Bootstrapping Saas: Recent Episodes
Val Sopi
Bootstrapping Saas is a podcast where I document my attempts at getting to $10K in MRR with my Saas products as a one man show (designer, developer, marketer). I cover things like sales strategies, failed attempts, successful outcomes, lessons, and a few personal things here and there.
Once in a while I bring in a guest where we talk
The show is roughly prepared with bullet points, but mostly a free rain of thoughts with whatever is going on that week.
The first 40 episodes have been mostly about Claritask, starting with Episode 41 I cover more attempts, ideas, findings, and other potential products.
Get in touch via twitter at https://twitter.com/valsopi
Sat down with Michele to talk about Geocodio, Saas lessons, luck, switching gears, and more.
Stefan Manku is a founder whisperer. He has the ability to help founders guide themselves. We sat down to talk about various challenges founders face based on Stefan's continuous work with other founders.
Dominic's blog-writing course with 30% off for Bootstrapping Saas listeners
https://domkent.gumroad.com/l/khHYb
Code: bootsaas for 30% off
Indiehacking vs working at big Startups, marketing vs product, rebranding, and what it's like to make products while raising a family.
I sit down with Brian to talk about his new product ZipMessage, picking fights with the Goliath, Saas lessons from his journey, marketing, selling, business operations...
Sat down with Alex to talk about presenting in public, happiness, social anxiety, productivity, some deep aspects of self and everything in between.
Martin Stellar (https://twitter.com/martinstellar) talks about what it means being a Monk and how all that relates to ethical selling. We talk about products, Martin's coaching, his new services and apps, and even tailoring. It's along one full of gems.
I got a chance to talk to my long time online friend, Cam Sloan, who's currently working on Hopscotch. We talk about the challenges of being a solo founder, b2b/b2c Saas opportunities, personal brand, photography, and more.
Noah just quit his job to fully focus on Potion.so. We go deep and talk about the benefits of running a growing product, exiting, VC money, growth, lessons, building vs marketing, and more.
blogstatic's momentum is growing and I'm trying to maintain my pace without being overwhelmed.
Back after a 3-month break. Talking about what I've been up to. Claritask update. Client work. And what I'm up to now/next.
Signup for Claritask.com to run your team and projects
A list of various Podcasts on bootstrapping:https://transistor.fm/podcasts-for-bootstrappers
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
Ben is the founder of https://playgroup.community/ who just launched it with their first paying client, the notorious MegaMaker forum. You can also find Ben on Twitter at https://twitter.com/digitaltrouble
He runs his podcast with Noah Bragg https://productjourney.fm/
You can also find Ben's website here https://benmann.de/
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Signup for Claritask.com to run your team and projects
A list of various Podcasts on bootstrapping:https://transistor.fm/podcasts-for-bootstrappers
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
This show was an elaboration of a discussion/argument we had with Louis a few weeks ago on Twitter. You can find the entire tweet here: https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1267489835863998472
Some questions we try to answer are:
- The difference between idea/execution
- What it means to give value
- What is Marketing vs Sales (a sort of new take, at least for me)
You can find out more about Louis in the following places
- His salesforfounders.com Course
- Twitter account https://twitter.com/louisnicholls_
- And podcast: https://pod.salesforfounders.com/
We also had two questions from listeners
- Mate Uzsoki https://twitter.com/MateUzsoki
- Lesley https://twitter.com/lesley_pizza
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To mindfully multitask, signup for Claritask.com
A list of various Podcasts on bootstrapping:https://transistor.fm/podcasts-for-bootstrappers
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
The two tweets I mention heavily on the show
- https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1266052752901373952
- https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1267489835863998472
And signup for Claritask.com to run your team and projects
A list of various Podcasts on bootstrapping:https://transistor.fm/podcasts-for-bootstrappers
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
This week I am listening to: Hermanos Gutierrez and their album Hoy Como Ayer
HUGE Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace Richardson — RepoGuard.comRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Flamur Mavraj — Ornio.no
- Merott Movahedi — Xebel.co - Engaging Students Online
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
And signup for Claritask.com to run your team and projects
A list of various Podcasts on bootstrapping:https://transistor.fm/podcasts-for-bootstrappers
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
It's Friday, so we slip into philosophical thoughts and let that lead us to the end.
