Tweets

@raechellambert Exactly.

Many folks don't realize how good many indie founders have it!

@alanklement Adam Neumann is a ridiculous/unique example by multiple measures. 😉

@alanklement When I say "mega-funded" I'm really talking about anything over the level of @calmfund and @tinyseedfund.

I know a bunch of founders in the bucket who raised $5m-$50m and paid themselves low salaries (due to pressure from vcs) and whose stock was eventually worth nothing.

Being a successful founder usually means making a series of bets, many of which will fail.

If you’re investing years of your life trying to build a business, you should be rewarded financially for all that previous effort.

Too often, founders deny themselves a good salary.

This pain/reward ratio doesn’t get talked about enough in startups.

If you’re a founder, mega-funded startups are often more risky, more stressful, more work.

And, contrary to what people think, indie SaaS founders often get paid better than founders who raise tons of money. https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1573317909417533442

RT @mijustin: Also, the startup trope of the "starving founder" is toxic.

Founders shouldn't perpetually sacrifice their quality of life.…

@CasJam Founder compensation https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1573317909417533442

Who else has these cups?

It only took 9 years, but @rrhoover finally followed me on @ProductHunt! 😺

RT @marckohlbrugge: Measure once, cut twice

"You often don’t know yet what it is exactly you’re making. You’re figuring it out as you go a…

@marckohlbrugge Love this

@thethoughtcard Me too!

@ianlandsman Oh man, I don’t know if I have it in me to attempt another Star Wars series.

@tdinh_me Listening now!

https://overcast.fm/+JmiMMoQyg

@GeekNews @TransistorFM @blubrry We've found that giving users a UI for prefixes is better for a few reasons:

1) Gives users a better experience (especially for stacking prefixes)
2) Decreases the chances of malformed prefixes
3) Helps us audit any prefix we add (some of them are really bad)

THIS!!! https://twitter.com/marcelladotco/status/1572445599999336451

@randfish @sparktoro 🎯 Absolutely! Reddit is where people go to talk candidly about X.

It’s the place to observe genuine desires, struggles, obstacles, questions, etc.

@JamesCridland 🎯 absolutely.

Also, the startup trope of the "starving founder" is toxic.

Founders shouldn't perpetually sacrifice their quality of life.

When they can, they should pay themselves well, reduce work hours, and have a sense of calm.

Make sure you're getting a commensurate return on your bets.

Do I know anyone at @circleapp?

(I looked for Circle support email/chat but couldn't find it?)

A @TransistorFM user noticed a bug with how Circle handles embeds:

https://zipmessage.com/oxtmdbpx/ce005028971e6136fa82cb1cd

That extra padding is creating a big gap underneath all embeds.

"Our company has $2 million in annual revenue!"

That number is meaningless if your employees are stressed out, burnt out, and underpaid.

@valsopi Yup

@g_kopel Not currently!

So many SaaS companies are looking at MRR, churn, ARR, LTV...

All that stuff only matters if it creates a good quality of life for the team + a product that improves the lives of customers.

The most important business metric is the one that gets shared the least:

Quality of Life for each team member

- How calm is the work day?
- How well is each team member paid?
- How healthy is each team member?
- How much purpose and enjoyment is there in the job?

@smgrieser @shinebootcamp @unbounce Nice!!! 🙌

@laurenpassell Listening to the @HumaneTech_ podcast

@TransistorFM @iamjeremyenns I'm going to write a blog post about this as well. 👍

@mattwensing @CasJam We should chat about it sometime!

I had a pretty big session on that topic with @stauffermatt:

https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1461859356325003269

@CasJam Urban design / urban renewal
Documentaries on music (bands, singers)
The skateboard and snowboard industries
Post-evangelicalism (leaving church/ministry)

You set off on a journey with a destination in mind, but discover something that makes you change course along the way.

It’s deciding to set off on the journey that matters.

Be open to what reveals itself along the way! https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1571960089652723719

Around 2012, @mjwhansen & @MathiasHansen launched a mobile app called "Open Nearby," showing you what stores were open now.

The map in the app required geocoding. Google Maps was too expensive, so they built @Geocodio to serve their own needs.

https://searchingforsaas.com/podcast/ep25-local-restaurant-app-to-geocoding-as-a-service-michele-hansen-from-geocodio/

These days, @mariepoulin has a really successful course: Notion Mastery.

But back in 2019, she and @typeoneerror were focused on helping other people create courses with their company Okie Dokie.

She "fell into" doing Notion training almost by accident.

The idea for @tailwindcss came to @adamwathan while he was working on other SaaS ideas:

Digest - "Delicious for teams"
Kitetail - competitor to gumroad for selling digital products

He was building in public, and people kept asking him about his CSS.

https://adamwathan.me/tailwindcss-from-side-project-byproduct-to-multi-mullion-dollar-business/

Almost everybody I know who's created a successful business found their winning idea while doing something else.

