Bootstrapped

This week we talk about Scribbleton, Sponsor us!, Rails apps, The Bootstrapped.fm Conference, semi-obscure Seinfeld references, Apple WWDC, Beats and Jimmy Ionvine, and much much much more! Scribbleton Apple WWDC Keynote Sponsor Bootstrapped.fm! Bootstrapped.fm Conference! Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee The Boyfriend (Seinfeld) Recode/Jimmy Iovine interview Wil Wheaton Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers.

In this episode, we talk about Laracon, holding a conference in New York, Snappy Concierge, experimental coding, Scribbleton, the Mac app store, the Bootstrapped.fm conference, managing product websites, and disruptive businesses. The Bootstrapped.fm Conference Snappy Concierge Scribbleton Ada Lovelace and Edsger Dijkstra Dijkstra – Discipline in Thought (video) Cliffski’s strategic risks and opportunities (for Positech) If you’d like to sign-up to be notified about the details of the Bootstrapped.fm conference, you can do so on the conference page at http://conference.bootstrapped.fm If you’d like to participate in the discussion surrounding the conference dates, venues, speakers, location, etc, we’ve set up a forum thread for that. Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers »

In this episode we discuss talking at conferences, Star Wars, and sci-fi, video games, Ludum Dare and game dev competitions, the current Antair project list, user interfaces for kids’ apps, Scribbleton, multi-platform development, Snappy, domain registrars, and the Oculus Rift for virtual offices. Laracon Rachel Andrew – Conference speaking, transparency and fairness. Draplin Design Co. — the talk Ian referred to in the show. Mike Rowe TED Talk Rendezvous with Rama A Dark Room (web version) – and the iOS version Pug vs. Nemo – Andrey’s Ludum Dare entry. #LOWREZ JAM 2014 Scribbleton Snappy Gail Goodman – The Long, Slow, SaaS Ramp of Death Heavy Rain – and the VR glasses video. Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers »

This week we discuss profanity, Microconf, Peersconf, business evolution, Andrey Do-gooder, product trials, Notch and motivation beyond money, Minecraft, multiple saas apps, acquiring products and building vs buying, coder vs marketer, Andrey should do an ebook Stampy Minecraft videos UI Breakfast Ian’s Microconf slides @sil MicroISV From Vision to Reality Andrey’s Dr.Dobbs article NYT Now Long Island Herald Drip email marketing So You Want to Be a Wall Street Programmer Discuss this weeks episode on the forums Also, don’t miss the short After Dark episode this week.

Another few minutes on this weeks podcast where we discuss things to do in New York City.

In this episode, we sit down with Eric Miller, of Eric Miller Design, to talk about Eric’s design studio, his products, UX Kits, bootstrapping physical products, working with your spouse, Dribbble, Facebook and Twitter ads, OpenSSL, Brooklyn, Long Island, Poughkeepsie, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Eric Miller Design UX Kits Redesigning Solspace Katy Robbins Vector Media Group eecoder ( Visual Chefs) Graffletopia Northside Festival in Brooklyn Unsplash Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers »

In this episode, we discuss tax credits, branding and positioning, JitBit, John Carmack, Oculus, Zuckerberg, young people running companies, VR, box.com, Snappy, marketing tracking software, naming projects, and growth hackers vs. bootstrappers. Rob Walling – HitTail Section 199 Domestic Production Tax Credit Chasing Product interview with Alex Yumashev – JitBit John Carmack Masters of Doom by David Kushner Oculus Carmack’s 2012 QuakeCon keynote Carmack thanks Notch for inspiration to jump to Oculus Notch’s blog post on the Oculus/Facebook situation Michael Abrash’s presentation on presence and VR Palmer Luckey on Reddit Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers »

We discuss more growth hacking scum, the podcasts 1 year birthday, building a business for more than money, SaaS vs download, SaaS thriving off dead accounts, code builds, game console emulators, open source doc and design quality, open source vs open source and free, publishing, conference talks. Jason Cohen Monetizing Children Is SaaS the Only Business Model for the Web Arq OSX Backups Unreal Engine 5% deal Popcorn Time – Napster for movies Perch CMS AGPL – the OS license to use if you want to use GPL Laracon Andrey’s first open source project Ian’s talks at Microconf and Peers Failconf Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers

