Tweets

MailChimp was a side-project for 6 years.

Todoist was a side-project for 4 years.

Basecamp took 2 years before it was paying their salaries.

Maybe the rest of us shouldn't be in such a hurry.

@MrPaulBae This Ottawa resident is a national treasure.

"A part of our history"

<my 16 year-old son sees me using Slack>

“Hey, what’s that; boomer discord?”

Ways to grow professionally:

- Podcast
- Give a talk
- Write a blog
- Take a course
- Ask for a raise
- Go to meetups
- Get a remote job
- Join a community
- Start a newsletter
- Grow your network
- Create a side-project
- Build a product business
- Learn more programming

This idea (from @JamesClear) has honestly transformed my life.

I got @Shpigford to laser etch it into wood (@LaserTweets).

Really like how it turned out. 👌

Contrary to the belief that "happiness peaks at $75k," earning more money is likely the best thing you can do to improve your happiness.

I’m so glad we moved past SMS.

Now, I just have to check DMs in:

Slack
Skype
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Snapchat
Google Hangouts

🙄

This is Facebook using its reach for good: automatically ask those in affected disaster areas if they're ok.

Startup founders: “It’s like jumping off a cliff and trying to build a plane on the way down!"

Bootstrappers: “Let’s step away from the cliff and build a small plane that works.”

Looks like WordPress paid “well below $20 million.”

Tumblr sold to Yahoo for $1 billion.

That’s a $980 million dollar depreciation folks.

👋 Father of 4 here.

😰 As an employee, I struggled to make ends meet for years.

📆 I quit my job in 2014, and started my own company.

📈 Since then, I’ve consistently made more money as a founder than an employee.

A big part of my entrepreneurial motivation *is* money. https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1401544790869786628

Feeling grateful. ❤️

We hit a big milestone today at @TransistorFM:

http://justinjackson.ca/30k

I used to invest heavily in marketing automation, tracking, attribution, configuring funnels, and retargeting.

But after 13 years of doing marketing for SaaS companies... I'm convinced that 90% of it is unnecessary.

Microsoft Access was the original no-code tool.

You could build a UI, link input fields to your database, create menus.

Pretty powerful stuff (and in the 1990s)!

I'm reading the Walt Disney biography, and what's most striking is how long it took him to get any traction at all.

The Disney brothers start their company in 1923, and basically eat shit for 10 years.

Year after year of failed attempts, bad deals, and projects gone bad.

Seriously: if Apple just made a webcam with all this iPhone image tech they'd sell millions.

If you're a founder, and your product is good:

- talk about it
- tweet about it
- podcast about it
- blog about it
- livesteam it
- demo it

Remind people, daily, that you exist.

Make it easy for customers to find you!

⚡ Most of the people you thought were "crushing it" five years ago have burnt out since then.

Many of the folks you think are "killing it" now won't be around in five years.

FOCUS ON YOUR OWN JOURNEY!

Make your efforts sustainable over the long term.

Reply to this tweet with your product URL and I'll give you an idea for promoting it.

🔗➡️💡

cold emails gettin' sassy

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.

Low-margin work eventually leads to ruin. The margins rarely get better; the sunk costs get worse.

My business partner and I didn’t start @TransistorFM (a podcast hosting startup) until we were in our late 30s.

Today, Transistor has made millions of dollars in revenue, and we’re both in our 40s.

The narrative that you have to be young to start a successful startup is wrong.

It's probably too early to call this, but...

@jonbuda and I just hit $10k MRR for @TransistorFM! 🕺🎉💃

I’m back in Canada after visiting Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Belgium.

I have a bunch of thoughts about North America vs Europe when it comes to:

- entrepreneurship
- building startups
- business culture
- livability & lifestyle

First observation: Europe has North America beat…

Initially, @laravelphp was inspired by Rails.

But these days, it feels like it's *Laravel* that's influencing the rest of the web dev world.

My plumber is sending me drip email campaigns.

I do not need a drip email sequence from my plumber.

Marketers ruin everything.

Signed,
A marketer

SO CLOSE to $10k MRR for @TransistorFM.

My son just asked me: “Is this a giant AirPod?”

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.

Increasingly, I'm skeptical of this copywriting advice: "Focus on benefits over features."

In practice, it makes the copy longer, more abstract, and harder to parse for potential customers.

When folks land on your website, they just want to know: "What does this company do?"

What are you working on?

Reply with screenshots, URLs, etc!

This is how Laravel will win. 💯

"Our goal is to make it easier for new people to come into Laravel, deploy an app, and see how productive they can be. I would love for people's first web programming language to shift back to PHP."
– @taylorotwell

<my 16-year-old son sees me using Slack>

“Hey what’s that, discord for boomers?”

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

Founders need a clear sense of what they're giving up, and what the potential payoff is.

