MicroConf On Air

Just as designers benefit from learning a little bit about programming, programmers, marketers, product managers, and salesfolk, can benefit from learning a little bit about design. https://microconfonair.com Tracy Osborn is the Program Manager of TinySeed, Founder of WeddingLovely, and an all around genius when it comes to operational efficiency and web design. Her book, Hello Web Design, will be published nationally, and is available for pre-order at https://nostarch.com/hello-web-design. What elements should you consider when making a choice about fonts for your website? "Too many cooks spoil the broth": does too many designers spoil the design too? What factors should founders consider when getting a logo designed? Should they always go bespoke? What's the cost for a custom logo design generally? I find that most dev-tools screenshots of their features can be a bit busy or boring (sometimes it’s code, numbers, analytics etc.). Any design advice for dev-tool SaaS companies to help visualize these features where screenshots of their product might not work well? When you're looking at a website, what are 2-3 things you always look at to evaluate how "well" it is designed? MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2021 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com @heyhey

Comprehensive data about the state for bootstrapped (or mostly) founders and how to use the report to make meaningful change in 2021. To access the full report, head over to https://stateofindiesaas.com. For nearly a decade MicroConf has helped startup founders grow faster through access to world-class experts, and the world’s most trusted community of ambitious, bootstrapped and mostly bootstrapped founders. MicroConf has become the mothership for founders like yourself looking to learn and share strategies, tactics, advice, and inspiration. The beauty of creating this 2nd report is our ability to draw comparisons from one year to the next. While the overall structure is very similar to last year, you’ll notice we’ve drawn comparisons wherever the data deviated to a point that it became interesting. In addition, we’ve mixed up the visuals in many areas from simple bar and pie charts to now include word clouds and micro-infographics. The idea is to optimize the presentation of this information to help you understand it at a deeper level. This all lines up with our mission to help you be successful, faster. MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2021 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com @heyhey

The inimitable Steli Efti has been a leader in the startup and SaaS sales landscape for years. Check out this live Q+A focused on sales processes. - Any tips on how I can use to my advantage the fact that I am a client as well as a co-founder in marketing, sales or during onboarding calls? 2- I have had extensive success in Marketing & Sales in the Sports & leisure industry selling an in-person Service in the B2C world. Any tips on how to translate those skills into the SaaS and B2B world? - If you were to start a CRM system today from scratch, how would you try to launch and build it up in todays world? From Max Sinclair a big fan and user of Close - How do you know when to put a fork in a cold outreach campaign? - Any advice for selling to non-technical industries when your domain expertise is in tech & not their field? - What are the best sales books? http://microconfonair.com https://microconf.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2021 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/hey

http://microconfremote.com We asked our MicroConf Remote speakers to answer the question: "What is one thing I can do today that will make a meaningful impact on by business in the future?" Bjork uses a simple expense audit and asks 3 questions for each transaction: Should I cancel this? Should I change this to a yearly discount plan? Can I ask for a discount? Check out the video and get registered for MicroConf Remote! MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

http://microconfremote.com Chapter 4: Onto something new… There is something to be said about bootstrapping your business to millions in revenue, to stick by it and still hold the keys, over 2 decades after launch. It is rare to see the founders of any company stick it out for that long… but there isn’t much that isn’t rare about the founder journey that our next storyteller can share. It begs you to wonder, when the only pre-ordained next step in your roadmap to building your business is “The End”, but you’ve not reached that ending… what is there left to do to fill the next few chapters. That is how we’re going to end our story. And ending that keeps moving forward but jis yet untold. With our guest, Jason Fried, Co-Founder of Basecamp and Hey!, we hosted an open ask me anything about what it took to grow Basecamp to the degree of success it reached, how the small bootstrapped team was able to develop a competitor to the likes of Gmail or Yahoo Mail, and their very public spat with the Apple App Store in mid-2020. Check out the full-length conference video at https://youtu.be/q1WNvRoSays If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

http://microconfremote.com Let’s face it – there comes a time in a founder’s lifecycle within their company where having them on support emails is a terrible idea. Eventually, you’re going to have the assets to be able to afford a marketing person, and THAT person is now responsible for all of the copyrighting. You cannot be the only person doing demos. In time, if your company has found product market fit and your growing in ways that allow you to bring on more help – its time to create a structure so that you can let them know how to move through a project…. without you. Nate Grahek, Founder of Sticky Albums, is going to share a few pointers for how he optimizes his internal operations so that his team of much smarter people doing their own thing can get their jobs done without him being the bottleneck. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show. Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

