Startups For the Rest of Us

In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob interviews Danielle Simpson and Arvid Kahl, co-founders of FeedbackPanda, a SaaS business they bootstrapped to $55k MRR with no outside funding and no employees. They sold directly to teachers, a price-sensitive market, and they used referral programs and word of mouth to create rapid growth. You will hear about the struggles, victories, highs, and lows of their startup journey. Arvid and Danielle give honest, powerful insight into what it was really like to manage their company just the two of them, and what ultimately led to their decision to sell their company for a life-changing amount of money.   * We are in a slightly different headspace in this episode, because we recorded this before the COVID-19 crisis. But we still wanted to share this episode, because we want you to benefit from this powerful conversation.  The finer points of the episode: 2:12 - What it was like to sell FeedbackPanda for a lifechanging sum of money 

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob along with guest Matt Wensing, answer a number of  listener questions on topics including reaching high-touch prospects, finding advisors and more. Items mentioned in this episode: RiskPulse Olive Crewbooks Out of Beta Podcast Patrick Campbell's MicroConf Talk

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob along with guest Einar Vollset, talk about the current crisis and as a founder what your mindset should be and what to do to be prepared. #1: Don't panic, clear heads will prevail #2: No business is recession proof #3: Be cautious #4: Heavily scrutinize all marketing and sales efforts #5: Take care of yourself and those around you #6: At times like these, cash is king #7: We're going to make it through this   Items mentioned in this episode: ZenFounder Bidsketch MicroConf MicroConf On Air

Show Notes 10 years to the day....Startups For The Rest Of Us was born. In this episode Rob reflects back on he and Mike Taber starting the podcast all those years ago and the journey its been. This episode includes a 5 minute play of the very first episode of the podcast. Items mentioned in this episode: Startups For The Rest Of Us Episode:1 Product Hunt SFTROU Post

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob talks with Matt Wensing about his exit from his company Riskpulse, dealing with multiple investors, his new company Summt, and why forecasting is crucial. Items mentioned in this episode: TinySeed MicroConf On-Air Castos Summit Out of Beta Podcast

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob checks in with Mike Taber about his progress with Bluetick. They talk about new growth, where that growth is coming from, theories on why customers are choosing Bluetick over competitors, and more. Items mentioned in this episode: MicroConf Connect Bluetick.io

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob is joined by Jordan Gal and Tracy Osborn for a roundtable discussion. Some of the topics in this episode including Basecamp reinventing email with Hey.com, Leadpages being acquired by Redbrick, the growing popularity of subscription based pricing and how many active subscriptions a person or business has nowadays. Items mentioned in this episode: Bootstrapped Web Podcast CartHook Hey.com Leadpages acquired by Redbrick How a 2 person startup already uses 28 other tools Tracy Osborn

Show Notes In this episode Startups For The Rest Of Us Rob interviews Maren Kate of Avra Talent about her entrepreneurial journey.  She talks about her first company that raised 5.5 million in funding, hit $1mil in MRR, had over 400 employees, but ultimately failed.  She talks about how she recovered both mentally and professionally, and gives her system of hiring/vetting people for your company. Items mentioned in this episode: Avra Talent TinySeed

In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, the tables have turned as Rob is interviewed by Dr. Sherry Walling. They talk MicroConf, the podcast, state of independent SaaS report and TinySeed but also explore bigger themes like what Rob wants to accomplish with all of his businesses and a unifying theme he's established across the board. Items mentioned in this episode: SherryWalling.com ZenFounder TinySeed MicroConf MicroConf Connect State of Indie SaaS

In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob along with guest Ruben Gamez answer a number of listener questions on topics including current marketing tactics, scaling from 5 to 10 employees, SaaS longevity and more. Items mentioned in this episode: Docsketch Bidsketch MicroConf Connect Peldi’ s article about profit sharing Quiet Light Brokerage FE International Empire Flippers

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob interviews growth marketer Andy Baldacci about how he got his start, his early days at Hubstaff, marketing for Groove, and he gives some practical tips/advice for the listeners. Items mentioned in this episode: MicroConf Connect SaberSim The Effective Founder Podcast

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob does a discussion show format with guest Derrick Reimer. They discuss multiple topics including the pros/cons of remote work, value vs. stress of Twitter, and more. Items mentioned in this episode: The Art of Product Podcast Derrickreimer.com StaticKit Baremetrics Blog Post: "I almost sold Baremetrics for $5M" Baremetrics Blog Post: "5 things I learned failing to sell Baremetrics for $5M"

In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob checks in with Mike Taber's progress with Bluetick. They talk about his big new customer, traction on the podcast tour, Mike's outreach to his LinkedIn connections, and more. Items mentioned in this episode: Bluetick.io

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob talks with Christopher Gimmer of Snappa, about his journey to making SaaS his full-time income. He details how he stair-stepped his way from small apps and products to 7 figure SaaS. Items mentioned in this episode: MicroConf Baremetrics

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob along with Tracy Osborn , answer a number of listener questions on topics including founder hotseats, forgotten subscriptions, two-sided market places and more. Items mentioned in this episode: State of Indie SaaS Report Metcalfe's Law Stack Overflow GrowthHackers Tracy Osborn

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob reflects back on his goals of 2019 and shares some lessons that are broadly applicable to founders/entrepreneurs. He also shares how he “unplugged” from the internet/devices while on a recent vacation with his family and the benefits he experienced. Items mentioned in this episode: MicroConf TinySeed The State of Independent SaaS Report

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob and Brian Casel of Audience Ops, answer a number of listener questions on topics including assessing product market fit, finding a mastermind and more. Items mentioned in this episode: Bootstrapped Web Podcast The TMBA Podcast Dynamite Circle Productize Course MastermindJam

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob talks with Jordan Gal of CartHook about his big move to stop his free trials, move to demos, and increase his prices. Items mentioned in this episode: CartHook Bootstrapped Web Podcast CartHook Pricing Change Blog Post Lincoln Murphy blog post about Qualification

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob checks in with Mike Taber on his continued progress with Bluetick.  The final conclusion to the Google audit is revealed, and they check in with the .Net component problem, the podcast tour, and more. Items mentioned in this episode: Bluetick

Show Notes In this half episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob makes the biggest announcement in MicroConf history and talks about the future of the conference. Items mentioned in this episode: MicroConf