Podcasts about Bootstrapping

In this bonus episode, Justin interviews his 18-year-old daughter, Sadie, about: A Gen Z perspective on podcasting Why women are the future of podcasting: Edison Research "Now, look at the rookies – 47% are men, but the majority, 53% are women." "Most women get their podcast recommendations from Spotify, social media, or their friends." We talk a lot about podcast advertising, podcast ads, and how the adtech industry should think differently about how they target women."Most podcast ads are just men talking to men." 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 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 ★

(Throwback episode!) After spending years pursuing a career in science, Lynne Tye (@lynnetye) shocked her family and colleagues by dropping out of grad school. Thus began a months-long journey of discovery and experimentation that eventually saw her managing 150 people at a high-profile tech startup. But when Lynne realized the fast-paced startup lifestyle was not for her, she quit that, too, and began her search all over again. In this episode, Lynne shares the story behind how she took her career into her own hands, learned to code, and started a business doing what she loves.Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/086-lynne-tye-of-key-values

Stefan Smulders is a SaaS Entrepreneur, Forbes Business Council and Father of a 5-year-old son. He's the Co-founder of Expandi, a cold outreach automation tool that helps B2B marketers and agencies to automate their lead generation efforts on LinkedIn. It is completely bootstrapped SaaS where his team grew it from zero to $6M ARR in 18 months. During this interview we cover: 00:00 - Intro 01:57 - Linkedin's Policy Change and How It Affects Outreach & Sales 06:50 - The Future of Outbound Sales Sequences 07:45 - Linkedin's Profile Score & Engagement 11:43 - Getting Started on Cold Campaign 18:01 - Linkedin Outreach Strategies 21:34 - Expandi.io Initial Stage & First Clients 31:17 - Contentfy.co Your On-Demand Podcast Editing Team 33:13 - Creating Content & Post The Right Way 34:55 - Finding The Right Audience 36:33 - Plans for Growth & Expansion 41:04 - Stefan's Vision While Starting Expandi.io 46:23 - Piece Of Advice Stefan Would Give To His 25 Years-Old Self 48:32 - Stefan's Greatest Challenges at Expandi.io 50:23 - Instrumental Resources For Stefan's Success 52:27 - What Does Success Mean To Stefan Today 54:23 - Get in Touch With Stefan Mentions: *https://lempod.com (Lempod) *SaaS District Episode with https://youtu.be/IwV90ZMQM-0 (Guillaume Moubeche), Co-Founder of Lempod https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilya-azovtsev/ (Ilya Azovtsev) https://growthhackers.com (Grown Hackers) Get In Touch With Stefan: https://twitter.com/smuldersstefan (Twitter) https://www.facebook.com/stefan.smulders.83 (Facebook Messenger) Email Giveaway / Discount Links https://drive.google.com/file/d/11LQjPvy_KcYZ7ic2nGz7g_likeiNoqct/view?usp=sharing (Expandi's new eBook with top strategies to promote your next event up to 1000+ Attendees (The best way to go these days on linkedIn)) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WXb7uWOqYqiVPC57YoECNPY8KT3xvAiu/view (Top 10 LinkedIn Outreach templates from top influencers): Tag us & follow: https://www.facebook.com/HorizenCapitalOfficial/ (Facebook) https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizen-capital (LinkedIn) https://www.instagram.com/saasdistrict/ (Instagram) More about Akeel: https://twitter.com/AkeelJabber (Twitter) https://linkedin.com/in/akeel-jabbar (LinkedIn) https://horizencapital.com/saas-podcast (More Podcast Sessions)

This week Brian speaks with Ben Stein, CEO of Staple! Relying on humans to extract, enter and manage data is a valuable waste of resources. These activities can be slow, error-prone and expensive, and worse still, no employee enjoys this sort of mundane, repetitive work. Staple has developed an ML tool that reads, interprets and extracts structured data from documents faster, more accurately and more affordably than any human can, at scale. Our data extraction capabilities operate successfully regardless of layout or language. Although business documents like invoices and receipts are common use cases for AP automation, we can an also capture data from semi-structured and unstructured documents including medical claims, bills of lading, trade settlement documentation and many more. For more information, visit www.staple.io If you have the next big idea, apply to the Expert Dojo Accelerator: www.expertdojo.com