In this episode, we discuss screaming squirrels, being busy, clients, project estimates, VC backed companies, why we hate SaaS, mobile app ickiness, and the value of ideas. “Is 5X the new 2X in SaaS?” “Give me $300 or the website gets it!” The icky mobile apps article Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers

We discuss confusion over our voices, taxes, vacation, Disney tracking your meat, off topic, doppelgängers, SPF records, Al Bundy/Married With Children, Evernote, pruning your twitter account, Groupon marketing genius, Flappy Bird and the mobile cesspool, Rick Ellis, product first mindset, we’re over SaaS Disney and the Meat Space Laracon Andrey’s Doppleganger ( Doppelgangers) Mobile Developer Weekly SPF Records, SPF on CampaignMonitor Evernote QT Prune Your Twitter Account (Ian’s article) Groupon Marketing Flappy Bird download analysis article Bill Gates can’t install Windows 8.1 Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers.

Download this episode, in which Ian and Andrey talk about Florida, children, stupid teenagers, growing up, stories that go nowhere, growth hackers, hiring a content engineer, unit testing, John Carmack, spending $13,000 on marketing automation software, motorcycles, and baseball tickets. Irene McGee – and her recent article. Userscape is hiring a Content Engineer Ruben Gamez on Bootstrapped.fm John Carmack – The Physics of Light and Rendering Michael Abrash Doom playthrough with John Romero Pardot Infusionsoft Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers.

Download this episode. Andrey talks about Gone Home and the impact it’s had on his life, but won’t give details! Voiceovers, Antair is 9 years old, UserScape is almost 9 though Ian considers it 10, the good old days of bootstrapping, the constant re-inventing of Antair, Ian goes on a rant about Growth Hacking, project management apps, Ian rants again about marketing automation tools, remote work, Ian talking at Microconf, beards, Ian ranting about taking his family to Disney Gone Home – Andrey’s new all time favorite game Heavy Rain Spec Ops: The Line Don Quixote God Emperor of Dune – Dune series Sia – Breathe Me Sarah Grayson – voiceover actress The Last of Us Bioshock Infinite Tony Baker – voiceover in Bioshock Lost Planet 3 Bill Watterson – voiceover Lost Planet OUR FORUMS, YOU SHOULD BE CHECKING THIS OUT Coffice – mmkkk Cold email thread – growth hacking spam Hubspot Recurly Chargify Kanban The Year Without Pants – Book about remote work Microconf – Ian is speaking at this, too late for tickets if you don’t have them already Possible Bootstrapped.fm meetup in Vegas The Truman Show

Download this episode, in which Ian and Andrey talk about growing to a point where you have no idea where stuff is in your own company, building mobile clients for Snappy and Quintu, Minecraft, live coding streams, games, client work, system administration with SaaS, the Sturgeon/Laravel argument, the forums, SaaS growth curves, the PHP Book Book, Seinfeld, Bill Gates, and the Gone Home game. Ionic framework Asteroid Jane Phil Sturgeon on The Tribal Framework Mindset Ian’s sideon the Sturgeon/Laravel discussion. Amy Hoy – 5 years of SaaS growth. Seinfeld – Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Gone Home Discuss this episode.

Special guest Gavin Bowman of RetroDreamer talks about bootstrapping a mobile gaming company. The business of software forums come up… again, expanding a gaming shop and how creativity factors into that, Ian asks too many questions about gaming and such, Being able to be done, revenue fear, ads vs paid, platforms, Apple review controversyGavin BowmanRetro DreamerSneezies – Still a great iOS gameRyan Evans – Retro Dreamers first full time hireVelocispiderWhat Now PodcastAndy Brice on Bootstrapped.fmOculus virtual reality headsetDiscuss this episode

We talk about school lunches, fast food, Ludum Dare, game development, Minecraft, Userscape’s new employee, taking a vacation, 2013 year in review, amount of revenue to have before hiring full-time, the first two years of running a software consultancy, being too open about your employee information, Laracon 2014, and running an online retail shop.Gavin Bowman of Retro DreamerWhat Now PodcastBootstrapped.fm episode on movies for programmersLudum DareNotch live-coding for Ludum Dare 28, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.The Story of Minecraft – documentaryChris Fidao (@fideloper)2013 year in review – forum threadLessons Learned: The First Two Years of Running a ConsultancyOpen salaries at BufferLaracon 2014 in NYCSelling an e-commerce store, with a follow-up Discuss this episode in our Bootstrapper forums

