Product People: Recent Episodes
Justin Jackson
I've been trying to learn how to program since 1985. This past year, at 38 years old, I finally figured out how.
Questions we discuss in this episode:
- Is there only "one" way to learn how to code?
- Why is getting started SO HARD?
- How did Justin finally figure out a way to learn programming?
Show notes
- Get the book: Ultralearning
- Scott's blog
- PDF: The science of cycology
The latest from Justin:
- My podcasting startup: Transistor.fm
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Listen to my startup podcast: Build your SaaS
★ Looking for a community of bootstrappers?
- Join MegaMaker Club
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
James Clear describes how you can improve your life, using small incremental steps that add up to big wins.
Questions we discuss in this episode:
- How does "what you repeatedly do" affect your identity?
- How does someone’s context affect their ability to set and maintain good habits? Are good habits only for people of privilege?
- How can you maintain habits for people with depression, anxiety or attention deficit?
- How to form habits when your schedule is not in your control? (if you have kids, etc...)
- If you do fall out of a habit, what should you do? Revive it, or let it go?
- What systems and tools can you use to help automate, facilitate or help ingrain healthy habits?
Show notes
- Get the book: Atomic Habits
- Get the habits journal
- Steven Pressfield: "Stevie Wonder’s territory is the piano. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s is the gym. When Bill Gates pulls into the parking lot at Microsoft, he’s on his territory"
- Seth Godin: "Who is it for, and what is it for?"
- Seth Godin: “People like us do things like this.”
- James Clear's AMA on Reddit
- Read James' blog: JamesClear.com
- James Clear: "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."
- Nir Eyal shuts off his internet every night
- James Clear: "When you're struggling with a new habit, your effort's not wasted, it's just being stored."
The latest from Justin:
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Podcast in 2019!
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Listen to my startup podcast: Build your SaaS
★ Looking for a community of bootstrappers?
- Join MegaMaker Club
- Looking for your app's first 100 customers?
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Ben is the co-founder of Tuple.app and is running a new course called Habits for Hackers.
★ Looking for a community of bootstrappers?
- Join MegaMaker Club
Show notes
- Ben Orenstein on Twitter
- Habits for Hackers
- Malcolm Gladwell and Rick Rubin talking about Johnny Cash
- Ben's working on a new product: Tuple.app
- Ben's episode on Bootstrapped Web
- TinySeed
- Earnest Capital
- Ben's co-founder weekly retro questions
- learntopair.com - Ben's guide to pair programming
- Art of Product podcast
- Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear
The latest from Justin:
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Podcast in 2019!
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Jason Cohen asks Justin Jackson hard questions about his startup, Transistor.fm, and what it's going to take to go full-time.
This is the second half of our chat. Part 1 was really just setting the stage. Part 2 digs into the real-life challenges of bootstrapping a business.
★ Looking for a community of bootstrappers?
- Join MegaMaker Club
Show notes
- Podcast in 2019!
- Justin's original tweet
- Blog post: Can you bootstrap on the side?
- Watch this interview on YouTube
- Jason Cohen on Twitter
The latest from Justin:
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
When you're building a startup you have these questions:
- Should I work on my startup on the side, and grow it slowly?
- Should I take investment and go full-time sooner?
These are the questions that have been circulating in my head over the past few months.
Which is why when Jason Cohen, founder of WPengine and someone I respect, replied to my tweet, I took note:
"It’s difficult to find successful companies where founders didn’t work 80+ hours and took longer than four years to get to $1M ARR. If you're two years in and you still need a day job then by definition it doesn’t have good fundamentals. I usually think of "$10k/month/founder" as a rough measure of whether you're ready for full-time. Saying that should take three years is wrong. It's hard to find that companies that live and took that long."
Today we'll be digging into that! (Check back next week for Part 2)
★ Looking for community of bootstrappers?
- Join MegaMaker Club
Show notes
- Podcast in 2019!
- Justin's original tweet
- Blog post: Can you bootstrap on the side?
- Watch this interview on YouTube
- Jason Cohen on Twitter
- WPEngine recently raised $250 million
The latest from Justin:
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Hamish Macpherson is an engineer at Buffer, and was one of the first people to join MegaMaker.
★ Looking for community of bootstrappers?
- Join MegaMaker Club
Show notes
- Follow Hamish Macherson on Twitter
- Buffer
- Hamish's Stand to Make side-project
The latest from Justin:
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
This is a great chat with Samantha Geitz, a Senior Developer at Tighten, and the founder of BetaFish.
Topics in this episode:
- Should "business/marketing" people learn programming?
- What's the difference between messing around and being a serious programmer?
- Do regular programmers Google for answers?
- Why English Majors can make great programmers.
- If you want to learn hard things, do you need to be in a classroom?
- Why should take a mental health day when you need it.
Announcement:
- Want to speak at a tech conference? I'm doing class called "public speaking for geeks." More info here.
Show notes
- Samantha Geitz on Twitter
- Tighten.co
- Battle.Tighten.co
- Samantha's new startup: BetaFish
- CoinPress.cc
- Samantha's blog post: "How I overcame my fear of public speaking"
Stuff from Justin...
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Looking for community? Join MegaMaker Club
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Transistor.fm
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
So many great topics in this episode:
- Should developers learn design?
- Derrick's "viral signup" trick
- How important is a personal brand?
- How to promote your project (while you're still building it)
- Do software companies need to become more service oriented?
Announcement:
- I'm having a birthday sale! Go to megamaker.co/birthday and get up to 38% off Marketing for Developers, my books, and Product Validation Checklist!
Show notes
- This is the recording from the Art of Product Podcast. Full episode will be there!
- Ben Orenstein on Twitter
- Derrick Reimer on Twitter
- Derrick's new app: level.app
Stuff from Justin...
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Startup announcement
- How do you validate your idea? megamaker.co/validate
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Transistor.fm
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
I'm building a new SaaS in 2018 with my buddy Jon Buda called Transistor.fm. Now, we're trying to figure out our pricing. We're trying not to pretend we know everything there is to know about running a SaaS.
So, we wanted to reach out to some experts and get outside opinions about how to create our pricing tiers. So I asked Patrick Campbell, from Price Intelligently, to help give us some direction. He blew my mind. This conversation is incredible, you're going to get so much out of it.
Two announcements:
- Want to validate your product idea? Productvalidationchecklist.com is launching soon.
- Now is your last chance to get Marketing for Developers. Use the the code "summer2018" and get $50 off. In July, I'm taking it off my store so I can relaunch it in October. (If you buy now, you get future updates).
Show notes
- Jon and I discussed pricing on Build Your SaaS
- Patrick Campbell on Twitter: @patticus
- Patrick's free pricing software for SaaS: profitwell.com
- Price Intelligently's book
Stuff from Justin...
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Startup announcement
- How do you validate your idea? megamaker.co/validate
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Transistor.fm
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Mike Taber (Bluetick) and Rob Walling (Drip) started MicroConf in 2011 as a conference for self-funded startups. It's gone from just over 100 attendees to nearly 500. It's become the place for bootstrappers to hang out.
Get $100 off MicroConf Starter Edition
Go to megamaker.co/microconf or text "microconf" to (424) 247-5762.
Show notes
- Read the 2018 MicroConf Guide
- Register for MicroConf
- Get $100 off Starter Edition
- TED - how to make a great presentation
- DeckSet - make amazing slides
- Draftsend - Hiten Shah's new slidesharing app
- Mike Taber on Twitter
- Bluetick - Mike's software company
- The Startups for the Rest of Us podcast
Stuff from Justin...
- My new startup: Transistor.fm
- Startup announcement
- How do you validate your idea? megamaker.co/validate
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Transistor.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
★ Thinking about how to validate your product? megamaker.co/validate ★
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Josh started out trying to build a "GitHub for music." When that idea didn't pan out, he still wanted to do something with Web Audio and WebRTC. So he started building Zencastr, which gives podcasters the ability to record "double-ender" interviews in the browser.
Get all the Mega Profitable case studies
Don't miss any of the future Mega Profitable interviews!
★ Sign up here. ★
Show notes
"I asked a podcaster I knew how much he'd pay, and he said '$20 / month' so that's what I used for a price."
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- Zencastr
- Read Josh's MegaProfitable case study
- IndieHackers interview
- Follow Josh on Twitter: @joshontheweb
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
6 years ago, Bjorn Forsberg built an app called OrderlyPrint for Shopify. His goal was to increase his freedom, and to spend more time with his family. Was able to achieve it? (This is the 5th case study in the Mega Profitable series)
We should measure profitability in other ways. It's not just "financial profitability." There's also "freedom profitability," and "time profitability." Because profitability is really about "getting ahead." So where else are you getting ahead?
Get all the Mega Profitable case studies
Don't miss any of the future Mega Profitable interviews!
★ Sign up here. ★
Show notes
"People don't give themselves enough time. They think they're going to build a unicorn in 6 months."
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- OrderlyPrint
- forsbergplustwo.com
- OrderlyEmails
- Follow Bjorn on Twitter: @forsbergtwo
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Back in the early 2000s, Wildbit was an agency building Flash websites for Philly nightclubs.
Then, in 2007, they launched their first product, Beanstalk. Two years later, they quit doing consulting. Natalie Nagele takes us through their story!
Get all the Mega Profitable case studies
Don't miss any of the future Mega Profitable interviews!
★ Sign up here. ★
Show notes
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- beanstalkapp.com
- postmarkapp.com
- From 2005: Wildbit's client portfolio
- Follow Natalie on Twitter: @natalienagele
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Pippin Williamson started out like a lot of us do: building websites for whoever would pay him. He decided to try selling one of his WordPress plugins. Now, Pippin's Plugins earns over $1 million in revenue a year. This Mega Profitable series aims to help founders, like you, get profitable!
Get all the Mega Profitable case studies
Don't miss any of the future Mega Profitable interviews!
★ Sign up here. ★
Show notes
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- pippinsplugins.com
- Sandhills Development
- The original pippinspages.com
- Follow Pippin on Twitter: @pippinsplugins
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
It's time for another Mega Profitable interview! This series aims to help founders, like you, get profitable. Learn how Draft went from having $21 in the bank (in his first year) to creating a solid, profitable solo-founder business.
Get all the Mega Profitable case studies
Don't miss any of the future Mega Profitable interviews!
★ Sign up here. ★
Show notes
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- draft.nu
- Nick's service: Draft Revise
- Nick's book: Draft Evidence
- Follow Nick on Twitter: @nickd
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Introducing a new series: Mega Profitable. What's the difference between a founder who is mega profitable, and a product person who's just making a living? Brennan Dunn joins me to talk about his journey.
This episode sponsored by...
I've just updated my most popular product: the Marketing for Developers book.
★ Grab a sample chapter here. ★
Show notes
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- doubleyourfreelancing.com
- Brennan's new product: RightMessage
- Brennan's book: Double Your Freelance Rate
- Follow Brennan on Twitter: @brennandunn
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
You'll recognize Mike from Startups for the Rest of Us and the MicroConf conference. He's launching a new product called Bluetick.
This episode sponsored by...
★ I'm updating my most popular product: the Marketing for Developers book.
Relaunches end of August 2017. Grab a sample chapter here.
Show notes
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- singlefounder.com
- Mike's product: Bluetick.io
- Mike's conference MicroConf
- Follow Mike on Twitter: @singlefounder
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's newsletter justinjackson.ca/newsletter
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
"Charge more!" "Use content marketing!" "Start with an ebook!"
There's a lot of folklore in the startup and bootstrapping community. Do they all stand up to scrutiny?
This is my interview with long-time SaaS entrepreneur, Ian Landsman.
Show notes
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- ianlandsman.com
- Ian's product: HelpSpot
- Ian's new product: Thermostat
- Follow Ian on Twitter: @ianlandsman
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's NEW Indie newsletter justinjackson.ca/indie
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
How do you find product ideas that resonate?
Hear how Laura knew there was demand for her project, Client Portal.
Everyone was like: "I want that."
(This is my special MicroConf 2017 episode!)
Show notes
- Leave a review on iTunes!
- lauraelizabeth.co
- Laura's product: Client Portal
- Laura's other project: Design Academy
- Follow Laura on Twitter: @laurium
Want to contact Justin?
- Join Justin's NEW Indie newsletter justinjackson.ca/indie
- Send Justin a message on Twitter: @mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Instagram: instagram.com/mijustin
- Send Justin a message on Snapchat: @mijustin
Thanks to...
- Podcast hosting: Simplecast.fm
- Theme music: Striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
When we last chatted with Adam Wathan he'd just launched his first book.
His next project is a course called Test Driven Laravel. You won't believe his launch results!
You'll hear how he built the course, all his launch numbers, and why he thinks it was such an incredible success.
Happy holidays everyone!
Show notes
- Adam Wathan's blog
- Adam's course: Test Driven Laravel
- Follow Adam on Twitter: @adamwathan
- Follow Justin on Twitter: @mijustin
- Theme music by Striker-metal.com
- Podcast hosting by Simplecast.fm
Get the full video interview
This interview is also available as a bonus video in the new Marketing for Developers course.
“★★★★★ What can I say – amazing! A specific checklist on how to market and launch your product” – Vadim Demedes
Get $50 off by using this coupon →
Want to help the show?
Go to iTunes, and search for Product People and leave us a review!
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Adam Wathan has always been passionate about learning new things, and sharing what he's learned with the world.
Then he discovered that he could earn an independent living doing it.
His book and video course, Refactoring to Collections, teaches PHP programmers how to apply functional programming principles to write clean, maintainable code.
In this episode, we delve into each stage of his launch. Hear about how he built and promoted his course, and what his results were.
Show notes
- Adam Wathan's blog
- Adam's book & course: Refactoring to Collections
- Follow Adam on Twitter: @adamwathan
- Follow Justin on Twitter: @mijustin
- Theme music by Striker-metal.com
- Podcast hosting by Simplecast.fm
Want to support the show?