This week's guest is my friend, Kevin Espiritu. Kevin is the founder of Epic Gardening, the world's biggest gardening education platform. We became good friends over the internet--Kevin and I talked about the trend of parasocial relationships and how you can get to know someone despite having little to no in-person interaction.   We talked about how Kevin transitioned from making a living out of playing poker, to building websites, to marketing and blogging, and finally, working full-time on Epic Gardening. This project went on to garner the biggest gardening audiences on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram and has branched into direct-to-consumer business without any ad spend.   Kevin relates his mistake in scaling the company revenue faster than he built the team, saying he likely left growth on the table. Leveraging people was a challenge at first. He says he thinks of himself more as a content creator and not really as a writer or YouTuber or podcaster, which eventually helped ease the process of trusting new team members to take on such responsibilities as he grew the company.   Kevin is now raising PE money and making an acquisition as an independent entrepreneur. We've had such a wonderful conversation that goes beyond Epic Gardening and into fun stuff like how creators can implement web3 tools, Kevin's short career as a male model, pink pineapple piracy, and so much more.   Additional Resources   Epic Gardening - https://www.epicgardening.com/ Epic Gardening on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/EpicGardening Epic Gardening on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/epicgardening Epic Gardening on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/epicgardening/ Epic Gardening on Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@epicgardening The Epic Gardening Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epic-gardening-daily-growing-tips-and-advice/id1221085548 Scribe Media - https://scribemedia.com/ Missouri Star Quilt Company - https://www.missouriquiltco.com/ The Fish that Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen - https://www.amazon.com/Fish-That-Ate-Whale-Americas/dp/1250033314   Topics   (1:22) - Thoughts on Podcasting & being ‘internet friends' (3:35) - How do you feel about accidentally becoming famous? (4:48) - Kevin's story: Poker, Blogging & Epic Gardening (15:09) - Scaling platforms & building a team (28:07) - Introducing Products (32:36) - Balancing loving gardening and running a business (38:08) - Kevin's Consumption: YouTube, Podcasts, etc. (39:46) - Book writing & publishing (45:41) - Raising capital & compounding patience (54:50) - Kevin's stint as a male model (57:13) - Acquisitions & Plant commerce Logistics (1:00:44) - How does IP work in the agricultural world? (1:04:51) - The opportunity cost of reading (1:06:16) - Web3 & Crypto (1:15:23) - To what extent can we all be growing our own food? (1:22:11) - A return to wholesomeness (1:25:34) - Wrap up   Additional Episodes If You Enjoyed: Jason Hitchcock: Your Guide to Web3 (DeFi, NFTs, and The Metaverse) Nick Huber: How to Build Leverage, Buy Businesses, and Go Viral on Twitter   If you want to support the podcast, here are a few ways you can:  >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/  >> Share the podcast with your friends and on social media  >> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners  >> Make a weekly, monthly, or one-time donation: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa  >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson >> Follow @FirstsFamous on Twitter  >> Learn more and sign up for the “Building a Mountain of Levers” course and community: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage  I appreciate your support!     Important quotes from Naval on building wealth and the difference between wealth and money:   How to get rich without getting lucky. - Naval Ravikant   Making money is not a thing you do—it's a skill you learn. - Naval Ravikant   I came up with the principles in my tweetstorm (below) for myself when I was really young, around thirteen or fourteen. I've been carrying them in my head for thirty years, and I've been living them. Over time (sadly or fortunately), the thing I got really good at was looking at businesses and figuring out the point of maximum leverage to actually create wealth and capture some of that created wealth. - Naval Ravikant   Seek wealth, not money or status. - Naval Ravikant   Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. - Naval Ravikant   Money is how we transfer time and wealth. - Naval Ravikant   Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games.    You're not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity—a piece of a business—to gain your financial freedom.  - Naval Ravikant   The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn. The old model of making money is going to school for four years, getting your degree, and working as a professional for thirty years. But things change fast now. Now, you have to come up to speed on a new profession within nine months, and it's obsolete four years later. But within those three productive years, you can get very wealthy. - Naval Ravikant     Important quotes from the podcast by Naval on Leverage:   “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”  —Archimedes    To get rich, you need leverage. Leverage comes in labor, comes in capital, or it can come through code or media. But most of these, like labor and capital, people have to give to you. For labor, somebody has to follow you. For capital, somebody has to give you money, assets to manage, or machines. - Naval Ravikant   Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media). - Naval Ravikant   Capital and labor are permissioned leverage. Everyone is chasing capital, but someone has to give it to you. Everyone is trying to lead, but someone has to follow you. - Naval Ravikant   Code and media are permissionless leverage. They're the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep. - Naval Ravikant   If you can't code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts. - Naval Ravikant   Leverage is a force multiplier for your judgment. - Naval Ravikant   Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve. - Naval Ravikant   “We live in an age of infinite leverage, and the economic rewards for genuine intellectual curiosity have never been higher. Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foundation for a career than following whatever is making money right now.” - Naval Ravikant   Important Quotes from the podcast on Business and Entrepreneurship   There is no skill called “business.” Avoid business magazines and business classes. - Naval Ravikant   You have to work up to the point where you can own equity in a business. You could own equity as a small shareholder where you bought stock. You could also own it as an owner where you started the company. Ownership is really important.     Everybody who really makes money at some point owns a piece of a product, a business, or some IP. That can be through stock options if you work at a tech company. That's a fine way to start.    But usually, the real wealth is created by starting your own companies or even by investing. In an investment firm, they're buying equity. These are the routes to wealth. It doesn't come through the hours. - Naval Ravikant

Heather Walsh is the Executive Director of the MedTech cohort, part of the mHUB Accelerator Program. She is responsible for sourcing and evaluation, as well as program execution.  One of the nation's leading independent hardtech innovation and manufacturing centers has selected the startup teams that will participate in the premier cohort of its 6-month, hands-on accelerator for high-potential medical device businesses. Teams will move from across the country to participate in the program at mHUB's state-of-the-art facilities in Chicago. Baxter and Edward-Elmhurst Health Venture Capital are industry partners. Learn more.

Heather Walsh is the Executive Director of the MedTech cohort, part of the mHUB Accelerator Program. She is responsible for sourcing and evaluation, as well as program execution.  One of the nation's leading independent hardtech innovation and manufacturing centers has selected the startup teams that will participate in the premier cohort of its 6-month, hands-on accelerator for high-potential medical device businesses. Teams will move from across the country to participate in the program at mHUB's state-of-the-art facilities in Chicago. Baxter and Edward-Elmhurst Health Venture Capital are industry partners. Learn more.