This is one of our best episodes yet. If you’re interested in content marketing be prepared to take notes. We also discuss the SaaS release cycle and lifestyle, working hours, business coaching and Andrey abducting Ruben.Ruben’s client proposal software BidsketchRuben’s personal blogSeth MacFarlane’s tweet on the Family Guy Brian stuffRuben’s post on getting to his first 1K a month regarding Andrey’s previous question on Bootstrapped 15Keyword Funnel – Adwords keyword finder/organizerOld Bidsketch video demoEric Sink’s on the Business of SoftwareDiscuss this episode on our Bootstrapper forums.

Ian and Andrey talk about kids’ toys, Uberdeck, making sense of Adwords, Snappy, content marketing, finding a regular job after years of running a bootstrapped software company, selling physical products, Userscape’s new hire, running a conference, and moving to a consultancy.Startups for the rest of us, episode 160 – podcast with Rob Walling and Mike TaberAndy Brice, his software business training course, and his upcoming Keyword Funnel tool.Pusher – Real time messaging service for web and mobile apps.Found – Elasticsearch hosting.24ways – Web design and development goodness.Founder made $99 from an $82 million dollar exit.A year of selling physical products.Gavin and Craig of RetroDreamer. Discuss this show over on our Bootstrapper forums.

Andrey sings Party All the Time by Eddie Murphy, booze, big UberDeck update, marketing, Snappy mobile app, mobile app reviews, VM’s,16 terminals tiled (huh?), everything is noodles (huh?), coworking, healthcare plans, more marketing, doing marketing under your own name, Ian’s idea for a new appParty All the Time by Eddie MurphyDoc’s Hard CiderUberDeck v2 – new push notifications, concierge installation service, great new pricingMozMochibitsSlideroom – Happy Snappy customerPHP Townhall PodcastLight Table IDE FestivusHealthcare.gov – You probably haven’t heard of this siteSupportopsAndy Brice software consultingDrip – email marketing via drip campaignsRachel Andrew’s Newsletter – sign up at the bottom of the pageRuben Gamaz interviewHover.comDiscuss the show over on our Bootstrappers forum

We talk about dollar stores, dogs and babies, the new Helpspot release, support contracts, requiring a credit card at signup, pricing and recurring billing, info-products, SaaS being unsatisfying, digging new holes, the point of growing, all software going to zero.Helpspot – Ian’s helpdesk product.Snappy – Ian’s newest product.Uberdeck – Andrey’s mobile-app marketing product.Stripe – payment processing service.Star Trek GenerationsIan’s “all software is going to $0.00” theoryEdge of My Seat – Perch, Rachel Andrew, Drew McLellanRachel Andrew on Bootstrapped.fmSupportOps.co – Chase ClemonsChase Clemons on Bootstrapped.fmSo You Want To Be A Wall Street Programmer? – Andrey’s BookIan’s newsletterSuccessfulSoftware.net – Andy BriceAndy Brice on Bootstrapped.fmDiscuss this episode with other bootstrappers in the forums.

We talk about Batman, Software going to $0, Pricing again, Saas sucking, High school/depression, Business of Software Conference, A/B testing, Insurance, Andrey and me opening a coffee shop comic book store, Batman Arkham Origins, how we’re the Seinfeld of bootstrap podcasting, Everpix closing, soup delivery, $7.95 cupcakes, our side projects that make us no money.We’re going to try to do a Bootstrapped.fm meetup if you’re in the NYC area. Contact us or post to the board if you’re interested.Business of Software ConferenceDevelopers, Entrepreneurs and DepressionACT! CRMMicroconfOptimizelyTrack.ioLego Star Wars moviesThe Crafted Kup – Ian’s local coffee houseEverpix – Everpix Verge articleBackblaze – awesome backupTattlyNot the guy we talked about, but another selling soup via bikeReaddleDiscuss the show over on our forums