The only way I can keep making cool stuff (like this podcast) is if fans support the show! There's two ways you can help:
- Get the new Marketing for Developers course for $50 off by using this coupon: megamaker.co/coupon
- Leave a review for the show! Go to iTunes, search for Product People and click ★★★★★
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Should you start a SaaS company in 2016? Does it still make sense to run a SaaS as a solopreneur?
(Originally posted on the MegaMaker podcast)
SaaS isn’t a destination. It’s just a licensing and delivery model. Don’t treat it like a religion!
Show notes
- Had two separate friends from the internet visit me this past week! Photos.
- Justin's book is out! He's sold 666 copies so far. He'd like to get to 1,000 copies. Get a special podcast deal here.
- See Jolt's books reviews.
- The fiery blog post: SaaS is ripe for disruption. Have we reached peak SaaS?
- Commander Keen
- What's a BBS?
- Examples of SaaS companies: Freshbooks, MailChimp, Squarespace. You pay a monthly fee, and access the software via your web browser.
- Rob Walling on episode 292 of Startups for the Rest of Us
- Our theme music is by Striker-Metal.com
- Podcast hosting by Simplecast.fm
Want to support the show?
The only way I can keep making cool stuff (like this podcast) is if fans support the show! There's two ways you can help:
- Buy something I've made. My new book is less than $12 with this coupon.
- Leave a review for the show! Go to iTunes, search for Product People and click ★★★★★
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Josh is the founder of Baremetrics. But he's also just a normal guy. When a relatively well known investor chastised him, it stung.
How does he deal with scrutiny?
Most companies aren’t doing nearly as well as you think they are. 90% of the time that startup that you look up to, envy and try to mimic…they are in fact NOT crushing it.
Show notes
- Josh Pigford on Twitter: @Shpigford
- Baremetrics
- Josh's tweetstorm on transparency + criticism
- Justin's new book: Jolt
- Podcast: Sleep With Me
- Baremetrics: Open Startups
- Theme music: Striker-Metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
This is part 2 of my conversation with Nathan Barry. In the past four months, he’s taken his burgeoning SaaS company (ConvertKit) from $1 million in annual recurring revenue to $2 million.
That sounds exciting, but it wasn’t easy getting there. In this episode Nathan talks about the stress of being a new CEO, running out of money, not being able to get a loan, and finally figuring out a way to succeed.
Personally, I completely ran out of money. Wells Fargo wouldn’t give me a loan.
Show notes
- Nathan Barry on Twitter
- ConvertKit’s public revenue stats
- Justin’s other podcast: MegaMaker – making 100 things in 1 year
Sponsor
My friend Peldi (from Balsamiq) is sponsoring a whole month of MegaMaker podcasts. He’s offering my listeners $10 off Balsamiq Mockups 3 for Desktop (normally $89). USE COUPON CODE MEGAMAKER. Expires May 1st.
Win 1 hour with Peldi! Enter the contest at megamaker.co/dreamsmall
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Nathan Barry, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
The last time I talked to Nathan, his web app (ConvertKit) had just hit $5,000 in MRR. In this two part series, Nathan describes how they grew that to $182,000 in monthly recurring revenue.
I’m going to start more conference talks with: “Look, this worked for me. If you can get something from it great. But there’s no guarantees.” I’m not interested in being a thought leader anymore.
Show notes
- Nathan Barry on Twitter
- ConvertKit’s public revenue stats
- Justin’s other podcast: MegaMaker – making 100 things in 1 year
Sponsor
My friend Peldi (from Balsamiq) is sponsoring a whole month of MegaMaker podcasts. He’s offering my listeners $10 off Balsamiq Mockups 3 for Desktop (normally $89). USE COUPON CODE MEGAMAKER. Expires May 1st.
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Nathan Barry, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Tom and Dan had one of the most successful Kickstarters of 2010 when they released the Glif. But was that enough to launch full-time careers as product makers?
In this episode, they delve into how they started Studio Neat (their company) and give tons of practical tips for building physical products, and doing crowdfunding campaigns.
(This episode contains giggles)
Show notes:
- studioneat.com
- Glif Kickstarter
- Daring Fireball’s post on Glif
- Their book: It Will be Exhilarating
- Studio Neat’s Vimeo channel
Note from Justin
I’m launching a brand new book tomorrow (Feb 10th, 2016): Marketing for Product People.
When I wrote Marketing for Developers a lot of non-engineers asked if I could re-write the book for them. So I did! If you’re planning on launching a product in 2016, this is a great starting point. Get a free chapter here.
I also have a new podcast! It’s called MegaMaker. Each episode is only 10-13 minutes long, and there’s a new “maker mission” every week. You can listen + subscribe + review in iTunes.
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Jason Zook has a different perspective on life and business. He’s not afraid to try weird and crazy business ideas.
In 2008 he started a business called I Wear Your Shirt. Over 5 years he earned over $1 million in revenue from wearing over 1,600 sponsored t-shirts. Following that business, he sold the rights to his last name (he was Jason Headsetsdotcom and Jason Surfrapp for awhile).
Jason joins me to talk about his new project: Buy My Future. Until October 6 people can buy everything he’s ever created, plus everything he’s going to create, for one price.
He explains the motivation behind the project, and how the launch is going so far (including revenue numbers).
Notable quotes:
I’m asking people to buy into my life’s work, with access to everything I’ve ever created, and everything I will ever create.> A lot of people stifle their own creativity to fit in.> It’s ok to be polarizing. It’s ok to cause a stir. Do something different!
Show notes:
- buymyfuture.com
- Jason’s journal: Project Galaxy
- iwearyourshirt.com
- Jason’s book: Creativity for Sale
- Derek’s Sivers post: Saying no
Note from Justin
I had a great time speaking at MicroConf Europe about Marketing for Developers, my new book. Before I left I had over 100 people buy the beta version. The feedback has been really good. Looking forward to doing the official launch in the next 3-5 weeks. Get a sample chapter here!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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If you want to launch your own Kickstarter, write your own book, or build your own web application you’re going to love this episode.
Tracy Osborn is a serious bad-ass who’s done all three! She’s my guest this week.
In this episode Tracy goes through the process of running a Kickstarter, and the lessons she’s learned:
When I conceived the book idea, I was faced the decision whether I should work with a publisher, or whether I should self-publish. In the end, the typical royalty/advance structure turned me away from working with a publisher. Why not drum up an “advance” by running a Kickstarter campaign? If the campaign was successful, I would be able to bring in some early revenue to help finance my time with writing the book, as well as test demand and start building an audience. Seemed like a no-brainer.
Show notes
- Check out Tracy’s new Kickstarter!
- Tracy Osborn on Twitter
- Tracy’s website
- Get Tracy’s book: Hello Web App
- Tracy’s startup: WeddingLovely
Note from Justin
I had a great time speaking at MicroConf Europe about Marketing for Developers, my new book. Before I left I had a bunch of people buy a beta version. The feedback is really positive. Looking forward to doing the official launch in the next 3-5 weeks. Here’s a photo from my talk!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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I was recently on the Chasing Product podcast with Chris Hawkins. Chris is a good interviewer: he asked a lot of great questions about my back-story, and how I got into products.
There’s this independence and self-reliance that comes from making your own products.
Show notes
- Mentioned on Startups for the Rest of Us
- The Build & Launch podcast
- Working on Marketing for Developers
- Chasing Product Podcast: EP 25
Note from Justin
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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After having great success with books and courses, Nathan Barry has shifted his attention to his SaaS: a web application called ConvertKit.
Two weeks ago I announced we finally hit $5,000 in MRR ( http://t.co/p7CY6OATEf). We've added $1,200 in MRR since then.
— Nathan Barry (@nathanbarry) March 27, 2015
In this episode he shares all his revenue numbers, and how his focus on his sales funnel lately has increased MRR.
The real question will be how long we can keep up this growth. But even if we are only able to maintain the absolute numbers of $1,000-1,500 in new MRR each month, it will still turn into a successful business. The numbers here really inspire me. Freckle never had crazy growth. They just worked on it for a long time and built a real business. – Nathan Barry
Show notes
- Nathan Barry on Twitter
- ConvertKit’s public revenue stats
- ConvertKit’s new Gumroad integration
- Justin’s other podcast: Build & Launch – building a product every 7 days
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Nathan Barry, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Des Traynor is one of my favorite writers and speakers on the topic of SaaS businesses, and jobs-to-be-done.
Notable quotes
“I think not talking to your customers was always a pretty pathological thing to do” – Des Traynor
“Customer service is the new competitive edge. Everyone has SaaS businesses. We’re all using the same frameworks, copying the same design techniques. Most software being produced today is infinitely better than it was years ago. The competitive edge isn’t going to be who has the better bevel. I actually think it will move to things like: ‘Who has a better relationship with the customer?’” – Des Traynor
“There’s a ton of project management software. It’s hard to compete on features. But if you ask: ‘How do I make people really great at managing projects?’ The answers come to you a lot quicker.” – Des Traynor
“It’s the forgotten job of every single SaaS product. ‘Ok, you’ve sold me. Now help me sell it to the rest of the team.’ I can eat the $29, but getting me to spend my own social currency… that’s a big ask.” – Des Traynor
“The job of every dashboard and report is to get someone promoted” – Des Traynor
Show notes
- Intercom
- Inside Intercom Blog
- Des on Twitter
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Des, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Samuel has become the internet’s authority on user onboarding. In this personal and open interview, Samuel talks about how he was able to discover his niche, build an audience, and launch his first product. He also talks about what to do after a dissapointing launch.
Near the end of this interview, Samuel and Justin get passionate about the idea of greeting our product users like human beings: “Hello, welcome! We’re glad you’re here; we’ve been waiting for you.”
Show notes
- Useronboard.com
- @samuelhulick
- Samuel’s onboarding book
- crazyegg.com
- Super Mario user onboarding
- Chase Reeve’s interview with the restauranteur
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Samuel, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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In June of 2013, I was introduced to Nir Eyal through Ryan Hoover. Nir had been blogging a lot about psychology and analyzing what makes a highly engaging product. Nir eventually published a book on that topic: Hooked – How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Hooked is a guide to building habit-forming technology, written for product managers, designers, marketers, and startup founders.
In this episode we get into how you can design your products, especially the initial experience, to create traction. We also get into my addiction to iTunes.
Hooked comes out on hard-cover on November 4th.
Show notes
- Nir’s web page is: www.nirandfar.com
- www.hookmodel.com
- He tweets at: twitter.com/nireyal
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Nir, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Brian Casel is a bootstrapper with a lot of projects: he has a podcast, a hosting platform called Restaurant Engine, and a new course called Productize.We talked about Brian’s story (from developing WordPress themes, to building an audience online) as well as what a productized service is.
Show notes
- Brian’s new course is: http://casjam.com/productize/
- Brian is the host of: http://bootstrappedweb.com/
- He tweets at: https://twitter.com/CasJam
- His products are here: http://casjam.com/
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Brian, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Mike Rohde is a designer and an author, but he’s probably best known for illustrating the 37signals books: Rework and Remote. Mike is now building his own products: The Sketchnote Handbook, and the Sketchnote Workbook. Both are unique books, which also include video. Mike has a secret agenda: to get more people drawing again.
Show notes
- XOXO Festival
- “Let’s make some stuff”
- Mike Rohde’s homepage
- Mike Rohde on Twitter
- Buy Mike’s first book: The Sketchnote Handbook
- Buy Mike’s new book: The Sketchnote Workbook
- Subscribe to Mike’s newsletter
- Documentary: Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Mike, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Marc-André Cournoyer is a passionate coder and product person from Montreal, Quebec. If you’re a developer, engineer, or technical person looking to make the jump to building products, you’re going to love this one.
Show notes
- Marc’s homepage
- Marc on Twitter
- Owning Rails
- Great Code Club
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Marc, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Andreea Mihalcea is a dynamic young founder from Romania. Her and her team are building a new product called Startup Kit. I loved her insights into how and why people buy software products. Startup Kit is targeting an interesting problem: managers and CTOs who need to get a handle on what products their team is using and paying for.
Notable quotes
“When you’re working on a team, you have to make sure that your tools play nice with other team’s tools” – Andreea Mihalcea
Show notes
- StartupKit.io
- Startup Kit blog
- Startup Kit on Twitter
- Startup Kit on Medium
- Andreea on Twitter
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Andreea, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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First, you need to know that Jarrod Drysdale is a good dude. He’s also the author of Bootstrapping Design, and the creator of Cascade.io. He’s smart, and humble, and talented and he has tons of great things to say about building products, succeeding and failing, and the importance of really caring for the people you’re serving.
Show notes
- Jarrod’s blog
- Jarrod on Twitter
- Bootstrapping Design
- Cascade.io
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Jarrod, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Sacha Greif joined me again for a chat on how he marketed Discover Meteor, and why certain blog posts get popular.
Notable quotes
“I’ve always believed that people really respond to quality content.” – Sacha Greif
“You can tell when someone has written something with no research; getting quality data, screenshots, and diagrams really helps.” – Sacha Greif
“There’s a direct relationship between the amount of time I put into a blog post, and how popular it is” – Sacha Greif
“People respond to books: they don’t want to have to look through 20 blog posts.” – Sacha Greif
“I did something I shouldn’t have done – and I put all my eggs in one basket.” – Sacha Greif
“My first book is really short: it’s like 40 pages. I didn’t spend 6 months in a cave building it.” – Sacha Greif
Show notes
- Sacha Greif’s website
- Sacha Greif on Twitter
- Discover Meteor
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Sacha, available in Build Your Own Audience. It’s available here: justinjackson.ca/audiencecourse. You can also sign up to my mailing list.
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, I’m working on something new called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now!
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
I freakin’ love Paul Jarvis. He’s creative, he’s unique, and he’s Canadian.