Bryan Clayton has gone from scratch and bootstrapped his businesses to 8 figures. He turned Peach Tree in Tennessee into a $10 million a year business before he was able to sell it, and he started Greenpal shortly after, which has over 200K active users all over the country today.  In this episode, we're talking to Bryan as he shares how he went from landscaper to business owner to multimillionaire. Listen now to hear tons of gold nuggets of wisdom from someone who turned a business that isn't flashy and glamorous into something that racks 8-figures a year and reaches hundreds of thousands nationwide!  Key Talking Points of the Episode [01:30] Simple Passive Cash Flow [04:10] Continuing the business after college [05:47] A nine-year overnight success [06:15] Entrepreneurship isn't just manifesting [07:10] Is entrepreneurship a skill set? [08:28] How did Bryan start investing? [09:29] Investing takes the pressure off your business [10:05] The snowball effect [11:41] The truth about reinvesting [12:10] Paying yourself first [13:15] Bryan's tips for bootstrapping your business [14:17] Why should you focus on revenue?  [15:09] Having accountability in business [16:24] Bryan's advice for new entrepreneurs [17:05] Learning more through experience [23:06] Two strategies for startups [24:12] Focusing on the fundamentals Quotables “People overestimate what they can do in a year and then underestimate what they can do in ten.” “I think anybody can be an entrepreneur so long as you're willing to sacrifice and play the long game.” “Revenue is always the best kind of financing for any kind of business.” “Nobody's going to steal a broke business.”

Peter Suhm is the co-founder of Reform, a tool that lets you easily create simple, brandable forms. Peter is also part of the Tiny Seed 1st batch, where he was working on a product called branch Branch. After that didn't work out, he went through a period of testing and validating ideas.One of those ideas was a investor update tool, where Peter discovered how convoluted creating a form with existing tools was. Using Twitter and a very early stage MVP, he validated the idea for Reform and got to work building.Since then he's had #1 Product of the Week on Product Hunt and is now working through the challenges of building features and growing revenue. You might have also heard Peter on the Out of Beta podcast, which he co-hosts with Matt Wensing.➡️ Get the uncut, 30 minute conversation with Peter on the Indie Bites membership here.What we covered in this episode: Coming up with the idea for Reform Validating the idea for Reform Why build a product in such a competitive market Where form builders keep messing up Getting to #1 Product Hunt of the week When is the right time to launch on PH Marketing and growth tests for Reform going forward Continuing to try things that don't scale Where should founders start with marketing? Peter's approach to product development The feedback loop of Twitter The upsides of raising Tiny Seed money Recommendations Book: Traction by Gabriel Weinberg Podcast: Tropical MBA Indie Hacker: Derrick Reimer Follow Peter Twitter Personal Site Follow Me Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Personal Website Buy A Wallet 2 Hour Podcast Course Sponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

Earlier this summer, we were feeling pretty stuck. We had been working on Luna Display for Windows going on 2 years and we still hadn't shipped. So we put together a plan, picked a ship date, and committed to a final sprint. The result was...... our second biggest launch of all time!

The Delphi Podcast Host and GP of Delphi Ventures Tom Shaughnessy sits down with Gregg, Instigator and Genesis Team of SquiggleDAO, a DAO foundry for on-chain generative art. The two discuss the role of Squiggles within the community,  bootstrapping its treasury, incentivising DAO work, and much more! Show Notes:  (00:00:00) – Introduction. (00:00:17) – What is a Squiggle? (00:01:29) – How Gregg got into Squiggles. (00:02:52) – Introduction to SquiggleDAO. (00:05:18) – The effects of SquiggleDAO's entry requirements on the community. (00:08:00) – The role of Squiggles within the DAO.  (00:10:35) – Current community projects. (00:13:07) – Gregg's role within the DAO.  (00:16:26) – The SquiggleDAO treasury.  (00:19:12) – Why members were willing to part with valuable art pieces. (00:25:00) – The value of SquiggleDAO tokens.  (00:27:17) – Hunting for rare Squiggles. (00:28:43) – How SquiggleDAO operates. (00:33:40) – Are members' worth in Squiggles a factor? (00:35:22) – Reputation vs. incentives as motivators. (00:38:12) – Using rare Squiggle fractions vs. floor Squiggles for DAO entry.  (00:39:47) – Expanding beyond Squiggles.  (00:43:08) – Success metrics for SquiggleDAO.   (00:45:30) – Closing thoughts. Social links:  Gregg's Twitter SquiggleDAO Twitter Resources:  Delphi Podcast Summaries SquiggleDAO Website SquiggleDAO Blog SquiggleDAO Governance Our Interview with Erick, Creator of Squiggles  More

Ryan Jeffery is the Executive Director of gener8tor's first-ever Chicago-based startup accelerator which focuses on sustainability and Climate-tech. genera8tor is one of the largest Midwest accelerator programs in the country. Ryan is a serial entrepreneur whose last company Ignite was sold in 2020. prior to Ignite, he was a partner at Roniin and a founder at GropwthPanda.Learn more about gener8tor.

Ryan Jeffery is the Executive Director of gener8tor's first-ever Chicago-based startup accelerator which focuses on sustainability and Climate-tech. genera8tor is one of the largest Midwest accelerator programs in the country. Ryan is a serial entrepreneur whose last company Ignite was sold in 2020. prior to Ignite, he was a partner at Roniin and a founder at GropwthPanda.Learn more about gener8tor.