HUGE Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Flamur Mavraj — Ornio.no
- Jace Richardson — RepoGuard.comRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Movahedi — Xebel.co - Engaging Students Online
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
And signup for Claritask.com to run your team and projects
A list of various Podcasts on bootstrapping:https://transistor.fm/podcasts-for-bootstrappers
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
Among other things, I talk about:
- My personal experience with cofounders
- Thoughts on finding a co-founder
- Audio clips from:
- Arvid Kahl of Zero to Sold and The Bootstrapped Founder
- Justin Jackson of Transistor.fm and JustinJackson.ca
- Simon Bennett of Snapshooter.io
- A quick update on Claritask
A list of various Podcasts on bootstrapping:https://transistor.fm/podcasts-for-bootstrappers
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
HUGE Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Flamur Mavraj — Ornio.no
- Jace Richardson — RepoGuard.comRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Movahedi — Xebel.co - Engaging Students Online
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
And signup for Claritask.com to run your team and projects
In this episode...
- Spoke about the importance of having friends that share the same journey
- Claritask Scrum being ready
- How we don't have to be perfect
- Thinking about AppSumo
- Dan Miller's book on Scrum: https://gumroad.com/danmiller#CDPpF
- And a few other things...
Bootstrapping Saas Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ANZLmlqW5LODRP2P11MTR?si=rk_FG5BdSVK65mZ5HrcmOw
HUGE Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Movahedi — Xebel.co - Engaging Students Online
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
My panic attack, Claritask progress, issues, and hope ahead.
Mentioned in the show:
- Dwayne Perkins Standup
- Bertram — Craft and Wilderness
I talk about about, how I am using
- Direct Email
- Blogging
A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi - xebel.co
- Simon Benett - snapshooter.io
- Dean Leyton-James - cloudperiscope.com
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku - badivuku.com
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
I had a thought earlier today about how maybe selling a solution (like Claritask) requires an offline effort (networking, in person sales, conferences, presentations, etc.).
Here's the original tweet on that conundrum: https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1233382562728378368
HUGE Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi — Xebel.co - Engaging Students Online
- Simon Benett — SnapShooter.io - DigitalOcean Backups
- Dean Leyton-James — Automaily.com - Custom Stripe Emails
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
Enjoying Claritask, more than ever because:
- Claritask is quite complete
- Current clients are happy
- New pricing
- New activity
- New paying clients
- My consultancy financing Claritask
And talking about one problem/conundrum/question that I have, which I don't know how to solve.
A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi - xebel.co
- Simon Benett - snapshooter.io
- Dean Leyton-James - cloudperiscope.com
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku - badivuku.com
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
I was invited on Product Journey podcast to share my story and had a great time speaking to Noah and Ben. One thing that got my mind churning was on how I would go about finding what idea to work on next. It was specifically Noah's frustrations after interviewing people and being left with less inspiration than when first started.
This is that episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/4ea4839f
HUGE Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi — Xebel.co - Engaging Students Online
- Simon Benett — SnapShooter.io - DigitalOcean Backups
- Dean Leyton-James — Automaily.com - Custom Stripe Emails
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
Had the pleasure to speak to my long time internet friend, Helen Ryles (@HelenRyles). We covered topics from product making, validation, marketing, timing/luck, staying sane, and more.
One of the longest episodes I believe, but felt like a breeze.
Let me know if you have any comments by replying to the shows tweet here:
Helen's current projects:
- Namesace: https://namesace.com/
- FeedbackFridays: https://feedbackfridays.com/
A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi - xebel.co (spelled with an X)
- Simon Benett - snapshooter.io
- Dean Leyton-James - cloudperiscope.com
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
- Would I have been able to make Claritask as a side project?
- The talk I had with my wife
- April Dunford's Obviously Awesome book
HUGE Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi - xebel.co (spelled with an X)
- Simon Benett - snapshooter.io
- Dean Leyton-James - cloudperiscope.com
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
- Took a few questions from Noah https://twitter.com/noahwbragg/status/1218625288633847808 and Dan https://twitter.com/mrdanmiller/status/1218627320807772161
- New registrations coming in from my sales/marketing efforts
- Bought a new domain for a blog/publication I've been wanting to make for the longest time
- Josh's tweet https://twitter.com/Shpigford/status/1217841243213922310 and positioning/distribution issues
- And a few other things: Thinking about launching on ProductHunt, my NYs resolutions working out so far
- Mac Miller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrR_gm6RqCo
A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi - xebel.co (spelled with an X)
- Simon Benett - snapshooter.io
- Dean Leyton-James - cloudperiscope.com
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
Among other things...