We talk about Andrey finally leaving the house, street cred, Quintu, the work that goes into a typical SaaS app, implementing push in Uberdeck, OS X 10.8 update woes, git and distributed source code control, supporting developers vs. supporting end users, downloadable vs. SaaS, playing with SaaS marketing at an early stage of the product, being organized with marketing, tracking the marketing flow, onboarding, pricing based on volume, seasonal stores, celebrities in NYC, the new Panic office, and a day of doing nothing at work.Arq, Crashplan – backup software.VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion – VM software.HipChat – private group chat.Rachel Andrew – Founder of Perch.Chargify, Stripe – Recurding billing and payments services.HubSpot – inbound marketing software.KISSmetrics, Mixpanel – analytics and metrics tools.Trak.io – Ian’s preferred metric app (for now).Optimizely – A/B testing tool.Seasonal storesThe Living Room NYCPanic office – founder’s room. Discuss this episode with other bootstrappers in the forums.

We give away an amazing social mobile podcast product idea, Blackberry (sorry), App stores, Andrey’s gripes with Laravel 4 and other techy things, asset management in front end web development, Vi, Breaking Bad finale!!!, Living in NYC, Perch CMS meetup, Business of Software conferenceBlackberry saleNumber TwoAntair Notes on Amazon App StoreTwitter Ads (also great just to see your RT’s/Fav’s even if you don’t buy ads)Laravel 4 PHP frameworkGrunt – JS task runnerSentry Laravel Auth LibrarySublime TextPhpStormFogCreek WasabiBusiness of Software Conference – 10% off with code “bootstrap”Perch CMS meetupDiscuss this episode in our bootstrapper forums

Ian and Andrey sit down with special guest, Andy Brice, to discuss Perfect Table Plan, software marketing, creating desktop software vs. SaaS web apps, software pricing, cross-platform development with QT, analytics, measuring how many people are ‘word-of-mouth’ customers, Andy’s 2-day intensive training course on starting your own software business, practical software products, the legacy of shareware, the effect of SaaS apps on lifestyle, A/B testing, Adwords, email vs. helpdesk system for one-person companies, and martial arts.Andy Brice at http://www.successfulsoftware.net, and on twitter at http://twitter.com/successfulswPerfect Table Plan – Andy’s flagship product.Andy’s two-day intensive training course on starting your own software business.QTAndy’s article on software award scams.Andy will be a speaker at MicroConf Europe (Prague) on Oct 5-6Association of Software ProfessionalsThomas Warfield – Pretty Good SolitaireAndy’s Article – “Shareware is Dead – Long Live Shareware”Perry Marshall book on AdwordsCapoeira

Ian and Andrey discuss their appearances on other podcasts, depression caused by taking consulting work, how Andrey will structure his day, Apple keynote and how new hardware relates to mobile development, releasing software in the app store, SaaS searching tech and more.Chasing Product podcastDNL ConsultingApple iPhone 5s/5c keynoteFertile Ground – Marco Arment on supporting new mobile API’sNumber Two – Andrew Garrison on his mobile release strategyAntair Sodoku for PlaybookSuccessful Software blogPerfect Table Planner – table seating plannerStart Your Own Software Business training courseFound.no hosted ElasticsearchHack FitconferenceThe ALL NEW HelpSpot.com

Ian and Andrey discuss Laracon EU, Snappy, web app activity tracking and analytics, Uberdeck, marketing as your primary daily activity, Andrey’s next app, native clients vs. mobile web apps vs. responsive design for a SaaS product, front-end web dev frameworks, annual SaaS billing, getting dumber, Vincent van Gogh, San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Texas.Laracon EUSnappy 3-tier pricingUberdeckiDeveloper.co – podcast for iOS developers.ChasingProduct.com – podcast for consultants looking to move into products.PhoneGapResponsive DesignjQuery MobileBackbone.jsForecast.io – blog post on building their web/mobile appDark Sky app – from the folks who brought you Forecast.ioEmber.jsAngularJSZepto.jsForbes – how much do average apps make?The Other F WordUnfinished Business Podcast – episode 33(Sorry for the crappy audio quality on Andrey’s side in this episode; he’ll get it right one of these days).