How do you make a ton of money on the internet, and how do you manage it once you've got it? In this crossover episode from the Brains podcast, we have a fun discussion about money with Anthony Pompliano (@APompliano) who's a Bitcoin 9-figure millionaire and Sam Parr (@theSamParr) who sold his startup The Hustle for a reported $27 million. Whether you enjoy this crossover episode or not, tweet me and let me know! I'm @csallen on Twitter.You can subscribe to Brains in your favorite podcast player or via our website: https://www.brainspodcast.com

Brian Rosen is an expert in the adult beverage industry. He was CEO of his own $100M retail liquor enterprise, Sam's Wines and Spirits of Chicago, a partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Adult Beverage Advisory Services, and lead consultant in trade marketing at Anheuser-Busch. He's also the founder of both InvestBev and BevStrat.  InvestBev is an investment firm specializing in alcohol sources of capital and alcohol and beverage brands. BevStrat is an independent sales arm that works closely with distributors and suppliers to bring independent brands the power they deserve. Learn more about InvestBev and BevStrat.

Brian Rosen is an expert in the adult beverage industry. He was CEO of his own $100M retail liquor enterprise, Sam's Wines and Spirits of Chicago, a partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Adult Beverage Advisory Services, and lead consultant in trade marketing at Anheuser-Busch. He's also the founder of both InvestBev and BevStrat.  InvestBev is an investment firm specializing in alcohol sources of capital and alcohol and beverage brands. BevStrat is an independent sales arm that works closely with distributors and suppliers to bring independent brands the power they deserve. Learn more about InvestBev and BevStrat.

Gino Barbaro is a best-selling author and Founder of Jake & Gino, an education platform helping others achieve financial freedom through multi-family real estate investing. Gino and his partner also host the #1 multi-family real estate podcast on iTunes called Wheelbarrow Profits. Gino is here to talk to us about the 7 levels of building a successful business, which really applies to any type of business. He walks us through them step by step and offers great advice for how you can launch your business to new heights while giving real examples with each level.   During this interview, we discuss:  1:41 – Gino's background and how he got into real estate investing, writing, and podcasting  5:03 – What is multi-family real estate and why do we love it?  7:30 – First level of building a successful business: Get clear with what you want to do  9:53 – Second level of building a successful business: Educate yourself and get a mentor  12:46 – Third level of building a successful business: Take action!  14:55 – Fourth level of building a successful business: Your first deal + Bootstrapping  17:58 – Fifth level of building a successful business: Acquire more customers and deals  21:17 – Sixth level of building a successful business: Start hiring + Build systems  25:10 – Seventh level of building a successful business: Leave your day job + Scaling up + Create your mission statement  27:15 – Gino shares his final thoughts on the seven levels.  27:55 – He shares his favorite growth driver.  28:37 – His most recommended book  Plus, a whole lot more!  Visit Jake & Gino's website     ————————-  If you enjoyed this episode, please RATE / REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE to ensure you never miss an episode.  Connect with Dennis Brown   AskDennisBrown.com  LinkedIn  Twitter  Instagram [Free Giveaways] 

Brian Casel is a veteran of the bootstrapping game, having left his full-time job back in 2008. You might have heard him on the Boostrapped Web podcast where he shares his journey starting and building software products. Over the years Brian has pretty much done it all, built software businesses, courses, productized services and even sold some along the way. Most recently, Brian has been working on ZipMessage, a new way to communicate asynchronously.➡️ Get the uncut, 60 minute recording with Brian on the Indie Feast membership here.What we covered in this episode: Where did the idea of ZipMessage come from? How Brian validated ZipMessage Brian's unconventional approach to validation Why Brian raised funding from Calm Company Fund How can people go from freelancer to productized service The importance of building processes in productized services Why Brian didn't follow his passion for music Recommendations Book: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight Podcast: Smartless Indie Hacker: James McKinven (errm...) Follow Brian Twitter Personal Site Follow Me Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Personal Website Buy A Wallet 2 Hour Podcast Course Sponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

In this episode I talk with Aaron Alderman, Director and Founder at Tanks! For Playing. Tanks! For Playing aims to revolutionise the blockchain gaming space with a novel concept where gameplay is based around social connection and strategy that is fuelled by the ambition to win cash prizes in tournaments. #Tanks ☑️ Technology and Technology Partners Mentioned: #Blockchain, #Web3, Web2.0, NodeJS, Amazon, Kubernetes, React, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polymatic, Solidity, EVM, Uniswap, Quickswap, Pancakeswap, Coin MarketCap, Coin Gecko, NFTs ☑️ Raw Talking Points: * Blockchain gaming * Bootstrapping a new company through ICO ($441,755) * TANKS Token * Burns (what is burning) * Multi-chain * Web3 vs Web2 Technologies * The Game Its self written in Unity (mobile or in browser) * Investors vs players ... target market * What does it mean for the game to be fully on-chain * NFTs in Blockchain gaming * Hosting application/games for Web3 Technology behind that ☑️ Web: https://tanksforplaying.io/ ☑️ Whitepaper: https://storage.googleapis.com/tanks-... ☑️ Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJPHl... ☑️ Interested in being on #GTwGT? Contact via Twitter @GTwGTPodcast ☑️ Music: https://www.bensound.com

Brian Luerssen is one of the General Partners of LongJump, a first-check venture fund designed to elevate Chicago's startup landscape by investing in underrepresented ideas & founders. LongJump is made up of a team of experienced and successful founders who help arm start-ups with capital, community, and connections to aid them in taking the leap towards building fast-growing, scalable businesses. Learn more.

