for another episode of Bootstrapped Web. This episode is all about our thoughts on quarantine hair, having our kids at home, and working from home challenges. We’re talking about how to make working-from-home better, happier, and more productive. This week’s ad is for Council.Club, which is an invite-only site that helps remote workers … Continue reading Remotely Working on Working Remotely

Jordan Gal is the Co-founder and CEO of Carthook, a company offering customizable checkout processes for some of the most groundbreaking eCommerce brands. He and his team are partnering with clients to implement one of the most overlooked strategies in eCom, the post purchase upsell. Carthook clients have seen as much as 42% of past 30 day total revenue be driven by post purchase upsells.   In this episode, you'll learn how to implement product upsells to increase revenue and how you can use product funnels to customize the buying experience for your customers to increase conversion rate.    “This allows you to make an upsell without adding any friction to the buying process that can drive up your average order value.” - Jordan Gal   Some topics that were discussed include:   How to use a "one click upsell" after the checkout to upsell your customer without adding friction to the buying process Leveraging consumer psychology to increase hit rate of an upsell Using "product funnels" to sell more with a better customer journey   Contact Jordan Gal:   Connect with Jordan on Twitter Learn more about CartHook  Carthook on Facebook    References & links mentioned:   Jordan Co-hosts The Bootstrapped Web, a podcast centered on the highs and lows encountered while bootstrapping an online business.    Subscribe & Review The Commerce Lab Podcast:   Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of The Commerce Lab Podcast! If the information shared in these weekly conversations and interviews have helped you in your business journey, please head over to iTunes, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review. Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more amazing entrepreneurs just like you!  

Jordan Gal joins the podcast today to review the 5-year journey he's been on with CartHook. I know many of you might know him from co-hosting the Bootstrapped Web podcast with friend-of-the-show, Brian Casel. But if you're like me, the half-decade old story of CartHook starting out as cart abandonment tool, to now a full-on checkout replacement for Shopify, has become a little blurry. Keeping up with Jordan's roller-coaster ride has been exciting and today's interview sticks the bookmarks at all the right places. When & why did Jordan decide to build a new product? When did they decide to pair down two products into one? How did they move upmarket with pricing and customer applications? All of these pivots, while not easy, has made the company stronger across culture and lowering churn. It has been an amazing ride, and I hope you find some lessons you can learn from in today's episode — I know I have. If you liked this episode, please consider sharing it on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook! ★ Support this podcast ★

Jordan Gal joins the podcast today to review the 5-year journey he's been on with CartHook. I know many of you might know him from co-hosting the Bootstrapped Web podcast with friend-of-the-show, Brian Casel. But if you're like me, the half-decade old story of CartHook starting out as cart abandonment tool, to now a full-on checkout replacement for Shopify, has become a little blurry. Keeping up with Jordan's roller-coaster ride has been exciting and today's interview sticks the bookmarks at all the right places. When & why did Jordan decide to build a new product? When did they decide to pair down two products into one? How did they move upmarket with pricing and customer applications? All of these pivots, while not easy, has made the company stronger across culture and lowering churn. It has been an amazing ride, and I hope you find some lessons you can learn from in today's episode -- I know I have. If you liked this episode, please consider sharing it on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook! ★ Support this podcast ★

Jordan Gal joins the podcast today to review the 5-year journey he’s been on with CartHook. I know many of you might know him from co-hosting the Bootstrapped Web podcast with friend-of-the-show, Brian Casel. But if you’re like me, the half-decade old story of CartHook starting out as cart abandonment tool, to now a full-on…

Jordan Gal joins the podcast today to review the 5-year journey he’s been on with CartHook. I know many of you might know him from co-hosting the Bootstrapped Web podcast with friend-of-the-show, Brian Casel. But if you’re like me, the half-decade old story of CartHook starting out as cart abandonment tool, to now a full-on…

This episode of Rogue Startups, Craig chats with fellow entrepreneur Jordan Gal.  Jordan is the founder and CEO of CartHook, which is a software company that provides an e-commerce platform for online businesses and the Bootstrapped Web podcast. Craig and Jordan talk about product development and process; the difference between “hovering” and managing; the role […]

