Tweets

When we talk about “improving churn,” there’s also an “illusion of control.”

Yes, if your product is buggy, churn will go up (you can probably fix that).

But churn is also affected by variables outside of your control:

- world events
- market dynamics
- competitive pressure

I wrote a post about this (when should you quit?):

https://justinjackson.ca/quit

Amanda Natividad: @amandanat

If you're looking for product marketing tips or experiments you can run on your own SaaS, Amanda shares tons of good tips. She does marketing at @sparktoro (and was previously at @growthmachine__ and @fitbit).

Veni Kunche: @venikunche

After working as a software engineer since 2003, she started @DiversifyTechCo with the aim of making tech more inclusive for underrepresented folks.

Go for walks 🚶‍♀️

The nice thing about a walk is it’s easy to initiate: just get your shoes on, and head out the door.

Walking is rhythm, breathing, mindfulness.

It’s especially helpful when I get into nature.

In addition to the importance of "casual friends," are the "friendly strangers I see regularly."

Saying "hello" to the person who you regularly see walking their dog has a big impact on overall well-being.

https://twitter.com/sean_m_flannery/status/1494146591602663424

When you're starting out, you can't do everything yourself.

Look for mutually beneficial partnerships.

Example: when @taylorotwell released @laravelphp in 2011, it was @jeffrey_way who helped popularize it through his @laracasts tutorials.

https://youtu.be/127ng7botO4?t=910

@btushar I got it mostly written now.

I’m writing this thread “old school.”

Great post. 👍 https://twitter.com/asmartbear/status/1497654926876545031

I’m not saying that media personalities and tech CEOs can’t be part of the conversation.

But increasingly, folks are eschewing credible sources of information for singular influencers, Substacks, and YouTube channels.

They’re eating junk food instead of a well-balanced meal.

This short clip I recorded (in 2019) with @csallen for @IndieHackers perfectly encapsulates my feelings:

https://share.transistor.fm/s/7e7020f7

Age 34
- started consulting f/t for startups
- started writing book
- met @jonbuda at XOXO

Age 35
- spoke at first conference (@MicroConf)
- published book: @marketingdevs

Age 36:
- went f/t on products
- spoke at 2nd conference (@appsumo)

@Jessica_B365 @shriyanevatia @DulmaTara I really dig the friendship dynamic between @mjwhansen and @leenyburger on https://softwaresocial.dev/

Refreshing thread on how company leaders should be thinking about solving problems. https://twitter.com/reinpk/status/1485608419356676101

@tylertringas Just seeing all the work it takes to start a fund (legal, accounting, structure, partners, no salary for first two years) was enough to dissuade me.

Reminded me of this tweet. 😜

https://twitter.com/TheNickRuffini/status/1483182327995846656

The feeling of "exasperated adrenaline" that we experience after we've had a busy day at the office isn't healthy, or sustainable.

If your head is spinning every evening when you get off work, you need to slow down.

@aarondfrancis @typeoneerror @tnorthcutt +1 for @calebporzio. He’s super smart and passionate.

@rofigueras @laserlikemike I wrote an overview here: https://justinjackson.ca/build

@jdnoc What you've accomplished and learned before the age of 30 is truly inspiring. 👍

Well done. Cheering for you and your next project! 👏

@JordanGal Snow has soul.

Podcasting and RSS is a hedge against platform risk.

Yes, it’s easier in the short-term to upload to YouTube and sign up for their Partner Program (to earn ad rev).

But, in the long run, it’s much better to build your own monetization system.

https://transistor.fm/make-money-podcasting/

Packaged this thread up into a blog post here:

https://justinjackson.ca/vague

@EspreeDevora @arithisandthat @SquadCastFM @TransistorFM @AlbanBrooke @buzzsprout Thx Espree! ❤️

We've decided to launch @meepsapp on Product Hunt on January 15th.

The early-access deal will be available until then: https://meeps.app

(Quite a few folks joining now, because they're planning on building something in 2022)

@bombeztic @Sofiaqt @loom @MiroHQ @heyenjoyhq @Zoom I’ve started using @ZipMessage for 100% async video chat. (Like Loom, but with threads)

I really like it!

