Episode 717 | Bootstrapping to $1.3M ARR and 300,000 Free Users

In episode 718, Rob Walling and Derrick Reimer tackle listener questions about giving up on ideas, competing in crowded markets, and developing painful features. They also chat about SavvyCal’s recent design refresh, finding founder-market fit, and whether Derrick has retired from podcasting. Episode Sponsor: Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America.  Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts.  Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves.   Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:  3:59 – Which feature felt harder and took longer than imagined? 9:14 – When is time to give up on a SaaS idea and move on? 17:51 – Finding customers in crowded markets with large incumbents 23:32 – Has Derrick officially retired from podcasting? 25:57 – Handling competitors that are copying differentiating product features 28:48 – Evaluating SavvyCal’s refreshed design 31:10 – Considering vertical vs. horizontal SaaS for SavvyCal 34:05 – Why did Derrick decide to pursue the idea for SavvyCal? 40:19 – Finding “founder-fit” Links from the Show:  The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling TinySeed Derrick Remier (​​@derrickreimer) | X SavvyCal Group scheduling mode The Build In Public Podcast The Art of Product Podcast 8 B2B Marketing Strategies That Got My Startup to $10 Million (and 1 that FAILED) Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cove

In episode 717, Rob Walling interviews Marie Martin, co-founder of Tally. They discuss the company’s journey to $1.3M ARR and the unusual pricing strategy that got them there. Marie details how they keep their support volume low, how they differentiate Tally from other form builders, and how they grew to over 300,000 free users. Episode Sponsor: We have been partnering with Lemon.io for several years, and they’ve proven to be a great choice when it comes to hiring for a highly skilled developer to work on your project. Here are five reasons why you should consider working with Lemon.io. The time from your request to getting a candidate is just 48 hours. Developers have previously worked with tech giants such as Apple, Google, Netflix, Airbnb, Intel, and LEGO.  They only provide senior devs, with an average of 7 years' experience. Their talent pool covers more than 300 dev languages & frameworks. Your hire comes with a zero-risk, replacement guarantee. Customers of Lemon.io typically stick around for at least a year, proving they know how to gain your trust by delivering consistent results. Quit wasting time searching for a solid developer at a great price. Get in touch with Lemon.io. As a bonus for our podcast listeners, you’ll get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups. That’s lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:  2:22 – Where Tally is today 3:53 – Keeping customer support volume low 7:12 – Differentiating Tally from other form builders 10:55 – The ingredients needed to make “free” work 18:31 – ”Shrinking a Market” 24:27 – Growing to 300,000+ free users 26:47 – Dealing with bad actors 29:37 – Applying the learnings from Tally’s success Links from the Show:  Tickets for MicroConf Europe | Oct 6 - 8, 2024, Dubrovnik, Croatia Apply for MicroConf Masterminds before June 12th 2024 Marie Martens (@MarieMartens) | X Tally  No-Code France TinySeed If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | G

In episode 716, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He shares how he would position against incumbents, when to change an H1, and how choosing a tech stack affects your business valuation. Rob also weighs whether to skip a “Step 1” or “Step 2” business and start directly with a standalone SaaS in the Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping. Episode Sponsor: Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America.&nbsp; Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts.&nbsp; Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves.&nbsp;&nbsp; Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:&nbsp; 4:07 – How directly should I position my product against incumbents? 8:25 – Making and testing changes to your H1 12:22 – Identifying and qualifying niches based on traffic 18:07 – Should I skip a “Step 1” or “Step 2” business to start a SaaS? 20:16 – How a tech stack affects valuations 27:29 – Differentiating between B2B and B2C Links from the Show:&nbsp; Apply for MicroConf Masterminds before June 12th 2024 Ask a Question on SFTROU Episode 673 | Lifetime Plans vs Subscriptions, Testing an Idea With a Landing Page, and More Listener Questions Start Small Stay Small by Rob Walling The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling The Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping Similarweb Vertical SaaS vs Horizontal SaaS - Which is More Profitable? If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please <a href="https://ww

