Tweets

@aarondfrancis @PlanetScale NIIIIIICE. Love this – creative solution! Can't wait to see you build this out!

Also, I can't wait to see all the KITCHEN content you're going to be creating.

"Flavors with Francis: Aaron's Cooking Show"

@leenyburger I LOVE THIS.

So often, as a marketer, I ask the devs on the team to pull data like this:

"Can we pull all the new podcasts on the system and let me know where they migrated from?"

Being able to query a database with natural language would be SWEET.

@dijonkitchen If you're bootstrapping, investing 10 years on a single idea is likely too long.

(The biggest risks in bootstrapping are burning out or going broke)

@gimenete 💯

@itsdunker Bad ideas might win in terms of distribution, but they lose in terms of outcomes.

Carbonated soft drinks have incredible distribution but have terrible health outcomes.

@youngprotean YES!

This is often true in podcasting: you might "only" have 150 listeners, but if they're the right people, that's pretty valuable!

Some "bad ideas" are just good ideas distilled into short soundbites without context and improperly positioned as a general rule.

@julian_rubisch The rubric seems to apply to all types of ideas: cultural, philosophical, ethical, business, relational, and political.

Bad ideas are lazy, lack context, and lack nuance. They crumble when any sort of rigorous analysis is applied.

Ultimately, bad ideas lead to bad outcomes.

Good ideas are often:

- nuanced, require critical thinking
- not sexy/attractive/desirable
- not communicated in a format that can "go viral" (podcasts, long-form articles, books, research papers)

Bad ideas often sound good, are bite-sized, and appeal to the worst parts of our…

@__pradyumna Good ideas are often:

- nuanced, require critical thinking
- not sexy/attractive/desirable
- not communicated in a format that can "go viral" (podcasts, long-form articles, books, research papers)

Bad ideas often sound good, are bite-sized, and appeal to the worst parts of our…

Sad reality:

Some of the best ideas get very little distribution.

And, often, bad ideas get a lot of traction.

The most important factor is your business has to have a good economic engine.

Having a business that is your “passion” isn’t enough: there has to be a baseline of customer demand, steady traffic, and good margins.

Your business’ fundamentals matter!

There are many trappings of success that don’t give you a better life (awards, accolades, large team, crazy growth, full calendar, lots of business travel, press mentions).

So many founders are engulfed in activities that make them miserable.

That’s not to say there’s no sacrifice in entrepreneurship!

In the early days, there’s lot of sacrifice, hard work, and grind.

But eventually (2-3 years if you’re bootstrapping), you should be able to say: “this venture has made my life better.”

We’ve built this into our company values. When we make decisions, we ask: “will this decision make our lives better?”

What’s the point of starting a company if it makes your life worse?

When I started my business, my number #1 motivation was to create a better life for myself, my family, and my team.

A good business gives you a better life.

After 2-3 years, it should pay you well, and give you time/energy for sleep, exercise, nutrition, family, friends, fun.

The Tandy 1000 was my family’s second PC (after our Vic-20).

@asmartbear Is this about changing the environment, or what you’re working on?

@dvassallo “Blue ocean strategy, by contrast, is about doing business where there is no competitor. It is about creating new land, not dividing up existing land.”

“Blue oceans denote all the industries not in existence today—the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue…

@jrfarr @MattPaulsonSD: did you build that dashboard that tracks advertising spend / revenue yourself, or use something off-the-shelf?

@ankurnagpal There are folks like @mjwhansen who have been sounding the alarm on this for a long time!

She created https://ssballiance.org/, and headed up a petition / letter campaign to congress.

"From experience, I can tell you Blue Oceans are HARD to fish in.”

💯 Bootstrapping in an established category, where people are already actively searching for a solution, is a much better path for most founders. https://twitter.com/OrionSeven/status/1744499064232874263

@OrionSeven "From experience, I can tell you Blue Oceans are HARD to fish in.”

💯 Bootstrapping in an established category, where people are already actively searching for a solution, is a much better path for most founders.

@johnrudolphdrex 🎯

@raffaeltfs Yup! A huge difference.

@SteveSaretsky Gotta pay for clean drinking water and sewage somehow!

(Sounds like they’ve deferred infrastructure maintenance and investment for too long)

@iChris Yup

@MattPaulsonSD 🤯

Was 5 million specifically chosen as a goal for the paid acquisition stuff?

@jmckinven @whitstablecraft Sweet setup!

@theKevinShen I highly recommend it! You were so helpful during our process.

Another big highlight from 2023 was the Youtube / podcast studio my wife built for me (with help from @theKevinShen).

She bought all the lights, the camera, and the lenses and sourced dozens of retro radios (tube and transistor!) for the backdrop.

Love how it turned out!

I’m digging what @CasJam is doing on his YouTube channel.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn full stack development (especially if you’re a founder) you should check out this video:

https://youtu.be/gUwkAkkJPW0?si=YH1_zZQi7oIq1kuR

@CasJam Listening now; love the “Full Stack Founder” theme!

@mxpx @thepalladium Wow! Incredible crowd. Well done! 👏

@mattragland Wowser! What’s driving that growth?

The real story is so much sadder than I imagined.

These guys were totally exploited.

There is a Milli Vanilli documentary!!

I’m going to watch it now.

This new tech show from @stephenrobles and @JasonAten is excellent.

Short, well-produced segments (available as chapters in your podcast player!).

https://primarytech.fm/

@ow Beautiful!

How long would it take me to get to Victoria if I moved to Sooke?

@tnorthcutt 👍

I’ve really been enjoyed just being present, centered, in mundane moments. Focusing on the moment, savoring my breathing.

@kevinleeme Yes!! That’s been really meaningful for the kids and me.

@_stefanzweifel Thank you Stefan!

@whereisjefe Yes!!!

@MattPaulsonSD How can I get you to become a Transistor affiliate? 👀

@inxilpro @opry @jackboxgames Yes!

@wesbos Whoa!!! Congrats!!! 🎉

(Welcome to the 4 kid club!)

This chat with @MattPaulsonSD (hosted by @jrfarr and @jmckinven) is a must-listen.

https://pca.st/episode/9e5dbf12-6383-4b2a-9c6c-f42665fe95e0

@ConvertKit Wow. I just read my year in review from 2013.

Wild to see how much things have changed in 10 years.

https://justinjackson.ca/2013-revenue-stats/

@MattGiovanisci MATT!

So nice to hear from you again.

It’s been too long.

Still sad we didn’t get to hang out while I was in Denver!

THIS YEAR LET’S ALL GO TO DISNEY.

@james_hsu Thanks James!

@tdinh_me Tony! You’ve been a huge inspiration to me too.

One of the projects I gave my daughter this year was to review a bunch of newsletters, and yours was one of her favorites! ❤️

2023 was a great year.

If you want to know what I’m doing in 2024, please subscribe to my list on @ConvertKit.

👉 https://justinjackson.ca/newsletter/

I’d like to grow it back to 10K subscribers!

There are four big motivations for hiring my kids:

1. Spend more time with them.

2. Teach them what I know about tech and business.

3. Run more experiments.

4. Get more done: running a business takes a lot of work. All four of my kids are old enough to help me with tasks.

Lots of folks were excited about my Family Business™ experiment.

I have my own corporation.

This past summer we hired our 4 kids (aged 14-21).

They do:

- Creative work for me: video editing, animation, copyediting.
- Their own creative projects.
- Admin: bookkeeping,…

In 2023, @freekmurze (the BOSS!) & @driesvints invited me to speak at @FullStackEU, so my wife and I decided to go together.

In addition to the conference, we explored Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Berlin and met some amazing people.

One of the biggest highlights of my year!

@CasJam Yessssss

@stephenrobles @TransistorFM @PodcastMovement @joshuaanderton @iamjeremyenns @ryangraymd @tedhosmann @heybryanhey Yup! I’m already registered.

Are you going to Evolutions as well?

@TransistorFM I also attended @PodcastMovement this year (Josh and Jon came too!)

It was awesome to interact with @TransistorFM customers, partners, and other podcasting friends.

Every year I meet a bunch of cool people.

@fortelabs I’ve been publishing an annual review since 2013.

I especially like identifying the best parts (“what made this year great?”) and carrying those into the new year. https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1743306481762791934

@kaleighf I’m looking forward to reading it!

I just finished publishing mine: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1743306481762791934

@arvidkahl Great episode (I’m listening now)!

In my experience number two on your list is huge, especially for anybody with an audience.

Lots of false positives when you have a group of people that want to see you succeed or are just fans of yours.

This has happened to me and also to…

@joel_stainer Thanks Joel!

@jcvangent @jonbuda @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles @joshuaanderton We’ve definitely done a bit of that.

Most of the interesting markets / categories / products would require a considerable amount of effort.

@pascallaliberte Thanks! Yeah, I’m excited about that.

@MaxLenormand Thanks!

At the @TransistorFM retreat, we explored the question, "Why do we build new features?" Our reasons:

▪ improve the experience of existing customers,
▪ attract new customers or new revenue,
▪ improve our experience as team members,
▪ be fun/interesting for us to work on.

@asmartbear More and more bootstrappers are raising a small round + looking for partners who can advise them on growth.

I wrote about this back in 2018:

https://justinjackson.ca/cost/

@warsh33p Haha. Yes!!!

Btw - our team retreat in Nashville was awesome.

Highlights:

▪Going to @opry
▪Incredible meals together
▪Cruising down Broadway
▪Playing card games (Cheat) and @jackboxgames
▪Hiring a photographer to take photos of the team

@jcvangent @jonbuda @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles @joshuaanderton The thing is, we want to keep things simple.