Notable quotes
“When you work for yourself, your boss is an asshole” – Paul Jarvis
“I’m vegan so I’m always hungry” – Paul Jarvis
“I want to help people build their business online.” – Paul Jarvis
“It’s funny: people think that when they’re done school, they’re done with homework. Do a bit of homework! You’ll stand out.” – Paul Jarvis
“People don’t hire web designers because of skills. They want someone they trust.” – Paul Jarvis
“You gotta go to them: you got to go where your audience lives and where your audience spends their time.” – Paul Jarvis
“It’s all about who you know, and whether those people trust you.” – Paul Jarvis
“The only way to guarantee failure is to stop trying.” – Paul Jarvis
Show notes
- Paul’s website
- Paul’s Twitter
- Work like you’re on vacation
- Brennan’s DYFR
Note from Justin
This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Paul, available in Build Your Own Audience. It’s available here: justinjackson.ca/audiencecourse. You can also sign up to my mailing list.
Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, I’m working on something new called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. I’ll have something to announce shortly!
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Today’s interview is with one of my favourite people on the internet: Nate Kontny. He’s the solo-founder of Draft, a web application that helps you improve your writing through collaboration. He also blogs at Ninjas and Robots.
Notable quotes
“Solve your own problems!” – Nate Kontny
“Take two or things in your life that your passionate about, and merge them together. Then you’ll start creating cool things.” – Nate Kontny
Show notes
- Draft
- Nate’s blog
- Nate on Twitter
Note from Justin
I’m releasing a new course (based on my sold-out workshops) called Build Your Own Audience. It will be available on July 29th at justinjackson.ca/audience. You can sign up to my mailing list and get early access on July 25th.
I need your help. People don’t know the show is back, releasing new episodes every Thursday. I took a break back in October, and people think the show is still offline. If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb.
Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, I’m working on something new called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. I’ll have something to announce shortly!
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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This week’s guest is Ryan Hoover. We’ve been online friends for a few years now. Back in 2013, Ryan invited me to join a new site he’d created called ProductHunt.com. In the last 3 weeks, it’s exploded. He was interviewed on Fox News, he was interviewed on This Week in Startups, AND he just announced that he’s joined YCombinator.
I actually recorded this episode on January 24, 2014 (5 months ago) – before Product Hunt got huge. I thought it would be interesting to revisit that conversation: to hear from the Ryan Hoover that hadn’t yet achieved all this recent success.
Once you hear it, you’ll understand why Ryan’s done so well: he built an audience (by blogging, and creating Startup Edition), and then focused on creating something valuable for that community.
Notable quotes
“I’ve always been entrepreneurial: as a child I created little joke books, and operated gum ball machines.” – Ryan Hoover
“I didn’t know what a Product Manager was 6 months before I became one.” – Ryan Hoover
“We built Product Hunt over 4 days, during Thanksgiving.” – Ryan Hoover
“Inspiration is perishable.” – Jason Fried
“I need to keep reminding myself that I can’t predict the future.” – Ryan Hoover
Show notes
- Ryan Hoover’s blog
- Ryan Hoover twitter
- Product Hunt
- Nathan Bashaw
- TWIST interview
- Fox News interview
- TechCrunch: Ryan Hoover joins YCombinator
- Telescope by Sacha Greif
Note from Justin
I need your help. People don’t know the show is back, releasing new episodes every Thursday. I took a break back in October, and people think the show is still offline. If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb.
Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher, please leave a review on there!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, I’m working on something new called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. I’ll have something to announce shortly!
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Dan Norris is the co-founder of WP Curve, and the author of The 7 Day Startup. He gave himself 1 year to build a profitable product. After spending a year on a product called Inform.ly, with no profits to show for it, he came up with the idea for WP Curve, and made it got his first paying customer in 4 days.
Notable quotes:
- “With my first business, I just wasn’t selling something people wanted.” – Dan Norris
- “We’ve launched 4 business in the last 12 months, and 3 of them failed. We started listening to customers and focused on the 1 business that was working.” – Dan Norris
- “Don’t make decisions based on assumption.” – Dan Norris
- “Launch the business in a week; and then don’t make any more assumptions. Make the decisions after you launch.” – Dan Norris
- “With WP Curve I knew right away that people would pay for it. With my first business, I had to build it for 6 months before I could figure out that people would pay for it.” – Dan Norris
- “The only two people who can give you real feedback about your product are people who just purchased it and people who just canceled.” – Jason Fried via Dan Shipper
- “When people cancel, we ask them a simple question: what did we do wrong?” – Dan Norris
Show notes
- WP Curve
- The 7 Day Startup
- Dan Norris on Twitter
- WP Curve co-founder Alex McClafferty
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, I’m working on something new called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. I’ll have something to announce shortly!
Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Garrett Dimon is the founder of Sifter and author of Starting + Sustaining. We talked about finding an idea, validating an idea, and building your product. Our conversation started with this question: “What are the biggest misconceptions about running a SaaS product?”
Notable quotes:
“If you just want to create stuff, and write code, starting a business is not the best way to do that.” – Garrett Dimon
“I definitely thought I was would be able to do more development and design; but it’s not really like that” – Garrett Dimon
“People don’t describer their problems to us – they email us and tell us what they want us to build. That makes it difficult to see what their root problem is.” – Garrett Dimon
“We don’t compete on features.” – Garrett Dimon
“No is easier to do. Yes is easier to say.” – Jason Fried
Show notes
- Starting and Sustaining
- Sifter
- Garrett Dimon’s blog
- Garrett Dimon on Twitter
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, I’m working on something new called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. I’ll have something to announce shortly!
Music by Striker Metal, Song: Forever
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Brennan Dunn is the go-to guy to talk about marketing automation. He’s build a SaaS, called Planscope, but these days he recommends first-time entrepreneurs build something smaller (like an eBook, or a webinar). He’s also the author of Double Your Freelancing Rate, and has lots of good insight on pricing, marketing, and automating your sales funnel.
Notable quotes:
- “We get so fixated on the medium (is it a SaaS, ebook, webinar) when really all that matters is the results for the customer.” – Brennan Dunn
- “Dentists are not typically googling around for dental software. To make the sale, you’ll need to knock on their door, and make a presentation. It’s not about the product, it’s about getting it in their hands.” – Brennan Dunn
- “You want to tap into things that are actually affecting someone’s bottom line. Go back to the dentist example: is the dentist losing money with his crappy terminal based dental software? You have to tap into actual core needs.” – Brennan Dunn
Show notes
- Brennan Dunn on Twitter
- Brennan Dunn’s blog
- Planscope
- Double Your Freelancing Rate
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, I’m working on something new called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club, and sign up for the waiting list. I’ll have something to announce shortly!
Music by Striker Metal, Song: Fight for your Right
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Ok, so ages ago I interviewed Sean Fioritto, the author of Sketching with CSS. I like Sean a lot. He’s from Chicago, and he struggled for years trying to build products. Then he wrote this book, and it took off. You’ll hear his story, and how he succeeded after lots of failures.
I haven’t put out an episode in awhile. I have a bunch recorded but I haven’t had time to edit them and put them out. I’ve just been slammed: haven’t had time or energy for anything. It’s been pedal to the metal at work – we’re dealing with that Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation right now. Geez. And at home, there’s just always stuff to bring the kids to, appointments, classes, activities. So I’ve been drained!
Anyways. I’m hoping to put an end to this Product People drought, and start releasing episodes every Thursday now. So subscribe, and watch for new episode every Thursday.
On that topic. I’ve got a landing page up for something new: it’s called Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club on the internet, and sign up for the waiting list because I’ll have something to announce shortly.
Notable quotes:
- “There’s a lot of different failure modes, and I’ve pretty much done all of them.” – Sean Fioritto
- “I’ve got to give Amy Hoy and 30×500 for giving me the right structure for building products. The main thing I figured out is you can’t start with an idea.” – Sean Fioritto
- “Starting with an idea is a self-centered way to build a product.” – Sean Fioritto
- “If you’re a bootstrapper, you don’t have time to waste.” – Sean Fioritto
Show notes
- Sean on Twitter
- Sketching with CSS
- Flexbox Tutorial
- Music: Land of the Lost and Can’t Stop the Rush by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: By the way, this interview is available in full video in my upcoming book: Marketing for Developers. Click here to sign-up for updates (and get a sample PDF).
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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This week you’ll hear from Patrick Mackenzie (Patio11 on the internet), an influential member of the self-funded, bootstrapping community, as well as a high profile member of Hacker News. Patrick is a great guest: he’s a great storyteller, and is always completely himself. (He does some great voice impressions too)
Our topic was: how to market yourself, make connections, and promote that app, SaaS, or other product you’ve just built.
Notable quotes:
“I like to play League of Legends. The vast majority of people will never make a living off League of Legends. If you want to build your business on something like LoL, that’s probably not the best things.” – Patio11
“Self-promotion is not accepted by the community at every watering hole on the internet. Hacker News is a bit of an anomaly, because Hacker News is a community who are making or starting businesses.” – Patio11
“I haven’t submitted my stuff to Hacker News in years. I’m also really careful about what I publish. Before I publish a blog post, I ask: ‘Is this post worthy of being in the top 5 of Hacker News?'” – Patio11
“The Hacker News launch is like a mini version of the Techcrunch launch. But I wouldn’t bet the success of my business based on whether or not it gets to the top of Hacker News.” – Patio11
“My first internet business launched to a total of 76 people the first day. You can build your reputation organically, by building awesome things over time.” – Patio11
Show notes
- Patrick’s email list
- Patrick’s blog
- Patrick’s book on conversion optimization
- Appointment Reminder
A note from Justin:
A big thanks to Patrick for being on the show!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: I’m writing a new book right now called Marketing for Developers. Click here to sign-up for updates (and get a sample PDF).
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David Heinemeier Hansson started working with Jason Fried at 37signals about 14-15 years ago. 10 years ago, they created Basecamp, their first SaaS product. This past week they decided to stop using the 37signals brand, and sell off (or stop developing) their other products (notably Highrise and Campfire).
Our topic was: Why is 37signals changing it’s name to Basecamp? How will this change the company? Was it worth building those other products?
Notable quotes:
“Basecamp was special because it was forged out of constraints.” – DHH
“I’m interested in trade-offs where it’s not easy: everyone wants more. More stuff, more money, more, more, more. What I find interesting is: ‘I want more peace of mind, and I’m going to give up some things for that.'” – DHH
Show notes
- Announcement: 37signals is becoming Basecamp
- The new Basecamp
- 2006 interview: who is 37signals?
A note from Justin:
A big thanks to David for being on the show!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: I’m writing a new book right now called Marketing for Developers. Click here to sign-up for updates (and get a sample PDF).
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Alex Hillman is many things: first, he’s the king of JFDI (he even has the tattoo to prove it). Second: he’s the founder of IndyHall, a co-working space in Philadelphia. Third: he’s Amy Hoy’s partner in 30×500. And fourth: he’s just recently launched his own product called GroupBuzz.io.
Our topic was: What do communities & product businesses have in common?
Notable quotes
“Having a connection with people is really important. A lot of people build tools without thinking about the people that are using them.” – Alex Hillman
“It’s not hard to get a group of people in a room. It’s hard getting a group of people doing something useful together.” – Alex Hillman
“Cult of personality is one of the most dangerous things for a community.” – Alex Hillman
“Customer interviews are bullshit. Not because people are mean, because they’re too nice. You have to observe what they do, not what they say.” – Alex Hillman
“Put a lot more stock in what people do as opposed to what they say. Be a pattern watcher. Pay attention to how people act.” – Alex Hillman
Show notes
GroupBuzz.io
The Bullseye Model
Alex on Twitter
Alex’s blog
30×500
Justin’s JFDI community
A note from Justin:
A big thanks to Alex for being on the show!
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: I’m writing a new book right now called Marketing for Developers. Click here to sign-up for updates (and get a sample PDF).
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Amy Hoy is known for her unfiltered, straight-shooting opinions on building product businesses. Her and her husband Thomas Fuchs have built Freckle, an awesome time-tracking web app – and have become well known in the bootstrapping, design, and Ruby on Rails communities. Amy is also a passionate teacher: her and Alex Hillman run the excellent 30×500 bootcamp whose students include the likes of Brennan Dunn, Chris Hartjes, and Jaana Kulmala.
Our topic was: finding an audience, discovering needs, and building products people want.
Notable quotes
“The core problem with so many businesses is that they’re based on what the business owner wants.”
“They’re fantasizing about being the hero: “I’m going to ride in on my white ‘software’ horse, and save these poor people.”
“As much as you can, you want to sell to people who will use your product. People who buy your product and don’t use it will never buy from you again.”
“Target people already in motion.”
“Selling to wannabes has the least amount of upside; people who already have a business are more likely to spend money.”
“I would rather have no money, than know that the vast majority of people that gave me the money aren’t achieving what they wanted to. If that’s true, I don’t want to be in that business.”
“Being in business forces you to become a better human being.”
Show notes
Freckle Time Tracking
30×500
Amy’s blog post on why Freckle became successful
The legend of 30×500
A note from Justin:
A big thanks to Amy Hoy for being Amy: no bullshit, nothing held back. Just real, hard advice for product people.
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: I’m writing a new book right now called Marketing for Developers. Click here to sign-up for updates (and get a sample PDF).
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Welcome to a brand new episode of Product People: this is the show that exposes you to the scrappy underworld of people creating their own products. No bullshit, no pretending: what does it take to build and launch your own thing?
This my conversation with Nathan Barry. It originally occurred on the community I run for bootstrappers called JFDI.BZ (Just Fucking Do It). JFDI members were able to ask questions live, and have access to the full (video) interview. The podcast version is abridged, but has a lot of great stuff: specifically for building an email list.
If you’d like to become a JFDI member, you can sign-up here.
Show notes
Nathanbarry.com
Convertkit.com
Nathan on Twitter
PS: want more?
Get bootstrapping goodies, and advice on how to build and launch your own thing: justinjackson.ca/newsletter
Read my latest post: Succeed with your own products in 2014
Subscribe to my free course on building your own email list.
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Jakub Linowski is a Toronto (Canada) based interface designer. He surprised everybody this year (including himself) by releasing a viral hit called GoodUI.org. In this interview we go behind the scenes, and try to unpack that success. There’s lots of good insights in here for content marketing and conversion optimization.
Sponsors
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Go to fusioncharts.com * Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“What stirred the discussion was that people were pissed off about the fat, big footer (where the email signup was).”