Almost like they were digging a pool in their backyard and accidentally discovered oil.

@Swizec Yes!!!

https://transistor.fm/private-podcast/

In the future, AI will predict how you’d live your whole life, and will just play it for you as a movie when you turn 5.

No need to go school, graduate, go to college, get a career, date, meet someone.

Instead, you’ll don your Oculus and play Candy Crush in the Metaverse.

In the future, AI will generate any photo you’d take with your camera, before you even snap the picture.

No more bringing your camera on trips!

Actually you don’t need to go on trips at all; AI will generate photos of you on vacations you’ve never taken.

@DustinLeblanc Surprisingly, I’ve gone 6 times this year!

Morning run

@julian_rubisch I really like Ecamm Live

http://justinjackson.ca/livestreaming

@daysormay @carson_bassett_ ❤️ nyc

@MattGiovanisci So jealous of this setup.

@mikevardy Nice!!! 🙌

@liron @csallen @ChanningAllen enjoyed this one!

https://overcast.fm/+JmiPAw2T8

Full clip on YouTube:

"If you want to get more listeners for your podcast, you need to understand what someone chooses a podcast and becomes a listener."

An interesting Jobs to be Done angle here. 👍

https://youtu.be/shuBuYpP5Lc

"What's the last podcast you started listening to?"

☝️ Want to grow your podcast? Study what makes someone START listening to a new show. 👍

@iamjeremyenns' recent favorite:

🧠 BRAINS podcast by @Julian & @csallen

(Time to release a new episode boys!)

@arvidkahl Yes!!!!

Btw - thanks so much for showing up live that meant a lot to me!

We're live now! https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1jMKgLNeeWkGL

Hey friends,

@iamjeremyenns and I are doing this YouTube Live in about 10 minutes.

Come join us and say hi!

📺 https://youtu.be/QNyQ864A4vs https://twitter.com/TransistorFM/status/1570815109496446976

@johnspurlock Oops. 😅

@johnspurlock YESSSSSSS!

I've been hoping someone would build this.

I just tested it out! 🙌 Works great!

https://op3.dev/e/media.transistor.fm/d76bf91b/4604ecb9.mp3

@alexwildwood @SahilBloom Apple Podcasts just updated their directory (pointing to Sahil's new @TransistorFM feed).

Many players, like Overcast, use Apple's directory, so it's now showing the latest episode there. 👍

Overcast, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify are all showing the latest episodes. 🙌

@bentoalson I need to do this for @TransistorFM!

@PodlandNews @ashleyrcarman Do you know of any non-publicly traded (or non-venture funded) podcasting companies doing substantial layoffs right now?

(That's what I mean by "indie")

@PodlandNews @ashleyrcarman Inevitable?

I haven't heard about any indie podcast platforms doing layoffs. 🤔

NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html

Wow! This is inspiring.

👏 Yvon Chouinard https://twitter.com/TristanSnell/status/1570168149936578561

@toddhixenbaugh_ For me, two things inspire me to keep podcasting:

1. The responses I get from listeners (tweets, emails, DMs, etc)
2. The conversations + connections I get to have with my co-hosts, guests, etc..

@SahilBloom @alexwildwood Yup! Looking into this now.

This is a common question: "How can these platforms make money without ads or AI recommendations?"

This is my primary critique: as a society, that's not our job to figure out!

Companies must find ethical business models that don't impose significant negative costs on society.

@amber_yanwang Why should we be worried about a big corporation's business model when it has negative consequences for society?

Even the critiques of growth miss the mark:

This Ivey Journal article, "Growth for Growth’s Sake: A Recipe for a Potential Disaster," doesn't mention ethics, morality, externalities, or the greater societal good. 😰

McDonald's is their case study?! 🤦‍♂️

https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/growth-for-growths-sake-a-recipe-for-a-potential-disaster/

Venture capitalists, in particular, seem to have a particular appetite for goading on any investment vehicle (crypto, artificial intelligence, social media) that has the potential to GROW BIG, regardless of the ethics, morality, or externalities.

"Business strategy" without a commensurate amount of "business ethics" is bad strategy.

Our culture (especially the tech culture) is happy to cheer on companies that grow fast and dominate markets while ignoring the negative externalities that stack up.

@petecodes Haha. Yup!

@LostMahbles This delves into some of the reasons:
https://www.unite.ai/why-ai-isnt-providing-better-product-recommendations/

@nickfrosty Haha. Thanks. 👍

@ctwtn @jackconte It’s actually by design (especially platforms like TikTok). The “atomic unit” of AI-driven content is the piece of content (the creator doesn’t matter).

@eduardor2k Exactly; that’s a dystopian hell

@Jonflarson I haven’t! I’ll check it out.

Just wrote this all down as a blog post (remember those?)

"AI-driven content is a nightmare"

👉 https://justinjackson.ca/ai-nightmare

AI-driven media platforms (TikTok) will exploit the cheap/free content from creators to drive their algorithm + build their business as long as it suits them.