Brian Luerssen is one of the General Partners of LongJump, a first-check venture fund designed to elevate Chicago's startup landscape by investing in underrepresented ideas & founders. LongJump is made up of a team of experienced and successful founders who help arm start-ups with capital, community, and connections to aid them in taking the leap towards building fast-growing, scalable businesses. Learn more.

Today I'm talking to Justin Jackson (@mijustin). He's someone who started out in entrepreneurship by opening a brick and mortar snowboarding shop. I want to find out how he made the unlikely leap into SaaS and how having four kids at a young age changed both his journey and how he thinks about money, legacy, and the future.  Follow Justin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mijustin Get your podcast hosted on Transistor: https://transistor.fm/

As Ernest Hemmingway wisely said, “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." But trusting blindly doesn't come without risk and if someone ultimately proves they didn't deserve your trust to begin with, it may already be too late.. That is the devastating lesson that Mitchell Hayes, founder and CEO of Los Sundays Tequila had to learn the hard way. “We had some people involved with the business in the early days where a lot of money went missing,” Hayes said. “There was no way for us to get it back. And it nearly sunk us. We were working out of my lounge room at home, around the dining room table. I stopped paying myself cause the money disappeared out of the account to keep paying the three employees that we had. The bank account literally hit zero twice.This was a sink or swim situation for Mitchell and Los Sundays. But, frankly, Mitchell was made to swim. He had been finding his way through all kinds of choppy and unfamiliar waters his whole life. Where did that grit and determination come from, and where did it ultimately lead? Let's find out. Welcome back to The Journey.Main Takeaways:Compensate for your Weaknesses: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and so does every business. Learn first what the demands of the industry are, learn your competition. Then take stock of your own store of goods; what are you especially talented at, what are your strongest skills?  Then think about where you might be able to utilize your skill in an area that your competitors are weak in. This tactic can be enough to toe the line with your competitors. Any Means Necessary: Every business owner comes across trying times and difficult challenges, but sometimes overcoming those things takes superhuman effort. Owning your own business will likely involve a good bit of personal sacrifice and struggle at some, if not many, points. Go into entrepreneurship with the mentality of getting it done by any means possible.It's Okay if Dreams Change: What we start out wanting to do as kids is rarely what we end up having a career in. When you dedicate your entire childhood and younger adult years toward achieving that same goal, the transition to something else can be difficult. Know that changing your dream doesn't mean that you failed at the first one, you just re-negotiated the terms of your dream. ---This season of the Journey is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by UPS. To learn how UPS can help your small business, go to UPS.com/pivot.

Rob Walling, entrepreneur, investor, CEO of Tinyseed & Microconf, and godfather of bootstrapping SaaS tells Geordie what he considers in his SaaS investments. Listen and learn.   Apart from building and selling different startups, Rob has been collaborating and assisting non-venture backed startup founders for nearly two decades now. He also hosts a popular podcast for bootstrappers, boasting 500 five-star reviews and over 10 million downloads. He talks to Geordie about his journey.   What You'll Learn What does Tinyseed & Microconf entail, and how do they work? What makes Tinyseed different from other accelerators in the market? Why SaaS founders choose Tinyseed and Microconf over their competitors Importance of having an audience before launching your idea Why pricing is a critical factor in SaaS Why an entrepreneur's goals determine the type of product they build  Why raising your prices too high is never a good idea  In This Episode Rob highlights podcasting for startups, working on Microconf, an in-person and online community for bootstrap founders from different parts of the world, and Tinyseed, the inaugural startup accelerator that strives to facilitate success for SaaS bootstrappers as his key roles. He says he spends most of his time on the latter two. How does he manage? Find out from the podcast.  Unlike other accelerators in the market today, Tinyseed is remote, and its terms enable people to operate a profitable company. He gives extensive details about Tinyseed in this podcast which you cannot afford to miss. Together with his team, Rob has started numerous investments with their 59 launching in the next few weeks. How does Rob identify these startups? Doing due diligence is a crucial part of ensuring that you are dealing with reliable people. Both Tinyseed and Microconf come with an application process that customers should fill before becoming part of the accelerator program. Rob says they do interviews, make offers, and give their applicants a terms sheet to fill. Once SaaS founders agree to the terms and conditions, they become part of the accelerator. Rob and his team then fund them.  Rob mentions that many of the companies they deal with are not interested in funding but want mentorship, guidance, advice, and the proper SaaS network. Before investing in a potential company, Rob's team considers various factors. However, he only focuses on the three P's, people involved, product fit, and price sensitivity or pricing. Potential companies have to answer questions about their businesses and competition. Listen to the podcast to figure out some of the questions that companies must answer before being considered. During the application process, aspiring companies must describe their unique advantage over competitors and their average revenue MRR per user. It is at this point where Rob begins his rating on a one to five scale. Rob mentions the importance of MRR for companies, and you can learn about it in the podcast.  To qualify for the accelerator program, applicants should have at least $500 in MRR, but Rob says they prefer SaaS founders with between $800 and $1,000 on the lower end. He insists that they can still fund people with lower amounts.  Running a business comes with various challenges, and Rob says there is no blueprint for doing it right. While entrepreneurs may have numerous ideas, they are never sure they will work, making it one of the core challenges for entrepreneurs on their zero to 5000 MRR phase. Apart from needing guidance, SaaS founders require reassurance to counter challenges along the way and work towards success. The Tinyseed Playbook defines funnels and guides SaaS founders, helping them understand the importance of pricing their products right. This playbook is ideal for -entrepreneurs in their 5,000 to 15,000 MRR phase. In this case, the entire team collaborates to identify what works best for the companies and ensure they are doing things right. Content marketing is a critical factor that Rob and his team consider before collaborating with SaaS founders. However, he mentions that the strategy is ideal for companies within the lower price range. He also discusses the role of LTV (Lifetime value) and SEO.  Pricing is one of the factors that Rob holds close to his heart. He says that a huge percentage of his candidates admit that their pricing is either overly low or off in a way. Listen to the podcast for a more elaborate explanation of why pricing can be a difficult task and what entrepreneurs can do to get it right. Businesses that have a higher price tend to grow faster, according to Rob. Find the reason why from the podcast. Rob concludes the podcast by talking about launching Tinyseed in the UK.   Resources  TinySeed Rob Walling LinkedIn Rob Walling Website Rob Walling Twitter