“People were asking: what’s this ‘good ui’ guy doing with that big footer?”
“If you look at conversion optimization, the footer was a clear success. My conversion rate on that email sign-up is 20%. I have over 26,000 people on my list right now.”
“There’s a few factors that affected the success of sign-ups: the visibility of the call to action, plus a promise for future content, plus visuals that a depict a clear idea (they were sketched out on purpose), social proof, a small number of fields (just email), no commitment, the ability to unsubscribe at any time”
“It costs me $200/month to send emails to this list.”
“Your landing page should be opinionated. This will fuel the debate and discussion. On Goodui.org I had this element of ‘this vs that’; I think stat stirs interest.”
Show notes
Linowski.ca
Jakub on Twitter
GoodUI.org
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Part 2 of our conversation of my conversation with Ruben Gamez and how he outsourced the early development of Bidsketch.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard? FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at:
- Go to fusioncharts.com
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
- Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“In the early days, I spent from $6-$10 an hour on programmers from Odesk. Nowadays, when I hire developers I pay in the $20’s. It’s ways easier to find someone of better quality, when you pay them in the $20-$30 range. Now both of the developers I have are in Argentina.”
“The developers I’m hiring now, from Odesk, are better than the developers I worked with the USA that were making 6 figures.”
“I treat my full-time outsourced developers the same way I would treat a normal employee.”
“By outsourcing, I was able to build Buildsketch in 4 months. Quick.”
Show notes
- Ruben Gamez on Twitter
- Bidsketch.com
- Bidsketch blog
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Ruben has some great advice on outsourcing, staying focused, getting work done, and building a profitable business that’s not based on your personality.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard? FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at:
- Go to fusioncharts.com
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
- Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“When you’re browsing Odesk, I always filter by 4 stars or better.”
“In the early days, I spent from $6-$10 an hour on programmers from Odesk. Nowadays, when I hire developers I pay in the $20’s. It’s ways easier to find someone of better quality, when you pay them in the $20-$30 range. Now both of the developers I have are in Argentina.”
“The developers I’m hiring now, from Odesk, are better than the developers I worked with the USA that were making 6 figures.”
Show notes
- Ruben Gamez on Twitter
- Bidsketch.com
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This week I get into the meat and potatoes with Chase Reeves. This is part 2 of our discussion.
This week we talk about that struggle of building products, especially when you’re just starting out, and trying to figure out which direction to go in.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard? FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at:
Go to fusioncharts.com * Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“I’m essentially a marketing guy, who’s trying to make something instead of just sell something.”
“I have my Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies. It’s true. I have one of those.”
“Why do I love Louis CK so much? He makes me feel comfortable in my own skin.”
“Why am I working so hard? Why wouldn’t I just become a janitor?”
“What could I do? I’m just a guy that could be a pretty decent blues band.”
“How much do you worry about money now?”
“You can have a successful business in 10 years, if you start right now. You can’t expect it to happen in 1 year; you should probably think about it happening over 4 years”
Show notes
Chase Reeves on Twitter
Chase Reeves’ blog
Fizzle.co
His old blog: Write to Mean
Chase Reeves on Adam Clark’s the Gently Madd
Proper Confidence
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This week, I’m joined by a man. A man named Chase Reeves. We’re going to talk about the business they’re building over there at Fizzle.co.
Chase and I both like to talk, so this is a two-parter! This is part 1.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard? FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at:
Go to fusioncharts.com * Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“There’s a lot of drama and pasta in how you say JavaScript.”
“I was a self-taught, no lessons webby designer guy.”
“My first freelance gig was with Corbett Bar; by the time I was done his website, we were in partnership discussions.”
“That church background steeps you into existential questions: and these lead to creative endeavours. It also gives you lots of opportunities to be creative.”
“The tip is, be willing to be an apprentice underneath someone who’s more advanced than you.”
“With partners: waste as much time as you can, just talking. Get on the phone and just talk.”
“There’s something humanizing in just talking to someone; hearing their voice.”
“Do your creative stuff in the morning. In the afternoon do customer support, email, meetings.”
“Good for you Ryan!”
Show notes
Chase Reeves on Twitter
Chase Reeves’ blog
Fizzle.co
His old blog: Write to Mean
Chase Reeves on Adam Clark’s the Gently Madd
Kevin Rose’s conversation with Ryan Carson (Foundation)
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Chris Enns, Tim Smith, and Adam Clark have a great podcast called the Intellectual Radio Program. I was recently listening to episode 8 on SSKTN.com. And right near the end, Chris has this beautifully honest moment, where he describes the frustration I think a lot of us feel when it comes to building our own products:
How long do you hold on to something you’ve built?
His co-host, Adam Clark pipes in, and brings up the topic we’re going to discuss today:
It all depends on your goals.
Goals. This is something I’ve been thinking about recently. On Product People we focus a lot on tactics, and the processes people used to launch products (whether it’s a web app, an ebook, or downloadable software). But as I’ve reviewed a lot of these episodes, there’s this trend that keeps coming up: successful product people set goals.
I have to admit, I’m a little burnt out on goals. The other day I found a list of goals I’d written in a college. I think there were about 25 items on the list. Some goals I’d met, other goals I hadn’t; but that’s not the point. I think for a lot of us, setting goals reminds us of that 10 year year plan a lot of us wrote in school – it was kind of a bucket list.
But the goals that successful entrepreneurs set are different. And we’re going to discuss those in this episode with advice from people like Patio11, DHH, Spencer Fry, Dan Norris, and John Saddington.
Show notes
Intellectual Radio Program, Episode 8
Patio11 Interview
John Saddington Interview
Dan Norris Interview
Spencer Fry Interview
DHH Interview
“If it’s not a hit, switch” – Derek Sivers (VIDEO)
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Marketing for developers
I’m writing a new book called Marketing for Developers. You can download a 21 page sample here.
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In our last episode we talked about how David started working as a contractor for 37signals making $15 an hour. He eventually worked his way up, and became an owner in the company (along with Jason Fried). In this episode we talk about he and Jason work together on a daily basis – and we go behind the scenes on their decision to rebuild Basecamp. We also talk about how he got into driving race cars (a mere 2 years after he got his license).
This is part 2 of the interview.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard? FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at:
Go to fusioncharts.com * Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! * And let me share with you something that one of our listeners is working on: Follow @TopSideConcepts on Twitter.Randy is working on a product that will help companies improve their service by prioritizing input from customers. It’s a really neat concept. Check it out: www.topsideconcepts.com
Notable quotes
“When you’re starting to build something new, it doesn’t really help to have a bunch of cooks in the kitchen.”
What are you doing now?
“We have a new product idea in mind. I’m doing the same thing I did on BCX; just me and a designer, just spiking things out. If we decide to go ahead and build it, we’ll involve more people.”
Do you just like building new stuff?
“No, I’m not just about greenfield development. I get a lot of pleasure about building things to last – I’m still working on Ruby on Rails a decade after I made the first changes. That’s still really satisfying to me. To me it’s just programming that’s fun.”
“Driving race cars is a dangerous amount of fun.”
“When I discovered Ruby, I wanted to spread the wealth – to share it with as many programmers as I could.”
“What is really interesting to me (about programming) is getting in the zone; where you lose track of time, and other concerns. That’s a rare state of mind to be in.”
Show notes
Remote: Office not required (David and Jason’s new book – out October 29, 2013)
DHH Racing on Twitter
DHH Racing website
DHH Racing YouTube channel
Book: Flow
DHH on Twitter
David’s personal blog
Ruby on Rails
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David Heinemeier Hansson started working with Jason Fried as a contract worker from Denmark. How did he eventually become a partner at 37signals?
I’ve kept in touch with David over the years, and we’d planned on doing an interview for awhile now. It finally happened this past week. This is a pretty personal interview. I spoke with David about growing up in Copenhagen, and how he met Jason (there’s a great story in there). We also discussed his new book (with Jason Fried) called Remote, and how he stays motivated when writing. This is part 1 of the interview.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard? FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at:
Go to fusioncharts.com * Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! * And let me share with you something that one of our listeners is working on: Follow @TopSideConcepts on Twitter.Randy is working on a product that will help companies improve their service by prioritizing input from customers. It’s a really neat concept. Check it out: www.topsideconcepts.com
Notable quotes
Can anyone at 37signals take advantage of moving to warmer climates?
“Absolutely: I think about 1/4 of our people are in Chicago. We have quite a few people have moved around a lot. I think Jeremy Kemper, who’s on the Rails core team, has moved about 4 or 5 times; mostly to warmer places on the West Coast. One of our support people, Kristin, just moved from Chicago to Portland. So, we definitely have people who take advantage of wherever they want to live. This is one of the great benefits of remote working – you can choose to live exactly where you want to, and it doesn’t really matter. I don’t drop a beat: it doesn’t matter if I’m in Spain or Chicago.”
“For me, personally, it’s great to not be in the same city as everyone else. I do my best work in solitude. I love those short bursts of bandwidth with in-person collaboration.”
“People overemphasize the benefits of collaboration. Collaboration is great; but it’s overused in terms as a tool.”
“For me, the most important part of writing is having something to say.”
What’s your strategy for writing?
“I’ve been working on this book for the past 10 years (in terms of my forming the ideas, and gather the experiences). When it came to recording it all, the best strategy for me was to put on the turbo chargers and get it done.”
“[Growing up] I always loved good writing. That was my inspiration for starting my own magazine in high school.”
“That happens a lot: I get inspired by something, or someone, and say – ‘Hey, I want to do that to.'”
Show notes
Remote: Office not required (David and Jason’s new book – out October 29, 2013)
“Inspiration is perishable”
DHH on Twitter
David’s personal blog
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Paul Jarvis ( Everything I Know), Sacha Greif ( Discover Meteor), and Nathan Barry ( Authority) invited me to host a Self-Publishing Hangout with them this week. It was a great opportunity for me, because I’m about to publish my first “book” ( Amplification). Our Google Hangout ended being a 2 hour marathon of us sharing our experience with writing, publishing, and promoting eBooks, as well as answering questions from everybody in the chat room.
In Part 2 we discuss:
- is the self-publishing market getting saturated?
- the publishing process: what tools do you use to create your books?
- what do you outsource?
- should you publish your book for free?
- pricing your ebook
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard? FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at:
Go to fusioncharts.com * Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! * I just released my first downloadable course called Amplification. Creating great content isn’t enough; to get it seen by thousands, you need amplification. In the course, I share my experience with viral posts like “ This is a web page” and show you real stats from my website. Then I’ll share with you the steps for amplifying your posts to bigger audiences.
Go to productpeople.tv/download and get $10 off
Notable quotes
Is the market for self-published books getting saturated right now?
- Justin : “In our space (tech, design, dev, bootstrapping) it used to be there were only a few people doing it (Amy Hoy, Chris Guillebeau). Next, there was grassroots people who followed their lead, and came on the scene: Nathan Barry, Sacha Greif, Paul Jarvis. But now it seems like there are a lot of more established people getting in to publishing: Adii Pienaar, Shawn Blanc, Mike McDerment (Freshbooks). Do you think there’s too many players in this space now?”
- Sacha : “I don’t think so. I think maybe it seems that way to us because we’re so involved in this space. Although it’s true that there are a lot of books coming out now for people like us: books about design, and books about self-publishing; that niche might get saturated soon. But the vast majority of ebooks are about other things: CSS, food… that will never get saturated.”
- Nathan : “I think there will always be demand to pay $50 or less for high quality content that’s really specific to a topic you care about (as a reader). Instead of going through 50 blog posts on the internet, you spend a little bit of money to get the best stuff on that topic in a PDF. I don’t think it will become too saturated. We also tend to run in really specific circles on the internet and so when we see something we think: wow the whole internet is talking about this, when in reality it’s just your tiny little corner, and 12 people.”
- Justin : “The hard thing is… if you’re already ‘in’ and you already have an audience, it’s easier to say that it’s not saturated. Certain niches can definitely get saturated. Rob Walling just commented on his podcast that there’s been a big, noticeable increase in the number of people asking him (and other founders) to do interviews for books. If it’s true, that there is more saturation, it means that everybody’s quality and uniqueness will have to go up – you’ll need to offer something that no one else is doing.”
- Brennan Dunn (from the chat room): “Rob was mainly arguing against ebook “authors” who just publish a bunch of other people’s writing. e.g. email a bunch of people, compile them into book, profit.”
- Amy Hoy (from the chat room): “Yeah, there’s a definitely a saturation level with ‘I’m not gonna do any work on this product but you should still pay me’ LOL”
- Michael Hartl (from the chat room): “This is still early, early days for ebook publishing.”
- Joelle Steiniger (from the chat room): “Everyone always thinks there’s no room left… and there always is.”
- Sacha : “I think the key point is quality. For example: interviews are really interesting, but there also really easy to do; that’s why there are a lot of e-books that are just a collection of interviews. Unless you’re a professional interviewer, your questions might not always be interesting. So that niche might produce a lot of low quality ebooks. But if that gets saturated, who cares? It will only push people to make higher quality books.”
- Justin : “Yeah. And maybe that’s something else we have to be prepared for: the professional ebook critic. Right now it’s a fairly friendly space.”
- Paul : “You should read some of my comments on GoodReads: there are some reviewers that don’t like stuff that are vocal.”
Show notes
Paul Jarvis: Everything I Know
Sacha Greif: Discover Meteor
Nathan Barry: Authority
Justin Jackson: Amplification
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
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Paul Jarvis ( Everything I Know), Sacha Greif ( Discover Meteor), and Nathan Barry ( Authority) invited me to host a Self-Publishing Hangout with them this week. It was a great opportunity for me, because I’m about to publish my first “book” ( Amplification). Our Google Hangout ended being a 2 hour marathon of us sharing our experience with writing, publishing, and promoting eBooks, as well as answering questions from everybody in the chat room.
In Part 1 we cover choosing a topic, whether you need to be a good writer, writers block, fear and quality!