Today Dave and Craig are talking about how to avoid feature creep and maintain the core purpose and user experience that your application was originally set to have. Inspired by a tweet from previous guest on the show and host of the Bootstrapped Web podast, Brian Casel, it’s nice to talk not about the places […]

Hoy hablamos con James Kockelbergh de 3WEBD que es una agencia de Marketing online, diseño web y hosting. Con James podríamos hablar de mucho temas pero hoy nos hemos centrado, o al menos lo hemos intentado, en como aprovechar al máximo los eventos (encuentros de personas de nuestro sector o formaciones) a los que asistimos. Hemos hablado de : Como escoger bien el evento que debemos ir. Como financiar y controlar los gastos ( él habla de inversión ) del desplazamiento al evento. Trucos para realizar un mejor networking ( contactar con las personas que nos interesan, pero en ingles suena mejor) Consejos para resistir eventos que duran todo el día. Cómo gestionar toda la información captada durante el evento una vez ya hemos vuelto a casa. Y muchas cosas más pero tendréis que escuchar todo el capítulo para descubrirlo. Si quieres saber más sobre el tema puedes leer "Eventos ¿debo ir? y qué hacer antes, durante y después" También nos ha recomendado algunos podcast que debemos escuchar aparte de este :-), os dejo una lista aunque nos ha prometido un articulo detallando el porqué hay que escucharlos. En castellano: "Zetatesters" de Carles Caño, Marc Alier, Daniel Amo y Tomás Manzanares. "Así lo hacemos" de  Álex Martinez Vidal y Joan Boluda "Queridos vecinos" de Lucie Pellier. "Aún puede ser" de Samuel Acera. En ingles: "Bootstrapped Web" de Brian Casel y Jordan Gal "The Smart Passive Income Podcast" de Pat Flynn "Freedom Fastlane" de Ryan Daniel Moran Deja tus comentarios y tus dudas sobre el podcast en los comentarios de este post. Te recordamos que tienes muchas más charlas interesantes como esta en nuestro podcast.

Welcome back to Bootstrapped Web! Today we share progress reports about our respective businesses and ask the question, “Should you go freemium or not?” Jordan has begun the process of “fattening” up Carthook's systems to add value to the company and move the business to the next stage. Carthook is also growing their team and there have been some growing pains in the communication process. There have been some hard lessons in the process that Jordan hints at that could help business owners build their systems more effectively. Brian has been putting a lot of energy and time into Ops Calendar. He is getting a lot of interest in the service and the product. This new interest has given him a reason to ask the question if freemium is a viable option for Audience Ops. There is some really useful and thoughtful discussion in today's episode, so tune in to join the conversation. [tweetthis]I feel freemium is one of these things that a lot of bootstrappers have not given a fair shake as a strategy. - Brian[/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: The “fattening up” process of Carthook. The struggles of building an effective team. Audience Ops and Ops Calendar progress reports. Ops Calendar's features and fixing the unexpected bugs. The usefulness of Slack. The benefits of letting  people “win.” Working with freelancers and building a positive business culture around them. Jordan's marketing experiments and the results. The pros and cons of freemium. [tweetthis]I admire people who are super product focused because I think it's fun. It's so creative and interesting. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Calendar Carthook As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

Brian Casel is the founder of Audience Ops, the host of the Productize Podcast, and a co-host of the Bootstrapped Web podcast. Throughout his career, he has started, grown, and run multiple productized online service businesses in various industries. Needless to say, he has plenty of expertise, and he’s here today to share his valuable insight. You’ll hear how Brian transitioned from a do-it-yourself service to a done-for-you service, as well as what he finds truly valuable about running a productized service business. He then offers his advice for the first steps you should take if you’re hoping to create a similar business, and what to expect along the way. Here's What You'll Discover: The benefits of productized services. How to transition from consulting and/or project work to a productized service. First steps for getting clear on what you should offer. How Brian uses podcasting to expand his business. What to expect if you want to start a productized service business. You can find show notes and other information by clicking here: http://cashflowpodcasting.com/cfp035

