Tweets

@thecreativepenn @RodgersVoice Descript now has a similar feature:

https://youtu.be/MX-AjM1j30Y

@devberkan @DescriptApp I just recorded a screencast showing my process:

https://youtu.be/MX-AjM1j30Y

@gilesvangruisen @mattwensing That's not what I've heard. 😬

Why are folks like @dvassallo leaving?

https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1412798604985655310

@gilesvangruisen @mattwensing You're misunderstanding how I use the word "margin."

"Good businesses have margin. Profit margin? Yes.

But also margin for your time, your emotional and physical health, your relationships, your sanity, and your integrity. You're a human, and humans need breathing room."

@mattwensing When I say "calm" I'm not talking about the building phase, I'm talking about the goal.

Our goal was to build a small, calm, profitable company.

It took me multiple tries, and years of effort, before I landed on Transistor.

Building Transistor was hard for 2 years, then, bliss

@gilesvangruisen @mattwensing I never said it was "more likely."

I said, I'd like to see "more of it."

@mattwensing I agree with that part.

"The journey is difficult, but for those that are suited to it, it's the best journey to take."

(Especially when compared to a lifetime of misery at FAANG)

https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1418287628118478848

@mattwensing From my POV, "FB millionaires" don't have as good of a life as "bootstrapped millionaires."

Not saying it's for everyone, but there's something about building a small, calm, profitable company that gives you a different kind of margin:

https://justinjackson.ca/margin

@patrickbjohnson Not me. I wouldn’t trade places.

(Even if you offered me a billion dollars 😜)

Honestly, billionaires are boring.

"Ivy League-educated kid with rich parents builds a trillion-dollar company"

isn't nearly as interesting as

"Kid grows up in small-town, learns how to code, finds a wave of demand, builds a $1 million company, and changes their family's life"

@dcrouchca @mattmedeiros @TransistorFM @jonbuda I agree!

Anything that gives people more freedom, more calm, and a better life; I'm here for it. 👍

The truth is, being the founder a small, profitable startup will give you a way better quality of life than any billionaire.

More calm.
More privacy.
More freedom.
More space to live.
Less complexity.
Less drama.
Less evil. 😉

https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/983809377797791750

@mattmedeiros You're correct, in a sense.

But more and more people are starting to "idolize" the freedom and quality of life you get from running a small, profitable indie company.

Getting to my first $100k/year was life-changing for me.

Building @TransistorFM with @jonbuda, even more so.

Adding $50 billion to a billionaire's net worth = tired

Seeing 500,000 indies earn $100k = wired

https://twitter.com/DanielZarick/status/1425838010973626372

@jeff_goldenberg what do u mean

i live in canada

socialist paradise

😜

Instead of Bezos or Zuck earning another billion this year, I'd way rather see 10,000 indies earning $100k/year.

In a world that idolizes billionaires, I'm cheering for indie creators who are building small, profitable, calm companies.

Instead of minting another billionaire, I'd way rather see 1,000 indies become millionaires.

@leenyburger It took me a while to see it. It's especially noticeable on the web now for me.

@retromauro [CHIRPBIRDICON]

@tibo_maker Wrong tweet mentioned here?

RT @christianbowens: The way we build startups is changing.

With that change comes the rise of a new breed of company: bootstrapped, cash…

@GahrLaing @startupvernon @CityofVernon ➕1️⃣

@petecodes I've found, with time and practice, podcasting becomes much easier than writing. 👍

(And less time-intensive)

Smoke on the water,
and fire in the sky

#vernonbc

@Stphn_Lacey I'm here for it! 👏👏👏

Getting quite a few DMs from SaaS founders who are saying that growth really slowed in July (and August is looking worse).

One theory:

The "COVID bump" 📈 in revenue we got in 2020 was due to the shutdown... and the lull 📉 we're experiencing now is due to everything opening up https://twitter.com/earthlingworks/status/1414712219015684102

@yongfook btw - if i was your BootstrapBoss™️ I would pay you $2M salary 😘

@iChris @Netlify @cassidoo @shortdiv @jlengstorf @philhawksworth @TransistorFM I'm a big fan.

If you listen on @OvercastFM (like I do), you can subscribe here:

https://overcast.fm/itunes1530314876/remotely-interesting

Just added @Netlify's excellent podcast (hosted by @cassidoo, @shortdiv, @jlengstorf, @philhawksworth, and more!) to @TransistorFM's list of "Best podcasts for software developers." 🏆👩‍💻

https://transistor.fm/dev-podcasts/

@olliehorntweets @freefringefest heard about this on the @jbrcpod. came here to see it in person. 😍

The trend (in my DMs) is that many bootstrapped founders (solo and dual) take about 50% of ARR as founder compensation.