Lyrid is a server-less cloud computing API management platform with dynamic load balancing among Google, AWS, Microsoft, Lyrid cloud, and private cloud. Machine learning is deployed to assure best measured trade off of cost versus performance for services in cloud computing. Most customers are seeing savings up to 90% when transitioning from the traditional virtual machine to a hybrid of virtual machine + Lyrid. Lyrid provides developers with an end-to-end experience from local code to global deployment of serverless functions. Lyrid's Function Delivery Networks lets the customer have the CDN-like experience for their code: push it once to our server and we will distribute them across all clouds. For more information, visit lyrid.io If you have the next big idea, apply to the Expert Dojo Accelerator: www.expertdojo.com

J. Brant Arseneau worked on Wall Street for 25 years after being rejected as an astronaut applicant. In the past, he built trading and risk system, and now builds financial infrastructure to support the growing space industry. He's the founder of a group of companies, including 9Point8 Capital, a firm that helps space companies from early to late stages. Recently, Brant was named Ambassador to the Canadian Space Agency. Learn more about 9Point8 Capital.

J. Brant Arseneau worked on Wall Street for 25 years after being rejected as an astronaut applicant. In the past, he built trading and risk system, and now builds financial infrastructure to support the growing space industry. He's the founder of a group of companies, including 9Point8 Capital, a firm that helps space companies from early to late stages. Recently, Brant was named Ambassador to the Canadian Space Agency. Learn more about 9Point8 Capital.

In 2019 Daniel Vassallo left his $500k salaried job at Amazon to go indie. In the 2 years since he left Daniel has placed many small bets, something he's become known for. In particular Daniel has seen success from his Info Products and building his audience on Twitter, which has grown from 0 to 91k. He wrote a short book on the good parts of AWS, which has made $126,000, then following the Twitter growth, wrote a book called Everyone Can Build a Twitter Audience, which has made $244,000. He shares all of his revenue reports in his Profit and Loss community, which in itself has made over $30k in the past year. In total, and in just over 2 years, Daniel has made $570k in revenue and $306k in profit since leaving his job at Amazon. But he's gained something he didn't have while working for someone else, freedom.➡️ Get the uncut, 80 minute recording with Daniel on the Indie Feast membership here.What we covered in this episode: Leaving a $500k job at Amazon to go Indie The trap of judging your life based on financial value Why the initial focusing on one product didn't work out for Daniel Where the small bets mindset originated How to deal with context switching with small bets Dealing with an uncertain income Why info products work well for a small bets strategy How book publishers work and how we can apply their methods The importance of the "small" in small bets How you can build a twitter audience like Daniel Why Daniel started making wooden cutting boards How he made $2,600 from one tweet Recommendations Book: Anti Fragile by Nassim Taleb Podcast: Indie Hackers Indie Hacker: Peter Askew More on Daniel Twitter On the IH pod His most popular articles Follow Me Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Personal Website Buy A Wallet 2 Hour Podcast Course Sponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

Earlier this summer, we were feeling pretty stuck. We had been working on Luna Display for Windows going on 2 years and we still hadn't shipped. So we put together a plan, picked a ship date, and committed to a final sprint. The result was...... our second biggest launch of all time!

In 2.5 years Colin Rego has hired more than 200 people, generated over 15 million dollars and has made a huge impact thanks to his company's Sargasso Sea app. It was not an easy road to get to this point though and in this episode, he shares his failures, difficult moments and lessons that helped him to get to where he is today.Sargasso Sea website here: https://sargassosea.appSargasso Sea on Instagram: @sargassoseeabda

Matt wants to let other people build apps and calculators on top of Summit. Peter is heads down thinking about growth.

Scott Weiner & Greg Mohr, co-owners of the Fifty/50 Restaurant Group, are back on the show to talk about how they survived the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty/50 owns 20 successful restaurants around the Chicagoland area. Not only did the company survive Covid, but Scott and Greg also fed people in the restaurant industry and local patrons who were affected by the virus for free. They also had a chance to work with José Andrés, chef and founder of the World Central kitchen. Learn more.

Scott Weiner & Greg Mohr, co-owners of the Fifty/50 Restaurant Group, are back on the show to talk about how they survived the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty/50 owns 20 successful restaurants around the Chicagoland area. Not only did the company survive Covid, but Scott and Greg also fed people in the restaurant industry and local patrons who were affected by the virus for free. They also had a chance to work with José Andrés, chef and founder of the World Central kitchen. Learn more.