Example:
💸 I'm investing $5k,
⏰ and 800 hours of my time,
💻 building this software.
🏆 My goal is to reach $10k in MRR
📆 by August 2, 2021.

Everything you implement will need to be maintained.

(Be careful about what you start)

Customer Support is the most under-appreciated role in SaaS.

When you're doing support, you're also doing:

- Marketing (word-of-mouth)
- Customer interviews
- Public relations
- Inbound sales
- Onboarding

Don't call it a comeback, but with @laravelphp, PHP is *very* relevant again.

Why?
- Active & welcoming community
- Incredible documentation
- Tools & ecosystem that make it easy for developers to be productive

Folks who have quit drinking alcohol: what do you order when you're out with friends?

A lot of bootstrappers think they have a marketing problem:

"I need to get better at marketing."

But, it's more likely that you have a product problem:

"Do customers really want this? Do they care enough about this to switch to a new solution?"

The cool thing about buying from independent makers is your dollars get invested directly in their families. 🙌

Remote workers: what do you miss about working in an office?

So far, in 2019, I've had 277 alcohol-free days.

Feels good. 👌

I know it’s popular to say “Ideas are easy. Execution is everything,” but I disagree.

If ideas are so easy, why are most business ideas so bad?

The opportunity you identify, and focus on, matters a lot.

Want to be well-known in your industry? Help as many people as you can.

Having a good reputation opens all kinds of doors.

In the 90s: "What's your AIM username?"

Now: "Should I contact you on..."
- FB Messenger
- Instagram DM
- Twitter DM
- WhatsApp
- iMessage
- Telegram
- Discord
- Slack
- SMS
😩

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

phew. just published this now. https://justinjackson.ca/costs

A bit apprehensive about putting this out into the world, but feeling like the discussion is needed

If you’re wondering what it’s like to be a new SaaS founder:

Most of it is doing customer support!

☀️ Wake up in the morning: answer email.
👨‍💻 Get to the office: reply to live chat.
🛌 Before I go to bed: solve a problem.

If I was at a bigger company, trying to hire incredible "full stack" employees, here's what I'd do:

1. Go to communities like @IndieHackers, @megamaker.

2. Find indie creators earning $5k-12k/month from their projects.

3. Offer them a salary that's 2-3x their current revenue.

I've been brainstorming how I would build a new indie startup if I had to do it again in 2023.

Here are 5 principles I’d use.

Google started as a research project in 1996.

Larry and Sergey didn't incorporate until 1998.

Early in 1999, they tried selling Google for $750k (and got turned down).

They didn't find a business model (ads) until late 2000.

Idea → viable business took 4 years.

Trying to explain the 90s to my kids.

Bootstrapping is a huge risk (financially).

You're gambling some of the best years of your career to make a bet that might not work out.

Therefore, make sure that the idea you're working on has the potential to reward you for the risk you're taking. Be realistic about the…

Someone asked me “how can we promote long-term thinking in our society?”

Initially I was stumped, but now I think I have a good answer:

“Provide for people’s basic needs first.”

When folks are worried about their health and livelihood, it consumes their day-to-day thoughts.

Quit worrying about what everyone else is doing.

Instead, focus on the people you’re trying to help. That's how you make real progress.

I've wanted to be an entrepreneur since I was a kid. The idea of building & running a business has always appealed to me.

But then I became a young dad at age 22.

My daughter was born before I graduated from university. The night of graduation, my classmates went out drinking…

New blog post:

“Good businesses have margin.” https://justinjackson.ca/margin

According to @datanyze, ConvertKit only has 0.34% market share (vs MailChimp’s 60.51%).

But, even with that tiny slice of the market, ConvertKit is doing $1.6 million in MRR! 😮

The market you choose matters!

“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

"We don't believe in backlogs. Backlogs make you feel guilty." – @jasonfried

@jonbuda and I just had a great call with Jason. He gave us some ideas on how Basecamp's new book, "Shape Up," might apply to our (tiny) team of two co-founders.

Marketing research trick:

1. Go to Google Analytics
2. Search for "slack"
3. See who's talking about your product

Every landing page should communicate:

"Hey! You're in the right place. I can help you with your problem. I can make your life better."

This guy turned 41 today!

Thankful for where I am, but still occasionally jealous of all the folks in their 20s and 30s building indie SaaS companies so young. ✌️

There’s no shame in quitting your hustle and getting a job.*

*especially now that so many good remote jobs can give the freedom, calm, and $$$ that people desire

When a founder applies for a mortgage, the only thing they should have to show the bank is Stripe Verified Revenue.

(Stripe should just provide mortgages for entrepreneurs)

I just tried @nbashaw’s new AI writing app that everyone's talking about: Lex.