These are high-margin businesses where "people/salaries" are generally the highest costs.

https://twitter.com/LasseRafn/status/1425217487491194891

@LasseRafn @danmartell The trend (in my DMs) is that many bootstrapped founders (solo and dual) take about 50% of ARR as founder compensation.

These are high-margin businesses where "people/salaries" are generally the highest costs.

@travischmeisser @danmartell 💯

🎯 Avoid "starved founder mentality, which many times goes in tandem with the overkill hustle culture."

https://twitter.com/ChristineCarril/status/1425199139260829696

@bentoalson Sending you lots of ❤️ today.

@TylerMKing I agree that there's an upper-bounds where having more money doesn't produce more happiness, but the threshold that's often used is way lower than reality.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bm4b/money-actually-can-buy-happiness-study-says

@Lem01 @danmartell I'm not convinced that a significant % of founders reaching a $100M valuation have a significantly better life than bootstrapped founders with $1M ARR, who are paying themselves a really good salary + have tons of freedom.

@AndyBeard @danmartell The bootstrapped founders in my DMs pay themselves a significant % of their revenue (ARR).

High-margin businesses.

@TylerMKing Having more money, in of itself, isn't enough to give you a better life, but for me personally, having more money + more personal freedom has significantly improved my quality of life (and the my family's quality of life).

https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1360759681988239360

@Lem01 @danmartell I'm just not convinced that "investing in growth" reliably produces the "big buck" returns that founders expect.

As a founder, you're taking on years of risk (and foregoing employment salary + opportunities + growth).

You're making a "bet" that your startup will give you a better life than would have had as an employee.

Don't push off those returns too long. 😅

https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1334278732450680834

@dohertyjf Yes! The right *kinds* of bets, at the right time, at the right amplitude.

@dohertyjf Again, the opposite risk is also true:

You could invest in growth, hiring, features... and your company could end up being worth less.

I could be wrong (and maybe @mattwensing has a model that accounts for this?) but it's very difficult to know for sure that "investing money back into the business" is better than not investing it (and taking it as founder comp).

Too many variables; you can't A/B test reality 🔀

@FAfied32 @danmartell Very true.

@ThomasSmale Only worthwhile if your personal comp (or the total valuation of your business) actually goes up because of those things. (Very difficult to test)

Founders invest a lot in things they *think* will improve the business (and their lives) but that's not always the case.

@mynameis_davis @danmartell Yeah, total comp is a more meaningful figure for sure.

(The salaries being DM'd to me are still higher than Dan's numbers, with dividends being extra)

Based on my experience (and the folks DMing me) $100k founder salary at $1M, and $150k at $2M is *very* low for bootstrapped founders who are running profitable, lean SaaS companies.

Why be a founder if your success doesn't translate into a better life?

https://twitter.com/pjrvs/status/1425132249712939008

@mjwhansen Sending lots of ❤️ your way!

Lots of talk about "reinvesting money as opposed to taking more salary."

I'm not convinced that this is always a good move.

Often "reinvest the money" means "spending that doesn't meaningfully improve the business, or make the founder's life better."

https://twitter.com/ThomasSmale/status/1425133438357676033

@AndrewAskins @danmartell Nice! Curious: how many FT staff do you have?

@derrickreimer @danmartell Yup, my thoughts exactly.

@falicon Interesting, these published numbers are way below what I’ve seen.

I saw these salary numbers in @danmartell’s newsletter.

I’m curious what founders over $1M ARR think about these salary suggestions.

(Also curious to see how answers differ between funded startups, and bootstrapped)

DM me if you don’t want your answer public. 🤫

@richeklein What’s an example of a bad product taking off?

🎯 Perfectly said.

The best form of marketing is having a product that people already want to buy.

https://twitter.com/AaronOrendorff/status/1425103631917797376?s=20

@sambreed YES.

Did you get volume 2 as well?

@saastrash @WeAreLATech @TransistorFM 🕺🏼💃🎉

The problem with running a “marketing test” is many tests are flawed.

Either they’re setup wrong, they’re using flawed assumptions (sampling bias), or they’ll never reach statistical significance.

@CoachBrockArm Spotify is the only one I’m aware of.

However, they should refresh changes made in your RSS feed.

Apple podcasts often requires a manual refresh (you have to contact them directly now).

@JeremyHuffman_ @geolytica Except that, in practice, many marketing tests end up being wrong.

@shaisc My guess is there are multiple ways of looking at this:

Building in public is easier when things are going well.

