Tweets

To compete with established brands, you'll need to figure out how to differentiate yourself in meaningful ways.

Think about:

1. What do customers care about? (product quality, service, story, community, values, features)

2. Which of these items can you deliver at a high level?

Anything you build will have to compete for attention with the other available options.

If someone can just as easily buy a similar product, from a more trusted brand, for the same price, why would they choose you?

To compete in a market, you have to stand out to get traction.

You can listen to the whole interview on @5harath's podcast:

https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/6

My newest newsletter is out.

You can read it + subscribe here:
https://justinjackson.ck.page/posts

More here:

https://justinjackson.ca/business-secret

While some purchases are impulse-driven (like seeing something cool on Instagram and buying right away), most sales come from intent-based searches.

People already know they want to buy something, and they go out looking for it.

@raae @SlowSteadyPod Looks like you’re in a futuristic sci-fi movie!

Today I learned about "hurling."

Listening to Irish sportscasters do the play-by-play is my new favorite thing.

https://share.transistor.fm/s/695314bd?t=1m15s

Also: Andor does start out slow. Most folks who stick with it end up liking it. 👍 https://twitter.com/Joey_Farruggio/status/1596859329659142149

Honestly, I wouldn’t have even tried it if @ianlandsman hadn’t kept talking about it, so I think Iger owes him an affiliate check. 😉

@mjwhansen Nope. Didn’t reply, but I must be a “suggested follow” or something.

@CasJam "Defend against complexity" applies to our products as well!

https://github.com/TransistorFM/handbook/blob/master/values.md

@calebporzio Send some of that my way! 🙏

@CasJam Loved this one! For anyone interested, these are my fave music documentaries:

1. The Individualist
2. Miracle and Wonder
3. Beastie Boys Story
4. It Might Get Loud
5. A Fat Wreck
6. Filmage: The Descendents
7. Lemmy
8. Searching for Sugar Man
9. The History of Iron Maiden

@zkahn @ApplePodcasts Thanks Zach! 🙌

@chasewreeves I've always liked @JamesClear's idea that "every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity."

For me, identity has mostly about action.

@AnandWrites Early Twitter was also not user-friendly (and also had scaling issues).

Give it a minute. https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1593449029601734656

@petersuhm I’m @mijustin@mastodon.social on 🐘

Would love to connect with you there too!

@mijustin" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://mastodon.social/@mijustin

@simonswiss @ProTailwind Whoa. That’s a lot of video!

Also, you should try Mastodon, but maybe wait until tomorrow because their servers are melting rn

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/twitter-users-mastodon-meltdown

I’m @mijustin@mastodon.social on there. 🐘

More info here:

https://justinjackson.ca/thoughts-on-mastodon

@cameronmoll @buzzsprout Congrats! 🎉

btw, @savvycal has a doodle-like feature:

https://savvycal.com/meeting-polls

Yes! Exactly this. 🎯

Don’t make the people who might share your content look bad! https://twitter.com/iamjeremyenns/status/1592943182744276993

Hahaha. I searched my Google Photos archive for "Justin Jackson hair," and this is what I found!

https://twitter.com/jreynoldsdev/status/1592375315242061825

This is good as well:

https://twitter.com/amattn/status/1592220617075724288

@neilsuperduper Ah! Good catch. I totally didn't get that inference.

I've updated the post. Thanks! 👍

Twitter Blue is paused for new signups (as of 2 days ago).

If it's true that roughly 61,000 had signed up, he gained about $500,000 in monthly revenue.

Unclear when it will relaunch and how much it will end up earning. Estimates ranged between $15m-$300m/year.

I think the biggest question is if Musk will be able to continue to fund it.

His net worth has already fallen to $199B (down from $340B a year ago).

For Twitter, he's had to sell $19B of his Tesla shares (10% of net worth).

He says Twitter is currently losing $4M/day.

FTC spokesperson: "No CEO or company is above the law."

Moves like this are shitty for employees (making engineers "self-certify compliance with FTC requirements?!?") and shitty for users.

You can't do shit like this when you have 400 million users.

This is a great purpose for your business as well: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1572254339087101952

You can read Mike's post on Mastodon here:

@mike/109270985467672999" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://robot.rodeo/@mike/109270985467672999

My philosophy was heavily influenced by the founders of Great Harvest Bread Co:

"When all your choices are made with freedom and simplicity in mind, then freedom and simplicity are inevitable."