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- On September 1st, I’ll be releasing my first downloadable course called Amplification. Creating great content isn’t enough; to get it seen by thousands, you need amplification. I’ll show you my experience with viral posts like “ This is a web page” and show you real stats from my website. Then I’ll share with you the steps for amplifying your posts to bigger audiences.
Go to productpeople.tv/download and get $10 off * Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
Nathan: “If you try to wait until you’re a great writer, that’s bad. I had someone contact me who read every one of my blog posts. He said in his email: ‘Man, when you started you were a horrible writer. But I could see you getting better each post you wrote.’ I would say: start writing, and use that to get better at writing.”
Paul: “I feel the same way. I don’t think I’m a great writer, but I know that I’m a lot better now than when I started writing. The only way I got better, was by writing. I write every day; I don’t publish work every day (that’s not the point). The more that I sit down and write, the more ideas that I come up with that are worth publishing.”
Sacha: “I didn’t have a fixed amount of words to write every day. I approach writing like design: start with a sketch, low fidelity mockup, high fidelity… every iteration comes close and closer to the real thing. I start with outline of the chapters, and start filling them up. For Discover Meteor, we must have gone through each chapter about 10 times, it was really iterative.”
Show notes
Paul Jarvis: Everything I Know
Sacha Greif: Discover Meteor
Nathan Barry: Authority
Justin Jackson: Amplification
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If you’ve dreamed about building your own product, you’re in the right place. This week the hilarious, talented, and honest Allan Branch joins us to talk about why he’s leaving LessConf behind to focus on LessAccounting.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“LessConf was a fun little hobby that started to take over.”
“With our app, we’re still battling it out for users, and LessConf was becoming a distraction”
“Notoriety in the startup community doesn’t translate into users in the small business.”
“Notoriety and fame and all that bullshit feels good; it’s a disease. It sucks you in… looking at Instagram likes, and who likes stuff, and re-tweets you. If startups aren’t your target marketing, notoriety can be a distraction.”
“Running a conference is like being a bride at a wedding.”
“What about a social network to connect golfing buddies?”
“We both took pay cuts to start LessEverything, because we wanted to build a nest-egg to build products”
“Having a partner makes it better. Steve likes to make my ideas better.”
“A good partner will give you the courage to be more of yourself.”
“The ignorant user is your best customer.”
“There’s no legacy in pixels.”
Show notes
Allan on Twitter
LessConf
LessAccounting
Allan and Steve’s books
Massalina Drive
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Spencer Fry built his first product when he was 19, and now’s building a new product called Uncover. It’s a big risk: it’s an HR product, which is a difficult vertical. Listen to hear how he plans to succeed.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“Uncover gives employers the ability to give perks and rewards to their employees.”
“Companies are too quick to iterate. You have to look at the broader picture. You have to set aside time for bigger wins.”
“Take time away from the everyday grind, to try something big.”
“When do you know when you should throw in the towel? That’s something I don’t like doing. It’s one of the reasons I choose to bootstrap. If your raise money you have to throw in the towel a lot sooner.”
“One criticism of the HR space is that it’s difficult to sell products to that niche.”
“Small companies get their best applicants through referrals and employees.”
“Longterm, what we want to do is educate companies around employee happiness.”
“Sales or die. Sales is important: the internet is saturated with startups. You have to go after customers.”
“You live and die on your potential customer list.”
Show notes
Spencer Fry on Twitter
Spencer Fry’s blog
Pros and cons of iterative development
Sales or die
Uncover
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What were you doing when you were 19? Spencer Fry built his first online product.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“When I was 10 years old, I had really, really high speed internet. All my friends were on dial-up, but I was on Yale’s high speed connection.”
“I started with being really interested in video games, which eventually lead to TypeFrag.”
“How did you figure out quality voice-over-IP when you were 19?”
“For TypeFrag, most of our sales growth came from podcast sponsorship, and video game team sponsorship.”
“90% of a business’ success is marketing and sales.”
“Spend 90% of your time thinking about how you’re going to get users.”
“It seems like people are way too focused on product development and design, and not focused enough on the sales and the marketing. Especially new entrepreneurs.”
“Every time you talk I’m thinking: these are crazy lessons for someone so young to be learning.”
Show notes
Spencer Fry on Twitter
Spencer Fry’s blog
TypeFrag
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Imagine building a product for a whole year, and then deciding to try something new on a whim. You build it in a weekend, and in 4 days you already have your first paying customer.
Find out what happens next: this is part 2 with Dan Norris of Inform.ly and WP Curve.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off!
Notable quotes
“I realized with my first business, that I’d built something that didn’t scale.”
“I also realized, that I don’t want to do sales. I don’t get energy from going out and doing sales.”
“My co-founder calls himself the Claff, which kind of sounds like an STD.”
“Wait a second; are you allowed to swear on your show?”
“There’s something about putting a price on something, and seeing if people will pay you.”
“I don’t know anyone who’s running a software business, who’s started in the last couple of years, who are making a lot of money. I didn’t realize that at first. It takes a long time to build up the product, to where it’s good enough. SaaS takes a long time.”
“Your mailing list is a massive leg up. When I do something now, people find out about it, which is half the battle.”
“Authority is a hugely valuable asset. Do whatever you do best, that will get people the most amount of relevant people aware of what you’re doing.”
“People won’t tell you what they want. I’ve asked people ‘would you pay for this?'”
Show notes
The Dan Norris
Start now no funding needed
The Claff on Twitter
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Imagine this: you sell your web consultancy, and give yourself 1 year to build a product. You decide to do everything by the book: you’re going to validate the idea, and use the lean startup methodology to build it.
Find out what happens next: this is part 1 with Dan Norris of Inform.ly and WP Curve.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! * I also just discovered KnowAds. The hardest part about online advertising is figuring out what works. KnowAds reveals your competitor’s campagins showing you exactly what’s working for them. You get to see their most successful ad copy & ad placements. Go to productpeople.tv/ads and sign-up for an account. * And finally, if you’re trying to set-up an online store, you need to use Shopify. I’ve tried setting up dozens of online stores for clients, and there are always so many headaches: handling payment gateways, multiple currencies, taxes, shipping rates. Shopify solves all of these problems for you. I want you to go to productpeople.tv/shopify and get a 14 day free trial.
Notable quotes
“You’re a full pro with those intros, were you a TV announcer before you started doing podcasts?”
“I try to record my podcasts in the morning, especially when I have a cold, so I sound like Russel Crowe.”
“I listened to the Dan Martell episode, do you want me to tell all my stories about being arrested?”
“Oh, you don’t know what a bogan is?”
“I started learning web development the day I started by web development business.”
“The customer said ‘we want a CMS’. I said ‘Sure, I can do that’, so I went home and googled CMS.”
Show notes
The Dan Norris
Web domination podcast
Bogan [Wikipedia]
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This is part 2 of our interview with Noel Tock. He built a SaaS app on top of WordPress. In part 1 we talked about the thinking behind that, in part 2 we talk about the lessons he’s learned along the way.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! * I also just discovered KnowAds. The hardest part about online advertising is figuring out what works. KnowAds reveals your competitor’s campagins showing you exactly what’s working for them. You get to see their most successful ad copy & ad placements. Go to productpeople.tv/ads and sign-up for an account. * And finally, if you’re trying to set-up an online store, you need to use Shopify. I’ve tried setting up dozens of online stores for clients, and there are always so many headaches: handling payment gateways, multiple currencies, taxes, shipping rates. Shopify solves all of these problems for you. I want you to go to productpeople.tv/shopify and get a 14 day free trial.
Notable quotes
Classic product myth: “Build and they will come. Just because you have a great product, doesn’t mean people will come.”
“Our best source for traffic is www.better-restaurant-websites.com”
“The people that come through footer links on our clients’ websites convert the best.”
“Don’t use Bootstrap for your app’s design.”
Show notes
Noel Tock
Happy Tables
www.better-restaurant-websites.com
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If liked our episodes on using WordPress to build your web app’s MVP, you’re going to love this interview with Noel Tock, of HappyTables.com.
Sponsors
This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show!
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly.
Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! * I also just discovered KnowAds. The hardest part about online advertising is figuring out what works. KnowAds reveals your competitor’s campagins showing you exactly what’s working for them. You get to see their most successful ad copy & ad placements. Go to productpeople.tv/ads and sign-up for an account. * And finally, if you’re trying to set-up an online store, you need to use Shopify. I’ve tried setting up dozens of online stores for clients, and there are always so many headaches: handling payment gateways, multiple currencies, taxes, shipping rates. Shopify solves all of these problems for you. I want you to go to productpeople.tv/shopify and get a 14 day free trial.
Notable quotes
“You can’t build any app on-top of WordPress. It works really well for apps that are content based.”
“Customizing the existing wp-admin is a lot of work.”
“For an MVP, WordPress would work fine. But for something bigger that you want scale, it’s probably better to use something (like Ruby on Rails).”
“Now that WordPress has custom post types, there’s way more you can do.”
“It doesn’t really matter anymore what technology you’re using on the backend. The bar’s really been raised in terms of what users expect [in the front-end experience].”
“We used to be content when app just did something, Hotmail did email. But now we have higher expectations on how an app [looks and feels].”
“We’re trying to understand the users mores, as opposed to what code powers the back-end.”
“We launched Happy Tables in February, 2012.”
“Most of our traffic is organic traffic.”
Show notes
Noel Tock
Happy Tables
RoloPress
Piklist
ClickBank
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It’s part 2 with Jason Calacanis!
In this episode we explore the question every product person needs to answer: should I bootstrap, or should I get investors?
Sponsors
- Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly
- I also just discovered KnowAds. The hardest part about online advertising is figuring out what works. KnowAds reveals your competitor’s campagins showing you exactly what’s working for them. You get to see their most successful ad copy & ad placements. Go to productpeople.tv/ads and sign-up for an account.
- And finally, if you’re trying to set-up an online store, you need to use Shopify. I’ve tried setting up dozens of online stores for clients, and there are always so many headaches: handling payment gateways, multiple currencies, taxes, shipping rates. Shopify solves all of these problems for you. I want you to go to productpeople.tv/shopify and get a 14 day free trial.
Notable quotes
- “Raise a little of angel funding, prove that there’s product market, and then go out and get second market funding.”
- “If Uber doesn’t go into every market, someone else will, but they still have other people popping up in new markets before they get there. So they’re in a race.”
- “Raise less money in the beginning, raise more money once you have product market fit.”
- JJ: “There are some great products that have grown really fast, and have stayed private and bootstrapped (MailChimp, SurveyMonkey, Valve). Do you think they’re anomalies?”
- JC: “There are some people that stay private, and that’s good because they retain their equity. There’s not one way to do this. But some of those companies are 10 year ‘over night’ successes.'”
- “Most businesses don’t need venture funding. The truth is, there’s a time for both [bootstrapping and taking venture money].”
- “Investors need liquidity. There’s a secondary market for shares today. This really didn’t exist that much before. You used to be forced into an IPO. There’s a concept that (perhaps) venture capitalists would start taking dividends; but it’s more likely that they’ll just sell their shares.”
- “Trying to building for the sale is a terrible idea. You want to build for a growing market, a customer that loves you, and a team that loves to build the product. When I was hiring for Inside.com, I realized there’s a lot of developers into our space.”
- “Building to sell is a dangerous idea. When people come to me for an angel investment and say ‘This is a natural acquisition target’, I say ‘That’s not what you lead with.’ That’s not why you build it, you build it because you have a better solution.”
- “When you’re thinking about these big acquisitions, I encourage people to just drop off 3 zeroes.”
- “It turns out, there’s a lot of money in the world. The money is bored. Money wants to be spent! Money is intended to be gambled. These are big numbers, but these are big companies.”
Show notes
- http://twitter.com/jason
- http://inside.com
- http://www.weblogsinc.com
- http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/10/prweb172213.htm
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Normally we cover bootstrapped products: people who are self-funding the stuff they build. We do this because I’m naturally drawn to bootstrapped companies.
For this episode I wanted to go into “enemy” territory: I wanted to talk to the VC community. To do that I contacted Jason Calacanis, an angel investor, and the voice of funded startups on his podcast This Week In Startups. This is part 1 where we delved into the human said of Mr. Calacanis – where he came from, and how he got to where he is today.
We also have 3 new sponsors this month:
- Looking for a new job? Mood Media is hiring a Jr. Product Manager. They are looking for an energetic, entrepreneurial technophile who is ready to drive Mood Media’s Interactive product lines in North America forward into the next decade. This person must be a visionary, strategic thinker with a hands-on approach. For more details, visit: productpeople.tv/moodmedia
- I also just discovered KnowAds. The hardest part about online advertising is figuring out what works. KnowAds reveals your competitor’s campagins showing you exactly what’s working for them. You get to see their most successful ad copy & ad placements. Go to productpeople.tv/ads and sign-up for an account.
- And finally, if you’re trying to set-up an online store, you need to use Shopify. I’ve tried setting up dozens of online stores for clients, and there are always so many headaches: handling payment gateways, multiple currencies, taxes, shipping rates. Shopify solves all of these problems for you. I want you to go to productpeople.tv/shopify and get a 14 day free trial.
Notable quotes
- “My first business was making copies of Star Wars on BetaMax for my friends.”
- “I don’t think being an entrepreneur is the best mode of existence; but I do think it’s important for our kids to see us working hard.”
- “Show me a great entrepreneur, I’ll show you a fucked up relationship with their parents.”
- “There were these things called BBSes. I had a 300 BAUD modem.”
- “In college I was making $3.50/hour managing computer systems.”
- “One of my first jobs was doing LotusNotes scripting.”
- “When I saw Mosaic, the first browser, I was like: Whoa. When they added images, the internet felt like a magazine.”
- “People thought that paying bloggers was sacrilegious.”
- “I thought doing 10 blog posts a day on gadgets was crazy. But we ultimately we ended up doing 40, 50, 60 posts a day.”
- “Weblogs Inc. was a great product.”
- “We sold the first podcast ad ever to Volvo. We commercialized it; we saw there was a business opportunity there.”