Curious about TinySeed, MicroConf's accelerator and fund? The TinySeed accelerator team (Tracy Osborn, Rob Walling, and Einar Vollset) recorded this live webinar to answer questions about their third application round. Jump to a question: 2:43 - Why is it called TinySeed? 8:52 - What are TinySeed's basic investment terms? 13:55 - Do we invest in non-US countries? 16:03 - Do we invest in B2B companies? 18:34 - Is there a requirement for the application process? 21:43 - What is your policy against repeat investment in the same space? 22:48 - How many months would you estimate the churn rate over for small business? 24:24 - I feel our evaluation now may be above the standard investment terms for TinySeed. Will there be any flexibility in terms?. 25:08 - What industries or companies did you see thriving this year due to COVID? 25:55 - We just started providing annual payments were people can pay in advance for a year — should we advertise those when calculating MRR in our application ? 26:55 - My SaaS isn't launched yet but it's making a $1000 or more in the MRR — am I right for the program? 27:36 - I believe you looking to fund to 20 to 25 companies, which is 2 times more than previous batches. How will you maintain the camaraderie and intimacy the with a bigger batch? 31:46 - We have a B2B SaaS system, we have 15000 active free users and 25 paying customers — 15000 looks better than 25, which one should I use for customers? 32:30 - Is Edu/Research Tech under your domain? 33:05 - Do you have a preferred formula for LTV? 35:04 - Can salary cap be adjusted with inflation overtime, or market changes? 36:16 - Is the investor dividend based on equity? 36:30 - If there are multiple founders, do you require all founders to be full time? 38:00 - What factors do you look at before onboarding a company? 40:25 - Is there an option to buy your shares out? 42:43 - Do you invest in S-Corps? 44:32 - What is the process and timeline after the application has been submitted? 46:19 - How do you approach the application if you had previously had a SaaS? 47:00 - What happens after the accelerator year? 50:18 - When is the next application process and when is the next batch? 51:16 - If you're recently launched, should I apply now (to be on the radar) or later? 52:12 - In your application, you ask the number of team size — is this the number of founders? 55:04 - How do you compute monthly churns, if only yearly churns are counted? 56:07 - Is growth more important than profitability? 57:25 - Apart from investing, what else can we get from TinySeed?

http://microconfremote.com What are Quick Fixes? We asked some pretty smart people a pretty hard question: What is 1 thing you can do today that is going to make tomorrow and on easier for you to run your business? And finally, we have Asia Orangio of Demand Maven who think that paying off your Analytical Debt as early as possible will clear up a lot of question marks later on in your business. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show. Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

http://microconfremote.com Chapter 3: Accelerating to $100K MRR and Beyond While the first $10K MRR may be one of the tallest hills to climb, sometimes, if you time things right and you’ve put in the work to be a known quantity within the communities, the social media circles, and the leading voices in your target market, you can feel the slow rumble of blastoff that has you moving towards your next milestones faster than you could imagine. That was the experience of lifelong friends and co-founders of Squadcast.fm , Zach Moreno and Rock Felder. It took them nearly 2 years to go from Launch to $10K MRR. In the last year, they’ve 10x’d that MRR to beyond $100K. In this talk, they’ve cover the three things that they can point to that carried them through this milestone, and the direction that they are currently headed. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show.

http://microconfremote.com What are Quick Fixes? We asked some pretty smart people a pretty hard question: What is 1 thing you can do today that is going to make tomorrow and on easier for you to run your business? Viola Eva of Flow-SEO has a few quick tips on how to optimize your best performing content for SEO. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show. Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

http://microconfremote.com Join the MicroConf Remote host, Rob Walling, for a conversation with Andy Martin, Founder of BlueRithm and Minneapolis Native who joined us in the MicroConf Remote studio to chat about his experience building BlueRithm on the back of a successful career supporting large scale projects. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

http://microconfremote.com What are Quick Fixes? We asked some pretty smart people a pretty hard question: What is 1 thing you can do today that is going to make tomorrow and on easier for you to run your business? Meryl Johnston, Co-Founder of Bean Ninjas, takes a deep look into things that founders at a few different stages of their journey can be optimizing their finances for the future. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show. Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

