Tweets

@erwblo @nocodelife @tillkruss @taylorotwell Nope! Jon and I have been full-time on Transistor since 2019.

We have two full-time employees as well.

RT @OCallaghanDavid: This was a really insightful listen

@ianlandsman Yup. I mentioned that in the full piece:

https://justinjackson.ca/chatgpt-business

🎯 https://twitter.com/gc_psk/status/1639947085339574272

RT @JoelKlettke: Will all this innovation in ai…

@jmckinven @jackmcdade @statamic Just finished listening. Great episode. 👍

RT @arvidkahl: If you're looking for something to listen to, here's what I can offer this week:

I chatted with @mijustin about open standa…

@ianlandsman Dude, you're brushing off the guy who co-wrote the standard textbook on artificial intelligence with a "meh?"

Maybe... give it a minute, and consider what he's saying?

Full video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGU2dxlGmoA

You can listen to @adamwathan & @r00k's new podcast, Hackers Incorporated, and listen to this episode here:

https://hackersincorporated.com/episodes/revisiting-the-ideal-bootstrapped-business-with-jason-cohen

@ianlandsman The folks who have dedicated decades of their lives to AI research, like Dr. Stuart Russell at Berkely, *are* concerned about the threat to humanity.

Before jumping on the hype train, it's probably worth "tapping the brakes" to consider their concerns:

@r00k The wisdom is in knowing when to be demanding, when to be supportive, and how to do all of it in a spirit of kindness. 👍

"When you've got thousands of customers, changing prices actually is a really big deal. [Backtracking a pricing change] is gonna be super painful. That's not true when you're new. So I would caveat 'raise your prices,' which I don't think I did in the talk." – @asmartbear

"But once it's really working, once you are deep past product-market fit and things going really well. When you've hit that, I mean you can play with prices still, maybe A/B test a little, but like... Why do you wanna screw this up?" – @asmartbear

"To me, the advice ('raise your prices') is more relevant advice when your [startup is] new. I find that often people come out of the gate with prices that are too low. That's the moment where I feel like the advice is more relevant." – @asmartbear

This podcast episode with @asmartbear is a gift to indie hackers.

@adamwathan & @r00k get him to clarify points from his 2013 talk, "Designing the Ideal Bootstrapped Business."

"It's not always smart to raise prices. If you already have p/m fit, why would you screw that up?"

A good question to ask yourself if you’re considering AI business ideas:

Does it make sense for an established product (with market share) to add this as a feature?

Because it’s likely that your “small AI startup idea” could become a feature in Adobe, Microsoft, Dropbox, etc.

@nbashaw 🤔 not sure there’s a direct correlation between the reduction of bookkeepers and the rise of those other careers.

Those dynamics could all be separate from each other.

@asmartbear 👋 For @transistorfm (podcast hosting)

Plans: $19, $49, $99, $199, etc

First beta customer: Feb 27, 2018
Official launch: August 1, 2018
We hit 1,000 customers on July 2, 2019

(So it took us 490 days or 1.34 years)

@jmckinven @jackmcdade @statamic Love Jack!

@adamwathan @r00k Nice! Looking forward to listening to these. 👍

@bjessbrown Thanks for reading it! 🙏

@tillkruss @taylorotwell Thanks! I just put it on my blog:

https://justinjackson.ca/chatgpt-business

If you missed today's newsletter:

"In the "ChatGPT value chain," OpenAI will accrue most of the revenue."

https://justinjackson.ca/chatgpt-business

@aarondfrancis @BillDA @ElementsBrands Saw this. It’s wild.

RT @kimelnick: Listened to the podcast with @mijustin (first time listening to @arvidkahl’s podcast)

Absolutely amazing episode! The messa…

RT @ruchowdh: It’s fun and easy to talk about things you won’t be accountable for - like a technology that you claim is minimum decades awa…

@Shpigford I use @Netlify

@eyuzwa Thank you! 🙌

I appreciate @danshipper's perspective here and encourage folks to read the whole piece:

https://every.to/chain-of-thought/awe-anxiety-and-ai

"Even though it’s painful to feel conflicting feelings, the dangers of AI are as real as its promise. Therefore, it’s a good idea to be a little uncomfortable with this stuff."
– @danshipper

"When might I hop off the AI train?

Put simply, I believe that the pace of change makes the poison. Intelligent machines that, for example, eliminate most of today’s jobs are not inherently a bad thing if the changes happen slowly enough that we’re able to adapt." – @danshipper

Listen to the whole conversation here:
https://tbf.fm/episodes/200-justin-jackson-bootstrapping-transistor-fm-on-open-standards

Open standards: RSS, email, the web.

These standards are "messier" in some ways, but they're resilient to centralized control because they're distributed.

Some folks misunderstand what I'm saying.

I'm not saying, "these AIs can't be helpful assistants."

I am saying that founders trying to build startups that are "X powered by ChatGPT," with some interface to ChatGPT as their main value prop, are unlikely to succeed.

@CasJam Some folks are misunderstanding what I'm saying.

I'm not saying "these AIs can't be helpful assistants."

