291: To Pivot or Not to Pivot
The Bootstrapped Founder
02/02/24
•13m
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Join me as I dive into a crucial choice every entrepreneur faces, balancing what excites us with what makes sense. This week, a voicemail made me deeply think about my projects, Podline and Podscan. One's a service for podcast voicemails, and the other scans podcast content.
The message brought up a common challenge for founders: the pull towards starting something new versus sticking with what you've already built. Together, let's explore how I deal with staying focused, the lure of new chances, and often, what guides many of our choices in business: the chance to make money.
This episode is sponsored by Acquire.com
The blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/to-pivot-or-not-to-pivot/
The podcast episode: https://tbf.fm/episodes/291-to-pivot-or-not-to-pivot
Send me a voicemail on Podline: https://podline.fm/arvid
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
Here are a few tools I use. Using my affiliate links will support my work at no additional cost to you.
- Notion (which I use to organize, write, coordinate, and archive my podcast + newsletter): https://affiliate.notion.so/465mv1536drx
- Riverside.fm (that's what I recorded this episode with): https://riverside.fm/?via=arvid
- TweetHunter (for speedy scheduling and writing Tweets): http://tweethunter.io/?via=arvid
- HypeFury (for massive Twitter analytics and scheduling): https://hypefury.com/?via=arvid60
- AudioPen (for taking voice notes and getting amazing summaries): https://audiopen.ai/?aff=PXErZ
- Descript (for word-based video editing, subtitles, and clips): https://www.descript.com/?lmref=3cf39Q
- ConvertKit (for email lists, newsletters, even finding sponsors): https://convertkit.com?lmref=bN9CZw
Previous Episode
290: Spencer Patterson — Mastering Market Niches and Startup Growth
January 31, 2024
•58m
Spencer Patterson (@SpencePatterson) is a former financial advisor turned tech entrepreneur, who transformed his non-technical background into a $3.5 million SaaS triumph. Spencer shares his journey from navigating failed ideas to creating a platform generating $140K in monthly revenue with 6 million users. His experience offers a blueprint for marketing MVPs, team-building on a budget, and balancing tech with customer service in a startup.
Spencer also reveals his plans to build a YouTube community for founders, sharing knowledge and insights on AI, avoiding common pitfalls, and supporting indie hackers. Don't miss this episode, where Spencer's story serves as both a lesson in startup growth and a vision for future SaaS community development.
Spencer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpencePatterson
00:00:00 Founder's Journey to Building Successful SaaS
00:07:21 Marketing and Hiring Challenges for Startups
00:14:14 Customer Service and Time Management
00:23:42 Founders Helping Each Other on YouTube
00:27:08 Discussing Startup Strategies and Media Impact
00:37:10 Evaluating AI Advice and Avoiding Replication
00:48:32 Building a Community for Indie Hackers
This episode is sponsored by Acquire.com
The blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/spencer-patterson-mastering-market-niches-and-startup-growth/
The podcast episode: https://tbf.fm/episodes/290-spencer-patterson-mastering-market-niches-and-startup-growth
The video: https://youtu.be/ncACSAapc_c
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
Here are a few tools I use. Using my affiliate links will support my work at no additional cost to you.
- Notion (which I use to organize, write, coordinate, and archive my podcast + newsletter): https://affiliate.notion.so/465mv1536drx
- Riverside.fm (that's what I recorded this episode with): https://riverside.fm/?via=arvid
- TweetHunter (for speedy scheduling and writing Tweets): http://tweethunter.io/?via=arvid
- HypeFury (for massive Twitter analytics and scheduling): https://hypefury.com/?via=arvid60
- AudioPen (for taking voice notes and getting amazing summaries): https://audiopen.ai/?aff=PXErZ
- Descript (for word-based video editing, subtitles, and clips): https://www.descript.com/?lmref=3cf39Q
- ConvertKit (for email lists, newsletters, even finding sponsors): https://convertkit.com?lmref=bN9CZw
- (00:00) - Founder's Journey to Building Successful SaaS
- (07:21) - Marketing and Hiring Challenges for Startups
- (14:14) - Customer Service and Time Management
- (23:42) - Founders Helping Each Other on YouTube
- (27:08) - Discussing Startup Strategies and Media Impact
- (37:10) - Evaluating AI Advice and Avoiding Replication
- (48:32) - Building a Community for Indie Hackers
Next Episode
292: Josh Pigford — The Open-Source Transformation of Maybe
February 7, 2024
•49m
Josh Pigford (@shpigford), who created Maybe and Baremetrics, talks about bringing his financial tool back to life by making it open-source!
This has sparked surprisingly high levels of interest and even investment.
Within two weeks.
In our chat, we delve into the challenge of building a platform that simplifies financial data, similar to how Zapier simplifies automation, all under public scrutiny. The goal? A community-supported plugin system and a customizable personal finance operating system for every life stage. Josh also discusses considering changing the technology behind his project to Rails, weighing the pros and cons of different tech choices, and the reasons people contribute to open-source projects.
Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shpigford
00:00:00 Building Maybe
00:10:44 Standardizing Financial Data Integration
00:16:40 Choosing Tech for a Development Project
00:24:37 Bootstrapping and Funding Open-Source Projects
00:33:13 Motivation and Fulfillment in Helping Others
00:38:04 Open Source Software and Long-Term Goals
This episode is sponsored by Acquire.com
The blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/josh-pigford-the-open-source-transformation-of-maybe/
The podcast episode: https://tbf.fm/episodes/292-josh-pigford-the-open-source-transformation-of-maybe
The video: https://youtu.be/wq1qYUxUxag
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
Here are a few tools I use. Using my affiliate links will support my work at no additional cost to you.
- Notion (which I use to organize, write, coordinate, and archive my podcast + newsletter): https://affiliate.notion.so/465mv1536drx
- Riverside.fm (that's what I recorded this episode with): https://riverside.fm/?via=arvid
- TweetHunter (for speedy scheduling and writing Tweets): http://tweethunter.io/?via=arvid
- HypeFury (for massive Twitter analytics and scheduling): https://hypefury.com/?via=arvid60
- AudioPen (for taking voice notes and getting amazing summaries): https://audiopen.ai/?aff=PXErZ
- Descript (for word-based video editing, subtitles, and clips): https://www.descript.com/?lmref=3cf39Q
- ConvertKit (for email lists, newsletters, even finding sponsors): https://convertkit.com?lmref=bN9CZw
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