I wrote about Pete and Laura here:
https://justinjackson.ca/the-good-life

We need to balance hopefulness and concern.

It’s probably unwise to define ourselves as primarily optimistic or pessimistic.

Certain situations might call for an optimistic response, while others might require pessimism.

7/

I found this great article in @philosopher1923, "the UK's is the longest-running public philosophy journal.”

They explore the history behind pessimism and optimism:
https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/post/pessimism

2/

@SeldonCrisisPod @arithisandthat @elonmusk It depends on your audience, but here are a few ideas:

Mastodon: pick your "instance" (the community server you want to join on), and then start sharing.

Discord: join a community related to your topic.

Reddit: some subreddits will have specific days you can promote your pod

🎯 https://twitter.com/adamdavidson/status/1588562441184894977

@AlbanBrooke @dannypostmaa Summer, fall, winter, and spring!

[ caption this ]

Purple hair don’t care

"By paywalling all the features that would make the central feed a better experience, Twitter will decrease engagement, even further reduce the efficacy of its ads, and slow down its growth. Not great for a business struggling with ad sales and user growth."

@thierylaverdure @chris__sev +1 for metatags!

@TheAmolAvasare @jamesrbuk @elonmusk What if it’s 0.05% of MAUs? Or 1%? Or 0.73%?

We can pull any percentage out of a hat.

https://sive.rs/1pct

This was the first time I used @brennandunn's new @HelloPalladio email template service.

Worked great; looks great! 👍

@mjwhansen I'm not a big fan of many Cato Institute positions (especially around climate change) but this perspective is interesting:

"Avoiding global inflation had more to do with the absence of wars and revolutions in oil-producing countries (such as Russia)."

https://www.cato.org/blog/stop-lionizing-paul-volcker-villainizing-arthur-burns

@itsjoeturner Sure. We’ve been proposing those ideas for a long time.

But “ongoing cost for verification” is just dumb. https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/996635720583282689

@ianlandsman @earthlingworks Me too!

If you like Monkey Island, play “Day of the Tentacle” next.

@theartofchristi If you’re feeling depressed, I highly recommend @KHayhoe’s book. https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1533513752233926658

But there are certain types of trade work (HVAC repair, plumbing, carpentry, roofing, electrician) that seem largely unchanged over the past decades, and doesn’t seem likely to be replaced by technology anytime soon.

2/x

@panphora @JannaSlow ❤️

More of my thoughts here:

https://justinjackson.ca/ai-darkside

@pelaseyed Like this?

@thibpat @abhinavsohani @PaddleHQ When I calculate it, it's still cheaper (on an annual basis) to go with a service like Avalara which does everything for you.

We'd save 10s of thousands of dollars by not going with Paddle.

@jayclouse Software!

Web software, desktop applications, and mobile apps make great indie businesses.

@ZachInSpace @SquadCastFM Nice! Looks really great. 👍

@AlbanBrooke @stephenrobles Your wrestling name is the Pacing Podcaster™

@valsopi @blogstatic Congrats on the re-launch!

Everyone should have a blog; your new pricing makes it a no-brained. 👍

Aside from dinners out, we had a bunch of special outings that really made this retreat special:

- @CanadiensMTL game
- @ModeratOfficial concert
- Ferry ride
- Notre Dame light show

I heartily recommend outings like this!

@mariepoulin @TransistorFM @jsonperl @HelenRyles Yes! We might do Banff next hahaha

👋 Hey Montreal friends.

The Transistor team will be in Montreal from Oct 2-7, and there might some opportunities for some get-togethers.

If you're in the area and want to hang out, fill out this form, and we'll see if we can connect!

https://forms.reform.app/pF4xrZ/montreal/xt88tv

4. What are the threats from an ethical perspective?

"People might try out scenarios that are quite dark and might not be healthy. There's the threat that their chat logs will be exposed. An unethical organization could use the model we're training for nefarious purposes."

@valsopi It was cool to try it!

Really intuitive.

I love the idea of the “1-click-no-email-no-credit-card” trial.

@tomrossi7 It pumps me up when I can see other people working on stuff, making stuff. 👍

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

@liron @csallen @ChanningAllen enjoyed this one!

https://overcast.fm/+JmiPAw2T8

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 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

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

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

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?

I’m not saying we haven’t inherited some dire problems from previous generations. (We have!)

I’m just recognizing that there were people in the past who left us some enduringly positive things.

That makes me want to do the same for future generations.