@alexisohanian Love @TZhongg’s background. She is on brand!! 💯

What drives podcast growth/traction?

It's not reviews!

A leading indicator seems to be "how often is the podcast being recommended on social media, in group chats, and in private messages?"

@arvidkahl This reminded me of a conversation I had with @smithtimmytim 3 years ago.

Learning to face discomfort, experience discomfort, and not run from discomfort…

https://overcast.fm/+N15_58JRw

@noahwbragg @CasJam @ZipMessage @TransistorFM @buildyoursaas YOU LISTEN TO MY PODCAST AT 2X!!?

😱

Does this mean you’re not hearing all of my dramatic pauses? 🤔🤯😭

Example:

@mailbrew launched in March of 2020, and exposure from 9to5Mac, MacSparky, Reddit and Hacker News.

9 months later, the same team launched @typefullyapp.

Even though Mailbrew had a head start, Typefully now earns more revenue:

https://twitter.com/frankdilo/status/1465761829960003584?s=21

+1 from @destraynor https://twitter.com/destraynor/status/1464715293142528004

So much this. https://twitter.com/rachelnabors/status/1464387933264359430

If you’ve been thinking about switching your podcast(s) to @TransistorFM now’s a great time:

Sign up now and get 20% off one year of podcast hosting on @TransistorFM.* https://twitter.com/TransistorFM/status/1464109938779693056

Maybe I should just buy this and sit it on my desk 😅

https://want.jp/product/A5DCAC0094552C

As @adamwathan explains here, "Fixed time, Flexible scope" is the main thrust of Basecamp's Shape Up process:

Interesting research here on changing social norms: https://twitter.com/SaraUllstrom/status/1462789839204634627

Turns out, “begging the question,” in its original form, doesn’t mean “that raises a question” or “that prompts a new question.”

Originally, it was used to describe an informal fallacy, a sort of circular reasoning:

“Love is the best emotion because it is the most loving.”

If you're going the wrong direction, moving faster (and breaking a few things) is not going to solve the problem.

@dvassallo Small "c" conservatives; yes. 😉

(Ironically, a true conservative would be much more ecologically minded / opposed to environmental destruction)

@coreyhainesco 100% @joshuaanderton building @meepsapp

https://meeps.app

@aarondfrancis @m1guelpf In the back of my mind I was positive that I'd taken a selfie with Miguel when we met in NYC.

(This is all I could find – https://twitter.com/eduarguzher/status/1154111543312900096)

Was hoping I could use it to get political favors when Miguel becomes President of the Metaverse. 😄

This is what I'm trying to highlight: look at the exorbitant emissions from the "top 1%".

The UN's definition of top 1%? Anyone who made more than $109K in 2015.

For most of us in tech, *that's us*. The burden is on us to decrease our emissions.

https://www.unep.org/emissions-gap-report-2020

@kennethn “Let’s leave the Internet and work outside”

<dramatically unplugs Ethernet cable>

"Frequent-flying 'super emitters' are just 1% of the world but caused half of aviation’s carbon emissions in 2018."

"Air travel is a uniquely damaging behaviour, resulting in more emissions per hour than any other activity, bar starting forest fires."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/31/elite-minority-frequent-flyers-aviation-climate-damage-flights-environmental

It's surprising to see so many tech folks dismissive of the idea that we might be able to positively influence the culture.

For the last 3-4 decades, the tech industry has facilitated massive social change.

We're *good* at this.

Strong sales/marketing is cumulative: it’s the gradual accumulation of assets, skills, experience, and connections over time.

Strong/sales marketing is also category specific: what works in one category might not work in another.

By this measure, the only country currently experiencing hyperinflation is Venezuela.

But Venezuela’s inflation is actually down from its peak in February 2019.

@arvidkahl Wow! Congrats! 🎉

@wrgoto @IndieHackers Fastest growing... what?

Teams?
Revenue $?
Revenue %?
LTV?
Valuation?

And is the MoM, YoY? 😄

Such a weird move.

People don't want to be limited to searching music with Siri.

People (especially Gen Z!) want a cheaper plan that competes with Spotify's free plan. https://twitter.com/siracusa/status/1450146183549231108

@travisosterhaus @heyjoshwood After trying a bunch for @TransistorFM, we ended up with @crisp_im and we’ve really liked it!