We are hosting Lars Lofgren, CEO of Quick Sprout, to answer listener questions about SaaS, growth, and more. What is a good content marketing routine for a solo startup founder?Considering aspects such as: publish on own site vs guest writing for popular publications in the niche, ratio of educational/promotional flavour, or any other tips that come to mind- Kasra from FeedbackOnSite.co How much time does it usually take to start ranking for keywords you target? How do you ensure that eventually happens? - Tony w/ Cloud Forecast MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com @heyhey Automatically Generated Transcript: We're live. Welcome to today's episode of MicroComp on air as always. I am your host, Rob walling. As every Wednesday at 1:00 PM, Eastern 10:00 AM Pacific, we live stream for about 30 minutes and we cover topics related to building and growing ambitious SAS startups that bring us freedom and purpose and allow us to value and maintain healthy relationships. We believe that showing up every day and shipping that next feature, next piece of marketing copy or closing your next sale is a way to build a sustainable company. So thanks again for joining me today. It's been a couple of weeks last week was Thanksgiving in the U S. And so we, I gave producer Zander the day off. And of course, it doesn't make sense for me to get on here and try to do it without the expert to lineage of, of producers, Andrew and his production. So tryptofan attic. I think it's, to crypto fanatic, do we have a typo in my lower third for those listening on the podcast? Welcome every Thursday morning, we air these episodes on, the MicroComp podcast. You can head to microcuff podcast.com or search for microcuff in any pod catcher. And you can. Here are these here? These, these episodes producers, Andrew says, Tiffin is the chemical in Turkey makes you sleepy. That's right. So I'm a tryptofan addict because things and all that. thanks. Thanks for that. Producer Zander got a great show too. I'm super excited to bring on a first time guest to MicroComp on air, but not a first time guest to the microcosm world. Mr. Lars Lofgren is a many time MicroComp speaker. He's also a tiny seed mentor and all around good guy. He is the CEO of QuickSprout, which you can check [email protected]. He's a former director of growth at, I will teach you to be rich, where he worked with Ramit Sethi, and he ran growth for Kissmetrics and Lara's specialty is, has been content marketing and SEO for years and years. And he's one of the OJI. Content SEO people that I heard about back in the day, if you recall, Kissmetrics blog was the leading blog. It was the example everyone looked to in our space in terms of a blog that was driving a lot of traffic, a lot of engagement. And just something that we, I think a lot of us tried to model our own content strategies. That, and Laura's was the, essentially the man behind that, that effort. And so with that, I'm going to welcome mr. Lars Lofgren to the show. How's it going, sir? Hey, Rob, it's good to be here. Yeah, thanks, man. Good to chat with you again, Lars and I have known each other for years. I don't know. What do we think we met 2012, 2013, something like that? Yeah. One of the really or micro cops in Vegas when I was actually living in Vegas, which i...

http://microconfremote.com Chapter 2: The Road to $10K MRR From launch, there are a ton of baby steps that are celebrated. Your first paying customer. Your first $100 MRR. $1,000K MRR. Maybe the first time that you can pay yourself! It is full of milestones that propel you forward. But depending on your pricing, it can be a different world entirely between earning your first $1,000 MRR on a $10 monthly subscription or a $100 monthly subscription. Hitting that $10K mark starts to instill that sense of product market fit. Our next storyteller is Colleen Johnson, the Co-Founder of Scatterspoke. The winding road that her and her husband co-founder have navigated in the last three years as they’ve build up a product that served a specific need within the Agile community has brought them to the door of $10K MRR. Take a step by step walkthrough on the various turns she and the Scatterspoke team took as they slowly made their way to that $10K MRR mark. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show. Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

http://microconfremote.com Startup Founders In Cars Getting Coffee: Founder Origin Stories Dr. Sherry Walling has spent nearly 300 episodes on her podcast, ZenFounder, talking about the in’s and out’s of the founder psychology. That, along with a doctorate in clinical psychology and years of working with entrepreneurs, has helped her put together a couple of avatars for the variety of founders you see in the startup work. Join her and Rob as they talk about the origin stories of many founders, and see which one you relate most to. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show. Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

As we continue to evolve the MicroConf On Air Podcast, we have decided to move into a more open call for questions from the audience rather than a straightforward interview format. Host Rob Walling is joined today by Matt Wensing, the founder of Summit (http://usesummit.com) and RiskPulse, which was recently sold. In this episodes, we cover the following questions: - When is Matt are you going to start hiring a team for Summit? When does he anticipate he will hit a growth stage within the company? -My product is a social intranet software sort of like microsoft teams/facebook combined, so we deal with B2B. A lot of my competitors make it very difficult for their customers to sign up, do not give free trials or freemium, you have to fill out a form for a demo or to get signed up. Is there some sort of hidden advantage to being difficult to get started with? Is there an advantage to weeding people out or what exactly is the goal here? -How do you think non-American startups should forecast currency fluctuations if most customers are in the US paying in dollars? -What does Summit do? At what stage in my business is it for me? https://microconf.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/hey

http://microconfremote.com It takes a ton of methodical, strategic steps to get any product off the ground. For some, they fear launching before the product is perfect; others may launch way to early, before establishing any degree of product market fit. But in the grand scheme of things, unless your launch has been prefaced with fanfare or critical note, you may decide to launch by simply flipping the on switch and seeing what happens. Our opener tweeted back in early June that she had inadvertently launched her company. It doesn’t get much earlier stage or right at launch as that. Corinn Pope is the Founder of Speckled, and has been following the stairstep approach to move from an employee to a info-product maker, to now a self-taught technical Founder of Speckled. And her approaching to building the company leaned so far into the concept of “Just Ship It” that she had launched her MVP before she had even realized it was on the market. Check out her story. If you want to join in on the conversation with over 1400 other founders, join MicroConf Connect, a slack community space where you can meet founders from around the globe working on cool products in a sustainable way. Head over to http://microconfconnect.com for more details. This video was recorded on September 1, 2020 in Minneapolis MN. All proper social distancing, PPE, and health and safety measures were taken in the production of this show. Note, this is not a live session, so calls for questions, survey, etc… are all pre-recorded.