Here's a supercut of all my reactions. 🤯🤯🤯

This just feels completely magical. It's going to change the way I write my blog.

Hats off to the @every team! 🙌

Business is all about leveraging whatever advantages you have.

If you're incredible at SEO, do it.
If you have a personal brand, use it.
If you have rich parents, ask them for $.
If you're good on the phone, make some calls.
If you're healthy, use your energy to make stuff.

Generating images with AI is going great.

If you’re a creator who wants to know what it takes to make stuff at @Casey’s level, you’ve got to hear his interview with @bertkreischer.

https://youtu.be/OgJ0vNRjiM0

This is a good point: IAP really doesn’t make sense for multi-platform SaaS apps.

If I’m on iPhone, and I switch to Android, what happens?

https://hey.com/apple/iap/

Good documentation is a competitive advantage.

My son wanted to order a cheese pizza and eat it on a paddleboard lol 🍕

I can't get this @jasonfried quote out of my head:

"Business is hard, and it only gets harder."

Product people: you're not looking for "good ideas."

You're looking for a market that's hungry for a solution.

I think folks misunderstand me when I say: "pick your market first."

❌ "Market" = "A group I'd like to sell to."
✅ "Market" = "A category where people are currently spending $."

Example:
"The global diamond market is currently $82 billion USD."

I've been wanting to share this forever:

My 11-year-old made a vending machine out of LEGO that dispenses OREOS and it REALLY WORKS and it's AMAZING.

https://youtu.be/lTlaaWINYVs

Nobody does their best thinking sitting at their desk. Your desk is for executing; do your thinking elsewhere.

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.

📖 3rd day reading @pjrvs' "Company of One." Love this story:

Delicious:
- Launched in 2003
- $2 million in funding
- Sold to Yahoo in 2005 (for ~$15 million)

@Pinboard:
- Launched in 2009
- Bootstrapped (with yearly plans for users)
- Acquired Delicious in 2017 for $35,000! 😮

There is no justification for voting for Trump.

From every angle, he is contemptible and incompetent.

If anyone here is awake, @TransistorFM is officially launched! 🎉

Also on @ProductHunt here 👉
https://www.producthunt.com/posts/transistor-fm

It’s counterintuitive, but customers who are “hard won” (through costly ads, persuasion techniques, etc) are easily lost. They’re fickle.

But customers who are sufficiently motivated themselves, who are actively looking for a solution, will stick around a lot longer.

🤔 Something for bootstrappers to ponder:

⏳ MailChimp's founders waited 6 years before going full-time. From 2001-2007 it was just a side project.

It's a long road!

👩‍💻 "What's the future of the full-stack developer?"

I had a great chat with @taylorotwell (creator of @laravelphp) about this:

"Deep down, I know that full-stack development is the bread & butter of most real things happening on the ground. But on Twitter, it feels different."

Too many indie entrepreneurs are building things that people don't want.

As an indie, you don't have the time or money to "create demand."

Tip: just look for opportunities where people are already in motion.

What are people already searching for and buying? Build for that. 🎯

Thoughts on the podcast industry in 2021:

- many folks continue to act as if podcasting is bigger than it really is
- VCs and bigger companies in search of "the next YouTube" fundamentally misunderstand podcasting's growth curve
- folks are way too bullish on Spotify's strategy

How to grocery shop during a pandemic:

1. Buy enough healthy food for 2 weeks
2. Buy enough snacks for 2 weeks
3. Get home and immediately eat all the snacks
4. Walk around the house for 2 weeks wishing you had snacks while the healthy food goes bad
5. Repeat

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?

What are you working on?

I'd love to see it!

(Reply with your URLs or screenshots)

A pre-made template is a powerful way for getting people in motion.

Having a starting point is really motivating for humans.

A good product unlocks a desire the customer already has.

We just launched a new @TransistorFM website! 🎉

Built on @statamic. 💪
Styled with @tailwindcss. 🙌
And supporting @1PercentFTP. 🌎

https://transistor.fm

If you're building a new SaaS in 2024, I'd love to see your landing page (even if it's a "coming soon" page).

Post a link in the replies! 🙏

😳 no wonder my interactions on LinkedIn have been weird lately!

I interviewed @taylorotwell and wow did some of his answers surprise me.

If you want to hear the whole @laravelphp story, it's worth a listen:

https://overcast.fm/+MBmWqe1VQ

We spend way too much time trying to deconstruct the journey of our heroes.

They gained their success at a different time; what worked for them probably won’t work for us.

Forget about your heroes.

Figure out what works for *you*, at *this* moment.

The best thing you can do for yourself (and your business) is to give yourself more margin in your life:

https://justinjackson.ca/margin

Such a good reminder:

"Until you work as hard as those you admire, don't explain away their success as luck." – @JamesClear