In episode 715, Rob Walling is joined by Dr. Sherry Walling to discuss a variety of topics. They chat about two recent and meaningful interactions made possible by the Internet, the motivations behind organizing and performing a circus show, and they chat about upcoming launches on the horizon –&nbsp;new books and courses for SaaS founders. Episode Sponsor: We have been partnering with Lemon.io for several years, and they’ve proven to be a great choice when it comes to hiring for a highly skilled developer to work on your project. Here are five reasons why you should consider working with Lemon.io. The time from your request to getting a candidate is just 48 hours. Developers have previously worked with tech giants such as Apple, Google, Netflix, Airbnb, Intel, and LEGO.&nbsp; They only provide senior devs, with an average of 7 years' experience. Their talent pool covers more than 300 dev languages &amp; frameworks. Your hire comes with a zero-risk, replacement guarantee. Customers of Lemon.io typically stick around for at least a year, proving they know how to gain your trust by delivering consistent results. Quit wasting time searching for a solid developer at a great price. Get in touch with Lemon.io. As a bonus for our podcast listeners, you’ll get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups. That’s lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:&nbsp; 4:00 – Examples of thoughtful, nuanced Internet interactions 8:12 – Impacting people you otherwise couldn’t online 15:12 – Dr. Sherry Walling’s circus show motivation 21:53 – The psychology of business exits 25:27 – Commonalities across founders considering exits 31:11 – Speaking to the whole lifecycle of a SaaS business Links from the Show:&nbsp; Apply for MicroConf Masterminds before June 12th 2024 Sherry Walling (@sherrywalling) | X Sherry Walling (@dr.sherrywalling) | Instagram TinySeed Discretion Capital Before The Exit by Dan Andrews Episode 532 | The Art of Selling Your Business with John Warrillow The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together by Sherry Walling, PhD and Rob Walling Enter your email at Robwalling.com Sign up for the Zen Founder newsletter If y

In episode 714, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He talks about what to expect when acquiring a competitor and how he might integrate their business. Rob also covers navigating HIPAA compliance as a bootstrapper, how to find a developer co-founder, and he explores the concept of Total Reachable Market (TRM). Episode Sponsor: Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America.  Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts.  Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves.   Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:  3:45 – How to navigate acquiring a competitor 6:34 – How to transition the newly acquired customers into your product 9:58 – HIPAA compliance for a bootstrapped MVP 13:07 – Total Addressable Market (TAM) vs. Total Reachable Market (TRM) 19:01 – How do I find a developer co-founder? 28:03 – Can I find data on SaaS app store spending? Links from the Show:  MicroConf Mastermind Program TinySeed MicroConf Connect The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling Start Small Stay Small by Rob Walling If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe &amp; Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

In episode 713, Rob Walling is joined by Arvid Kahl to share their experience from MicroConf US 2024 in Atlanta. They each discuss their top 5 moments, ranging from Dr. Sherry Walling’s talk on motivation to Ben Chestnut’s chat with Rob onstage. They agree that there’s nothing quite like being in the room with everyone and soaking in all the interactions outside of the official talks.&nbsp; If you missed the event and had some MicroConf FOMO, make sure to sign up for our email list to be notified when the tickets for our next event go on sale.!&nbsp; Click here to watch Rob’s Fireside Chat with Ben Chestnut! Episode Sponsor: We have been partnering with Lemon.io for several years, and they’ve proven to be a great choice when it comes to hiring for a highly skilled developer to work on your project. Here are five reasons why you should consider working with Lemon.io. The time from your request to getting a candidate is just 48 hours. Developers have previously worked with tech giants such as Apple, Google, Netflix, Airbnb, Intel, and LEGO.&nbsp; They only provide senior devs, with an average of 7 years' experience. Their talent pool covers more than 300 dev languages &amp; frameworks. Your hire comes with a zero-risk, replacement guarantee. Customers of Lemon.io typically stick around for at least a year, proving they know how to gain your trust by delivering consistent results. Quit wasting time searching for a solid developer at a great price. Get in touch with Lemon.io. As a bonus for our podcast listeners, you’ll get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups. That’s lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:&nbsp; 1:05 –&nbsp;Key takeaways from MicroConf 2024 3:45 – Dr. Sherry Walling’s talk on motivation 7:02 – Stephen Steer’s sales scripts talk 9:25 – Live valuation of a business by Quiet Light Brokerage 12:23 – Micro excursions that allow founders to connect with one another 14:09 –&nbsp;The hallway track outside of the venue 15:53 –&nbsp;”Nothing beats being in a room” 19:22 – Lack of hierarchy among founders 22:38 – Lianna Patch’s copywriting swipe file 23:50 – Ben Chestnut is just like one of us 29:50 – Don’t get stuck with MicroConf FOMO Links from the Show:&nbsp; MicroConf Europe | Dubrovnik &nbsp;- October 6 - 8, 2024 MicroConf US 2025 Waiting List Arvid Kahl (@arvidkahl) | X The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together by Sherry Walling, PhD and Rob Walling Sherry Walling (@sherrywalling) | X <a href="https://a.c