The State of Independent SaaS Survey results point to a correlation between more co-founders + faster growth. https://microconfonair.com Shar Darafsheh is one of the 5 co-founders of Servicebot.io, a fast growing UI toolkit built on top of Stripe Billing. In this episode, we're going to explore the validity of the first State of Independent Report (stateofindependentsaas.com) that points to a direct connection between the number of co-founders working on your SaaS and the rate of growth you're able to achieve. We also explore the platform risks that are associated with building a business around the infrastructure of another product - what considerations you need to make when deciding to create a business in that structure, and what assumptions you need to make about platform risk in order to overcome those hurdles. The first ever SaaS Podcast Awards are now accepting nominations. Head over to saaspodcastawards.com and let us know your favorite shows, episodes, host(s) and stories SaaS Focused podcast. We'll aggregate the top 5 nominees in each category and head to a vote in early December. MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ @heyhey

Knowing of which metrics to track, and which to ignore, is an essential part of growing your SaaS business. The ability to filter out good, actionable, data from the ever-present noise that just distracts you is what separates many successful businesses from the ones that never get off the ground. By creating a system of how you can collect, review, and take action on the data in your business you'll be able to take action with confidence that your business is going in the right direction. https://microconf.com #microconf #microconfeurope2019 MicroConf Europe 2019 Castos: Podcast hosting and analytics tool. https://castos.com Join the conversation → http://microconfconnect.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail → [email protected]

A Solo Rob Adventure! During this episode, we are answering listener questions live from our MicroConf Connect members. Rob answers questions about: - Early Stage Validation- Competitive Markets- Youth Entrepreneurship- Key Insights Around the TinySeed Portfolio - Retirement Planning MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConfE-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Heyhttps://hey.com@heyhey MicroConf On Air Question and Answer Episode Rob Walling: [00:00:00] Welcome to today's episode of MicroConf On Air. I'm your host, Rob walling live streaming direct from my bunker library here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So every Wednesday at 1:00 PM Eastern and producers, Andrew and I stream for 30 minutes and we cover topics related to building and growing ambitious SaaS startups that bring us freedom and purpose and allow us to value and maintain healthy relationships. We believe that showing up every day and shipping that next feature, that next piece of marketing copy closing that next sale is the way to build a sustainable company. Thanks so much for, for joining me today. Today is an all ask Rob episode. We're going to be doing a live Q and a, we have some good questions coming in on Twitter and in the MicroConf on air channel in MicroConf connect. If you're not part of MicroConf connect already should into Microsoft connect.com. We have more than I believe it's over 1600. Founders of bootstrappers and mostly bootstrapped founders in there hanging out and having conversations like this every day. And what I love is when I get into connect and there's a solid thread where I see a question and I go to, I know the answer to this, or I have a thought on this and I go in and there's already five amazing answers from other experienced founders who have done. Exactly this and I don't even need to weigh in, because the answers are, are good and they're all, and they're all legit. So I am checking out some questions. So today, yeah, I normally intro my guest here, but you'll know me as the co founder of drip and MicroConf and tiny seed. Startups for the rest of us host and author starts small, stay small. So I'm going to be answering a bunch of questions today. what are the, Oh, what are those books behind me? Yes. So it is definitely, a, a really nice book case here. I'll just show you a poll one book off the shelf, just so you can see. So here we are with the, this tome of no title, that actually, holds some silver age comic books for those who, are in the now missing Spider-Man number two there from 19, 63. I think so. Yes. All questions today can be startup related, silver age comic book collecting related, and of course, Dungeons and dragons related. we really do, in all seriousness have some really good questions coming in and, It's nice that we have a producer, Sandra says so smooth. It's nice that we have such a, it's a really good audience. It's a really great group creators that are here in microcuff connect and participating on Twitter. And just in this MicroConf averse. and I did an interview last week. If you haven't checked this out on indie hackers, Courtland Allen and I had a conversation for, yeah, it was about an hour and 10 minutes, really solid stuff. Good questions from Portland. Good thoughts from him. And I was just we...