- “When people use it, and can’t shut up about it, you know you’ve got a great product.”
- “I like to tinker, I like to build products. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to do other stuff, but I like product.”
Show notes
- http://twitter.com/jason
- http://inside.com
- http://www.weblogsinc.com
- http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/10/prweb172213.htm
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Dan Martell discovered computers in rehab. After he overcame his problems with drugs, he taught himself to program. From there, he started building businesses. Eventually, he travelled to San Francisco to learn everything he could from the startup scene.
You might recognize his former product: Flowtown, and his current one: Clarity. In this episode Dan shares his story from the beginning, and how he overcame a difficult beginning to build his own products.
Notable quotes
- “I got the idea for Clarity because I had people emailing asking me to take me to coffee, needing help. I wanted to help them, but I couldn’t help them. I wished there was a way to get their information, and call them back when I was free. I built it on Twilio, which would proxy my number (so no one found my cell number)”
- “It took me 2 days to build that first prototype that worked.”
- “I tweeted out: ‘If you need advice on your startup, give me a call'”
- “I felt like: this is what the internet is supposed to do!”
- How did you know people would pay for it? “Once it was out there, I was getting too many calls. So I put up a paywall. It was crazy; people started paying [big numbers].”
- “The world rewards courageous decisions; I honestly believe that.”
- “What does a hit look like? Retention. When someone uses it, and keeps using it. Even better: if they also tell other people to use it.”
- There’s always this confusion as to what would people would pay for.
- “I didn’t want to admit I was building a two-sided marketplace.”
- “I don’t need engineers to be more productive, I just need to stop asking them to build stupid stuff that nobody needs.”
- “Nobody, listening to this podcast does more customer development than I do.”
- “What’s the key to a good customer development interview? DON’T SELL.”
- “Getting someone to pay is true customer validation.”
- “Once you’ve created and keep a customer, you’ve got a real business.”
- “I want to index people’s brains, like Google indexes text.”
- “People are listening to this podcast because conversations carry a lot more context.”
- “Find 10 people that will pay you money.”
- “The question is not 'can you build it?' it’s 'should you build it?'”
Show notes
- http://www.danmartell.com/
- https://twitter.com/danmartell
- https://clarity.fm/#/danmartell
- http://www.twilio.com/
- http://clarity.fm/customers/raphaelpaulindaigle
- http://maplebutter.com/
Premium Sponsors
- Sprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
- WPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them. Click here to get up to 2 months free.
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Dan Martell discovered computers in rehab. After he overcame his problems with drugs, he taught himself to program. From there, he started building businesses. Eventually, he travelled to San Francisco to learn everything he could from the startup scene.
You might recognize his former product: Flowtown, and his current one: Clarity. In this episode Dan shares his story from the beginning, and how he overcame a difficult beginning to build his own products.
Notable quotes
- “I had a hard upbringing, my mother was an alcoholic. I was removed from my home.”
- “Built tree forts, when I was 8 or 9, and I would charge the other kids to come play in them”
- “I’ve always been into building and selling stuff… so I took to selling drugs.”
- “It was in rehab that I discovered computers. I learned to build stuff that wasn’t illegal.”
- “A lot of the stuff you learn selling drugs, translates to business acumen.”
- “Clarity’s foundation is getting advice from people that have been there before. ”
- “You should only get advice from people that have been there before.”
- “My uncle was selling roller blades in his basement.”
- “As soon as possible, your company needs to make money. If you can get anyone to show up and pay you $1, you’ve made it on the internet.”
- “People don’t [charge money for their products], because they’re scared that their product sucks.”
- “It took me a few failed attempts before I made my first million.”
- “When I was 21, I was hired to work for an oil company in the tar sands. My job title was Solutions Architect.”
- “I almost went bankrupt in 6 weeks.”
- “I became a millionaire when I was 27.”
- “I get 3-4 venture cap firms cold emailing me every week.”
Show notes
- http://www.danmartell.com/
- https://twitter.com/danmartell
- https://clarity.fm/#/danmartell
- http://maplebutter.com/
Premium Sponsors
- Sprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
- WPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them. Click here to get up to 2 months free.
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Imagine this: you build a product that you’re passionate about. To demonstrate it’s capabilities, you create a demo that attracts the attention of the New York Times legal department; who promptly send you a cease and desist letter. That’s exactly what happened to Cody Brown and his team at ScrollKit.
Highlights
- “Scrollkit is a way to create powerful visual stories on the web.”
- “We’re trying to bring what you can do in print, to the web.”
- “A kid will intuitively understand what to do when you give them some crayons. But if you slid ‘WordPress’ over to them, they’d probably be confused.”
- “Our biggest cost is salaries: we’re paying ourselves low ‘founders’ salaries right now. The only other big cost is Heroku.”
- “We used ScrollKit to re-create Snowfall in an hour.”
- “Time Magazine loved our replica: they invited us to their corporate headquarters.”
Show notes
- ScrollKit
- Cody on Twitter
- Cody’s post on Medium (over 100k views)
- ScrollKit story on Hacker News
- Cody’s personal site
Premium Sponsors
- Sprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
- WPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them. Click here to get up to 2 months free.
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #3: Get $25 off at Ting
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📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Hey, let me ask you a question: when you were a kid, after a game of Mario Brothers, did you ever take out a pencil and paper and try to draw your own video game levels? The idea of creating video games from a kid’s imagination is something that today’s guest is working on.
Highlights
- “Growing up, playing Mario Bros and Donkey Kong, I would draw my own video game levels.”
- “A lot of us that grew up in the 80’s, we’re in our 30’s, we grew up dreaming of creation our own video games.”
- “Sometimes the press can pick up on an idea that isn’t really viable as business.”
- “We’re seeing other games that have been successful in this niche, like Minecraft.”
- “Monetizing through education markets is really challenging.”
- “A Kickstarter campaign is really time consuming.”
- Why didn’t you get Angel funding? “If one person gives you $100,000 it doesn’t really validate your product idea. Having 1,000 paying customers validates your idea.”
- Does Kickstarter give you the contact information for backers? “Yes, there’s an export button: but you have to be backed, or your campaign has to be over.”
- “It doesn’t always take a big budget to test out your idea.”
- “What was that conversation with your wife like?”
Show notes
- Kickstarter campaign
- Pixel Press: Draw your own video games
- Robin Rath on Twitter
Premium Sponsors
- Sprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
- WPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them. Click here to get up to 2 months free.
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #3: Get $25 off at Ting
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
In this episode of Product People: does Amy Hoy still get scared before a launch? How do you choose an audience? And she answers some listener questions.
Highlights
- “The 30×500 bootcamp has been moved to June 15/16: Why you should do a tiny product first”
- “So much of what we’re doing (with our online courses) is creating community.”
- “Our Bacon Biz community will be open to everybody: baconbiz.com”
- “People have set-up their lives where they let themselves get jerked around by their emotions all the time.”
- “If you launch something, you’re going to get good feedback and bad feedback. No matter what the price is, somebody’s going to complain about the price.”
- “People unconsciously prioritize their feelings as an excuse.”
- “Sometimes you’ll go to someone, because you need some advice, but they’ll end up re-enforcing the wrong things. You need to find people that can focus on facts.” – Justin
- “So many ills are cause by just reacting to feelings.”
- “What really scares me is karaoke.”
- “Ask yourself: What logical data is telling me I should be afraid? What’s the worst possible thing that could happen?”
- “The key, seems to be, to keep trying things. Not everything’s a home run, but they keep trying.”
- “A lot of people’s fear is of what people will think of you.”
- “The easiest way for me to turn this around, is to quit being so self-centred. To keep reminding myself: it’s not about me.”
- “Don’t ask: what do I want to build? Ask: what do people need?”
- “You can’t actually help anyone; you can only help people that want to help themselves.”
- “You have to help people with something specific, as opposed to being general. You’ll
- “When people ask me: ‘what audience should I serve?’ I ask them: ‘Well, what are you? If you’re a Ruby developer, than serve Ruby developers!’ Stick within your own circles.”
- “You’ve already chosen your audience by who you’re already associating with.”
- “To punch above your weight you need to use every single advantage you have. If you try to pick a new market you know nothing about, you’re giving up one of your core advantages.”
- “Start serving the audience you already belong to.”
- How can people break out of their insecurity? “It’s not a question of ‘who you are’. Do your research: what does it tell you? You don’t have to wonder ‘what do I have to offer that people want?’ Look at your resume.”
- “Always be researching customers; never stop. I look wherever people congregate: forums, mailing lists, blog posts, off-hand comments from people on Twitter, support portals, user groups.”
- “Don’t walk up and ask people what their problems are; you have to observe.”
- Where do you keep your customer research notes? “I use a text file. Simple as that. Don’t use fancy tools.”
- “For content marketing, I take what I’ve learned in my research phase, and write posts around that.”
- When we sell people things, are we pandering to their narcism? “It’s not narcissistic to think about yourself, and what you need. It’s narcissistic to think that everything’s about you.”
- “We don’t have to add new features to compete. New features don’t always make a product better.”
Show notes
- Amy Hoy
- Freckle
- BaconBiz
- BaconBizConf
- 30×500 Accelerated Bootcamp, on June 15-16
- Stop networking at events
- Brennan Dunn
- Grumpy Programmer
- Rob Wallling
Premium Sponsors
- Sprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
- WPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them. Click here to get up to 2 months free.
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #3: Get $25 off at Ting
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Amy Hoy gives a personal interview on her growing up in suburban Maryland, programming on an Apple IIc, selling her My Little Ponies to buy a Power Mac, and how she ended up building her first products.
Highlights
- “I started programming when I was 7 year old. At home we had an Apple IIc, and I wrote some programs in BASIC on that.”
- “Programming books suck.”
- “I grew up in suburban Maryland. It was a wasteland: the only place to get coffee was at a gas station, or one of those sub shops that don’t have a name.”
- “Growing up, I didn’t have any business mentors. I was all alone. I learned from books.”
- “I was always hustling trying to get money. To buy my Power Mac I sold all of my My Little Ponies.”
- “My entire life, everyone told me I couldn’t do stuff.”
- “I dropped out of high school in 9th grade and started freelancing.”
- “Communicating and teaching are my #1 passions.”
- “To me it’s really interesting how people hear about people, and start following people” – Justin
- “Twistori ended up making us a lot of money.”
- “Working for this startup was like living in Dilbert, but with lots more money and parties.”
- “It took about 1-2 days a week, for 3 months to build Freckle.”
- “I remember hearing about the 30×500 formula, and thinking: ‘Whoa! That’s doable'” – Justin
- “We’re doing a 30×500 bootcamp on June 9-10. The cost will be $1,550.”
Show notes
- Amy Hoy
- Thomhas Fuchs
- Freckle
- The Daily Mac
- CBC Television (Venture)
- Kids on the Internet
- Basecamp
- Color Wars
- We feel fine
- Twistori
- Limewire
- Javascript Performance Rocks
- 30×500
Premium Sponsors
- Sprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
- WPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them. Click here to get up to 2 months free.
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #3: Get $25 off at Ting
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Hey Product People! What’s your process for finding an idea that people love? How do you take your initial hunch for an idea, and make it a reality? What is a funnel? Hiten Shah from Kissmetrics is back to answer these questions and more!
Highlights
- “Making human connections is the most important thing in any startup.”
- “You need some sound reasoning behind why you’re building your product. It’s a balance of having a vision AND taking all the customer inputs you can find to make sure that your vision can be a reality.
- “Study great product people.”
- “You have to have an unbiased curiosity; like a method actor. You take off your shoes, and go find that other person’s shoes and start walking in them. You start walking, acting and observing like them.”
- “Get unbiased facts about your customers. Know them better than they know themselves.”
- “We discovered that building a funnel in Google Analytics is painful. And so we started thinking: how can we take the pain out of that?”
- “One of the best things about going to industry conferences is learning about your potential customers. It’s full on anthropology!”
- “The creation of the product is a big social experiment. As you understand people, you can ask: how can I save them time, make money or save money?”
- “Any step by step process that exists in life, has drop-off. And to me, what a funnel allows you to do is figure out that drop-off. It helps you identify where your problems are.”
- “One of the key things we’re learning is that you need to build an audience before you build your product. Build your audience not for marketing, but for learning.”
- “Our listeners tell us that building and audience is way scarier than building a product.” – Justin Jackson
- “Ask these questions: 1) Who is it I’m trying to reach? 2) Where do they hang out? 3) How can I reach them there?”
- “In today’s world you should be able to get people paying right away. If you’ve spent a year, and you don’t have anyone willing to pay you, it’s likely they’ll never pay you.”
- “An idea is a solution to a problem. What problem does that idea solve? My suggestion to people is asking: how do you know that a lot of other people have this problem?”
Show notes
- Hiten on Twitter
- Hitenism
- KISSmetrics
- Crazy Egg
- Derek Sivers – if it’s not a hit, switch
Premium Sponsors
- Sprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
- WPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them. Click here to get up to 2 months free.
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Espree. SaveBusinessTime.com is a curated site featuring the Best Business Software to build and grow your start up.
- Shout-out #2: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #3: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #4: Get $25 off at Ting
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Can you build a healthy software business when you don’t know how to code? Hiten Shah is on the show today. He and his co-founder Neil Patel, have built two successful SaaS apps: CrazyEgg, and Kissmetrics. Today you’ll hear Hiten’s secret to being a successful entrepreneur.
Highlights
- “I don’t know how to ‘feel’ like an entrepreneur. To me entrepreneurship isn’t a feeling.”
- “When you create something, out of nothing, and somebody consumes it and loves it – that’s entrepreneurship.”
- “The people that get stuck… they don’t bother to figure out what it is (that they can make) that people will love.”
- “To be an entrepreneur you have to build things, and people have to love them.”
- “Almost any problem you see in a company boils down to people and product.”
- “It’s hard to manufacture genuine customer appreciation.”
- “As the creators of things, the people part is huge. You need to ask: ‘how do you humanize a product’?”
- “CrazyEgg was 1 of 10 things we tried; and it was the one that resonated the most with people.”