@Maribel_QS You do amazing work and are a bright light for so many.

"Haters feel "good" when they make other people feel bad." – https://justinjackson.ca/haters

Sending you lots of ❤️ today!

One example of "non-centralized content distribution" was torrents.

The Pirate Bay was a centralized index, but it was easy to mirror (duplicate) the index on your own server.

Hundreds of these proxy sites maintain a copy of the Pirate Bay index.

@cheerfulpaige You're telling me "this is just the way it is, and it can't be changed."

This tweet thread is more explorative: "what if there was an open, distributed way to do this?"

I'm looking at the current state of affairs and asking: "what if it could be different?"

@threehourcoffee I remember that feeling! Nothing like it.

@noahwbragg But is crypto's code for "sending money" substantially better than, for example, TransferWise's code?

TransferWise is also way more efficient than its competitors (Wester Union, etc).

When most people use fiat currency, "sending crypto fast" doesn't seem like an advantage.

@mattwensing @randfish Yup. https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1276611514850373632

@biTRACIal Yes! @TransistorFM does this:

https://transistor.fm/features/dynamic-ads/

@stephenrobles @PodcastMovement @AlbanBrooke @zkahn Yeassssssss 🙌

@LindoMsane @arithisandthat Listening now! 👍

https://overcast.fm/+0TjgzjegY

Love these guys. https://twitter.com/jayclouse/status/1562960064658280448

@arithisandthat @JordanPods Is it REALY a podcast if it’s only on Spotify with no RSS feed? 😅🤭

/s

When you fly out of Kelowna, it’s almost always on a puddle jumper.

🛫

@Shpigford 🎯 Right now, I’m still seeing a lot of demand of web devs who know @tailwindcss.

https://jobs.tailwindcss.com/

@damengchen Love this - been wanting to implement something like it for a long time. 👍

@SimonHoiberg Great video!

The three tactics you outlined are a big reason we were able to bootstrap @TransistorFM to $20k MRR in the first year after launch.

https://transistor.fm/anniversary/

@SimianLogic @copy_ai @JudoHacker Yup, @TransistorFM has this now!

#t=22m35s" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.startuptosomething.com/71/#t=22m35s

@coreyhainesco @savvycal Nice. Upvoted!

@AlbanBrooke @PodcastMovement @TransistorFM @arithisandthat @webby2001 @BryanBarletta @JamesCridland @misener @iamjeremyenns @jonbuda @johnlpollard I'm the only one going from @TransistorFM this time.

I hope we can get more of the team out to future events. 👍

@BryanBarletta @PodcastMovement @TransistorFM @arithisandthat @AlbanBrooke @webby2001 @JamesCridland @misener @iamjeremyenns Are group outings pretty organic? How do those usually happen?

@thebulatk @IndieHackers I wasn't really comparing them in that sense.

I simply said: "For a VC-funded company, $20K MRR doesn't mean much. But for a small bootstrapped startup, it means a lot."

@misener @jonaswoost @wearebumper Congrats you two! 🎉

Your framework for podcast growth is the best I've seen. 👍

@coreyhainesco @ProductHunt 🌽

Since we went full-time on Transistor in 2019, we’ve accomplished so much:

http://Transistor.fm/changelog

What feels most impressive is that we’ve accomplished all of this with a small team. Jon and I were the only full-time people until 2021 when we hired @HelenRyles and @jsonperl.

I had to fly home on the 31st. This meant finalizing all the remaining pre-launch steps on airplanes and airports.

Jon and I met in 2014 at @xoxo. Our friend @chasewreeves introduced us.

We chatted about podcasting, and hung out a bunch that week.

(Back then I had a beard, and Jon had none. We’ve switched since then. 😆)

@CharlieGrinnell it was fun meeting you and hanging out today! 🙌

I shared that clip with @jonbuda in 2018 & said:

"It feels like there's definitely a parade in podcasting right now. The media's talking about it. Folks talk about podcasts in coffee shops. Businesses are using audio to build trust with audiences. We need to get in front of it!"

@CasJam 🎯

@MartinMartinse7 @BelfiBB @TransistorFM @sertalpbilal I wrote a good guide on what constitutes a download/listen/play here: https://help.transistor.fm/article/22-what-constitutes-a-download

@peldi @successfulsw @balsamiq YES! @balsamiq has one of the best company newsletters I've seen.

I was just thinking: "I really need to emulate some of these elements in the @TransistorFM newsletter."