Learn how to offer your customers amazing support over email and Twitter, create a fanatical user base, and how to avoid the quagmire of 1-star reviews. Check out Sarah’s MicroConf speakers page for more talks → https://microconf.com/speakers/sarah-... https://microconf.com MicroConf 2012 #microconf #microconf2012 MicroConf Connect → http://microconfconnect.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail → [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners ► Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Stripe ► Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter →https://twitter.com/Basecamp Rob Walling: [00:00:00] this week's MicroConf refresh episode where we play the audio of a past. MicroConf talk. Usually one of the top rated talks of all time. I am your host, Rob Walling, and today's talk is from 2012. We are going back in the archives. The talk is from Sarah Hatter of Co-Support. And it's called Cheap and Easy Customer Support. She says, learn how to offer your customers amazing support over email and Twitter, create a fanatical user base and how to avoid the quagmire of a one-star reviews. Sarah Hatter is a multi-time Microcom speaker, and she has forgotten more about customer support than most of us will ever learn. So I hope you enjoy this talk from Sarah Hatter. Sarah Hatter: [00:00:49] yeah. Hi everybody. This is going to be super fun because I'm weaseled my way into getting my Q and a stuff built into my time. So we're going to do three things in my talk. We're gonna talk about who I am, why I'm here. We're going to do some real world examples of how you guys can be doing support faster, better, easier, cheaper, smarter, funnier, all that stuff. And then if you, once I thought that we could also do. Sorta some life lessons about, Ooh, sorry, starting a business because I've only been in this business...

http://microconfonair.com In a recent blog post (https://allisonseboldt.com/september-2020/), Allison Seboldt, Founder of Fantasy Congress, pondered whether right now was the time to put a pause on her plans for the expansion of the product. During this conversation, Rob and Allison will chat about some of the elements that go into what that decision means, what steps to take to let things run on autopilot, and what comes next. Allison is a self taught developer and bootstrapping enthusiast. After working as a web developer for four years, she quit corporate life to pursue her passion project. Fantasy Congress is an online game that puts a fantasy sports spin on politics. Players draft members of Congress for their team and earn points based on legislative actions like votes, sponsoring bills, and debating on the chamber floor. Fantasy Congress is intended to be a fun way to connect with friends while also helping people stay engaged and informed in the political process. https://microconf.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/hey Transcript Hitting the Pause Button On Your SaaS with Allison Seboldt Rob Walling: [00:00:00] And we're live. Welcome to this week's MicroConf On Air. I'm your host, Rob walling, every Wednesday, 1:00 PM. Eastern 10:00 AM. Pacific. We live stream. For 30 minutes and we covered topics related to building and growing ambitious SaaS startups that bring us freedom and purpose and allow us to value and maintain healthy relationships. We believe that showing up every day, shipping that next feature, next piece of marketing copy or closing your next sale is a way to build a sustainable company. We don't ask for permission to start companies. We build and ship real products. So the real customers pay us real money. Welcome to MicroConf On Air. You may be able to hear my dog in the background. This is live streaming in a pandemic. I have a couple of children at home, as well as a Sharpie who is steadfastly guarding the front door. Today. We are talking about hitting the pause button on your SaaS. It's a, an interesting topic. And a new one that I don't think I've covered before, where they're on this, this show or on other podcasts that I've done. I am pretty excited to dive into this. My guest today is Allison Seboldt. Of Fantasy Congress. She's the founder of Fantasy Congress @ fantasycongress.com. Allison is a self taught developer and a bootstrapping enthusiast. After working as a web developer for four years, she quit corporate life to pursue her passion project, which is Fantasy Congress. Fantasy Congress is an online game that puts a fantasy sports spin on politics. Players draft members of U.S. Congress. I love this for their team and earn points based on legislative activities, actions like votes, sponsoring bills and debating on the chamber floor. Fantasy Congress is intended to be a fun way to connect with friends while also helping people stay engaged and informed in the political process. So again, we're going to be talking today a little bit about, building and loans and putting Fantasy Congress on pause for the moment. We're going to dive in. So Allison, welcome to the show.

Everyone wants the formula, the recipe, the framework that says how to make the magic happen. Well here you have it. With The Dinner Party Strategy you can now confidently create an email onboarding strategy for your trial customers. In less time than it takes a hipster bartender to make your locally sourced craft cocktail, you'll get the simple 6-part framework that builds connection, adds value, and drives revenue for your brand. https://microconf.com MicroConf Growth 2017 #microconf #microconfgrowth2017 #microconf2017 MicroConf Connect → http://microconfconnect.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail → [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners ► Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Stripe ► Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Basecamp

http://microconfonair.com At MicroConf, we have been fortunate to have the support of some incredible sponsors to help us invite guests to our events on a scholarship program. This week, we're going check in on one of those scholarship recipients, Veni Kunche, founder of DiversifyTech.co We ask Veni about her experience at MicroConf, how she decided to build and launch DiversifyTech, and how she has continue to grow and monetize this social good service.The State of Independent SaaS Survey is now open! Help us develop critical analysis of the current world of Independent SaaS by heading over to http://stateofindiesaas.com. https://microconf.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/hey