@adamwathan but where are the slayer posters?

Ok. I've updated @TransistorFM's schema stuff here.

Anything else I should do?

@shildner 🤣🤣🤣

2.5 ETH

Lookin’ good! 💯 https://twitter.com/mojoadam_/status/1443810012086759424

Anyone I know actively using dynamic ad insertion (for podcasts) on Megaphone, Redcircle, Libsyn, etc?

If so, could you DM me?

Looks like @NathanG and @jasonlbeggs had the solution! (Inside the @megamaker slack)

Thanks!

Hey, any @Netlify people who can help a dummy like me?

I'm using this plugin to generate a sitemap for @TransistorFM: https://github.com/netlify-labs/netlify-plugin-sitemap

But I need it to generate URLs with a trailing slash.

(Instructions say to edit the .toml file - I have no idea how to do that. 🙈)

Love the stuff @joshuaanderton is building for @meepsapp.

This new feature (collaborative lists / portfolios) solves a problem a lot of membership sites have.

(No more sharing Google Sheets!)

https://youtu.be/Sg41VXS6_-4

FORGET NFTS! THIS IS WHAT I WANT.

https://infotel.ca/newsitem/west-kelowna-man-looking-for-new-conductor-to-take-over-10000-model-railroad-set/it85881

@hnshah @nbashaw I think it's still possible to be curious, and engage in transformative criticism.

I've dipped my toe in here and there (I have an old crypto wallet from 4-5 years ago), and I just got my first @m1guelpf tokens in my Rainbow wallet.

Curious; but can't fully embrace yet.

@damengchen Congrats! Such a great milestone to hit. 🎉

Also, is how is OpenSea “decentralized”? It seems quite centralized to me!

Update: it turns out @litecoin *IS* an official @LTCFoundation account.

"one of our social media team members was a little to eager and shared the story from the Litecoin Twitter account."

@apompliano, who is regulating crypto orgs for not doing diligence before publishing???

@aarondfrancis @JacobBennett @gonedark @enunomaduro LaraSyrup 2021 🇨🇦

@MrAsquith @TransistorFM @CaptivateAudio We also launched enhanced private podcast feeds way before you:

Transistor: Nov 14, 2019 https://transistor.fm/changelog/private-podcasts-version-2/

Captivate: Nov 20, 2020

Who's copying who? 🤣

@Bonini84 @sujanpatel For @TransistorFM, our podcast was our first move.

On the show, we shared our startup journey; going from $0 to where we are today.

Before we had a website; before we started doing video.

Sharing our story early-on helped us get fans that stuck with us as we grew.

🎙 🎧 📈

"Not all truths are established truths. If you flip a coin and never check how it landed, it may be true that it landed heads, even if nobody has any way to tell. Truth is a matter of how things are, not how they can be shown to be."

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/knowledge-analysis/

@EspreeDevora @lexrodba @dasjoshua @ZyoniK_ @Reis2Occasion @jamonholmgren @ItsGenis @SquadCastFM @Zach__Moreno @AlbanBrooke I’ve been using @RogueAmoeba’s Audio Hijack Pro. They have a “denoiser” setting.

Definitely read @kylefox's whole take:

https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1433616885736685568?s=20

@wslyvh .@cdixon identifies a few limitations, but misses the most potent constraint: adoption.

Without widespread adoption (by "regular" folks), the promise of web3 won't work.

Government funding of internet infrastructure stoked web 1.0/2.0 adoption. How will that happen with web3?

@typeoneerror Haha. And you've only seen my growth in my 30s!

You wouldn't believe the stuff I used to think. 😳

Google Analytics really wasn’t designed to track recurring revenue.

If you search “tracking SaaS revenue in google analytics” the top results basically tell you it’s difficult. It requires multiple hacks that aren’t great.

@thisiskp_ @arvidkahl Tips for growing an audience on Twitter?

@mattwensing When I say "calm" I'm not talking about the building phase, I'm talking about the goal.

Our goal was to build a small, calm, profitable company.

It took me multiple tries, and years of effort, before I landed on Transistor.

Building Transistor was hard for 2 years, then, bliss

@yongfook btw - if i was your BootstrapBoss™️ I would pay you $2M salary 😘

🎯 Perfectly said.