Ian and Andrey sit down with special guest Chase Clemons of SupportOps to discuss customer service for bootstrappers. We also get an Uberdeck update on leaving beta and pricing strategy.This episode is being cross released on both Bootstrapped.fm and Support Ops Podcast. Check them out!37SignalsSupport Ops and the Support Ops PodcastUberdeck is released!Andrey’s Essential Voice Recorder – type notes while you record audio (Android)Basecamp MobileBootstrapped customer service and using self service walls threads on discuss.bootstrapped.fmPingdomAmazon Prime – Love the prime, buy the prime!!!! (Ian)GetSatisfactionCoSupportSupport Ops Hangouts – Watch Chase live every Monday

Ian and Andrey sit down with special guest Rachel Andrew from EdgeOfMySeat.com, to discuss Perch, the really little CMS, the new Bootstrapped.fm forums, marketing, customer support, product dependencies, how important personal visibility is to your business, content management systems, writing and speaking, and self-publishing.Rachel AndrewPerch: the really little CMS – Rachel’s product.EdgeOfMySeat.com – Rachel’s company.Drew McLellan – Rachel’s husband and business partner. Drew on 24 Ways.The Perch PodcastBootstrapped.fm ForumsThe Perch website was designed by Paddy Donnelly of Lefft. The birds were drawn by Kev Adamson.Rachel will have a workshop on Shipping Your Product at the Future of Web Apps. She also has a version of the workshop available as a Smashing Workshop.Big thanks to Mike Jones, for making http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm come alive.Discourse – forum software.Discussion on serving different sections of the market for one product.Discussion regarding MachForm, and their free installation offer.Rachel’s presentation (video) on Things Learned While Supporting Perch.

Ian and Andrey discuss Andrey’s new mobile apps, doing press releases in unique cases, HARO, bringing on a partner, Valentino movie, Breaking Bad, Andrey on being abducted, dress code in fancy steak joints, optimal steak restaurant design, Snappy marketing, doing a giveawayNote: this podcast was recorded before we released http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm, next week we’ll discuss that in more detail.Bootstrapped Ep 15 with Special guest Patrick McKenzieBe a source on Help a Reporter OutWe ate a huge steak at http://www.peterluger.com/ with DNLBusiness movie: Valentino: The Last EmperorBlack Books showBREAKING BAD!!ÇingletonMailgunPatrick McKenzie’s drip email seriesRafflecopter – great app for running giveawaysTaylor Otwell’s Laravel bookGuest next week Rachel AndrewDiscuss this episode: http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/t/episode-16-meat-and-attitude/74

Ian and Andrey are joined by special guest, Patrick McKenzie (patio11), to discuss the “early” days of the Business of Software forums, Patrick’s journey and daily routine, Helpdesk systems and support, Appointment Reminder, systemizing and automating daily tasks, SaaS, B2C vs. B2B, pricing of software, consulting, learning from Blackhats, Hacker News, marketing, Uberdeck, making money from open source, dual-licensing, running a conference, hacker meetups, Patrick’s biggest mistake in business, Patrick’s next product, and Facebook games.Special guest Patrick McKenzie (patio11) of Kalzumeus.Business of Software Forums – Joel on Software.Bingo Card Creator – Patrick’s first product.Appointment Reminder – Patrick’s second product.Helpspot – Ian’s first product.Snappy – Ian’s latest product.Antair Spam Filter – One of Andrey’s first products.Uberdeck – Andrey’s latest productAndy Brice, and his Perfect Table Plan product.Jon B and his ViEmu, vi emulator for Visual Studio.Gavin BowmanMichael PryorKalzumeus PodcastTeach for AmericaHacker NewsRuben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch30×500, by Amy HoyMicropreneur AcademyMarco ArmentLaravelLaravel: From Apprentice to Artisan, by Taylor OtwellPaint.netBinpressRails Long Term SupportGail Goodman talk from Business of Software 2012Patrick’s Email ListPeldi, Balsamiq MockupsVisual Website Optimizer

Ian and Andrey are joined by special guest Scott Watermasysk. We get the back story on KickoffLabs Scott’s company, Andrey laments about having to do “stuff”, we don’t get Quora, we go deep on Uberdeck pricing strategy, how Agant went back to being a one person shop, starting solo or with a co-founder, Ship It!, a few landing page tips from Scott.Special guest Scott Watermasysk of KickoffLabsIBM Ideating commercialCampaignMonitor pricingWhat Next for AgantRise of the Millon Dollar One Person Business

