Tweets

Choosing the right market is just step 1.

After that, there are many factors that influence success:

- who you know, and who knows you
- your financial margin
- how you execute on the product
- how you execute on marketing channels
- your history + skills
- positioning

Great marketing copy from @madebyroom.

What office worker hasn't had these kinds of struggles?

If you want to resonate with an audience, identify the real struggles they face every day.

When they see their feelings articulated, they'll say:

"Wow, these folks understand me!"

Sometimes, lackluster products can succeed when they’re repositioned for a different market.

Can you folks think of any examples?

Just finished shoveling and plowing. 😅

#vernonbc

One thing marketers, salespeople, devs, designers, and founders probably don’t want to hear:

When demand is really strong, you don’t even need to be that good!

Lots of “ok” businesses survive (and thrive) in captive markets.

Too often, entrepreneurs underestimate the power of inertia.

If a group of people is not already paying to solve a problem, it’s highly unlikely they’ll change.

You, likely, don’t have the energy, time, or resources to get a group who’s not spending to start spending.

The role of the founder isn’t to guess what people will be doing tomorrow.

Their job is to look at what people are doing right now, and figure out what the next natural evolution of that thing might look like.

If you're looking for a new podcast to listen to, @podhuntapp has tons of short episode previews you can listen to:

https://podhunt.app/

Update: sounds like they only paid $3 million!?!?

https://twitter.com/danprimack/status/1161038705295089664?s=21

If you listen to founder stories, you'll see a common thread: they encountered a market that was hungry for a solution.

They discover this a variety of ways:
- they had the problem themselves
- they were serving clients that had the problem
- they had peers that had the problem

This is me. https://twitter.com/samreich/status/966729805285806081

📖 Day 2 of reading @pjrvs' "Company of One."

He quotes @DeanAtAdaptiv who's found that "the level of resilience a person exhibits determines their success in business, far more than their level of education."

Resilient people:
1. Accept reality
2. Have purpose
3. Are adaptive

Good reminder from @JamesClear's newsletter today:

@rrhoover @dribbble @IndieHackers @ThePracticalDev Hey Ryan, @megamaker has been running since 2013 when we were a Campfire chat (you, Marc, and other were early participants).

2013: http://justinjackson.ca/jfdi/campfire
2018: http://megamaker.co/club

VapeFace #AppleEvent

🎙️ Murphy's Law of podcast interviews:

"The best tape always happens after the formal interview is done and you've stopped recording." 😖

Coffee shop vs Restaurant economics:

☕
- I spend at least $5 / day x 5 days a week ($100-$150 / month)
- I almost always go to the same place
- I go every day

🍔
- I spend ~$15 for lunch.
- Unlikely that I'll go to the same place more than twice a month ($30 / month)

I'm jealous of @studiofellow's website.

https://studiofellow.com/

It's so good.

Working on a #microconf 2018 highlights video. @cgenco gave me his incredible drone shots. This is going to be 💯!

Have a coming soon / waiting list page?

Here's the email drip sequence I'm using for http://Transistor.fm:

- Welcome: "What made you sign up?"
- 1 day later: "What we're building, and why we're building it."
- 1 day later: "Product demo."
- 7 days later: "Get early access!"

Love Alexandra Franzen’s approach to storytelling:

This is what happened.
This is what I learned.
This is what I urge you to do.

Just got back to BC from New York.

Had an incredible time at #laracon. Super impressed with the people in the Laravel community. 🙌

"Fix this for me."

☝️ the #1 reason people hire a professional.

Cascading offer sheet:

1. DIY (free)
2. Use my product to achieve X ($39 - $299)
3. I'll help you achieve 2X ($1k)
4. I do it all ($10k+)

Speaking at #MicroConf this year was awesome. ⚡️

Met so many amazing people. Can't wait for 2018. 💯

Been thinking a lot about this @CorbettBarr rant:

"If you're calling it 'content' you're doing it wrong."

"Pixels are cheap, but system architecture is not."

☝️ In the long run, a bad foundation will cost you the most $$$.

Three techniques for navigating life:

1. Perseverance
2. Iteration
3. Knowing when to move on

The truth is, most of the advice people give is so wrapped up in their personal experience that it just won't work for you.

Judging by the financial results we’ve seen from most startups, I think we need more “profit hackers” than “growth hackers.”

Products are torn between two realities:

1. They need to be good.
2. They need to be shipped before they're perfect.

How we’re spending $55,930.08 a year on SaaS products http://zite.to/1yb34Mz

Things that help the creative mind:

Conversation
Constraints
Life events
Boredom
Freedom
Doodles
Forests
Coffee
Walks
Naps

Sunset photo, #vernonbc

Wow!

Flying into Washington DC gives you an aerial tour of some of the most important monuments in the USA.

"I just don't like the idea of software being expensive.

With Basecamp, you cannot pay us more than $299 a month, period. You can have 9,000 employees – we cap the amount you can spend at 300 bucks."
– @jasonfried (on @awilkinson's podcast)

I was going to publish this as my newsletter tomorrow morning, but I'm going to let it sit for a bit and send it on Sunday.