Steli Efti (Close) talks at MicroConf 2015 on how to build your own SaaS sales machine if you don't have piles of money from venture capitalists lying around. In this video, you're going to learn the core principles of selling, how to write emails that get opened, why 90% of success is in the follow-up, and more. Check out Steli’s MicroConf speakers page for more talks ➡️ https://microconf.com/speakers/steli-... https://microconf.com MicroConf 2015 #microconf #microconf2015 MicroConf Connect → http://microconfconnect.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail → [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners ► Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Stripe ► Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Basecamp

http://microconfonair.com Bootstrapping SaaS can be a bit... lonely. Lots of folks are working from home, might only have a couple of colleagues that they can bounce ideas off of. We're excited to chat with Irma Mesa, the founder of Cafecito (https://meetcafecito.com), as she is actively building a SaaS company that combats that sense of isolation. The 2021 State of Independent SaaS Survey is now open for responses. Help us pull back the curtain on the how the bootstrapped and mostly bootstrapped founders have faired this year. Complete the survey at http://stateofindiesaas.com MicroConf Connect: Join the conversation with over 1500 founders, including a dedicated MicroConf On Air channel ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/heyhey

Think you can't aggressively acquire customers using outbound sales for SaaS? Think it's too expensive, too inefficient, too distracting? Think again. You can do it. Jordan Gal show you how he and his team does it for CartHook. From list building, to qualification research, to cold email automation, to scheduling demos. Everything from faceless prospect to free trial to paying customer. It's all outsourced, affordable, and scalable. And Jordan will show you how to put the whole thing together. https://microconf.com #microconf #microconf2015 MicroConf 2015 Check out Jordan’s MicroConf speakers page for more talks → https://microconf.com/speakers/jordan... MicroConf Connect → http://microconfconnect.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail → [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners ► Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Stripe ► Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Basecamp

https://microconfonair.com Hiring your first team member is a huge milestone in creating a team that can advance the mission and values that are core to your SaaS Business. In this episode, with Natalie Luneva, the SaaS Boss, we're going to talk about when you should make those hires, how to decide which position you should hire first, and the characteristics of a high performing remote team. Natalie is a growth and team performance coach to SaaS founders. Drawing from 10+ years of marketing and team leadership experience, and being married to a bootstrapped SaaS founder, she helps SaaS companies identify and implement high ROI opportunities, clarify business priorities and scale. MicroConf Remote Replay is now available at MicroConfRemote.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/heyhey

Rob Walling tells the story of launching Drip to $7k in MRR and then struggling to find product/market fit. He walks through the steps he took to get there, and his thought process along the way, including a revenue chart of the substantial growth Drip experienced after product/market fit. Check out Rob’s MicroConf speakers page for more talks → https://microconf.com/speakers/rob-wa... Rob's homepage → https://robwalling.com MicroConf 2015 #microconf #microconf2015 https://microconf.com MicroConf Connect → http://microconfconnect.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail → [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners ► Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Stripe ► Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Basecamp

http://microconfonair.com We had some issues with the original recording of this episode, so we've gone ahead and added a new version - hopefully this one works for everyone! Sorry for the inconvenience! As you are seeking out product market fit, it is important to consider the path you forge into that market. Will you be competing for every customer against a crowded or competitive market because you think you can do it... better? Or will you forge your way into a deeper niche that may leave you to early to be noticed? We invited Derrick Reimer, who just finished building SavvyCal, an easier way to create schedule appointments, and co-founded Drip with Rob. When you're staring down the landscape and you see giant competitors like MailChimp or Calendly, what does that decision making process look like, and how do you carve out your own share of that market from those giants. The MicroConf Remote Replay is available at http://MicroConfRemote.com. Check out the recordings from the first ever digital only MicroConf event, MicroConf Remote. MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/heyhey

http://microconfonair.com Every couple of weeks, we like to feature a founder from the MicroConf Connect community that is brave enough to jump on a call with Rob to talk about what it is they're doing. This week, we're excited to welcome Brendan McAdams, founder of Expertscape. Brendan McAdams is the co-founder of Expertscape.com, a healthcare search resource that identifies and objectively ranks medical expertise by specific topic. With over 30 years of sales and marketing experience across telecom, financial services and healthcare, he is the author of Sales Craft: Proven Tips, Practices and Ideas to Improve Your Sales Success. His second book, specifically focused on sales fundamentals for tech founders, is due out later this year. Brendan is based in Baltimore, MD. Did you miss MIcroConf Remote? The videos are now on sale at http://microconfremote.com for $20. Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Heyhttps://hey.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Heyhey

Ben has a theory: Developers who create digital products or SaaS apps tend to screw up in predictable ways. They are particularly likely to under-invest in marketing and sales, and will tend to over-automate. Worst of all, they almost always charge too little. After years of making these mistakes himself, Ben will share some hard-won tips for avoiding them. (Sorry in advance, but the answer is rarely "write more code.") Access the first video in the Building Your First SaaS Business series, Designing the Ideal Bootstrapped Business by Jason Cohen, which was featured on the MicroConf Refresh Episode 2: https://microconfpodcast.com/episodes/microconf-refresh-episode-2-designing-the-ideal-bootstrapped-business-jason-cohen-founder-wp-engine Check out Ben’s MicroConf page for more talks → https://microconf.com/speakers/ben-or... https://microconf.com MicroConf Starter 2017 #microconf #microconfstarter2017 #microconf2017 MicroConf Connect → http://microconfconnect.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail → [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners ► Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Stripe ► Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/Basecamp