Ian and Andrey discuss getting ready to deploy Uberdeck, Snappy progress, what’s next for Snappy marketing, stories of first job interviews, the benefits, if any, of a college education, selling into the consumer space, the experience of buying software in a box, selling software before making software and vetting product ideas.Uberdeck – Andrey’s new product. ( preview screenshot)Fabric – a Python SSH tool.Snappy – Ian’s newest product.SupportOps.co – a site dedicated to customer support best practices.Helpspot – Ian’s first product; a helpdesk application.SmallSpec.com – Chris Hawkins‘ new product for building functional specs.Boiler Room – movie.Songwriter gets paid $16 for 1 million plays.xkcd – the pace of modern life.

Andrey and Ian discuss mistakes with Snappy’s initial website, building multiple products vs focusing on a single product, fixing the app store, recommendations on going into the mobile space, and Derek Sivers new company and how he outsourced it all.FocusLabSlambots – the latest RetroDreamer gameMarco on removing mobile app store top listsSpider Web GamesCD BabySivers article on new company

Andrey and Ian sit down with Carl Diesing from DNL OmniMedia, and Chris Hawkins from Cogeian Systems, to talk about bootstrapping a successful software consulting company.Chris Hawkins on Twitter, and his website with lots of good articles and advice.Cogeian Systems – The software consultancy where Chris is the founder.Carl Diesing on TwitterDNL OmniMedia – The software consultancy where Carl is a co-founder.Expensd– DNL’s SaaS productSmallSpec – Chris’ new SaaS productParscale Media – A consulting software company mentioned by Ian during the show.Chasing Product – Chris’ new podcast

We go over the launch of Snappy, the Laravel 4 release, taking care of kids and kid gym options, Bootstrap conferences, app metrics and Infoproducts!Snappy goes liveEric Sink on pricingLaravel 4 – THE PHP frameworkLaravel three docsDNL OmnimediaCogeianThe Little GymGymboreeImitation Gruel – Andrey referenced this, check it outJDateBaconBizConf – Original announcement BidsketchDribbbleFocus LabSmoothMouseBeach Haven, NJKissmetricsMixpanel – recommendedSo You Want To Be a Wall Street ProgrammerAuthority by Nathan Barry

In this episode, which Ian and Andrey discuss Uberdeck, system administration, pricing strategies, news coverage for startups, Jeff Atwood, Trello, and Snappy.Uberdeck – Andrey’s latest projectAlwin Hoogerdijk (collectorz.com) – on email marketingCampaign Monitor – email campaign serviceDNS Made Easy – DNS serviceAmazon Route 53 – DNS serviceLinode – hosting for UberdeckTrello – project managementCoding Horror – Jeff Atwood’s blogAmazon SQS – hosted message queue serviceEngineHosting – hosting for SnappySnappy – Ian’s latest productPG Experts – PostgreSQL expert servicesBugSnag – real-time bug intelligenceAsyncHttp – HTTP library for AndroidJames Smith – creator of BugSnag and AsyncHttp for Android.Discourse – Jeff Atwood’s forum softwareEric Sink – on the business of software

In this episode, Ian and Andrey discuss sweet games, SaaS downtime, UserScape Bizarro Week, Brooklyn, Microconf and more.Bioshock Infinite – Andrey says this is one of the great games of all times with perhaps the best ending of all timeHeavy Rain – Another great gameRainbow Six – ClassicThe Secret of Monkey Island – I assume you’ve all heard of and played thisSupervisor – A process control systemDB Tenancy InformationEngineHosting – Private resource clusters for your big app needsReview of Google Play on NookGoogle 20% time explainedFogcreek remote work positionPark Slope, BrooklynSheepshead Bay, BrooklynSetting up an office for a software company – Details on Andrey’s office setup for AntairMicroconf – Ian will eventually make it to this conferenceSummary of Jason Cohen Microconf 2013 talkMicroconf take away summaryJason Cohen: Bootstrapped CPC rule of thumb: MRR/25 – Interesting article on how to determine what you should be willing to bid for your cost per click ads