Today I'm talking to Spencer Fry (@spencerfry), the founder of Podia. His business is super relevant right now because it is basically a one-stop shop to support creators and entrepreneurs. In this episode we discuss the importance of planning, how to iterate on a plan and how to stay persistent. Follow Spencer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/spencerfry Check out Podia: https://www.podia.com/ Ready Spencer's blog: http://www.spencerfry.com/

Should you bootstrap your business or get venture capital? If you're a bootstrapping startup and things get tight, you may consider vc funding for startups instead. But is it the right move? Or maybe you did get venture capital, and now you're wishing you hadn't. In today's video, I'll help you understand both options so you can make the best decision for your SaaS business or startup. What to Watch Next: Designing the Ideal Bootstrapped SaaS ➡️ https://bit.ly/ideal-bootstrapped-saas Building Your First Bootstrapped SaaS: The Ultimate Playlist ➡️https://bit.ly/build-your-first-saas https://microconfonair.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com E-mail ➡️ support@microconf.com MicroConf 2021 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/heyhey

Sean Mitchell is Co-founder & CEO of REZI, a software company that empowers property owners to lease vacant apartments on-demand, and tenants to find, tour, apply for, and ultimately lease their next home within 5 minutes — entirely online. The company was part of the 2017 Winter Batch at Y Combinator.

Sean Mitchell is Co-founder & CEO of REZI, a software company that empowers property owners to lease vacant apartments on-demand, and tenants to find, tour, apply for, and ultimately lease their next home within 5 minutes — entirely online. The company was part of the 2017 Winter Batch at Y Combinator.

Harry Morton is the founder of Lower Street Media, a podcast production agency that specialises in premium podcasts for ambitious companies. Lower Street are the agency behind top shows such as Secret Leaders, Technology Untangled and WFH Daily. Harry's business has skyrocketed since COVID, doubling in size of revenue and headcount in the last 6-months as more companies start to realise how effective podcasting can be. Harry also runs Single Track Conf, a 3-day mountain-biking founder retreat.➡️ Here's my course on starting a podcast in 2 hours or less (use "bites" for $10 off)What we covered in this episode: Why start an agency? it's not exactly a dream business to start. How Harry grew Lowerstreet through cold outreach1st client, Ultimate Leadership Podcast Why the productising model didn't work out for Lowerstreet What Harry did in the early days for growth How losing 30% of revenue was a catalyst for growth Doubling the agency revenue in 6 months Quitting his job with no savings to start Lowersteet Not knowing what to do when starting the company Addressing shiny object syndrome Why focus vs portfolio of projects argument is BS The secret sauce for making a sh*t hot podcast How to make a show that stands out Starting a mountain bike community Recommendations Book: Out on The Wire by Jessica Abel Podcast: Startup Indie Hacker: Andrew Wilkinson Follow Harry Twitter LinkedIn Follow Me Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Personal Website Buy A Wallet Sponsor - 2 Hour PodcastYes, that's right, I'm sponsoring my own show

Jack Ellis is the co-founder of Fathom Analytics, started with Paul Jarvis in 2019. Jack handles the technical side of the business, but isn't afraid to get on the mic on their podcast, Above Board, or send out some spicy tweets. Jack also runs the Serverless Laravel course, which he launched back in 2020. After this conversation Jack has turned into a true friend, speaking with me for several hours after, a genuinely nice chap. You're going to want the same thing after listening to this pod. Jack talks with great wisdom on how to approach bootstrapping a SaaS company and taking on a huge incumbent.➡️ Here's my course on starting a podcast in 2 hours or less (use "bites" for $10 off)What we covered in this episode: What is Fathom Analytics Joining as a co-founder after the company was founded How Fathom started How did they know Fathom was going to work What growth tactics did Fathom use to grow? How did they convince people to pay for analytics? The trade-off of free software How do you compete in a market with a huge incumbent Starting a medium competitor, Pico Benefits of having a co-founder Quitting a job for Jack's first side-project Starting a course (Serverless Laravel) that made $150,000 Recommendations Book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Podcast: Huberman Lab Indie Hacker: N/A Follow Jack Spicy Tweets Personal Website Follow Me Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Personal Website Buy A Wallet Sponsor - Part Time Tech JobsThank you to my friend Charlie from Weekend Club for sponsoring this episode, with his new project Part Time Tech Jobs, which is a fantastic site for finding and posting, you guessed it, part time tech jobs If you're looking to transistion from a full-time role to indie hacking, finding a part time role might be just the thing for you to de-risk that transition. And on the other side, if you're looking to hire great entrepreneurial talent without breaking the bank, this is where you should post.So if you're looking for a part time tech job, head to parttimetechjobs.co or if you're looking for tech talent, use the code INDIEBITES for 80% off all featured posts.

Dr. Jay Bhatt is a leading medical contributor for ABC News and tastytrade's go-to medical expert. He's Physician Executive, Internist, Geriatrician, public health innovator, and widely-quoted expert on healthcare transformation and improving healthcare outcomes. Today on the show he'll be talking about the current pandemic situation, the Delta variant, boosters, and answering viewer questions.drjaybhatt.com

Dr. Jay Bhatt is a leading medical contributor for ABC News and tastytrade's go-to medical expert. He's Physician Executive, Internist, Geriatrician, public health innovator, and widely-quoted expert on healthcare transformation and improving healthcare outcomes. Today on the show he'll be talking about the current pandemic situation, the Delta variant, boosters, and answering viewer questions.drjaybhatt.com

Today I'm talking to Sonal Chokshi, one of the biggest experts on building a media business that I know. Currently she's the Editor-in-Chief at a16z. In this episode we'll talk about creating content in a world where media moves so quickly. Follow Sonal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smc90 Pitch Future: https://future.a16z.com/pitch-us