(Needs more contemplation and editing before I send it).

Gotta give a shoutout to @dceddia's Recut app for Mac.

I use it all the time now in my screencasting workflow. Saves me a ton of time! 💯

I know that many startups (and indie hackers!) are doing good MRR numbers with AI-based tools, but there's still something about that space that makes me nervous.

Feels like a lot of platform risk and crazy amounts of competition...

The podcast I've been working on with @iamjeremyenns launched today! 🎉

It's for people who want to learn how to grow the audience for their podcast.

Search for "Podcast Marketing Trends Explained" in @ApplePodcasts, @Spotify, @OvercastFM, @pocketcasts, and more.

Almost done writing my 2023 year-in-review post.

(I've been doing these for 10 years now!)

I'll send it to my newsletter list tomorrow or Saturday. 👍

Right now, it’s pretty simple;

Pushups
Sit-ups
Pull-ups
Squats (kettle balls)
Dumbbell exercises
Bench press

The results so far: I feel consistently better, healthier. 👍

Having drinks with “the Boss” (@freekmurze) after @FullStackEU in Antwerp!

This resume from @jescalan is one of the best I've seen:
https://resume.jeffescalante.com/

If you're trying to get hired as a software engineer right now, take notes! This is the kind of CV that stands out from the pack.

"Dad, just get to the point. What's with this big long intro?"

"Ditch that animated title and music; nobody wants to watch that."

"There's nothing interesting about this shot; you're just sitting behind your desk talking."

"18 minutes?! Who's going to watch a video that long?"

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."

If you want a business that gives you a better life, think about the market first!

Go after opportunities where:

- buyers are actively looking for solutions
- you have experience + insights
- you’re confident you can capture a significant % of buyer interest
- margins are good

I know quite a few folks who tried Mastodon but didn't like the UX of the default web/mobile apps.

Thankfully, there are some new apps that will improve your Mastodon experience:

Ivory (by @tapbots)
Ice Cubes (by @Dimillian)
Elk (by @antfu7, @danielcroe, @patak_dev)

What's something you'd hire someone to do right now?

4 years ago, @jonbuda and I started a podcast about building a software company, right as we were starting @TransistorFM.

Our mission was to show people they could build a sustainable, "calm" company without having to raise millions in venture capital:

https://saas.transistor.fm/

Weird thing: when I had a mini dv camcorder I took video all the time (family, street video, events).

Now I have this amazing 4k video camera in my pocket (iPhone) and I rarely take video; it’s almost all photos.

Potential customers don't actually act on "what they need;" they act on "what they want."

When you're looking for business ideas, search for desires, not needs.

For most founders (especially those with children), it's best to either:

a) Keep your day job, and gradually build up your startup on the side
b) Raise some money, and use that to fund the first 1-2 years of the company

But don't just quit your job and "hope for the best!"

Most decisions in life can’t be be a/b tested so we actually have no idea if we’re making the optimal choice?

When you're working on a new product idea, look for evidence of organic demand.

You shouldn't have to "pull too hard" to attract customers; the market should be doing most of the work for you.

Also, my previous episode with Taylor, where he goes through his whole backstory, is perhaps one of the best indie SaaS success stories I've heard.

You can listen to that here:
https://share.transistor.fm/s/1493e91f

💯 "bootstrapping a profitable firm to $1 million is equally impressive as impressive as building a billion-dollar unicorn"

It's also:
- more likely to pay the founder more $
- more calm https://twitter.com/AmeetM/status/1476168640273727492

If you’re kayaking down a river, you can be creative in how your respond to the rapids, but you can’t change the flow of the water.

The same is true for startups: we can be innovative in how we respond to customers, but we can’t manifest market demand where there is none.

🦄 Questions of the Day 🦄

Did you go to college?
What did you study?
Was it a good experience?
What's your advice for young people going to college?

"Our first gig there were 8 people. On the 2nd gig there was 28. On the 3rd gig there were 48. And it went on from there." - @IronMaiden

👀

Hyperinflation occurs when monthly inflation rate is greater than 50% (yearly equivalent would be 12974.63%).

The USA’s yearly inflation is
5.39%. Canada’s is 4.38%!

We are a long way from “worldwide hyperinflation.” https://twitter.com/jack/status/1451733913961783299

Good point: how come most crypto communities use Discord?

Surely a decentralized blockchain equivalent exists? https://twitter.com/fabiogiolito/status/1433576180255428613

Got a DM from someone at Apple.

I asked about the RSS submission bugs:

"We've been having issues with the crawler. Hoping to have it resolved today." 👍

I asked why public RSS URLs were removed from the API:

"That's a bug. There was no intention to remove feed URLs en masse."

Really proud of what we’re building at Transistor.

If you have a podcast (or want to start one) we’d love to host it for you! 🥰 https://twitter.com/TransistorFM/status/1377040714891063297

I love how easy it is to block off time in @savvycal_ 👍

(It's spring break for the kids!)