In this episode, Ian and Andrey discuss the Apple app store release process, making video games for a living, people and companies that “get it”, fonts for web development, trademarks and names,Helvetica – Documentary about the typeface (and design, in general).Indie Game the Movie – Documentary that follows several indie game developers.What Now podcast – Gavin’s and Andrey’s podcast about making mobile apps for a living.Typography.com – the site Andrey was referring to when he mentioned “typeface.com” in the episode.Google FontsTypekitSnappyFocus Lab – The design team behind Snappy.Bloomberg by BloombergPasteVaultWordPress open source terms of service and privacy policy.Tom Pitegoff – Ian’s (Userscape’s) corporate lawyer.Patrick McKenzieLean StartupUberdeckAntair SnippetsTechZing podcastTim Ferriss

In this episode, Ian and Andrey discuss screen real estate, hiring a part time developer, Apple II parts, a segment which went way too long on Authorize.net, funding open source projects and code naming.See Andrey’s setupDivvy – Mac windows managerAntair part time developer position – 20-30 hours a monthHacker News – Hacker New Popular Twitter streamVienna RSS – Andrey’s choice for a Mac desktop RSS readerDave Winer discusses the concept of a River of News – (audio)Temperature in David Letterman’s studio is 58 degrees ( ref)Apple II store – This is awesomeWall-EDescription of Andrey’s first app – sadly no actual zip provided Authorize.net – (please use Stripe or other modern solutions)Merchant AccountsStripeBrian Kernighan’s “Advanced Programming Techniques”PasteVault.com – expiring text/passwordsGittipInfo on Shareware, for you kidsOpenJDK – open source JavaGo to UberDeck and sign up for the betaStar Trek: Deep Space Nine

In this episode, Ian and Andrey talk about a gauntlet of client work, consulting, competitors, talking about your product early, stock options and bonuses, a little bit on wall street programming, hiring, contributing to open source, life after programming, and movies!Links:Bitsplitting Podcast – episode 2, with Erika Hall of Mule Design Studio.Shipping an Empty Box – Andrey’s blog post about supporting large companies.Helpspot – Ian’s product.Snappy – Ian’s newest product.Uberdeck – Andrey’s upcoming product.Snappy on DribbleBill Cosby, “Himself” – full stand-up specialCode Rush – full documentaryJamie ZawinskiViola web browserEric Sink – wrote the browser that eventually became Internet ExplorerDNA Lounge – nightclub owned by Jamie ZawinskiDNA Pizza – pizza joint owned by Jamie ZawinskiThe Living Room in NYCComedians In Cars Getting Coffee – Seinfeld’s online showStartup.com – full movie12 Weeks with Geeks – full moviePirates of Silicon Valley – full movieTriumph of the Nerds, Part I, Part II, Part III – full documentary in 3 parts.Good EatsBill Nye the Science GuyJohn Carmack’s QuakeCon 2012 Keynote – full videoSwamp LoggersWall StreetScarfaceThe GodfatherThe MatrixMad MenBreaking BadGrand Theft AutoScarface video gameEuro Truck SimulatorGame Dev Story, an iPhone game where you run a game software companyWhitesBlack BooksDeviantArtPasteVault – Ian’s open source project.LaravelKudos – Ian’s open source blog engineTurnJS – Javascript libraryPackery – Javascript libraryTipped – Javascript componentHighcharts – Javascript libraryid source codeDave Winer

In this episode, Ian and Andrey cover a host of issues, including an apology of sorts to Patrick McKenzie, a discussion on if in fact the customer is always right, how you support .99 cent apps, non-mistakes from Ian’s past, VC funding and an extremely important tax tip!Links:Appointment Reminder – by Patrick McKenziePatrick McKenzie InterviewPodcast with Patrick & Amy HoyFreckleShutting down Charm – Interesting look at shutting down a SaaS app before it launchesHistory of “the customer is always right”What Now Podcast – Andrey’s other podcastRetro DreamerAutomattic Hosting – WordPress hostingSpiderweb Games – RPG games (not $.99!)Ian’s ChatSpot Live non-mistake – Glad I didn’t build it, but still like the logo by Mike RohdeCreating a Business Logo – history of UserScape & HelpSpot logo’sMixergy Paul Singh InterviewSpryfoxRob WallingStackoverflow initial VC fundingStartup.com MovieStardockFigure53Atlassian financingSection 199 Domestic Production Tax Credit – this is awesome, talk to your accountant today!Handling B2B TransactionsDNL – Ian’s Brother & cousins web consultancyJason Cohen on consultancy mathBusiness of Software conference – Go, it’s awesome