In episode 712, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure. He starts by revisiting past predictions and provides an update on how he successfully staved off full burnout. Rob then gives updates on this podcast, the progress of TinySeed and MicroConf, and teases two new books that he’s working on. Episode Sponsor: Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America.&nbsp; Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts.&nbsp; Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves.&nbsp;&nbsp; Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:&nbsp; 1:21 –&nbsp;Revisiting past predictions and reporting back on burnout 2:45 –&nbsp;Revisiting predictions for SaaS bootstrappers in 2024 5:29 – Twitter changes hands in 2024? 6:29 – Reducing travel to quell burnout on the horizon 11:45 –&nbsp;State of Startups For the Rest of Us&nbsp; 14:40 –&nbsp;TinySeed invested in over 170+ companies 17:54 – First annual TinyFest 18:42 –&nbsp;TinySeed Tales Season 5 19:50 – The SaaS Playbook and my next two books Links from the Show:&nbsp; MicroConf Connect TinySeed The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling Start Small Stay Small by Rob Walling Episode 697 | 7 Predictions for SaaS Bootstrappers in 2024 Vertical SaaS vs Horizontal SaaS - Which is More Profitable? State of Independent SaaS MicroConf Mastermind Program TinyFest Unwrapped: Inside Our First-Ever Founder Conference and Retreat in Cancun <a href="https://tinyseed

In episode 711, join Rob Walling and Ruben Gamez as they answer listener questions. They chat about finding early customers without an audience, how to approach horizontal vs. vertical product spinoffs, and some considerations for No Code development. They also discuss the challenges of serving prosumer SaaS, the importance of understanding customer segments for pricing strategies, and the dual funnel approach for catering to different customer tiers. Episode Sponsor: We have been partnering with Lemon.io for several years, and they’ve proven to be a great choice when it comes to hiring for a highly skilled developer to work on your project. Here are five reasons why you should consider working with Lemon.io. The time from your request to getting a candidate is just 48 hours. Developers have previously worked with tech giants such as Apple, Google, Netflix, Airbnb, Intel, and LEGO.&nbsp; They only provide senior devs, with an average of 7 years' experience. Their talent pool covers more than 300 dev languages &amp; frameworks. Your hire comes with a zero-risk, replacement guarantee. Customers of Lemon.io typically stick around for at least a year, proving they know how to gain your trust by delivering consistent results. Quit wasting time searching for a solid developer at a great price. Get in touch with Lemon.io. As a bonus for our podcast listeners, you’ll get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups. That’s lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:&nbsp; 2:00 – Strategies for finding your first users when you don’t have an audience 10:42 – Positioning yourself to compete well against others 12:25 – Jumping into SEO before having a product 18:42 – Exporting No Code projects 24:15 – Choosing between a vertical or horizontal product spinoff 33:55 – Building a B2P, “business to prosumer” product 42:53 –&nbsp;How to make lower pricing tiers work outside of B2B Links from the Show:&nbsp; MicroConf Connect Ruben Gamez (@@earthlingworks) | X SignWell TinySeed Bubble MicroConf YouTube channel State of Independent SaaS Episode 216 | How a Single Founder Launched a 7-Figure SaaS App (with Nate Grahek) Sticky&nbsp; <a href="https://castos.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noo