Trying out @jam_systems (an open-source Clubhouse competitor).

Does this work?

https://jam.systems/saas-club-q8ix

The @IndieHackers podcast has been SO GOOD lately.

This episode with @ljin18, on the state of the passion economy (and the opportunity to bring more wealth to the middle class) is a must listen.

https://share.transistor.fm/s/2f81bf88

Leaving a career path (and starting a business) carries this ironic risk:

📈 If your company succeeds, your value as a potential employee goes way up!

📉 If your company fails, and you spent years not climbing the corporate ladder, your value as an employee goes down.

Status update: I just ate the biggest bowl of poutine in Canada. 🍁

Increasingly, I think the idea of “build an audience before you build your product” is misguided.

An audience is *helpful* for launching into a category, but isn’t enough on its own.

You need true market momentum.

The internet is just being held together by duct tape.

https://twitter.com/g_bonfiglio/status/1300022993251446785

How I host my website for free with @statamic CMS + Netlify. https://www.pscp.tv/w/chWihDM4NTU1MXwxa3ZLcGVqV0xXZEdF9BUsmP__Y2VJbmREZu5iI74pG1ptBxpwsElYOIE0e-w=

If you don’t believe me, go browse old listings on Product Hunt.

You’ll see page after page of beautifully executed products that never achieved meaningful traction.

There have been thousands of ideas posted; most failed.

Are ideas really “easy?”

Cool project from @nealagarwal: see everything that's happened since you were born.

(I was born in June 1980)

https://neal.fun/life-stats

@derrickreimer Lol. I honestly didn't even think about how ironic this was! 🤣

Building a changelog for @TransistorFM using a new collection in @statamic CMS.

(Still need to fix some @tailwindcss styling)

Made it up to the mountain for some afternoon laps though.

I needed this reminder. 👍 https://twitter.com/SimpsonDaniK/status/1198942499051585537

@marckohlbrugge @levelsio I would pay for the "Carrd version" of Meetup, where I pay $19 / year, and get to run multiple events, handle RSVPs, etc...

At that price point, it becomes a no-brainer.

cc @ajlkn

I'm really looking forward to listening to this tomorrow!

https://twitter.com/taylorotwell/status/1181940046707986432

Building a product? I think this pricing strategy, where it’s low enough that it’s a “no-brainer,” is worth considering: https://twitter.com/emilioschepis/status/1162291276114472961

👋 Still here in Brooklyn.

☕️ I have a few meetings booked over the next few days, but I’d love to hang out if you’re around!

🎤 I’d love to meet more podcast folks! Spent some time at Spotify on Tuesday, and don’t want to miss anyone before I leave!

✈️ I fly home on Monday.

"Don't just stand there, do something!"

It's amazing how often the opposite is true.

Instead of doing something, the best reaction is to... wait.

To succeed, your product has to offer an outcome that is highly desirable to a large group of customers.

Gradually, over time, demand for Barbershop A increased.

Clients had to start booking appointments months in advance.

THAT'S when they increased their prices: when there was clearly an intense demand for the product.

"Charge more" only works when there's sufficient demand.

A business' capacity to charge more depends on a number of factors:

1. How the customer perceives your product's value
2. The intensity of the customer's desire for your product
3. The availability (supply) of your product vs demand
4. Your customer's ability to pay

📝 Notes from my kids (summer holidays edition).

Imagine if you made $1 every time you snapped your fingers.

If you snap your fingers every second for 11 days you’ll earn a million dollars.

To get a billion? You’d have to snap your fingers every second for 31.5 years.

https://twitter.com/paul_franz/status/1025451165142536194?s=21

If you're leading a company, you have two main responsibilities:

1. Thinking
2. Making decisions

📊 Reverse engineering how @adamwathan got his landing page traffic for https://productvalidationchecklist.com.

“We tried that before and it didn’t work.”

But maybe... your timing or execution was wrong.

Sometimes it’s worth trying things again!

In 2018, unique/different/weird will determine who breaks through the noise.

You can't use the same messaging/design/features as your competitors.

The idea is to give your customers an experience that makes them say: "Wow, that was totally unique and unexpected, but awesome."

“True marketing does not ask ‘What do we want to sell?’ It asks, ‘What does the customer want to buy?’”
— Peter Drucker

Folks ask me all the time which tools I'm using to run my biz. Here's the current list:

https://justinjackson.ca/tools/

https://twitter.com/AndrewAskins/status/918587422623125506

Here's the story about the time @sivers sent me a rejection letter:

https://justinjackson.ca/heads-down/

Whoooooaaah!

@mxpx is 25 years old today.

I discovered them when I was 13 and I've been listening ever since.

It's better for you to try and fail, than to sit on the sidelines and not do anything.

Trying > doing nothing

"Here's what is important to me as a founder: purpose, freedom, stability, and relationships." – @robwalling #microconf

"You can't just 'charge more' – you have to have a better product." – @natalienagele #microconf