Simplicity in the business is one reason we’ve been able to achieve a good lifestyle while still improving the core product.

Before our team retreat, @jonbuda and I created a document called “How we work at @TransistorFM,” which was immensely clarifying (for both of us and hopefully the team).

It describes what we value, how decisions are made, our workflow, and our vision for the future.

What’s cool is @TransistorFM now has 3 little teams, each with 2 people:

▪Customer success: @HelenRyles + Michael

▪Marketing: myself + @joshuaanderton

▪Engineering: @jonbuda + @jsonperl

And, we all bring our collective insights into making the product better.

This past year we also hired Michael Green to help with customer support.

Customer service is hugely important to me; I think it's one of the most important features of SaaS.

I was answering live chats from 10am-11pm most days.

Michael has completely taken over. So freeing!

Together, @joshuaanderton and I treat the @TransistorFM marketing site like a product, and regularly launch new features by building on top of the @statamic CMS.

We launched so much good stuff this year! https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1634349732951621636

Last year, I wrote that I was feeling lonely over on the marketing side of @TransistorFM.

I longed to have the energy and collaboration that @jsonperl & @jonbuda had on the engineering side.

So this past year, we hired @joshuaanderton! It’s been 💯.

I'm thankful for everything we’ve built; I don't take it for granted.

But it feels like we don't have a big overarching goal like we did in the beginning (profitability).

Maybe that's OK? We built something that works; maybe it's enough to ensure that it continues to work.

@ivanbrezakbrkan 14, 16, 18, 21

@ivanbrezakbrkan Thanks! Yes, I'm really excited about it too,

I'm hoping it helps them expand their potential, get curious, develop new skills, try new things...

Doing meaningful work is one way that @TransistorFM has made our lives better.

But it’s given us so much more.

@gilbert articulated similar feelings to me when describing what his work at @AcquiredFM has brought him:

“The life that I enjoy is because of what we’ve built.”

@petecodes Thanks! It’s been really fun. Feels like a purposeful way to help them explore their potential.

@louisnicholls_ A little late, but here’s mine: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1743306481762791934

@cassidoo Just finished writing mine here: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1743306481762791934

@jcvangent @jonbuda @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles @joshuaanderton More so in terms of finding new aspirations that can motivate us and the team. 👍

@jonbuda @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles @joshuaanderton Over the past year, I've started thinking our work along two dimensions:

▪The product exists to make our customers’ lives better.

▪The company exists to make our team members' lives better.

These are meaningful for me, and have helped me explore new goals.

@jonbuda @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles @joshuaanderton Since 2021, I think @jonbuda and I have been searching for new goals to motivate us.

Some people get motivated by growth, the thought of being acquired, or hiring hundreds of people.

But that's not really us.

@jonbuda @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles @joshuaanderton For @jonbuda and me, our initial goal was to be able to quit our other jobs and go full-time on Transistor.

We achieved that in 2019:

@jonbuda @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles @joshuaanderton On the other hand, six years is also a weird milestone for a founder.

As an entrepreneur, so much of your journey is dedicated to building something that works.

What happens once you achieve that goal?

@jonbuda and I have been interrogating that together for the 2-3 years.

@asmartbear Thanks Jason! ☺️

@happydesign_ You’re welcome!

Yes: the business should serve us and our life goals and values.

@onlyfootnotes Yes. These always feel like a lot of work, but I’m always glad to have done them.

Business update: @jonbuda and I have now been running @TransistorFM for 6 years!

(That's wild because, in my head, it only feels like 3).

I love our team. I love serving podcasters. I love our product. This is the best job I've ever had.

I feel incredibly grateful.

@DanielZarick Thanks Daniel! It’s definitely a full year when I look back on it!

@jonfriesen Yes! Conferences last year and this year have had a hugely positive impact on my life.

An important part of my journey was realizing that business is a means to an end.

Running a business shouldn't make us miserable.

Instead, it should serve the purpose of enhancing our lives.

A healthy business has healthy margins and should enable you to have a better life.

Every year, I ask myself: "What am I optimizing my life for?"

I'm optimizing for a good life.

For me, this means maximizing for freedom, simplicity, creativity, fun, learning, enjoyment, and self-actualization.

It’s pursuing meaningful activities with people that I love.

@typeoneerror @NotionHQ Just finished my year in review here:

https://justinjackson.ca/2023-review/

@aarondfrancis Finally finished my year in review! https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1743306481762791934

@KarlLHughes @TheCraigHewitt The best person in the business is @iamjeremyenns.

Here is my 2023 year in review:

https://justinjackson.ca/2023-review/

I’ve been doing these for 10 years now! 🤯

Each year I describe my bootstrapping journey (both the breakthroughs and the struggles).

@kimelnick This is one of the best marketing sites I’ve seen today! Well done. 👍