In episode 710, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He answers whether you need a burning passion to be successful in entrepreneurship, and how that relates to developing a product alongside a day job. Rob also discusses competing against VC-backed companies, learning to code in the age of AI, and how much risk lies in IP theft when building your SaaS. Episode Sponsor: Is your outsourced development team dropping the ball? Maybe you’ve worked with a team that just couldn't grasp your vision and needed constant oversight because they weren’t thinking strategically. Or maybe you ended up wasting hours micromanaging, often needing to jump on late-night calls across massive time zone differences to get alignment. And in the end, they delivered a sluggish app with a frustrating UI that didn’t come close to the solution you had envisioned. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to reach out to our sponsor - DevSquad. DevSquad provides an entire development team packed with top talent from Latin America.&nbsp; Your elite squad will include between 2 to 6 Full Stack Developers, a technical product manager, plus experts in product strategy, UI/UX design, DevOps, and QA - all working together to make your SaaS Product a success. You can ramp up an entire product team fast, in your timezone, and at rates 75% cheaper than a comparable US-based team. And with DevSquad, you pay month to month with no long-term contracts.&nbsp; Get the committed, responsive development team that your business deserves.&nbsp;&nbsp; Visit DevSquad.com/startups and get 10% off the first three months of your engagement. Topics we cover:&nbsp; 3:00 – Reacting to needing a burning desire for entrepreneurship 5:20 – Maintaining a day job to enable space for entrepreneurial pursuits 8:52 – Balancing build speed vs. scalability with your tech stack 10:30 – The April Fools Episode 12:55 –&nbsp;Competing against VC-backed companies in a “hot” space 18:34 – Is learning to code dead? 27:33 – Risk in SaaS of IP theft Links from the Show:&nbsp; MicroConf Connect Episode 704 | Landing Pages, Buying a SaaS, the Right Tech Stack, and More Listener Questions Episode 706.5 | Rethinking My Most Common Advice The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling Start Small Stay Small by Rob Walling TinySeed Episode 688 | Growing Boot.dev From $6k to $110k in Monthly Revenue in 15 Months Ask a Question on SFTROU

In episode 709, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he shares his story of growing his personal wealth over the past few decades. Selling companies was the major driver of wealth, but he also explores the role of cryptocurrency, running profitable companies, and angel investing. Rob emphasizes the power of entrepreneurship in achieving financial freedom, while acknowledging there are ways to do so while keeping risk relatively low. Episode Sponsor: We have been partnering with Lemon.io for several years, and they’ve proven to be a great choice when it comes to hiring for a highly skilled developer to work on your project. Here are five reasons why you should consider working with Lemon.io. The time from your request to getting a candidate is just 48 hours. Developers have previously worked with tech giants such as Apple, Google, Netflix, Airbnb, Intel, and LEGO.&nbsp; They only provide senior devs, with an average of 7 years' experience. Their talent pool covers more than 300 dev languages &amp; frameworks. Your hire comes with a zero-risk, replacement guarantee. Customers of Lemon.io typically stick around for at least a year, proving they know how to gain your trust by delivering consistent results. Quit wasting time searching for a solid developer at a great price. Get in touch with Lemon.io. As a bonus for our podcast listeners, you’ll get a 15% discount on your first four weeks of working with a developer at lemon.io/startups. That’s lemon.io/startups Topics we cover:&nbsp; 2:50 – A lesson on how to build wealth 4:31 – Entrepreneurship was our biggest tool 6:37 – Building, acquiring, then selling companies 10:45 – Building slowly while staying risk-averse 13:27 –&nbsp;Investing in riskier assets like cryptocurrency 19:39 – Running profitable companies 20:56 –&nbsp;Angel investing, and WP Engine 23:44 –&nbsp;Traditional, salaried employment 24:53 – Typical investments: stocks, bonds, REITs 27:36 –&nbsp;Real estate investing Links from the Show:&nbsp; MicroConf Connect Christopher Gimmer (@cgimmer) | X Christopher’s tweet Sherry Walling (@sherrywalling) | X The Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping Start Small Stay Small by Rob Walling This Took 11 Years to Be An "Overnight Success" - SaaS Exit Strategy Zen Founder The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling WP Engine TinySeed Barbell Strategy Explained for Stock and Bond Investors If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode.