I recently listened to three podcast episodes, all with bootstrapped founders over the age of 40: Paul Jarvis has retired from Fathom Analytics Matt Wensing steps down from Summit, takes job with Customer.io Brian Casel and Jordan Gal talk about building SaaS at this stage of life It's interesting to see how differently this stage of life is compared to our 20s and 30s. (I'm 44). An Evolving Definition of Success: "I've been at Summit for 5 years. My last company took 15 years, and I didn't...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Every day in Transistor's #marketing channel in Slack, we track our new trial signups: Like most SaaS companies, our growth relies on new people finding us every day. Whenever I see these numbers, I ask myself: "Where are these signups coming from?" There's this idea in marketing that we'll be able to find a magical channel that brings in thousands of customers. But, when I look at where these signups come from, there's never one dominant source. Here's what we saw in August: Search (40%):...
28 days ago • 1 min read
tl;dr – I've decided to delete all my Twitter posts, lock down my account, and leave the platform. And I'm going all-in on Bluesky, which (in the last month) has become 1,000x more fun than X. I've been on Twitter since 2008. Since then, I gained 40,000 followers, posted over 50,000(?!) times, and built countless relationships. Twitter was my favorite place on the internet. It felt like where everyone hung out (bootstrappers, creators, tech people, devs). It was our water cooler. BTW – this...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Remember that summer project that Ferdinand and I have been working on? Today's the day we officially launch it on Product Hunt. Please help us out! Your votes and comments are appreciated! 🙏 https://www.producthunt.com/posts/swagfan Here's the backstory: I met Ferdinand at a local Hack Night while he was getting his CompSci degree. I was impressed with his numerous solo projects (including a project where he cloned my voice). Once he graduated, I offered to hire him over the summer/fall and...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
I'm back from Guatemala. It was a great trip: beautiful country and lovely people. (I posted some photos here) ------------- So many tired brains 🧠 I was surprised by the number of responses I got to this draft:https://docs.google.com/document/d/15mrg8c3HGKEJyC9tgSwBVuIvWPYUr9Xw0fEkReRH0Fw/edit#heading=h.kgdbinp41iso One person responded: I’ve been struggling with the same thing. I never quite had the terms to define it so clearly, but that captures it perfectly.Until the last few years, I’ve...
2 months ago • 2 min read
I'm headed out on (another!) trip, this time for a wedding. Before I leave, I wanted to send you three things. ------------- Draft: I'm 44, and my brain is getting worse 🧠🔥 I'm working on this draft for a future newsletter/blog post. If you want to read it in its current form and give me feedback/comments, it's here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15mrg8c3HGKEJyC9tgSwBVuIvWPYUr9Xw0fEkReRH0Fw/edit#heading=h.kgdbinp41iso If you have thoughts, please comment on the Google Doc or reply to my...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Here's a story about how Laravel/Rails might fix the "pipeline problem," giving a new grad real-world SaaS experience and creating a useful tool I've always wanted. Here's what happened... The Pipeline Problem A while back, I tweeted about how Rails and Laravel have a "pipeline problem:" Young devs aren't learning Laravel/Rails in bootcamps or college They're learning JavaScript, React, and Next.js instead This creates a cycle: we want experienced devs but aren't cultivating new talent On the...
3 months ago • 2 min read
I'm back from my two-week trip to the US. I've been meaning to write you an update about my experiences in the podcast industry, hanging out with my co-founder in Chicago, and attending Laracon (the Laravel conference). I have lots of thoughts to share! Unfortunately, it will have to wait because I'm heading to San Francisco tomorrow to watch the Acquired podcast (Transistor customer!) do an arena show at Chase Center, where they'll be interviewing Mark Zuckerberg on stage. 😮 But... I've been...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Tomorrow, I'm headed to DC for Podcast Movement. Then, I'm flying to Chicago to spend time with my Transistor co-founder Jon Buda. Finally, I'll be attending Laracon in Dallas. If you will be at Podcast Movement or Laracon, please let me know, and let's try to meet up! Going beyond "B2B SaaS" Before I go, I wanted to share this blog post with you: https://justinjackson.ca/beyond-b2c-b2b The classic thinking in business is that you have to choose to serve either consumers (B2C) or businesses...
4 months ago • 1 min read