Brian Casel is an entrepreneur focused on bootstrapping online businesses that combine software with productized services. Since starting his self-employed career as a professional freelance web designer back in 2008, he has built and later sold web design/SaaS business in 2015. He now runs Audience Ops, a content marketing service focused on helping B2B software companies grow their audience and customer-base.  He writes and teaches about entrepreneurship and freelancing through his blog and newsletter at casjam.com. He also creates and sells courses and ebooks there, most notably his course, Productize, which teaches consultants how to build, launch, and grow a productized service business.   His work and articles have been featured or published in Mashable, Smashing Magazine, Mixergy, Entrepreneur Magazine, and others. He has spoken at industry conferences such as MicroConf and Double Your Freelancing Conf. He also co-hosts the Bootstrapped Web podcast with Jordan Gal, where they talk behind-the-scenes of bootstrapping their online businesses.  Being in full-time business  Brian left his last full-time job at a wed design agency in January 2008 which translates to about 9 years in business. He started doing freelance web design while also working on different product ideas that didn't take off. Started RestaurantEngine in 2011 while still doing other freelance work. Launched RestaurantEngine in 2012 and in 2013 starting working on it full-time till 2015 when he sold it.     First product  The first product business that Brian worked on was creating Wordpress themes that he would sell as digital downloads. This made him some income every month but he sold the business to someone else in 2015.  Inspiration behind leaving formal employment to freelancing then to business  While still working at the web design agency, Brian noticed that the company used to hire freelancers occasionally. He realised that the freelancers were making a living from that, which prompted him to learn freelancing through free online resources. In 2008, he decided to start doing freelance work which actually helped him through the economic downturn and gradually led him towards starting his own business.  RestaurantEngine idea  While building websites for different clients in diverse industries, he realised how difficult it was for small business owners to build and set up their websites even on platforms like Wordpress. That inspired him to create a hosted platform built on top of Wordpress in order to make it easier for business owners to build websites for their businesses. While in the planning process he realised that he could not standardize the platform for all types of businesses so he had to specialize it to one business sector and he settled for the restaurant sector because restaurants always require the same content on their websites like menus, etc. Focusing on one industry/niche made it easier for him to market the product.  Going full-time into RestaurantEngine  Brian was balancing his freelance work with working on RestaurantEngine for 2 years before he could go full-time into it. He had three people working for him in customer support, one in sales and one in content marketing. He built the site himself and had one developer on-call to support when needed.  Determining the viability of the RestaurantEngine idea  Brian didn't know whether the idea would work but it worked out eventually. He had to invest a lot in terms of time, hard work and personal finances in order to build the platform before it even launched and started generating revenue.   Tip: Validating a new product idea or business idea before going into it is very important  Transition from RestaurantEngine to Audience Ops  By the time he was selling RestaurantEngine, he had already started building Audience Ops. The sale closed in June 2015, and Audience Ops had launched and gotten its first clients in May 2015.  Reason for the sale...

We cover a lot in this episode of Bootstrapped Web. We give our listeners an update on both companies' progress and we discuss some exciting news in the startup world. Brian shares some of the goals he has for Audience Ops in the near future. Jordan has an awesome story to share about his new VIP client.  We compare our business needs and consider the unexpected problems that come with growth. We also discuss two really insightful articles that just came out, Amazon's New Customer, by Ben Thompson and Why I Bought Your Software by Justin Jackson. Both articles are great reads and we have some good takeaways from them. [tweetthis]If it's not 100% core to what we do, first option will be to integrate with the big player in the field. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: Jordan's new VIP customer. Ben Thompson's latest article. The Amazon and Whole Foods merger. Why the merger is a good thing. Lessons Jordan has learned from his new hire. The benefits of mastermind groups. The biggest expense for any growing company. How do you know when you've reached “feature completeness?” Brian's Ops Calendar update. Justin Jackson's latest article. Seeking Wisdom with David Cancel. [tweetthis]I feel like, if you're not in such a cut-throat, competitive space, you can get by with a slower road map. - Brian[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Amazon's New Customer, by Ben Thompson Audience Ops Carthook Drift Front App Intercom Ops Calendar Seeking Wisdom Why I Bought Your Software, by Justin Jackson As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

