Tweets

RT @levarburton: When a sports team wins or looses a championship and people gather in large numbers and light shit in fire those actions a…

RT @ericabuddington: This #thread is for those of you struggling to comprehend that the recent murders are just a fraction of racial violen…

RT @BerniceKing: There are still two Americas.

[from my interview with @MSNBC]

Black lives matter.

Racism is real. It affects people in the bootstrapping community. It affects our peers, customers, and partners. It affects our friends and co-workers.

We all need to take action to end racism.

https://justinjackson.ca/black-lives-matter

RT @erondu: But what's clear to me is that ACTION counts, no matter what form it takes. If you want to amplify, amplify. If you want to pro…

@RachRodgersEsq This video hit me hard.

I'm Canadian and, in the past, I naively thought that racial issues were "not my problem." This was incredibly ignorant (I'm embarrassed that I thought that way).

I've donated, and I've tweeted, but you helped me realize I need to put my life on the line

@kwuchu 🤬

“Being an ally means getting uncomfortable. It means risking your status and your reputation. It’s not enough to make an Instagram post and donate. You have to do more. Put your lives on the line for black people.”

Powerful video from @RachRodgersEsq:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CA1Ez5qHL6o/

@kwuchu Sending you lots of ❤️.

We all need to be using our voices right now.

RT @chrislema: I published a personal note today on my blog about how tired I am right now. Feel free to read it. Or not.
https://t.co/Qnpd…

“You always told me that ‘it's going to take time.’

It's taken my father's time, my mother's time, my uncle's time, my brothers' and my sisters' time, my nieces and my nephew's time.

How much time do you want for your progress?"

–James Baldwin

@kwuchu Shit!

Sending you lots of ❤️ tonight.

@chermusings A great cause. Donated. ❤️

RT @OfficialMLK3: While I don’t condone violence, this has ignited a flame that has been brewing for generation. What we need is to heal th…

This is the uncomfortable truth we need to accept (and act on).

"Nobody's free until everybody's free." – Fannie Lou Hamer

(As true in Canada, as it is in the USA. Especially when it comes to First Nations people.) https://twitter.com/BerniceKing/status/1266730015196090368

RT @polotek: I see a lot of people struggling with this. Here's the shortest version I can manage.

When discussing what the problems are a…

@joshpitzalis @ajlkn Yup!

RT @mijustin: @ajlkn This is what makes finding a business idea difficult!

There needs to be alignment between:

1. What the market wants…

@cfoandrew @mrbrettkelly Nope. “Entrepreneurship” became a fad more recently.

@cfoandrew @mrbrettkelly Haha. You clearly didn’t grow up in the 80s, when those shows didn’t exist. 😉

@ajlkn This is what makes finding a business idea difficult!

There needs to be alignment between:

1. What the market wants
2. What you can provide
3. What you’re passionate about

@nbashaw @kaz Do we have any numbers for Medium?

I thought they were still burning cash.

Big day. 😍

Also, I don’t think Main Street businesses are failing because they’re “bad at business.”

Most fragility in business has more to do with the market you’re in (and the factors that influence that market) than individual adeptness.

Skill matters, but the market matters more.

@mrbrettkelly @cfoandrew I think Brett wins this round. 😉

People don’t know what’s possible, until they see it. Even folks who caught the business bug early (👋) often knew someone who was entrepreneurial.

Also, related: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1265131545318154240

@JackEllis @usefathom They're following the YouTube playbook exactly.

In the early days, when YouTube wasn't the only game in town, they spend hundreds of millions of dollars attracting creators to their platform.

Once they had all the of the eyeballs they could dictate all of the terms to creators

@levelsio @_rchase_ @bvujanov @hostifi_net @Ersafcr7 @RomegaSoftware I dig that trend.

Our two teenagers have been so much healthier since quarantine because they can sleep in every day.

@usefathom When one multi-national controls most of the distribution in a space, creators always lose.

Look at how FB used their leverage against news publishers.

Look at how record companies and Spotify screw artists.

Look at how Amazon is lowering affiliate rates and copying vendors.

@Martin_Carvalho 3-4 hours of actual focus a day seems like plenty to me.

@aidannandrews @TessaViolet Nice! 🙌

@calebporzio @DCoulbourne this made me laugh so much.

@ianlandsman @honeybadgerapp https://twitter.com/heyjoshwood/status/1266201969816788992?s=21 https://twitter.com/heyjoshwood_/status/1266201969816788992

@jeff_archibald What a beauty!!!

Here’s another profitable SaaS (@honeybadgerapp) where the founders work 30 hours/week. Company policy!!!

https://twitter.com/heyjoshwood/status/1266201659018932226?s=21 https://twitter.com/heyjoshwood_/status/1266201659018932226

@_rchase_ @hostifi_net @Ersafcr7 @RomegaSoftware This! 💯

@VicVijayakumar 🙌

@Jason @Airbnb I run a bootstrapped SaaS, with lots of margin, and work way less than 100 hours a week.

https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1266196052052332546?s=21 https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1266196052052332546

“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.”

https://justinjackson.ca/margin

@AdamVancity 🙌

Also: I’m earning way more (as a bootstrapped founder) than I ever did as an employee at a VC-backed startup.

Bootstrapping generally has way more (realistically attainable) upside than playing the unicorn lottery.

🙋‍♂️ Hands up if you’re building a respectable small business, and working way less than 100 hours / week. https://twitter.com/Jason/status/1266157508617367552

@adamwathan @JacobBennett @taylorotwell @RicFlairNatrBoy Omg. “Lar-A-vel is the greatest... PHP FRAMEWORK OF ALL TIME.”

@heyjoshwood @ericlbarnes @ianlandsman I know a handful of other founders who started with 25 hours a week, and admit (in private) that they still don’t work much more than that.

100 hours/week is definitely not necessary.

It seems that 40 hour weeks should be plenty for most founders (especially once they’re est.)

@ianlandsman Hmmm. Are you really working 100 hours a week?

With Transistor I’ve rarely worked over 40. (And most weeks it’s a lot less)

Fascinating urban predictions from @BillFultonVta.

"Will the ability to work remotely encourage people to sprawl even farther from the city? Will it encourage them to move to smaller cities and rural locations around the country?"

https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/05/27/transportation-Houston-remote-work-commute-traffic-suburbs-coronavirus

@msitver @awilkinson 💯

@TheGabeHorvat @nbashaw 🥰 thanks

@alphacolin u look great 👍

@TheGabeHorvat @nbashaw Nice! 🙌

@paidinsights Lol

@taylorotwell happy birthday! 🙌

🎯 https://t.co/69BopkkXZz

@jayclouse 🙌 that’s the name of the game!

@lachlanjc Happy birthday!

Interesting example of “spotting a good wave because you’re already paddling your board in the water:”

This guy used to work in a real estate brokerage, so he observed an opportunity first-hand.

https://www.reddit.com/r/EntrepreneurRideAlong/comments/gr09ww/from_0_to_32301043_in_14_months_with_a_simple/

@_rchase_ Love it. 👍

@yongfook Nice work! 🙌

@Jonflarson Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this a bunch.

@MrSimonBennett Nice! 🙌

RT @mijustin: All this to say: most success is layers deep.

It’s not “well, I started a blog in 2008 and everything just took off;” it’s e…

Related:
https://twitter.com/jamesclear/status/1264984310194622464?s=21 https://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1264984310194622464

@tillkruss @arvidkahl Yup.

@LaceyKesler @TransistorFM @visualdevfm @rileyrichter @mattvaru Sorry, just getting to my twitter messages now.

We had some downtime today (we’re still investigating the cause).

It won’t affect your subscribers (their podcast apps will have downloaded the audio once we were back up).

@ChrisLaBossiere What a beauty!

@yongfook My story includes numerous footnotes that ended up being significant:

- Having two teachers for parents
- Getting a VIC-20 in 1983
- My dad hiring me to do computer work at the school when I was 10
- Being homeschooled in grade 8, getting to write a ton and explore online
- etc

@joeworkman 🙌

@danialranjha I think so, but there are characteristics of the evangelical culture that made it particularly potent for producing kids that ended up doing well in the entertainment and technology sectors.

(And I say that as an atheist now)

All this to say: most success is layers deep.

It’s not “well, I started a blog in 2008 and everything just took off;” it’s everything that lead up to that moment.