In this episode, Ian and Andrey talk about not being able to remember anything that happened before today, Ian’s rules for the practical entrepreneur, having so many products that you can’t list them all, entering a fragmented market, preferring B2B, The Pivot, Andrey not having any kind of strategy for choosing which products to make, damned phones, when selling to a business is not really selling to a business, clear and simple revenue model, bridging the internet world with the real world, not using your own products, doing support, how recent the 90’s were, dealing with criticism, competitors who are clearly doing it wrong, Steve Jobs being brilliant at what he does, customers not caring about which technology you use, being the perfect developer for your own company, bootstrapping a company when you have kids, the sense of being continuously rushed, BioIsChanged.com, DAS Keyboard, and customer-hosted vs. SaaS.Links:Ian’s 4 Rules for the Practical Entrepreneur$10,000 – Ian’s sale numbers from the early days of selling Helpspot.A partial list of Andrey’s products – including the early ones like Printer Friendly, Chinchilla, and Asteroid Jane.Uberdeck – Andrey’s upcoming product.Pixelmator, and Acorn – Photoshop competitors on the Mac.Pivoting, as a company strategy.Authorize.NET, Stripe, and Square – payment processing.Hubspot – marketingSeamless Web – online food ordering.Patrick McKenzie’s Appointment ReminderLet’s Take This Offline – Joel Spolsky quits blogging.Dave Winer – interviews here and here.Steve Jobs Insult ResponseIan choosing a development stack for Helpspot.John CarmackEric Barnes, and his talk.Ethan – Andrey’s son.Tyler – Ian’s first child.37signals on interruptionsJim Gaffigan (comedian)BioIsChanged.comDAS KeyboardOpenSourceHelpdeskList.comAmy Hoy’s TwiStoryFogcreek’s FogBugzSnappy – Ian’s latest product.GitHub’s enterprise version

In this episode, Ian and Andrey talk about software version numbers, SaaS apps, hiring, modern web application development, server hosting, what to do with old servers, monitors and hard drives, doing what it takes to fund your business, Andrey’s psychological state, physical world products vs software.Links:Eric Barnes – Laracon 2013 talkLaravel – The awesome PHP frameworkCodeIgniterBackBone – JS front end frameworkCoffeescript – A little language that compiles to JavaScriptLESS – The only way to write CSSEngineHosting – Sweet VPS based hosting solutionLinode – Linux VPS providerHard drive station – Find a use for those old hard drivesAre You Serious About Starting a Business – Ian’s blog post on selling his car to fund UserScapeCreating a Business Logo – Ian’s blog post on creating the UserScape and HelpSpot logo’sImpostor Syndrome – A psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishmentsAntair Spam Filter – Andrey’s spam filter productInterview with Jason Cohen – talks about tons of useful things including cancellations we reference in the podcastQLab – Live show controls for OSXFogBugz – Bug trackingThe Business of Software Forums – Joel Spolsky forum site where a lot of us got our startLollipop Sticks – Andrey on physical productsSwamp LoggersSnappy – Ian’s latest product.Uberdeck – the product Andrey is currently working on.

In this episode, Ian and Andrey talk about running a web-app company vs. running a mobile-app company, having one large product vs. many smaller products, starting out by making products ‘because you can’, instead of products that have a market, SaaS and recurring revenue, Enron email and spam filters, how the iPhone almost brought down Andrey’s company, planning vs. falling into it, being late to the SaaS party, installable software and support, B2B vs. B2C, and things that seemed exciting in the first year of running a software company, but are a chore to do 9 years later.Two software companies, Userscape, founded in 2004, and Antair, founded in 2005.Both companies, bootstrapped and profitable.Join Ian and Andrey, the founders, as they share their experiences in running their companies.