Welcome back to Bootstrapped Web. On today's episode we cover a lot of subjects that are both business and personal nature. We update you on Brian's Calendar product and Jordan tells us about a talk he gave to his accelerator group. We also discuss Brian's experience with Facebook ads and how Facebook is helping him get the word out about Audience Ops. He shares some tools he has found useful  while creating these ads. If you are looking for some easy to use tools for your ads you might find this episode interesting. [tweetthis]For now the goal is to drive more leads through a funnel for the content service and keep that engine turning.- Brian[/tweetthis] Here are our conversation points: Jordan's talk with Portland's Starve Ups. How Brian uses Facebook ads to promote Audience Ops. What is a Facebook lead ad? Creating ad campaigns with Facebook. Jordan's problems with Facebook Pixel. Our discussion about public school and it's lack of individuality. Brian's update on the calendar project. Why working with people in person is useful. [tweetthis]We have become the default recovery app for subscription businesses. We own that market. - Jordan [/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Starve Ups Animoto Beacon.by Audience Ops Carthook Facebook As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

Today's Bootstrapped Web is going  to be an up-date episode. We both have a lot to talk  about with what we're working at the moment. Audience Ops and Carthook have new products and we discuss what is working for our sales respectively. We talk about transparency and some resources that will help you improve your sales game.  So tune in for the latest developments in Carthook and Audience Ops and what you can expect in the coming months. [tweetthis]Force the demo and you will get fewer sign-ups, but you will get into a lot of conversations. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: Why we don't see the point to total transparency. When to ask for the credit card during a sign-up. Brian's plans to redesign the Audience Ops website. Getting ideas from Ruben Gamez from Bidsketch. Jordan's lessons from demos. Tweaking Audience Ops for a Resource Hub pivot. Brian's plan for launching Calendar for beta testers. [tweetthis]I feel like I can't launch anything else, until I have the new site up and running. -  Brian[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Carthook Securing the Five Figure Sale, by: Ian Landsman Product Demos that Sell: How to Deliver Winning SAAS Demos, by: Steli Efti Audience Ops Calendar As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

Welcome back to Bootstrapped Web. Our guest today is Ruben Gamez, the founder of Bidsketch.com. We are talking to Ruben today because Bidsketch is getting ready to launch a new product. Since we both are launching new products we thought it would be good to compare notes. Bidsketch's main product has been a proposal tool. Now they want to add a signature app to their brand. Today we discuss how to research for a new product and how to handle expanding when there are competitors. We compare notes about our own product lines and how to get the customers to notice. [tweetthis]I think there are plenty, well established competing companies who just have feature bloat. - Brian[/tweetthis] Here are today's topics: How to find positioning and distribution for a new product. Why begin a separate product line. Finding the “why” when people don't use your product. How to focus on two product lines. Creating a good elevator pitch. Finding your hook. Asking the right questions of new customers. How to reach people outside of your network. Ruben's timeline. How to find the gaps in your competitor's products. Why you shouldn't copy just to copy a competitor. If you are interested in Bidsketch and their new product, you can go to bidsketch.com or find Ruben on Twitter. [tweetthis]There is all this lead up that goes into it [switching apps] that you don't see it beneath the surf. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Calendar Bidsketch Carthook Ruben Gamez's Twitter As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

Today's episode is basically a therapy session for us both. We lay out our current issues and talk each other though the options. Jordan is dealing with customers and their personal expectations for the products. Brian is looking for balance in his development stage on the calendar product. We try our best to see our situations from all angles and possibilities. [tweetthis]The first step is deciding which things are the right things to pursue. - Jordan[/tweetthis] So join us for our conversation today, you might learn some things about the futures of Carthook and Audience Ops. Here are today's topics: Carthook's customer response to the checkout product. Dealing with customer requests. When it is time to expand a company. Approaching service based business models. Approaching product based business models. The alternative answer to consulting services. How to standardize operations. The 2 approaches to launches. Finding the balance of life and product development. An Audience Ops podcast. Audience Ops webinars. [tweetthis]What's the higher level goal for the company? And that's not just revenue and profit. - Brian[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: CartHook Audience Ops Calendar Sponsor Indeed Prime – Get a $5,000 bonus when you get hired through Indeed Prime using Bootstrapped Web's link. As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