Keith is the founder of SegMetrics, helping founders understand their true lead value using a data backed approach. On Air, Keith and Rob discuss why your KPI's might be setting up blinders as your create a marketing strategy for your businesses, how outliers can create a new train of thought in your marketing plan, and how to identifying strategies that can truly move the needle in testing conversions. Keith Perhac has delivered a few talks at MicroConf, from his first Attendee Talk back in 2015 to his keynote presentation at MicroConf Starter in 2017. You can check out his talks here: https://microconf.com/speakers/keith-perhac MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConfE-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamphttps://basecamp.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp TRANSCRIPT Rob Walling: [00:00:00] And we are live. Welcome to MicroConf On Air. Every Wednesday we livestream for about 30 minutes and we cover topics related to building and growing ambitious SaaS startups. These are startups that don't need to work 80 hour work weeks, raise millions in venture capital, or drive us to the brink of burnout. In this show, we seek freedom, purpose, and relationships, and we want to maintain those values while building interesting companies that can have an impact on the world, or maybe just our little corner of it. So thank you so much for joining me again this week, whether you're joining us live and maybe you're in MicroConf Connect, and you're going to be asking some questions of our guest today, or even if you're listening asynchronously on the podcast feed that's microconfpodcast.com or search for MicroConf On Air in any podcatcher that you use. Today I have the pleasure of, uh, bringing a Keith Perhac on the show. You may know Keith, as the founder of SegMetrics. Yeah. And he is , hailing from the Portland area. So it's a little smoky outside his house right now. But Segmetrics.io If you want to check it out. They're a team of about 10 people in the growth stage. I was talking to him beforehand about how can we give people a sense of, of where the company is? , and he said, "Look, we have product market fit and we're in the growth stages. We're starting to grow quickly. " If you go to SegMetrics.io, you can see their H1. In essence, SegMetrics is a tool that helps you get 100% clarity on where your leads come from, how they behave and how much your marketing is really worth. It allows you to get a handle on the KPIs that matter most for your marketing funnels is built by marketers for marketers. And today, Keith and I are going to be talking about how KPIs can be misleading when optimizing your marketing. So Keith Perhac. Welcome to MicroConf On Air. Keith Perhac, Segmetrics: [00:01:43] Hey, Hey Rob. Thanks for having me. Rob Walling: [00:01:46] Absolutely, man, um, that sky's look kind of clear from what I can see reflecting in your window as the air quality improved up there. Keith Perhac, Segmetrics: [00:01:54] It's not bad right now. It was really bad last night. It was kind of bad this morning. Uh, we'll see. It's really weird, you know, as the sun starts...

MicroConf Growth 2019 Chris Savage, Wistia Most founders dream of building a product that eventually becomes a household name and sells for a billion dollars, but chasing that goal comes with some downsides. We chose a different path. https://microconf.com Join the conversation: microconfconnect.com Twitter: @MicroConf E-mail: [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe Twitter: @Stripe stripe.com Basecamp Twitter: @Basecamp basecamp.com

microconfonair.com This week, we've invited Sumit Kumar (@TweetsOfSumit), Founder of Geoman.io - a B2C product that allows users to draw and edit geodata with our intuitive and powerful leaflet plugins and Tresor.one, an automated portfolio management tool. This poses the question - what does it take to build and support two businesses as an indie funded SaaS founder? And what can you expect from working with two very different audiences in a B2B and a B2C space. MicroConf Remote is on the TV Guide for Tuesday, September 1st. Tickets are on sale at microconfremote.com Join MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConfE-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamphttps://basecamp.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

MicroConf Starter 2019 After a year of full-time work, Ben has some new scars, some fresh knowledge, and a deep appreciation for the highs and lows of starting a business. Check out more MicroConf Talks from Ben ➡️ microconf.com/speakers/ben-orenstein Tuple ➡️https://tuple.app/ MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

http://microconfonair.com Jessica Baldwin and Joshua Toenyes, the Co-Founders of Cardsetter, were seeking funding options in early 2020. Then the pandemic hit and their funding options seemed to run dry. As a result, the spent the last 5 months doubling down on growth, more than 5x-ing their customer base. MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConfE-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamphttps://basecamp.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

MicroConf Starter 2019 Abi is the founder of Pull Reminders. Pull Reminders helps teams knock out code reviews faster on GitHub and is used by over 1,000+ companies like Pivotal, Buffer, and Instacart. Come hear the story of how I went from losing my job to bootstrapping my business to profitability over the course of several months. Pull Reminders ➡️https://pullreminders.com MicroConf Connect ➡️http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe Twitter: @Stripe stripe.com Basecamp Twitter: @Basecamp basecamp.com

microconfonair.com This week, we are joined by Thomas Smale, Co-Founder of FE International and Owner of SaaSMag to talk about how traditional media can be leveraged by startup foudners. We also capitalize on Thomas' expertise in Mergers and Acquisitions in this episode, talking ahout buying and selling business, available funding strategies for acquiring businesses. Tickets for MicroConf Remote are now on sale, grab your tickets at http://microconfremote.com. We had some issues with the recording, so this is a truncated version of this weeks episode.