- Running a product in the sea of many competitors
- My readings: David & Goliath, Stillness is the Key, Atomic Habits, Obviously Awesome
- Claritask currently: Lower pricing, new registrations, my sales activity
- New client work
- Personal habits: fasting, working out,
A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi - xebel.co (spelled with an X)
- Simon Benett - snapshooter.io
- Dean Leyton-James - cloudperiscope.com
- Zoli Veres
- Valon Badivuku
You can support me here https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
- A recap of last year: bad things & good things
- The $20K bank loan I was about to take
- New Pricing and why I did it (the reasoning behind it)
- Healthy habits: Intermittent fasting
- Started Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bootsaas
- More open financials: What else will I be sharing moving forward
Patreon Supporters
- A BIG Thanks to my Patreon supporters:
- Jace RichardsonRepoGuard. Protect your GitHub repositories from common mistakes that cost time and energy to fix. Whether it's force pushes to master or just bad commit messages, RepoGuard can help. Visit RepoGuard.com for more info.
- Merott Mohavedi - xebel.co (spelled with an X)
Support my journey on Patreon
Not a regular episode, just something I wrote about how I think about Luck and Getting Lucky!
There wont be any ads in the show moving forward. Instead, I will give shoutouts to my maker friends. Want to keep the show ad free
Shoutouts:
- Helen Ryles: NamesAce.com
- Tony Denke
- Dominic St. Pierre
Show notes:
- $20K Investment didn't happen
- Applied to Tinyseed, probably wont get an interview call/email
- Getting a loan of $20K going into 2020
- Claritask is doing well. No growth in new clients, but there's growth with current clients adding more users, which caused the need to up the resources in the server
- How I will market/sell Claritask going forward
Thankful for EP25 supporters:
- Userlist is a tool for sending behavior-based messages to your SaaS customers. It’s great for onboarding users and nurturing them throughout their journey. You can also see who your users are, segment them, and see what they’re doing inside your product. Userlist is much more powerful than building it yourself, and less complex than enterprise tools like Intercom. Start your free trial today at userlist.io/bootstrappingsaas and get 30% off your first three months.
Even though I am excited to come back to Claritask, I still have to find a long-term working model.
Started Cold Emailing and landed the first demo with the first 30 emails sent.
Also, reading Ryan Holiday's book and highlighting most of it.
Thankful for EP24supporters:
- Userlist is a tool for sending behavior-based messages to your SaaS customers. It’s great for onboarding users and nurturing them throughout their journey. You can also see who your users are, segment them, and see what they’re doing inside your product. Userlist is much more powerful than building it yourself, and less complex than enterprise tools like Intercom. Start your free trial today at userlist.io/bootstrappingsaas and get 30% off your first three months.
Other things I talk about:
- My relationship with money
- Stillness is the Key book by Ryan Holiday
- Full Stack Radio Episode 125 — "Rob Walling: Choosing the Right Idea" with Adam Wathan
- Traction book by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
- The worst business I invested in
- Keeping a list of things I want to achieve
- The Stairstep Approach to Bootstrapping by Rob Walling
- What I am watching right now
Thankful for EP23 supporters:
- Userlist is a tool for sending behavior-based messages to your SaaS customers. It’s great for onboarding users and nurturing them throughout their journey. You can also see who your users are, segment them, and see what they’re doing inside your product. Userlist is much more powerful than building it yourself, and less complex than enterprise tools like Intercom. Start your free trial today at userlist.io/bootstrappingsaas and get 30% off your first three months.
Bootstrapping with client work on one side and Claritask on another is proving to be hard.
Among other things I talk about:
- Bootstrapping is hard in the way I am doing it
- Momentum in product making
- My current client project (consultancy work)
- Sales & direct Emails
Also, as a chapter on its own:
- How to have a killer product
- Moving forward as a company
Thankful for EP22 supporters:
- ColdfeetStudios.com by Shawn Inman — Shawn is offering a 30-minute free consultation wanting to help with a pressing challenge (technical or not) that you are facing in your bootstrapped product/startup. Hurry up, his weekly slots are limited.
- StartupResources.io by Paul Metcalfe — A curated list of the best tools you need for getting your startup off the ground. Startup Resources has a popular weekly newsletter where more than 3000 entrepreneurs — Go to http://startupresources.io to sign up for free
Corey and I have been talking for quite some time on and off. We finally found the time to sit down and talk about this "fancy" bootstrapping life of ours.