Today is a basic update episode, but we have a special guest as well. Justin McGill is the co-founder of LeadFuze and co-host of the podcast Zero to Scale. He joins us on the update train today and gives us an idea of what the future holds for LeadFuze. Jordan tells us how his team meetup is going and Brian fills us in on what is going on with Audience Ops. [tweetthis]Finding talent is so hard & to limit to just my zipcode is... I don't see how that would have worked. - Brian Casel[/tweetthis] We cover a lot of topics today. Our main discussion boils down to the pros and cons of remote teams. A lot of founders find remote works well for them, but today we discuss the virtues of a brick and mortar office space. Here are today's topics: Jordan's meetup progress. The pressures of being the boss and having a life. Jordan's product development troubles. Jordan's new website and onboarding process for the check-out product. Brian's 50k milestone. Brian's search for a good writer. Brian's return to sale calls. Justin's LeadFuze issues. The stress of going from remote team to office space. The importance of office culture to a business. How to decompress while working at home. Slack vs. e-Mail What's going on with Audience Ops' software. [tweetthis]There is a point in time where you just say 'Screw it, I'm going to start marketing.' - Jordan Gal[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Zero to Scale LeadFuze CartHook Audience Ops Calendar Sponsor Indeed Prime - Get a $5,000 bonus when you get hired through Indeed Prime using Bootstrapped Web's link.   As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

We're are having a “party” episode with some special guests today. We've got Dave Rodenbaugh, Craig Hewitt, and later on Brad Touesnard joining us. We are all involved with Big Snow Tiny Conf. Brian is head of the Vermont event, Dave is head of the West event (Colorado.) Craig is taking care of our European event in France. Today we talk about the conference and why we love it. [tweetthis]It's [Big Snow Tiny Conf] half retreat, half mastermind. -  Dave Rodenbaugh[/tweetthis] We also discuss living abroad and working remote and with remote teams. The startup world is going global and we want Big Snow Tiny Conf to reflect that. Here are today's topics: What is Big Snow Tiny Conf Big Snow Tiny Conf East Big Snow Tiny Conf West Big Snow Tiny Conf Europe Why the events are awesome! Jordan's meetup with his team Why traveling is a perk to the Bootstrapped lifestyle If you have an interest in Big Snow Tiny Conf tickets go on sale Oct. 10th. Remember these events are meant to be small so space is limited. Big Snow Tiny Confs East and West (Vermont and Colorado)  are scheduled for Feb. 6-9.  Big Snow Tiny Conf Europe (France) is scheduled for Jan. 16-19. [tweetthis]I think travel specifically is one of the big drivers of why I do this for a living. - Brian Casel[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Big Snow Tiny Conf Bootstrapped Web Sponsor Indeed Prime - Get a $5,000 bonus when you get hired through Indeed Prime using Bootstrapped Web's link.   As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

Today on Bootstrapped Web we talk about a new product from Audience Ops. Brian has developed a software product called Audience Ops Calendar. He has offered it to 12 clients and based his approach on a pre-sale model. During today's episode Brian tell us how he has developed the product. He answers why he chose  to develop a calendar, how to use his software, and how he plans to market it. If you've ever been curious about a SAAS development this episode will tell you the right way to go about it. [tweetthis]Getting people into your software product to pay a monthly fee is not the only way to sell your software product. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: Why Brian decided to launch this idea. The problems the project has had. The 3 ideal customers for Brian's product. The features of the product. Brian's process to develop the product. Why having a beta group is a good idea. Brian's team building process. [tweetthis]Reach certain milestones that you are able to invite 5 paying customers. Then another 5, then another 5. - Brian[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Carthook Audience Ops Calendar WP Simple Pay Pro As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

Chris gets a surprise while reviewing Upcase's Q4 profit & loss statement, gains some insight into e-mail marketing, wrestles with the added complexity of adding github auth-to-access, and brainstorms new community-driven projects. Meanwhile, Ben gets his hands dirty with Formkeep's Ember removal, is tempted by the siren's call of distraction, and gets an open review from the Bootstrapped Web podcast. Also, Chris does a live user-test of Formkeep's new user activation flow. Formkeep Upcase The Chris Toomey of Real Estate Deep Work- Cal Newport Bootstrapped Web Ep 98- Formkeep Teardown! xkcd: Nerd Sniping Pave the Cowpaths Cooper Press