I am saying that founders trying to build "ChatGPT for X" or "X power by ChatGPT" as their main value prop are unlikely to succeed.

Traditionally, YouTube has been "pretty good" to creators.

But even creators on YouTube should be wary, especially with the move to a "TikTok-like algorithm."

TikTok will show the most viral content of that moment, making it harder for creators to build an audience.

The entire structure of big centralized content platforms is to get free/dirt-cheap content.

Eventually, on those platforms, creators will get taken advantage of.

It's almost guaranteed! Their economic model depends on it.

@arvidkahl The story with ad-supported, centralized platforms is always the same:

Facebook convinces local businesses to build FB Pages, abandon their email lists, websites, etc.

Then, a couple years later, FB says: "oh, now, to reach your audience, you've gotta pay for boosts."

"Open standards (like RSS, email, the web) are ultimately better for creators and podcasters than centralized platforms."

In this episode, @arvidkahl and I got fired up about how decentralized protocols benefit indie founders/makers. 🔥

@Patticus @Shpigford Nice! 🙌

@richgtech Can you give me an example?

@tommyvedvik The biggest benefactors of the ChatGPT plugin marketplace will be bigger (existing) companies: Zapier, Wolfram, etc.

@mattwensing Yup.

@ianlandsman I meant "platform risk" for all the new startups building "ChatGPT for X" apps (those that have "AI" in their headline).

I think existing product businesses that incorporate AI into their features will have more flexibility.

@robinsongreig Microsoft, Google, Salesforce... they're all incorporating it pretty quick!

@p_millerd Yup! We've played with it.

@mothcamp Yeah, I like that distinction. 👍

@charlierward Can you expand on that?

Are you just referring to founders/teams using things like GitHub Copilot to code faster, etc?

🎯

https://twitter.com/McPizza0/status/1638989370253537280

I talk more about how "the main thing" often gets most of the revenue in a value chain here:

https://justinjackson.ca/the-main-thing

I see this happening with ChatGPT (the main thing) and many of the startups being launched (most are "side dishes").

@mjwhansen Congrats! 🎉

Because AI requires significant computing power, building stand-alone products on top of tech like ChatGPT is the ultimate form of "platform risk."

But the biggest risk for ChatGPT-enabled apps is that existing products (Microsoft Office, Descript, Google Sheets, Zapier) are just implementing these features directly into their apps.

Who profits? OpenAI.

I'm seeing more DMs from founders launching stand-alone products built on top of ChatGPT.

They ask me for my advice, and honestly, I don't know what to tell them.

Differentiation will be challenging (many of the products I'm seeing are similar to each other).

I don't think ChatGPT will enable indie startups to launch profitable businesses.

In most cases, AI/ChatGPT will be added as a feature in existing apps; no need for an intermediary stand-alone product.

In the "ChatGPT value chain," OpenAI will accrue most of the revenue.

Pushkin is great at releasing these paid podcasts ("enhanced audiobooks") that folks will pay for:

https://www.pushkin.fm/audiobooks/so-many-steves-afternoons-with-steve-martin

(The @PaulSimonMusic series they produced was fantastic. I think these are good revenue earners for them)

@jasonfried @jonbuda Hahahaha.

You’ve always had a knack for naming things.

Beauty bluebird day up at @SilverStarMR

@VicVijayakumar Manually. Just opening new tabs 😄

@arvidkahl You’ve noticed less engagement here on Twitter?

@VicVijayakumar Yup. Generally (and usually at the and time)

I’ve been enjoying the @lmsqueezy podcast lately (by @jrfarr and @jmckinven).

It’s got that “founder in the trenches building the company” feel. 👍

https://overcast.fm/+4H8JRwo3I

RT @orishnal: This is it folks. ⁦@mijustin⁩ and ⁦@arvidkahl⁩ capture the magic of bootstrapping and what it means when you know your values…

Wow. Carrd is a phenomena!

Well done @ajlkn and team! 🎉

https://twitter.com/ajlkn/status/1638583227991334917?s=46&t=xyX4ISH1y8eo0WCgQ-duKw

@JudoHacker haha. yup.

Funny enough, the @buildyoursaas "tax compliance" stuff has gotten the most engagement here. 🤷‍♂️

Lately, I've been getting way more engagement on Mastodon (where I have less than 2,000 followers) than on Twitter (where I have over 37,000).

Is anyone else seeing less reach here? 🤔

@jasonfried I've been bugging @jonbuda about letting me write this off as a business expense.😜

In our partnership, he's the "watcher of costs." He said "no." Hahaha.

(you're right: low costs give you more margin [and not just financial])

only coffee 😅 yikes!

(thanks for the reminder)

Your values and principles as founders are important, but you'll still need to build a product that sells.

Your company's "financial engine" is what helps your values to become more fully realized. Your profits can be invested in your team, their families, and your community.

When we started our company, @jonbuda and I defined our principles and values early on, but we knew the business still had to have a good "engine" to sustain those values.

The "engine" of a company is capturing customer demand sustainably, with sufficient margins.

@arvidkahl Folks should definitely listen until the end.