Show notes
- Hiten on Twitter
- Hitenism
- KISSmetrics
- Crazy Egg
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #3: Get $25 off at Ting
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business: Paul Farnell of Litmus.com joins me and shares some great stories.
Highlights
- “It felt magical to send an email to a random address, and then showing screenshots of the HTML email design. It was a magical thing when we got it working.”
- “We found a technical challenge in automating Lotus Notes 7 on an old version of Windows, and then delivering that result to a beautiful Rails app”
- “There are a lot of business opportunities in that stuff that people just grind through on a daily basis. Think Stripe, Litmus, etc…” – Justin Jackson
- “If you look at our curve of revenue, it starts very slowly for the first 2.5 years, and then gradually picks up pace in the last year or two.”
- “2.5 years in we were well under $1 million in revenue a year, probably $200,000-$300,000 in revenue per year. At 2.5 years we had about 500 users. Now we have 100,000 users (7 years in).”
- “When we switched from Euros to American dollars, that week we saw a huge increase in sales.”
- “How come America still seems to be the place where web apps thrive?”
- “The environment in America is different than Europe. There are bigger entrepreneurial hubs.”
- “In the early days, one of the things that set us apart was the designed of the software. I’m not sure how replicable this would be now.”
- “We’re a company that has side-projects: we build other apps that (if successful) we roll into our main product.”
Show notes
- Paul on Twitter
- Paul’s blog posts on Litmus
- Peanut Software archived page
- Paul’s presentation at FOWD
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Kyle Fox’s blog post on product management. I’d like to give a shout-out to Kyle Fox who’s written a great blog post called “ Multi-tasking is the heart of product management” Go to kylefox.ca to see that!
- Shout-out #2: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #3: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #4: Get $25 off at Ting
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business: Paul Farnell of Litmus.com joins me and shares some great stories.
Highlights
- “My parents didn’t want me to have a games console; they wanted something that I could create things on. My first computer was an Amiga.”
- “I was inspired by my dad. I started publishing a magazine myself, and distributing it in my middle-school. We even sold annual subscriptions! (mostly to teachers, because they had more money)”
- “When I was 12-13 years old, I started building different software products. The first was “Instant Theme Creator”. It sold for $19 (although it was always advertised for $29). It was listed on Download.com”
- “I’ve always liked the validation of someone finding enough value in something that I built they were willing to pay for it. I didn’t want to just make a magazine that people would read, I wanted to make”
- “There are so many hacks that we technical people do every day. We don’t always think that if we could create systems for other people; make these hacks into products” – Justin Jackson
- [Did you enjoy business school?] “No. I didn’t enjoy the courses (or find it applicable). But it was time well spent: because I had the freedom to build Litmus.”
- “I was so impressed with the design, usability of 37signals.”
- “I built the first version of Litmus in a weekend. It was initially called SiteVista.com. It was running a couple of old desktop machines in my dorm, on the college’s internet.”
- “It was incredibly exciting to see people using the product. You would literally see customers using the product, because they were testing web pages on the screens underneath my desk.”
- “It did cause some trouble: my girlfriend would get woken up by the machines under my desk.”
- “We programmed the original app in VB script.”
- “We launched with under 100 people.”
Show notes
- Paul on Twitter
- Paul’s blog posts on Litmus
- Peanut Software archived page
- Paul’s presentation at FOWD
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Kyle Fox’s blog post on product management. I’d like to give a shout-out to Kyle Fox who’s written a great blog post called “ Multi-tasking is the heart of product management” Go to kylefox.ca to see that!
- Shout-out #2: Product People newsletter
- Shout-out #3: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #4: Get $25 off at Ting
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
This week we have part 2 of our interview with John Saddington that literally sent warning bells blaring through the 8Bit office. We also hear about his new Kickstarter campaign: Pressgram (an iOS app that allows you to take filtered photos, and publish them to your WordPress blog).
Highlights
- “Without deadlines you just never know if there’s progress, or to measure momentum.”
- “Without deadlines you won’t know if you’ve succeeded in doing anything.”
- “Without personal deadlines you can be slaving away on something and never launch.”
- “When you have partners you will have more fun, you will make more money, and you will have more margin than without.”
- “Unless you’re a magical unicorn that can do all things, you’re probably going to be a specialist (a designer, business person, developer). Startups need specialists that are kicking butt at being excellent in particular areas, than a bunch of generalists doing everything mediocre.”
- “Investors want to invest in people that are at the top of their game.”
- “You haven’t launched because there’s something in this product that you can overcome without help.”
- “Finding good people is about experimenting.”
Show notes
- 8Bit
- Pressgram (John’s Kickstarter project)
- John’s landing page
- @saddington on Twitter
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout-out #1: Jesse Storimer‘s workingwithruby.com
- Shout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com
- Shout-out #3: Get $25 off at Ting. Ting! For our USA listeners, if you go to productpeople.ting.com. Ting is a mobile service that gives you great rates, no overage penalties, and multiple devices on one plan. If you go to productpeople.ting.com you’ll get $25 off most Ting devices or $25 toward Ting service!
Want to be featured in this Shout Section? The cost starts at $39 per episode, and it’s a great way to reach thousands of people.
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📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Before this interview we thought John Saddington was a guy that built WordPress products with his team at 8Bit (we were also intrigued by his new Kickstarter campaign: Pressgram). What we didn’t realize is that John, at a young age, had worked his way up the corporate ladder at big companies like Fox and Dell. Today you’ll hear his story.
Highlights
- “I realized that as an executive, you don’t get to code.”
- “It was difficult for me to reconcile my interests [in products] with my father’s [as a salary man]”
- The power of a start and end date for projects: “I give myself timelines for my side-projects: I’ll say if I don’t hit these metrics within 6 months, I’ll move on.”
- “Entrepreneurs do way too much due diligence. Just push ‘start’, jump in!”
Show notes
- 8Bit
- Pressgram (John’s Kickstarter project)
- John’s landing page
- @saddington on Twitter
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout out #1: Marc-Andre Cournoyer. Our fellow Canadian Marc-Andre Cournoyer is teaching classes at classes.codedinc.com. This is advanced training for developers on Rails, Node.js and other programming languages.
Want to be featured in this Shout Section? The cost starts at $39 per episode, and it’s a great way to reach thousands of people.
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
Jason Evanish has made a name for himself as a customer-focused entrepreneur. He caught the eye of Hiten Shah, the founder of KISSmetrics. Hiten asked Jason to leave Boston, and move to the Valley to become KISSmetric’s Product Manager.
Since then, he’s become known as a generous teacher; especially when it comes to customer development, pattern matching, and product development.
Show notes
- KISSmetrics
- Jason on Twitter
- Jason on About.me
- FogPHP blog post on launching
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout out #1: ThinkMojo and Startup-videos.com showcases the best startup videos around helping you find inspiration & resources for your product demo video.
🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!
While in Boston, Jason Evanish made a name for himself as a customer-focused entrepreneur. He caught the eye of Hiten Shah, the founder of KISSmetrics. Hiten asked Jason to leave Boston, and move to the Valley to become KISSmetric’s Product Manager.
Since then, he’s become known as a generous teacher; especially when it comes to customer development, pattern matching, and product development.
In this candid interview, Jason shares what he’s learned so far leading product at KISSmetrics.
Highlights
- “Your assumptions are not necessarily true.”
- “Customer development is a series of tactics to get to the core of what a customer really is. You find out what there problem is, and create a solution that can really delight them. The challenge is that customers won’t flat out tell you what they need. You need a process to draw it out of them.”
- “If you want to get the politics out of your organization, become a data-driven company. Now you have numbers and data.”
- “A lot of people think customer development is highly subjective. The key is you need to trust the interpreter. If you were having someone translate from Chinese to English, you would need to trust the person doing the interpretation.”
- “What kind of data should you track? Look at feature adoption rates: what do people actually use?”
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout out #1: Sam Baumgarten – learn about creating web apps. Check out Sam Baumgarten’s blog to learn about creating web apps and get updates on his projects such as Nathan Barry’s ConvertKit. sambaumgarten.me
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Nathan Barry has released two really successful ebooks, and a new web app called ConvertKit. If you’ve ever wanted to write your own ebook, but couldn’t get started, this interview is sure to inspire you to create and launch your own stuff.
Show notes
- https://twitter.com/nathanbarry
- http://nathanbarry.com
- http://nathanbarry.com/app-design-handbook/
- http://nathanbarry.com/webapps/
- Scrivener
- iBooks Author
- https://convertkit.com
- http://nathanbarry.com/competitive-advantage/
- http://thinktraffic.net/most-common-pricing-mistake
Sponsors
- Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter: @sprintly
Shout outs
- Shout out #1: Working with Unix Processes by Jesse Storimer. Our friend Jesse has written a great book: Working with Unix Processes. More than 2000 Ruby programmers have discovered the fundamentals of system programming with my ebook. Go check it out and spawn some daemons. workingwithunixprocesses.com
- Shout out #2: Beathound by Creature Creative. Beathound is a service for staying on top of new releases from the artists you love. If you’ve ever missed an album from your favorite band, you need to try Beathound. They’ve just added a cool feature for anyone following SXSW – visit beathound.com/sxsw to follow new releases from all of SXSW’s showcasing artists this year.
- Shout out #3: Save Business Time with Espree. Our listener Espree has built savebusinesstime.com: a marketplace for the world’s best web apps for business. These are apps that help people get their work done faster. If you have a B2B app that you’d like to promote, you can submit it at: www.savebusinesstime.com/submit-your-tool/
- Shout out #4: Copywriting for Geeks by Marc-André Cournoyer. Next up: fellow Canadian Marc-André Cournoyer has a great book Copywriting for Geeks. Learn how a developer quit his job and started a product business that became profitable from day one. Visit copywritingforgeeks.com
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Nathan Barry is an amazing individual: when you spend time with him you can’t help but be inspired to create and launch your own stuff. As a young man he’s had tremendous success is releasing his own products: an iPad app called One Voice, two really successful ebooks, and a new web app called ConvertKit.
Show notes
- https://twitter.com/nathanbarry
- http://nathanbarry.com
- http://nathanbarry.com/app-design-handbook/
- http://nathanbarry.com/webapps/
- http://nathanbarry.com/2012-year-quitting-job/
- http://unicornfree.com/2013/difficulties-for-nathan-barrys-app-experiment
- https://convertkit.com
- http://nathanbarry.com/competitive-advantage/
- http://thinktraffic.net/most-common-pricing-mistake
Sponsors
- This episode by Sprint.ly!
- At our day jobs we’ve switch to Sprint.ly, and it has really simplified our development process. Now, everyone on the team has a simple view of our company’s development: on one screen, we can see what’s in the backlog, what people are currently working on, and what’s been completed and is ready for testing.
- I’d like you to try Sprint.ly out for free: you can sign-up for a 30 day trial at www.sprint.ly
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This week we have Jason Fried of 37signals on the program. We discuss how he made thousands of dollars in high school, why he chose DHH as a partner, what it’s like to be “internet famous”, and the thinking behind the new Basecamp, Basecamp Breeze and Basecamp Personal.
A quick note about the audio quality of this show: Jason had a bad WiFi connection that caused Skype to drop out at numerous times in the interview. We felt like the content was good, and so we released the show (even though the audio is not up to our standard). In order to serve you the listener, we paid to have a transcript made so you can read the interview. You can see this at: productpeople.tv/jasonfried
Shout outs
Here’s something new: it’s called Shout Outs, and it’s an inexpensive way for YOU to sponsor a show. Starting as low as $39 per episode, you can promote anything you want: It could be your bootstrapped startup, a job opening, or a side-project. We’ll read these “shout outs” at the end of each episode. You can get started at productpeople.tv/shoutout
Show notes
- Jason Fried
- David Heinemeier Hansson
- Their new book: Remote
- New Basecamp
- Basecamp Breeze
- Basecamp Personal
- Sponsor: Sprint.ly
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Kyle Fox is back for another episode: this time he talks with Justin about the power of design, how big their launch mailing list was, and why it’s important to track your metrics from the beginning.
How should you run your beta program? Should you give beta testers free access for life?
Besides co-hosting this podcast, and working as a Product Manager at Granify, Kyle runs his own SaaS app on the side: FotoJournal. FotoJournal allows photographers to create a professional looking photo blog.
Show notes
- FotoJournal
- Buffer
- Jon Smelquist
- Techvibes write-up on FotoJournal
- Petapixel write-up
- FotoJournal launch party
- Mixpanel
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Kyle Fox is a real Renaissance man. Besides co-hosting this podcast, and working as a Product Manager at Granify, he also runs his own SaaS app on the side: FotoJournal. FotoJournal allows photographers to create a professional looking photo blog.
If you’ve asked these questions, you can learn from Kyle’s experience: what should I build? Should we incorporate? Should I get the .com?
Kyle talks about why he decided NOT to launch a competitor to Freshbooks, why perfectionism is his enemy, and how he had people sign-up and become paying customers when he launched.
Show notes
- FotoJournal
- Lift Interactive
- Parade
- Jon Smelquist
- Techvibes write-up on FotoJournal
- Petapixel write-up
- FotoJournal launch party
- They incorporated online at Staples.ca
- Mixpanel
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Learn Brennan’s trick for identifying a good market: “find a community, and just keep adding value.” Whether that’s a forum response, blog post, info-product, or SaaS app, learn how choosing an audience and sticking with them can pay off.
Highlights
- “Most of my users don’t care that [Planscope] is project management software; they care about outcomes.” – Brennan Dunn
- “Instead of listing out technical features, which is what [we as developers] want to do, I need to tell a story.” – Brennan Dunn
- How did you get people to care? How did you get people to notice your product?
- “My entire marketing strategy is marketing through education. I knew the problems my audience was having, so I started blogging about those problems.” – Brennan Dunn
- “People don’t buy software just to buy software: they buy software to make their lives better somehow. A blog post is equally able to do that (to make their lives better).” – Brennan Dunn
- What kind of traffic did you get on your blog when you started?