Among other things we challenged the bootstrapping way of building and selling a product and what would be the ideal situations of receiving an outside investment.
Corey runs https://blurt.app which helps its users write better.
Thankful for EP21 supporters:
- ColdfeetStudios.com by Shawn Inman — Shawn is offering a 30-minute free consultation wanting to help with a pressing challenge (technical or not) that you are facing in your bootstrapped product/startup. Hurry up, his weekly slots are limited.
- StartupResources.io by Paul Metcalfe — A curated list of the best tools you need for getting your startup off the ground. Startup Resources has a popular weekly newsletter where more than 3000 entrepreneurs — Go to http://startupresources.io to sign up for free
In this show I talk about how I am saving ~$1200 on yearly bank fees.
Also, I share some lessons on what I have learned so far running Claritask and having this podcast as well as some advice on if you should run a B2B or B2C product.
Another thing that has been going around lately is how much transparency is more than necessary? Does it do any good or it's just for high fives we get from our supporters
Other points:
- How I can't work well when working on two projects at once (Claritask and client work)
- Next improvements on Claritask
- How I work and my way of working to Basecamp
Thankful for EP20 supporters:
- ColdfeetStudios.com by Shawn Inman — Shawn is offering a 30-minute free consultation wanting to help with a pressing challenge (technical or not) that you are facing in your bootstrapped product/startup. Hurry up, his weekly slots are limited.
- Podboxer.com by Paul Metcalfe — Paul hand picks the best podcast episodes in founder stories, growth marketing, sales, funding and sends them your way every Monday and Tuesday in a quick easy to digest Newsletter. Sign up for free to get on Paul's bi-weekly newsletter.
In this episode I talk about how client work is making me more disciplined with Claritask. Also, how I am positioning Claritask more as a company and less like an indiehacker side-product, which is not. I will focus more on channels that have worked before, like Linkedin, Quora, and Medium.
Companies that I sell to are serious companies that want to work with a product which they feel will be around for a long time. Removing myself from Claritask will (hopefully) make it sound more as a serious contender to current apps out there and less about 1-person making something. Ego aside, Claritask doesn't need me for that.
Thankful for EP19 supporters:
- ColdfeetStudios.com by Shawn Inman — Shawn is offering a 30-minute free consultation wanting to help with a pressing challenge (technical or not) that you are facing in your bootstrapped product/startup. Hurry up, his weekly slots are limited.
- Podboxer.com by Paul Metcalfe — Paul hand picks the best podcast episodes in founder stories, growth marketing, sales, funding and sends them your way every Monday and Tuesday in a quick easy to digest Newsletter. Sign up for free to get on Paul's bi-weekly newsletter.
In this episode I talk about how client work is helping me keep the lights on with Claritask, but it's getting me away from it on daily basis, which I hate.
- Also, I talk about how I don't want money to be the measuring stick of my product, or self in general.
- I want to be more disciplined where I split my day in half in both client work and Claritask, which I haven't been able to do
- Talking about this podcast Supporters (not Sponsors)
- My current streams of revenue
- How Rocky has it wrong
Thankful for EP18 supporters:
- ColdfeetStudios.com by Shawn Inman — Shawn is offering a 30-minute free consultation wanting to help with a pressing challenge (technical or not) that you are facing in your bootstrapped product/startup. Hurry up, his weekly slots are limited.
- Podboxer.com by Paul Metcalfe — Paul hand picks the best podcast episodes in founder stories, growth marketing, sales, funding and sends them your way every Monday and Tuesday in a quick easy to digest Newsletter. Sign up for free to get on Paul's bi-weekly newsletter.
Louis Nichols was a cofounder of a VC backed startup that exited and now he consults startups and founders on sales and marketing.
In this Episode we go down into the basics of what Sales mean for a bootstrapped Saas and how to go about succeeding with it.
Some of the things we talked about were:
- The difference between Sales and Marketing for early stage bootstrapped startups
- How to go about finding leads
- Does it matter "who" is behind the product
- Justin Jackson's "The Myth of a Niche Market" https://justinjackson.ca/niche
Louis is currently running a course, with limited spots, on sales. For all the details visit: http://salesforfounders.com
This episode is sponsored by ColdFeed Studios. Shawn Inman, CFS founder, is offering a free 30-minute consultation for any founder who needs advice on how to move forward. Visit the website https://coldfeetstudios.com/ for details and signup for your free consultation spot.