Around 42:00 we got really fired up about open standards (and how they create opportunities for bootstrapped founders) 🔥

@cblavier @arvidkahl Thanks Christian. 🙌

I wrote more about "charge more" here:
https://justinjackson.ca/charge-more

@calebporzio What!? That majorly sucks dude.

I'm going to sponsor you now. ❤️

Weirdly, I still see PayPal on the checkout screen?

@michaelkoper Yup.

And I'd modify that slightly to:

"Building a business that can give you a great life."

A good business (with good margins) can become the engine that gives you a great life.

The ultimate goal of an indie startup shouldn't be "growth," "market domination," etc...

It should simply be:

1. Build a product that makes customers' lives better
2. Build a company that gives your team a better life.

Too many business owners are on this treadmill that really grinds them down. Eventually, it burns them out.

We need to ask ourselves: "Why did I start this company?"

Put pillars in place (values, margins, calm) so that your business gives you a better life. 👍

This is @arvidkahl's 200th episode! 🥳

I'd love to know what you think.

Listen to the whole thing here:
https://tbf.fm/episodes/200-justin-jackson-bootstrapping-transistor-fm-on-open-standards

"Founders: what are we building these companies for?

We build products to improve the lives of our customers.

But we build *companies* to improve our lives and the lives of our employees."

Really proud of this episode I did with @arvidkahl; it's one of the good ones:

RT @arvidkahl: It's here! Episode 200 of The Bootstrapped Founder has dropped! 🥳🥰

And it's with none other than Justin Jackson :)

I talk…

🎯 https://twitter.com/asmartbear/status/1638276348933287936

@AsiaOrangio Many things, but this was one of them: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1407376097092591627

@Tsukio_scoring @buildyoursaas Haha. I’ve got so many more songs planned!

@noplanstomerge 🤝 @TransistorFM

We need to make this happen @DCoulbourne @calebporzio. 😄

h/t to @nathanbarry and his excellent newsletter:

https://ckarchive.com/b/o8ukhqhk4lnkm

"Each of us is only here so long. We can only work on so many things. We can spend our time, energy and resources in only so many ways. How are you going to use these limited resources?
​
To me, the answer is to make things that matter to people, that help people." – @RyanHoliday

@brennandunn really hoping we can keep @TransistorFM's affiliate program "good" for a long time. 🤞

(no plans of changing it; our affiliates have been incredible partners for us)

Amazing book. If you're a founder, product manager, or product builder, you should read it. 👍 https://twitter.com/mjwhansen/status/1638123693741076480

@aarondfrancis Well done Aaron! Looks amazing.

@EmmettNaughton Yeah! Pretty wild. The weird thing is it kind of "smushes" together Anchor and the existing dashboard for podcasters on Spotify.

🖥️ Listen on the web:
https://saas.transistor.fm/episodes/banking-meltdown-more-taxes-on-small-software-companies-take-me-back-to-the-beach

🌩️ On @overcastfm:
https://saas.transistor.fm/episodes/banking-meltdown-more-taxes-on-small-software-companies-take-me-back-to-the-beach

🍎 On @ApplePodcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/build-your-saas/id1357295850?i=1000605129149

🟢 On @spotifypodcasts:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7DgEClUkOEdaou88kdo2Uf

Good morning! @jonbuda and I recorded again. In this @buildyoursaas episode:

- Mercury and Wise: what are they, really?
- Section 174
- The collapse of a Merchant of Record solution
- A new risk with MoR that we hadn't considered
- New @TransistorFM features

I also laugh a lot.

@adamwathan @aarondfrancis @DCoulbourne @calebporzio just listened, and DCoul and Caleb perfectly gave voice to a pain that almost every tech entrepreneur I know feels.

"An accounting firm (that's also a law firm) that *really* understands tech businesses (and keeps up-to-date on all the underlying technical details)" would KILL.

@jkostolansky I'm on it. 👍

For podcast editing, @iChris is so darned good.

He's been editing my shows for years, and he consistently delivers. 👍

(Also love the little easter eggs he puts in our episodes)

From @GaryMarcus:

"These systems never "think" and "figure out," they're just finding close approximations to the text that they've seen. It's more like an illusion than something that really understands things."

@PaulElijas 💯

You can read @ericnuzum's excellent newsletter, The Audio Insurgent, here:

https://audioinsurgent.substack.com/p/the-biggest-challenge-for-podcasters

I think people like ChatGPT answers because... it often just agrees with the premise of your question.

As @ericnuzum states: "It is hard to argue with someone who agrees with you."

GPT has no critical thinking skills.

It defaults to saying the stuff you likely to want to hear.

Reality is far more nuanced:

There are smart people who do (and say) dumb things.

There are extroverted folks who need alone time to recharge.

There are people who a generally positive in their daily lives but need to talk about hard, "negative" topics.

Too often, we treat people in a binary way.

You're either
- an introvert or extrovert
- new guard or old guard
- a pessimist or optimist
- an insider or outsider
- positive or negative
- smart or dumb

The truth is that folks behave in various ways in different situations.