MicroConf 2016 Claire Lew has run an unconventional business – this is the story of how she created a profitable, bootstrapped software company that has over 10,000+ people using our product, on a their-time pricing model, with just a two-person team. How do we they it? She’ll share our unconventional approach, why they chose it, and the greatest lessons they've learned along the way. MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

microconfonair.com Meryl Johnston is the co-founder of Bean Ninja's, a productized service built around Xero accounting and bookkeeping software. During this conversation, Rob and Meryl discuss the pro's and con's of productized services, how to build a product that is centered around a service that you don't own, and more. We also announced MicroConf Remote, our first virtual conference taking place on August 26th, 2020. For tickets, head over to http://microconfremote.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConfE-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamphttps://basecamp.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

I didn't know how to build a website, write sales copy, design, structure my business, close a deal, develop software, or do SEO. But I shipped, doing things I didn't know you weren't supposed to do. A few thousand mistakes later, we grossed $4 million. Here are my most embarrassing moments. Check Out Jesse’s MicroConf Speakers Page for More Talks ➡️ https://microconf.com/speakers/jesse-mecham MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamp https://basecamp.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

http://microconfonair.com Today, we're joined by MicroConf Connect members Edwin Williams, Founder of ZenHammer, and Tony Chan, Founder of CloudForecast. If you want to be featured on our Founder Spotlight series, join MicroConf Connect @ www.microconfconnect.com. https://microconf.com MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConfE-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamphttps://basecamp.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

https://microconf.com MicroConf Growth 2017 Rob does a deep-dive into the decision-making framework he used during the acquisition of Drip. He reflects on his journey from 2005 through 2017, looking back at his changing motivation as he stair-stepped his way from tiny early businesses like a beach towel e-commerce site, to a seven-figure SaaS app. And he provides in-depth information about what a life-changing acquisition looks like from the inside. Check out Rob’s MicroConf speakers page for more talk’s ➡️ https://microconf.com/speakers/rob-walling

http://microconfonair.com During this conversation with Rand Fishkin, the CEO and Co-Founder of SparkToro, we are chatting about high quality web marketing opportunities and how to make the most out of those outlets. Rand mentions a few resources: Communities for Marketers:Coywolf CommunityData Driven U Check out Rand's Blog Post, "119 Examples of 10X Content (by Rand Fishkin) | SparkToro" MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamphttps://basecamp.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

https://microconf.com MicroConf 2013 Or: how to embed marketing development in your business as a repeatable practice. Why it isn’t easy, how you can get started and the single most important thing you can do to improve your growth. Put your hand up if you are convinced of the importance of any of the following for your business: SEO/Adwords A/B testing Conversion optimisation Funnel analytics Onboarding/first-run experience Lifecycle emails/drip marketing Now. Keep your hands up if you think you’ve totally got these sorted. No room for improvement. In which case you won’t need to watch Patrick’s talk, but might still want to consider it: he finishes with a moving personal testimony to the importance of discussing mental health issues in the developer community. If you work in software the chances are good that you will know someone who will benefit from this discussion. Check out Patio11's MicroConf speakers page for more talk’s ➡️ https://microconf.com/speakers/patric...

We're welcoming co-founder of Snappa, Christopher Gimmer, to talk about SEO, content development, YouTube, and how each of those pieces, done correctly, can create a flywheel for your startup. Check out more talks from Christopher ➡️ https://microconf.com/speakers/christopher-gimmer MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConfE-mail ➡️ [email protected] MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripehttps://stripe.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Basecamphttps://basecamp.comTwitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Basecamp

https://microconf.com MicroConf 2014 Playing the Long Game: Making Entrepreneurship a Sustainable Life - Dr. Sherry Walling

On this week's episode of MicroConf On Air, we covered a few questions that have come in over the last few months that we haven't been able to address during the livestream. Thanks to our 2020 Headline Sponsors, Stripe and Basecamp. If you want to join the conversation, you can tune in live on Wednesday @ 1:00 PM ET at microconfonair.com

https://microconf.com MicroConf 2013 Starting a business is hard enough. The last thing you need to do is set up a foundation that works against you. A better approach is to take stock of your natural advantages, disadvantages, goals and needs, and "back in" to what that has to mean about your business model, pricing, market, product, approach, advertising, etc... Check Out Jason’s MicroConf Speakers Page for More Talks ➡️ https://microconf.com/speakers/jason-...