A big part of building in public is storytelling.

Building in public can mean different things: for some, it's just sharing screenshots and WIP, for others: revenue

@dzohrob @HighFiveRPG really enjoyed this episode! https://overcast.fm/+mhLgCW8Mg

@aaronsaray @TransistorFM Yes!!! Awesome. 👏

@jamesvandyne Awesome! Congrats! Excited for more people to see the impact you’ll make!

For @meepsapp, @joshuaanderton and I doing #buildinpublic this way:

1. Folks pay for early-access on http://meeps.app
2. They get a member profile + invite to Discord
3. In Discord, we do customer dev live, in public.
4. In Discord, Josh and I discuss ideas publicly

@kwuchu @Naijaboy70 be right over

@derrickreimer If you're sharing your journey to a specific number, especially at the beginning stages, it's helpful.

People feel more connected to your story, start rooting for you, and celebrate your wins.

But, beyond a certain number, it's not that helpful.

https://justinjackson.ca/30k

@dr me too

Speaking of geographic differences...

What did I do to upset all the Nordic countries? 😅

(And Brazil?)

What's interesting is I sometimes save my "good tweets" for weekdays.

But I wonder if it even matters what day you publish?

My guess is "time of day" matters more (as most of my audience is in the USA.

In terms of impressions, it's more mixed.

(These sample sizes are way too small to really make conclusions though. For example, Saturday was big because @Casey retweeted me)

https://ilo.so/embed/xfsdg/?dates=90d

@dohertyjf 🤦‍♂️ WTF?

Interesting...

Based on the results so far, most of you are "most active" on Weekdays.

But looking at my charts from @dr's Ilo tool, my highest "engagements per tweet" occurs on weekends. 🤔

https://ilo.so/embed/23j53/?dates=90d

@Shpigford This is looking great! 🙌

When are you most active on Twitter?

Weekends, or Weekdays?

During the day, or in the evening?

@maxecc Nice! 🙌

What a relief!!! Finally getting some rain in #vernonbc 🙏

@TransistorFM Love it! 🙌

Thanks to @damcclean, I've added all my recent newsletter articles to my site.

(Including today's, which people seem to really like 👍)

https://justinjackson.ca/articles

Huge thank you to @damcclean for jumping on a call with me today and fixing all my git, @laravelforge, @statamic sync issues. 🙏

@dohertyjf @AndrewWarner @JamesClear +1

@allanbranch @stevenbristol Sending you, and his family, lots of ❤️ today.

Whelp. My whole city is on evacuation alert. #vernonbc

https://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/342189/Multiple-new-evacuation-alerts-and-orders-most-of-City-of-Vernon-on-alert

🎯 Exactly this.

People can’t change their mind, because there’s too much at stake:

their identity, their relational and families ties, their status in their communities and churches; the worldview they’ve built their lives on. https://twitter.com/SachaGreif/status/1423840138933637126

Getting pretty apocalyptic downtown #vernonbc.

#WhiteRockLakeFire #BCWS #BCWildfire @Kamscan

Smoke and fire on one side.
Clear skies on the other.

#WhiteRockLakeFire #BCWS #BCWildfire @Kamscan

@pittman021 @einarvollset @Shpigford You're misreading the study, and your assessment is opposite to what the *study's author* (Dr. Niklas Boers) stated in the CNN piece.

I think we should trust the "picture being painted" by the PhD who wrote the paper!

This fire near my home in #vernonbc is driving some insane weather patterns (and smoke clouds).

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfires-aug-5-1.6131701

#WhiteRockLakeFire #BCWS #BCWildfire @Kamscan

@AndrewAllsop 👋 king of awkward spaces here

@Shpigford Sensationalism is "the use of exciting or shocking stories or language at the *expense of accuracy*".

This headline isn't "sensational;" it's accurate. Scientists have been warning us for years that a slowing gulf stream has "dire consequences for life on earth."

@DCoulbourne @Shpigford 💯

@britaingreen @joshuaanderton @meepsapp @ProductHunt That’s @ProductHunt’s “Ship” product.

@itsjulianpaul Thanks!

We only need 7 more signups to hit our goal!

████████████░ 98%

https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/meeps

@HardwickNYC @ShellenbergerMD @BjornLomborg Your own government’s reports state otherwise.

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr870/pnw_gtr870.pdf

@HardwickNYC Those two are the minority in a crowd of scientists who agree the climate crisis is contributing greatly to increased fires:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200114074046.htm

@dan_copy I’m not convinced there’s a technological solution to that.

People will always ask for recommendations on Twitter 😄 https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1423445278598836224