Many of us launched computer-related businesses when we were young. (IT support, web design, coding)

How were we able to do that?

We’d spent most of childhoods acquiring those skills (likely 10+ years of practice)!

Kids who didn’t grow up with PCs would have had a harder time.

Incidentally, many kids with evangelical backgrounds end up finding entrepreneurial success.

Why? We were given lots of chances to “do stuff.”

“Can I organize an event?” Sure!
“Can I speak on stage?” Sure!
“Can I build the website?” Sure!
“Can I design the bulletin?” Sure!

A “success” is everything working together, in tandem.

It’s the confluence of all your experiences and traits, coming together at the right time.

In this sense, “doing stuff” consistently, over time, makes it more likely that you’ll achieve some success.

Most of the successful indie businesses you see are the accumulation of 10+ years of experience, resources, connections, skills, and effort.

@ianlandsman @atpfm Got it. So that’s not for a single spot (that’s a ~$73 CPM).

It’s doubtful Rogan was getting CPMs that high (or he would be making $13,932,700 per episode).

(Again, maybe my math is wrong. Also possible: each episode of Rogan doesn’t really get 190,000,000 downloads)

@ianlandsman What’s your source on that?

My math might be wrong, but that would give @atpfm a CPM of over $220+.

$18-$35 per CPM is more standard.

@ianlandsman This is just a licensing deal; so he still pays all the production costs I believe.

@ianlandsman He said this deal made him “weirdly richer.”

I guess it all depends on how many years this deal is for, and how much he was really earning before.

My hunch is that Spotify did pay $100 - 200 million for a multi-year license; the previous guesses about Joe’s annual podcast income were too high.

More likely: he was earning $10 million / year.

In that context, the Spotify deal makes sense.

https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/comments/6r6gnt/michael_bisping_on_joe_rogans_earnings_from/

But in the context of this multi-year Spotify deal (reportedly $100 million), those previous revenue estimates for Rogan seem too high.

If he was already making $30 - 100 million a year, why would he sign a 2+ year deal for $100 million?

Increasingly, I’m skeptical of folks guessing what other people’s incomes are.

Take for example, Joe Rogan.

I’ve seen some folks estimate that he was making as much as $50 - $100 million / year from his podcast.

Forbes pins it ar $30 million.

@_architexture_ What’s happening?

@daavisn Thanks!

@shavin47 @jasonfried I’m saying there needs to be alignment between all three.

Without market demand, the triangle collapses.

“What you can provide” + “What you want” (without market demand) can be a good hobby, but not a business.

@szymonkopec Ooh. I dig that. 👍

@jasonfried There has to be alignment between:

1. What the market wants
2. What you can provide
3. What you want

I think it’s a lot harder when you start with 2 & 3, and then go fishing for folks that might want what you have for sale.

There are many ideas for which there is no market.

@tillkruss @arvidkahl No dividends yet.

@KG7ftw Transistor is a C-Corp. We haven’t paid dividends yet.

We’re both paid as full-time workers.

@patrickc @stripe We (at @TransistorFM) incorporated with Atlas in 2017.

Since then:
- Jan 2018: launched beta
- Aug 2018: official launch
- Apr 2019: I went full-time
- Aug 2019: @jonbuda went full-time

Today we’re still bootstrapped, and have more than replaced our old tech salaries! 🙌

RT @mijustin: Business ideas are observations paired with hunches.

Observation: "This is what people are doing. This is what people want.…

@ryanchenkie It’s seriously surprising to me!

Net worth stats are puzzling:

Thiel: $2.5 billion
Musk: $36.7 billion

I would have thought those two would be more even!

Another one:

Collison (Stripe): $3.2 billion
Michael Jordan: $2.1 billion

In my head, Jordan should be higher?

(Phil Knight, Nike, is $37.7 billion)

@awilkinson I’ve been exploring a bunch of ideas for retailers here:

RT @MargReffell: @mijustin Moving a client to Transistor as we speak!

@MargReffell OH YEAAAAAAH!!!!! 🙌

@IanMisner 👍

@kelake Sweet! What’s your podcast?

@themkmaker Sweet!

@tautau_co Nice! How’d it go?

@Vattenar @tailwindcss Nice!

@MBAkinlabi Nice.

@nadershamma I’ve been looking at cabins too! 😜