Two big announcements:
- Next show (EP17) I will have a guest who I will announce a few days before the show. He is a sales marketer for B2B #Saas businesses
- I have new sponsors for the show starting EP17. One will be sponsoring for 6 weeks and the other for 3. They are both services and products made for us
- I will be taking off for a few days just to recharge.
- Doing things differently with consulting: working hourly vs fixed pricing
- New consultancy gig that will help me financially continue running Claritask
- What is bootstrapping? (to me)
- Talking about Philip's article: https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1163569933894266888 and my response to it: https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1163569943931170818 — on maybe there's no journey really (please, listen to the details of it)
- The tweet that resonated a lot with others
- Healthy habits (physically/mentally) as I go into September with Claritask on one side and the new consultancy gig on the side
- Don't follow Basecamp (or anyone else)
- It matters "Who" is making the product. How you can be the "who" behind the product
It's tricky, focusing on tire kickers and those who are not sure about using Claritask — because they require the most time to support (time that I do not have) and chances are will not convert. These are users who it's best to support when you have a larger team and have the time to wait/support until they convert.
Also, Claritask is not part of Baremetrics Open Startups, where you get to see everything that goes in and around Claritask's revenue, updated in real time — http://claritask.baremetrics.com
Toying with new ideas about Claritask homepage as well as new pricing (going a bit upmarket)
In this episode I go into detail on how I divide my tasks in Claritask (Features & Quickies). Also talk about latest in Claritask (features & new clients).
On Youtube: https://youtu.be/1A4cib0LkfU
There's a new client trialing Claritask with a 7-day trial, which I have introduced recently. Hopefully they convert to a paying client.
Also, if you want to sponsor this show I am starting at $20/month. Let me know at saas@claritask.com if you are interested.
Capterra reviews are currently at 5 star, which I am very happy about: https://www.capterra.com/p/186826/Claritask/
In this episode I talk about how I am embracing the bootstrapping life more and more and how taking controlled risks and having more money in the bank is helping me make better decisions.
Please, fill out this 1 question survey on how I can make this show better for you (Google form) — https://bit.ly/2Mkuahb
I am also opening up this show to sponsorships where companies can advertise for as little as $20 per episode.
Other things I talk about is how I am working on a few small side projects for clients to bring a bit more money in while I focus on current active users who are in love with Claritask. Sales is another thing I have in mind, but product + current users is the main focus for the moment.
Also, how taking side projects in costing me more time than it's worth the cash that I am NOT getting.
Claritask is doing great with current clients, they are adding more people, new features are coming, existing ones are being improved upon.
New Claritask website is coming up, which will be mostly type/copywriting without many icons/photos and no salesy fluff. Will include user guides, case studies.
Going back to the original $50/month flat price offer.
Spoke to Corey Haines (https://twitter.com/coreyhainesco) of https://Baremetrics.com about things I can improve on Claritask.
Mentioned "Begin Again" as a quote that keeps me motivate, which I came across via Brian Wang (https://twitter.com/brianmwang/status/1125118085860450304)
The angel investment possibility I mentioned on EP10 didn't go through and glad it actually didn't. I can continue building Claritask on my own terms for my clients. Also a listener, Kevin Ratez from Germany https://twitter.com/KevinRaetz, helped me realize a few things and inspired me to give direct sales a real try. Thanks Kevin!
MRR at $150/month. Lost the first client. User base is growing from current clients adding more of their staff. Still struggling with leads, hence one last push for direct sales.
There are ton of positives I am feeling about my talks with the potential angel investor. There are a few things which make me reluctant in taking this investment, but overall — the mood is positive.
There's a new paying client and I launched an upgrade which caused a few clients to write me 10 seconds later about a bug (Is this PMF? People crying 'fire' seconds later?)
Started doing Case studies and here's where my inspiration came from: https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1141978808368664576
The benefits of keeping it honest in this podcast and how honesty can backfire sometimes.
I start with a little bit of venting on how I am not doing enough with my outreach efforts and hanging out in places (Twitter) where my clients are not. My best visits come from Linkedin, Medium, Quora — and I should be more there.
I talk a bit about on how our business should be a flower with a ton of nectar to support a bee and help it invite all its friends to join (word of mouth) — and not be always on the outreach mode where we are tapping on our potential customer's shoulder with our offering.
I have been playing a bit of guitar to let some steam off and forget about what I do on daily basis.