The best form of marketing is having a product that people already want to buy.

https://twitter.com/AaronOrendorff/status/1425103631917797376?s=20

We need to push our governments to create policy that dramatically decreases our carbon emissions.

“If we manage to rapidly cut our emissions, restore natural ecosystems and get better at preventing wildfires, we might put a stop to this cycle.”

https://time.com/6087748/wildfires-around-the-world-photos/

Lots of folks asking about this.

We already have this as a part of our process. (And we offer it every time).

Doesn't matter: these bigger companies want to get on a call or they won't budge.

https://twitter.com/Clogish/status/1418661464404107266

@mattwensing I don't think there's enough lead volume for this.

Keep in mind: since January, we've only had ~30 requests for demos.

I'm not convinced there's enough overall demand for "enterprise podcast hosting."

(Also, not sure if we want to be in that business?)

Posting it on @IndieHackers as well:
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/im-making-our-saas-analytics-public-for-24-hours-how-would-you-run-our-marketing-acdc18fdb9

@TransistorFM @usefathom Also posted on @chddaniel's SaaS subreddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaS/comments/oossff/making_our_saas_analytics_public_for_24_hours_how/

@TransistorFM @AndrewWarner @Mixergy Andrew was a big inspiration for me wanting to start my own podcast in 2012.

Incredibly gratifying to see him using the podcast platform that @jonbuda and I built. 🥰

@mattwensing @usesummit Here’s my setup here http://justinjackson.ca/livestreaming

“The climate activism needed today doesn’t focus on individual “behavior;” changes that only account for around 4% of emissions.

What’s needed today is sustained outrage at the powerful, by those with the time and resources to express it.” – @emorwee https://heated.world/p/what-can-i-do-anything

Loved this part:

@AndreyAzimov @csallen Nice! Next up in my podcast queue. 👍

@r00k @bsierakowski @jonbuda In a company, the boss generally curates who you work with, and sets the tone for the work environment.

In our coworking place, members curate who joins, and we all set the tone.

Even compared to the best companies I’ve worked at, coworking feels decidedly more “free.”

You can hear my skepticism on display in this chat I had with @tylertringas and @Shpigford.

(Despite my skepticism, I invested in the Maybe round, and would have invested in the Earnest round if it was done on Republic)

https://saasclub.transistor.fm/episodes/is-crowdfunding-good-for-investors

@editingemily Marketers are also a missed opportunity for most tech companies.

Many “API-driven” companies are secretly serving more marketers than developers. 🤫

😲 ALMOST THERE!

We're 99% of the way towards our goal of 100 subscribers! 🔥

h/t @joshuaanderton

Sign up here:

👉 http://producthunt.com/upcoming/meeps

@nathanbarry Happy Birthday! 🎉

You inspired me to publish my first indie project.

I'm still learning from you (and following your example) today.

I appreciate the way you've thoughtfully, and generously, lead ConvertKit. 🙏

@scottmathson @joshuaanderton @meepsapp @ProductHunt We automatically create an online member directory for your community, association, newsletter, or membership.

Members can customize their profile and choose to make it public, visible only to members, or private.

@alischwanke @hnshah Coffee, brunch, friends, family, sun, beach. 🏖

@taylorotwell Thanks Taylor! You bringing me into the Laravel tribe has meant more to me than you’ll ever know. Really appreciate it. 🙏

@mynameis_davis There's a sweet spot.

By the time someone has hit $10k-$20k in MRR (like @yongfook and @derrickreimer have recently) they've more than proven themselves.

(I personally know a handful of cool companies that would LOVE to have a @yongfook or @derrickreimer and would pay $$$$$$$)

@anildash @glitch 100% https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1030569060444979200

@christophrumpel Loved Ninja Turtles. Also:

@JordanGal That observation seems correct.

It also explains why bootstrappers and VCs generally don’t get along at cocktail parties. 😆

Blind ambition seems irresponsible to indie founders. The idea of striking out 7 times with the hope of hitting 2-3 home runs is just alien to us.

@earthlingworks 🎯 Arguably, SEO, building audiences, side-project marketing, and brand are all incredibly “expensive” in that they take a lot of time.