But you better believe: as soon as they can generate the content with AI (and bypass creators entirely) they will.

In the old world, a creator like @jackconte puts tons of time + money into a YT video. He gets $100 for the effort, but at least he's rewarded with "followers."

In the new AI-driven world, you make a viral video and get no followers. People follow the algorithm, not the creator.

I think creators have always had a "bad deal" from social media platforms: we provide the content for free/low cost, we upload our address books, we cross-promote on other platforms...

But that deal will go from bad to worse in an AI-driven world.

Exactly.

If you make junk food that's DESIGNED TO BE ADDICTIVE, of course, people will keep eating it.

And yes, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, etc will make more money and make shareholders happy.

But that's not a net positive for society.

https://twitter.com/misterparker/status/1569736081867968513

"If recommendation media is all about making AI-informed recommendations, the platform with the most computing power wins." – @mignano (talking to @nbashaw)

A future where we're all addicted to AI-driven content, where the algorithm is owned by Meta, Google, Amazon? No thanks.

@markgoho The fact that these AI-engines are controlled by mega-corporations (beholden to shareholders) is deeply concerning.

Giving people a never-ending stream of content designed to keep them on a centralized platform longer where the algorithm is controlled by some megacorp (and its shareholders) isn’t my idea of a great future.

It’s fucking dystopian.

@jmckinven @TransistorFM yessssss. Love it.

I’m not convinced that we need more AI-driven recommendation engines in our lives.

When I use apps like TikTok, it sucks me in and “entertain” me for hours. But I wouldn’t describe that experience as healthy.

If anything, we need less media delivered by algorithm; we need calm.

@JordanPods @Podnews Hahaha. It’s true!

@valsopi This is a really cool feature!

@coreymaass @MatthewBogart I’m a huge fan too!

@0xstark @ljin18 “Consumer behavior” did not dominate the early years of the internet!

The early internet was a network of universities, research stations, government nodes.

Even the early web was largely academic & nerdy.

Many of us have felt like citizens of the internet from the beginning.

@Frogman1609 great seeing you tonight! We should do a “hack on projects” night sometime. 👍

This is the hard truth when it comes to growing your podcast:

"You've got to be better than your competition"

Your podcast has to be so good that listeners will:

1. choose your podcast over other options
2. like it so much they share it with a friend

https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/comment/io6n75l/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Hat tip to the wisdom of @misener & @JackRhysider in response to this question:

"What can a podcast do to get 1000 downloads per episode?"

https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/comment/io6i942/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

I hijacked this question, but I think it's important:

"Video can be a valuable podcast promotion tool. However, the trend toward 'YouTube as a podcast platform' does concern me."

RSS gives us freedom. ✊

https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/comment/io6d8pl/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

cc @PodcastindexOrg

📺🎙️📈 I forgot to mention that I'm also doing a "how to get more podcast listeners" livestream with @iamjeremyenns this Friday!

Save your spot here:
https://youtu.be/QNyQ864A4vs

Answered @mbuckbee's question about "sponsoring podcasts" and gave a shout out to:

- The folks at @podglomerate and @GumballFM
- The @ChemForYourLife podcast
- @mjwhansen & @leenyburger's "supporter model" for their podcast (@SoftwareSocPod)

https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/comment/io5jeeg/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Are there still opportunities for new podcasts?

In this answer, I mentioned @sjgoldstein & @AmplifiMedia's research:

"Only 155,764 podcasts have produced 10 or more episodes and produced an episode in the past week."

(Also, gave kudos to @AishaZaza 🏃‍♀️)

https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/comment/io5h3r6/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

@iamjeremyenns @TransistorFM Lol. Yes.

What could be "more Reddit" than "Spankymustard?" 😜

Thanks @JackRhysider! ❤️

https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/comment/io5algk/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Just answered my first question:
https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/comment/io5d2wx/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Mentioned @BryanBarletta & @webby2001's @SoundsProfNews as a place to learn about podcast adtech.

Also suggested that more people build listening apps to support @PodcastindexOrg's cool new features!

Hey friends, I'm doing a podcasting AMA on Reddit right now!

"4 years ago I co-founded @TransistorFM. I've learned lots of stuff about podcasting that's not commonly known. AMA!"

Would ❤️ to see some good podcasting/indie podcast business questions. 🙏

https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasting/comments/xciarj/4_years_ago_i_cofounded_transistorfm_ive_learned/

@iamgino_s @IndieHackers Thanks!

@glenmccallumcan @MatthewBogart Pre-ordered it online 👍

Just finished reading @MatthewBogart’s newest Incredible Doom (vol 2).

So good.

While the promise of crypto/web3 felt largely empty, I see many real-world applications for AI (prompt-based image generators are already getting big).

How seriously should bootstrappers be looking at incorporating AI tech into their products?