- “I got a few thousand views over the months that I was building Planscope” – Brennan Dunn
- “Blogging allowed me to get out of the code and answer the question: ‘Why am I doing this?'” – Brennan Dunn
- How did you build your email list?
- It was a mailing list of 300 people when he launched.
- Brennan built his list over the 4 months that he was building Planscope.
- Most of the sign-ups to his email list came from his blog.
- 1/3 of his mailing list signed up for a trial account (100 people)
- 25% of his trial users converted to paying accounts (25 people)
- Where does growth come from?
- Most of Brennan’s customers have come from his blog posts, and his email list
- Another important source of traffic: his book Double Your Freelancing Rate.
- How much money has Brennan earned so far? (as of December)
- Planscope – $29,904 ($6,000 / month)
- Books – $35,00
- Classes – $41,000
Show notes
- Planscope.io
- KISSmetrics
- Stripe
- Double Your Freelancing Rate
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How do you make a name for yourself, and your product?
That’s the question we posed to Brennan Dunn. It seemed like almost overnight he was everywhere: blog posts on Hacker News, popping up in my Twitter stream, and promoting a new product for consultants called Planscope. In this episode we delve into how he made this happen: we asked him how he got his start in products, how he promoted himself, and what Latin has to do with all of this.
Highlights
- “Businesses value [services] more than consumers, because [time lost] is literally costing them money.” – Brennan Dunn
- “Listen to what people, who have a financial interest, are complaining about!” – Brennan Dunn
- It’s clear that Brennan’s real advantage is that he’s passionate about his customers: he honestly wants to make their lives better.
- “People don’t buy software, they buy outcomes” – Brennan Dunn
Show notes
- Planscope
- Build a consultancy workshop
- Book: Double Your Freelancing Rate
- Book: Sell Yourself Online
- 37signals on Apple.com
- Brennan Dunn (@brennandunn) on Twitter
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Have you ever wondered how much personal brand affects software sales? Check out this is great episode with Rob Walling. In our interview he reveals a ton of tactics for outsourcing your development on oDesk, finding a good idea for your business, and marketing your product effectively. If you’ve ever wanted to start and launch your own software products as a solo-founder, this episode is full of practical advice you can use. Rob is the founder of HitTail, and co-founder of Startups for the Rest of Us and the Micropreneur Academy.
Highlights
- How to outsource your work: techniques for oDesk:
- Browse the listings: look how boring most of the tasks are!
- Post an interesting job description
- Build relationships, and treat the people you hire well
- What makes a good idea, in terms of building a business?
- Build something people want, solves a problem (problem-solution fit). Rob recommends Steve Blank’s customer development approach: contact people, tell them what your product does, how much you’ll charge, and ask them if they’ll pay for it. Rob
- And you can find that market fairly easily: if you can’t communicate to them easily, you don’t have a business
- What is the actual genesis of a good idea?
- You can solve your own problem: but make sure you validate it with 10 other people. Also, think about how you’re going to market it to “people like yourself”. “Scratching your own issue isn’t enough”, says Rob, “you have to solve a problem and have a market.”
- You can also find a market that you find interesting, and where you have some sort of traction in. Then you can look for problems to solve. With Drip, Rob chose it because he really likes working with the entrepreneur market.
- What are the characteristics of a good market? (and a bad market)
- “There are no bad markets,” says Robs, “some markets are just harder to communicate to than others.”
- Rob likes markets that are online, that talk to each other (virality), and open to trying new things. (For example: Realtors and lawyers are not asopen to trying new things)
- Ability and willingness to pay: don’t create an app for college students or school teachers! There’s a lack of an ability to pay.
- Which is better: B2B or B2C?
- “I prefer B2B because businesses purchase based on value”, says Rob, “if you can save them money or make them money, you can justify your price. Consumers don’t value their time as much.”
- Should you go after hobby markets? Rob thinks they can work for info-products and mobile apps, but not SaaS apps.
- “Consumers are harder to support” – Rob
- How to market your product:
- Personal brand: “Personal brand has very little to do with B2B sales,” comments Rob, “in terms of HitTail’s growth, most of it has come from other channels.” He says that books, conferences, and training courses can benefit from a strong personal brand. You have to have an interesting perspective: this is often formed by what you’ve achieved (personally). What projects and products have you launched? “The earlier you can be laser focused on a certain audience, the faster you’ll build a following. Rob started focusing on solo-founders, who were bootstrapping.
- Content marketing: this is building info graphics, writing viral blog posts that get shared: it’s socially driven. It can be really effective: The problem with this approach is that it’s time-intensive and can be expensive. Look for long-tail search terms: these are low competition phrases, that can still attract a significant amount of traffic. This is why Rob bought HitTail: it surfaces those long-tail keywords for you. Rob currently has his Product Manager do a lot of writing for him, he outsources other things (like the infographic). Rob outsources as much as possible. “Be sure to measure”, says Rob, put out a lot of content and then look at the ROI for each.
- SEO: this is finding keywords, and writing good content that matches those keywords. “This isn’t just ranking in Google; it includes ranking in Amazon, in YouTube, in the iPhone app store, ranking in WordPress theme directory. It’s really hard to contract out SEO. “What has always worked is writing good content,” says Rob, “start with keywords that people are going to be searching for, blog about it, and then get links to those posts. It is a lot of work.” There’s not as much opportunity to game Google.
- Advertising: It’s hard to get right, but it can really grow your customer base. “You really want to have a customer lifetime value over $150 to even look at advertising”, says Rob. Click advertising has gotten really expensive (especially on Google Adwords). New opportunities: Facebook ads, depending on your market BuySellAds, Reddit ads, LinkedIn (you need a higher lifetime value for it), and StumbleUpon ads. Rob manages all of his advertising campaigns in Google Analytics – use the Google URL Builder to identify which campaign you’re running.
Show notes
- oDesk.com
- Software by Rob
- GetDrip.com
- 13 pre-launch marketing strategies
- Google URL Builder
- HitTail
- justinjackson.ca
- Startups for the Rest of Us
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Rob Walling is the man behind products like HitTail, DotNetInvoice, and Drip. But he also helped start a movement of micropreneurs: solo-founders, who launch their own products. These small startups don’t take venture funding and don’t hire employees. In this part 1 of our interview you’ll hear how he went from consulting, to building products full-time. Learn how you can acquire a product (instead of building it yourself) and why the code is less valuable than the product marketing.
“Building something people want is not enough”, says Rob “you have to be able to market it at a cost less than what the customer will pay you back over time.”
He also talks about how to launch products if you’ve already started a family (wife, kids, and a mortgage).
Rob and Mike Taber host podcast that you’ll want to check out: Startups For the Rest of Us.
Show notes
- Software by Rob blog
- HitTail
- Drip
- DotNetInvoice
- CMSthemer.com
- justbeachtowels.com
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This is part 2 of our interview with Sacha Greif. In this episode we talked with him about how to find a partner, and the pain involved in building up a product income.
Sacha is a designer and coder from Paris, France, but he’s now living in Osaka, Japan. He’s worked with companies like Hipmunk, but he’s best known for his cool side-projects. His most recent, called Telescope, is an open source platform for creating your own Hacker News.
Highlights
- When searching for co-founders, Sacha says: “If you try to find [partners] motivated by money it’s a lot different than finding people who are interested in the project itself”
- He said that his “internet popularity” didn’t help him find a partner to build Telescope with him; what worked was getting involved in the Meteor community.
- Sacha talks about the importance of side-projects: “The cool thing about the web is that anyone can create a hit. But it helps a lot if you already have a network, and an audience. When I launched Folyo I didn’t really have that audience. I think getting people to pay attention to what you do is the hardest thing on the internet.”
- “If you think about it, there are two sides to the equation: having people pay attention, and the other side is having people pay money. Step 1 is doing something popular [where they pay attention]. Step 2 is getting people to pay for products.” – Sacha Greif
- “The biggest problem people make is they think too big with their side-projects. They instantly jump to: ‘I’m going to build a social network.’ My advice is to bottle it down to the Minimum Viable Side Project. It should be something you can build in 10 hours. ” – Sacha Greif
- “My inspiration for Sidebar.io is Daring Fireball; but a multi-user Daring Fireball.” – Sacha Greif
- Building a product income is hard! Sacha was really transparent about how he’s not earning a lot of money right now as he attempts to bootstrap his current projects: Sidebar.io and a book on Meteor.
- At the end of the interview, Sacha shared this: we don’t hear about the failures of product people; we only hear about the wins. This makes people think that everyone is winning, when that’s not reality.
Show notes
- Tom Coleman
- Telescope
- Sidebar.io
- Sacha’s website and blog
- The side-project project
- Sacha’s ebook: Step by Step UI Design
- Medium
- Amy Hoy – 30×500
- Twistori
- Getting Real by 37signals
- Branch
- Startup Chile
- (Photo: Sacha Greif on Instagram)
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What are some good strategies for creating, pricing and selling an ebook? In Part 1 of our interview with Sacha we discuss what he learned launching his first book, and what he plans on doing next time. We also take a look at Meteor, “an open-source platform for building web apps” using pure JavaScript.
Highlights
- Sacha kick-started his product career by selling themes on Themeforest. “I was doing products before I knew I was doing products.”
- His first real solo product was his ebook: Step by Step UI Design. He recommends starting small: “I didn’t set out to write a 200 page book. I set out to write a 40 page book.”
- Sacha based the price of his book on what iOS apps were selling for ($2-$5): “It turns out, that’s a bad way to do pricing.” For his next book, he’s going to employ a higher price strategy ( similar to what Nathan Barry did for his ebook).
- People on Hacker News balked at Nathan’s high ebook prices. Sacha thinks: “People don’t understand how segmentation works. If you want to buy a car, you could buy a Ferrari or a Honda. You know those two cars are for different audiences. No one complains about the price of Ferraris; people understand that they are expensive. It’s the same with ebooks; just like you can buy a cheap car or expensive car, you can buy a cheap [ebook] package or expensive package. If you think the expensive package is too expensive, it just means you are not the target audience.”
- Sacha on segmentation: “People think it’s crazy that Nathan Barry is charging $200 for his ebook package; but they’re not the target audience. He doesn’t want you [the individual] to pay that; but rather the office manager at the big company (who isn’t spending his own money) to purchase it.”
- How Sacha plans on promoting his next book: “I’ve started setting up a mailing list on the Telescope site. There’s a small sign-up form for the book’s mailing list on there. I’ll be sending sample chapters to these people and asking them for feedback.”
- “ Meteor is a step above [other frameworks]. I think it’s the future,” says Sacha.
- “I wanted to build a Hacker News for designers; because I think that’s missing right now”, comments Sacha. This project became Sidebar.io.
Show notes
- Telescope
- Sidebar.io
- Sacha’s website and blog
- “You don’t have to be local” (Derek Sivers)
- Themeforest
- Sacha’s ebook: Step by Step UI Design
- More money from fewer ebook sales
- Nathan Barry’s new ebook: Designing Web Apps
- Meteor
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Want to build a software product that actually earns income?
In this (Part 2) episode Patrick McKenzie (Patio11) shares specific tactics for researching a market and finding a problem to solve. Listen now.
Highlights
- Don’t think up a cool product idea, go and spend months developing it, and then try to find customers. It won’t work.
- Instead, go out and talk to people and see if you can find 5 people who will buy it.
- Trick for interviewing people in potential markets: tell them you’ll pay them their normal rate, but instead of getting their service, you get to ask them questions about their industry (Patio11 interviewed massage therapists and stylists this way)
- Be relentlessly curious: ask people about their business problems.
- “Businesses have a lot more money. The people who are responsible for making a purchasing decision in the business aren’t spending their own money; the office manager at a business is very not reluctant to spend 200 dollars a month of that business’ money.”
- Avoid the education and hobbyist markets: Patrick loves Dungeons and Dragons, but doesn’t think you can make much income by building software products for D&D players.
- “There’s different types of pain: you want to be solving a problem where people know they have the problem and are actively looking for solutions, rather than something that the pain is bearable, or is just considered so endemic to the condition that they are not actively trying to get better at that.”
- Have the humility to talk to people and find out what they really want.
Show notes
- Patrick’s blog: www.kalzumeus.com/blog
- Patrick’s training site: training.kalzumeus.com
- Bingo Card Creator
- Appointment Reminder
- Email Patrick: patrick@kalzumeus.com
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Part 1 of our interview with Patio11 (Patrick McKenzie) where you’ll hear how he actually learned to program with graph paper, and how he built his first product business with $60.
Show notes:
- Patrick’s blog: www.kalzumeus.com/blog
- Patrick’s training site: training.kalzumeus.com
- Bingo Card Creator
- Email Patrick: patrick@kalzumeus.com
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WordPress was first for pure blogging, then became embraced as a CMS (though some people still deny this), is seeing growth and innovation in being used as an application platform (I think we’re about a third of the way through that), and just now starting to embrace social and mobile — the fourth phase of our evolution. – Matt MullenwegAre you a developer who wants to cut down the amount of time it takes to build a prototype? Are you a product person who can’t code? Do you have a product idea that you want to validate quickly?
This is Part 2 of our interview with Daelan Wood on building an MVP using WordPress.
Daelan is a talented web developer from Edmonton who runs his own company called NorthRepublic. You can follow him on Twitter here: @daelan.
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Are you a developer who wants to cut down the amount of time it takes to build a prototype? Are you a product person who can’t code? Do you have a product idea that you want to validate quickly?
If any of those describe you, you’re going to love this 2-part interview we had with Daelan Wood on building an MVP using WordPress.
Daelan is a talented web developer from Edmonton who runs his own company called NorthRepublic. You can follow him on Twitter here: @daelan.
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In this week's call Kyle and Justin talk about people: specifically, the people you choose to build a product with. There are two ways to look at this, and we discuss both of them.
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This isn’t a podcast, it’s our first Skype call! As a result, it’s definitely a bit rough, but we think it will give you a good idea of who we are, and what a podcast with us might be like.
We covered two questions:
1) What were some of the first digital products we built as kids? What got us into product development?
2) What was the first software product we sold for money?
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