...and managed to answer Tony's question write after I wrapped the show and went back in to add this bit https://twitter.com/tonydehnke/status/1140364407056326656
I talk about the boring bits, how Saas is a long game and you really have to love the grind. Then I continue on how things are getting serious because a new client signed up with +30 staff and "daily active users" went up to 70 on Wednesday.
The idea of an investment crossed my mind and I spoke to two sources (fund/vc in Europe and an angel in New York City). Not sure it's the route I would see myself in, though weighing the options and its worthiness.
Answered a few listener questions and ended with some Podcast stats and what I will be working on during the week.
In this episode I talk about how to know when you have a product with some positive signals and how to push through. I also, quickly talk about the benefits of thinking of your business as a hobby and how it could have a positive impact in your growth.
Towards the end I share what I have done this past week and what I will be doing the coming week.
In this episode I talk about how leads are still a problem and that I will focus on content (I describe in detail what is working for me and where I will focus my efforts). Also, that I will be giving cold emailing another try but a bit differently (highly prospected) and on a new target market (content marketers).
Claritask, the app, is in good shape with great comments coming from current users. I will also continue with a few new features and improvements inside the app.
There's one thing I want to try with my website, where I tone everything down, instead of trying to "sell" the entire time and try to convince someone that Claritask is better than other products.
In this episode I talk about how hard the week was. Not that anything in particular happened, but the way I feel about things going slower than I want them to be — and how I am trying to overcome these feelings and look forward.
I recorded this episode while driving. The sound maybe a bit off, but I like this episode as there's something about driving that gives me the freedom to vent and "be real" with everything that is going on in life and business.
I take a question from a fellow maker Tzelon Machluf, which you can find here.
Also, I talk about how I am "finaly" focusing my content marketing efforts solely on Medium, Linkedin, and Quora.
In this episode I talk about how I am focusing on Content Marketing as my sole growth channel of choice, for now.
Other notes include on how I don't want to play the 'numbers game' just yet and how I want to focus on helping every new customer one-on-one. This is hard, clearly, but I want to be there for every new client that comes through the door. Like an actual store, where you walk in and someone greets you. Yes, Claritask is an online product, but it's a service at the end of the day, hence the name "Software as a Service", not "Software as an Automation"
Also, I talk about Luck — what it means to me and how I think about it. Thanks Anurag for the question.
I briefly mention this Podcast stats
Mentioned on this podcast:
- Hotjar
- Build Your Saas Podcast
- Saas Reality Podcast
- Startups for the rest of us Podcats
This week starts with me explaining how I am overwhelmed with everything I am working on in and around Claritask (code, marketing, sales, growth) and what steps I am taking to not burn out
The rest of the show includes:
- Sales/Marketing/Growth struggles since it's not my main strength (having more faith and trusting the steps, while playing the long game)
- Trying to get the marketing/sales/growth in autopilot with affiliate marketing — Claritask Affiliate Program
- New Claritask Asset Page for affiliate marketers and media appearances (down the line)
- Delighting customers by recording personalized demos with Loom
- Starting Claritask LIVE Webinars — Claritask Webinars
- Contacting Affiliate Marketers (following up)
- NEW: Soft upgrade on Claritask without a credit-card (pay later)
- Sending out a 'salesy' Newsletter that didn't work: Direct link to that Newsletter
- The benefits of using apps like Claritask, built by small teams (getting responses/fixes much faster than on bigger apps/companies)
- Listening to Khalid, Nilüfer Yanya, and Better Oblivion Community Center
- Claritask expenses: StartupCosts.co/claritask
- Claritask income: on IndieHackers (hooked to Stripe)
In this episode I talk about how I worked less (not in purpose) and actually, did more.
Also, here are quick show notes:
- Growth channels for the time being
- Current numbers (MRR, users)
- Website updates
- New "Who is it for?" page
- New Pricing plans and new paying clients
- Expenses
Websites I mention:
- Transistor.fm — where I host my/this podcast
- Rewardful — my affiliate program manager
- My online friend Jace from Pattern&Craft
- Megamaker.co — the online club of makers I belong to
Visit Claritask.com for everything else
In this very first inaugural show of Bootstrapping Saas, I get to talk about various growth channels I am considering for Claritask.com. While daily activity with current users is solid, my challenge remains in generating qualified leads for Claritask — users that will potentially turn into paying customers.
Outlets I mention in this episode:
- Rewardful
- TechnologyAdvice
- Sujan Patel
- Mailshake
Thanks to everyone who supported, inspired, and pushed me to start this Podcast!