209: MicroConf US '23 Recap — What Happens When 250 SaaS Founders Meet

The Bootstrapped Founder

04/21/23

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48m

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This week, I got on my first post-COVID trip and headed to Denver, Colorado for MicroConf 2023.

It.

Was.

Awesome.

Unsurprisingly, being in the same room with 250 other bootstrapped SaaS founders is one of the nerdiest things you can do. And it was as enlightening as it was nerdy. I just arrived back home in Canada a few hours ago, so I took the opportunity to share my insights from the conference on my podcast. Enjoy!

00:00:14 Intro

00:02:26 What is MicroConf?

00:08:42 STIR

00:11:21 The talks

00:16:34 The speaksessionsers

00:19:19 My session on mental health

00:25:43 Feeling isolated

00:28:31 How to start a conversation about your own experience.

00:34:37 Mental health as a founder is paramount.

00:37:25 MicroConf is more than just a conference

00:43:28 Things outside the conference hall

My MicroConf EU 2019 attendee talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TheiytjsZoY
MicroConf Connect: https://microconf.com/connect

My new podcast project: Arvid & Tyler Catch Up / https://catchup.fm

The blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/microconf-us-23-recap-what-happens-when-250-saas-founders-meet/

The podcast episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/9d12dbc0

The video: https://youtu.be/8ty4NNbVnMo

You'll find my weekly article on my blog: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com

Podcast: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/podcast

Newsletter: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/newsletter

My book Zero to Sold: https://zerotosold.com/

My book The Embedded Entrepreneur: https://embeddedentrepreneur.com/

My course Find your Following: https://findyourfollowing.com

Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/arvidkahl/

This episode is sponsored by Pinto Financial. Check out their demo!

Previous Episode

208: Louis Nicholls — Growing Your Newsletter

April 19, 2023

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51m

When it comes to building an "owned audience," nothing beats an email list. Louis Nicholls is a newsletter expert, and he shared with me how to monetize a list, how to grow it reliably, and why cold emails are often done spectacularly wrong.

Louis will show you how to do email right.

00:00:00 Why did you choose to build SparkLoop?

00:05:23 Grow an audience, monetize a list

00:09:07 How do you maintain customer quality in a network?

00:14:55 Advice on how to cross-link your knowledge with other channels.

00:18:48 How much is too much in terms of "buying" subscribers?

00:21:59 What makes a newsletter word of mouth-worthy?

00:27:48 Struggling with self-promotion

00:31:51 What makes a good or a really bad cold email?

00:36:44 Why all cold emails look the same

00:42:57 Why a good message is never cold

00:48:57 Borrowed audiences always have risk

My new podcast project: Arvid & Tyler Catch Up / https://catchup.fm

The blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/louis-nicholls-growing-your-newsletter/

The podcast episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/8e4bcbf9

The video: https://youtu.be/FNolzZtXjLI

You'll find my weekly article on my blog: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com

Podcast: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/podcast

Newsletter: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/newsletter

My book Zero to Sold: https://zerotosold.com/

My book The Embedded Entrepreneur: https://embeddedentrepreneur.com/

My course Find Your Following: https://findyourfollowing.com

Next Episode

210: Dr. Sherry Walling — The Reality of Burnout for Entrepreneurs

April 26, 2023

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54m

Few people had an impact on my founder journey as Dr. Sherry Walling — and she didn't even know. But I got to tell her! We discussed burnout, imposter syndrome, and stress among founders. Sherry explained the need for mental health professionals who understand the unique challenges of entrepreneurship and shared that burnout is a diagnosable issue.

While entrepreneurs have more control over their work, long hours and hustle culture can still lead to burnout. Her book, "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together," helped me during a period of burnout while selling my business.

Now, you get to learn from her and her deeply actionable insights into founder psychology.

00:00:00 Introduction to Sherry Walling

00:03:13 Mental health in the entrepreneur community.

00:09:17 Do entrepreneurs have control over their destiny?

00:15:22 How do you find good mastermind groups?

00:21:52 Mental health is not always called mental health

00:28:20 Grief is the emotional reaction to loss

00:34:06 You can have relationships with people who don’t get it.

00:40:24 Mental health apps are not a replacement for therapy.

00:45:59 Why aren’t more people talking about mental health?

The WIRED article about mental health apps: https://www.wired.com/story/are-mental-health-apps-worth-trying/

My new podcast project: Arvid & Tyler Catch Up / https://catchup.fm