Guillaume is an entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO at Lemlist, one of the coolest sales automation platforms on the market right now. Guillaume and his team bootstrapped in the past the “Lempire”, Lemlist + Lempod and exited Lempod to focus on Lemlist. During this interview we cover: 00:00 Oribi.io Smarter Data-Driven & Analytics Decisions 01:02 - Intro 01:57 - Most Effective Way to Reach Customers 10:20 - Personalized Sales Automation & Building Relationships 13:26 - Growth Channels that lead $10M + ARR 18:05 - Creating Content & Building a Community  21:32 - Recommendations to SaaS Founders about Growth Channels 27:36 - Buying Email List or Places to Get Sources? 29:12 - Contentfy.co Your On-Demand Podcast Editing Team 30:36 - How Often To Send Marketing Mail? Any Best Time? 33:53 - Increasing  the Reply Rate 35:23 - Top Tips & Tricks for Open Rates 38:16 - Guillaume Background, Exiting & Reffusing a $30M Funding Round 43:36 - Long Term Vision for Lemlist 44:54 - Advice Guillaume Would Give to His 25 Years Old-Self 45:59 - Matt's Greatest Challenges as Being CEO at Lemlist 46:22 - Instrumental Resources For Guillaume Success 48:32 -  What Does Success Mean To Guillaume Today 49:15 - Get in Touch With Guillaume Mentions: https://www.lemlist.com/ (Lemlist) http://lusha.com/ (Lusha) https://www.dropcontact.com/ (Dropcontact) https://www.pixelme.me/blog (Pixelme Blog) People https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/ (Rand Fishkin) Books: https://sparktoro.com/book (Lost & Founder) Get In Touch With Guillaume: https://www.linkedin.com/in/-g-/ (Guillaume Moubeche's Linkedin) Tag us & follow: https://www.facebook.com/HorizenCapitalOfficial/ (Facebook)  https://www.facebook.com/HorizenCapitalOfficial/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizen-capital (LinkedIn)  https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizen-capital https://www.instagram.com/saasdistrict/ (Instagram)  https://www.instagram.com/saasdistrict/ (https://www.instagram.com/saasdistrict/) More about Akeel: Twitter - https://twitter.com/AkeelJabber (https://twitter.com/AkeelJabber) LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/akeel-jabbar (https://linkedin.com/in/akeel-jabbar) More Podcast Sessions - https://horizencapital.com/saas-podcast (https://horizencapital.com/saas-podcast)

Blumira is a leading cybersecurity provider of automated threat detection and response technology. Founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Blumira's cloud SIEM (security information and event management) helps mid-market organizations--often with limited security resources or expertise--to prevent, detect and respond to cybersecurity threats in near real-time. Blumira was recognized by G2 as a top cloud SIEM provider and placed in 20 categories including "Best Return on Investment (ROI)," "Fastest Implementation," and "Easiest to Use" in the G2 Spring 2021 Grid® Reports. Steve Fuller is Co-founder & CEO.

Blumira is a leading cybersecurity provider of automated threat detection and response technology. Founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Blumira's cloud SIEM (security information and event management) helps mid-market organizations--often with limited security resources or expertise--to prevent, detect and respond to cybersecurity threats in near real-time. Blumira was recognized by G2 as a top cloud SIEM provider and placed in 20 categories including "Best Return on Investment (ROI)," "Fastest Implementation," and "Easiest to Use" in the G2 Spring 2021 Grid® Reports. Steve Fuller is Co-founder & CEO.

June Felix has over 25 years of experience in the finance and digital sectors and currently serves as CEO of IG Group, a world-leading online investment and trading provider of OTC derivatives, stocks, and options, and an established member of the FTSE 250. June sits on the Board of Advisors for The London Technology Club: a new exclusive club for investors and tech professionals. She is also a member of the Board Disclosure Committee at IG.  Prior to working at IG, June was President of Verifone Europe where she was responsible for over 2,000 employees in business development, sales, customer service, marketing, finance, and HR. Learn more.

June Felix has over 25 years of experience in the finance and digital sectors and currently serves as CEO of IG Group, a world-leading online investment and trading provider of OTC derivatives, stocks, and options, and an established member of the FTSE 250. June sits on the Board of Advisors for The London Technology Club: a new exclusive club for investors and tech professionals. She is also a member of the Board Disclosure Committee at IG.  Prior to working at IG, June was President of Verifone Europe where she was responsible for over 2,000 employees in business development, sales, customer service, marketing, finance, and HR. Learn more.

In this episode I'm talking with Andrew Warner (@AndrewWarner), the host of the Mixergy where he's interviewed over 2,000 founders in the tech and software space. His new book, Stop Asking Questions, breaks down everything he's learned about having a meaningful conversation and maximizing the value out of one-shot encounters.  Learn how to have better conversations: https://www.stopaskingquestions.co/ Follow Andrew on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewWarner Check out Mixergy: https://mixergy.com/

In Episode 572, Rob Walling does another solo adventure to talk about taking responsibility for the outcomes of your business and the importance of putting in the reps as a founder. Bootstrapping a startup is a marathon, not a sprint and it’s important to enjoy the journey along the way. The topics we cover [1:56] […]Click the icon below to listen.       

Andrew Gazdeki (@agazdecki) has some contrarian viewpoints when it comes to the startup ecosystem today. I invited him here to find out about his beef with TechCrunch and how he is empowering founders with his own company, Microacquire.  Follow Andrew on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agazdecki Check out Microacquire: https://microacquire.com/