Episode 16: Building a Software Business On The Road w/Mike Taber

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Mike Taber of AuditShark shares his tale of building a software business while on the road as a consultant.  We talk about life as a consultant and a founder, the random nature of hits, and some common behaviors of successful bootstrappers.

Bootstrapped Product Talking Points

  • Why getting help is important to a solo founder
  • The exigencies of the game market vs the market for business apps
  • The depression of watching business start to crumble
  • Recognizing market opportunities in what other companies leave behind

Mike-related links:

singlefounder.com
auditshark.com
moonriversoftware.com
moonriverconsulting.com
startupsfortherestofus
micropreneuracademy.com
microconf 2014

 

Show-related links:

Pedestal Software
Rovio – maker of Angry Birds
Einstein
Rob Walling – founder of HitTail and Drip
Symantec
GoogleAdWords
Oprah
Lifestyle Business
Marie Forleo
Cogeian Systems – my consulting firm
SmallSpec – my startup – Painless Functional Specs (join the launch list!)

Mike is an interesting dude.  He was successful at building a software business while still being a consultant, and he’s done it alone.  Because of my strong aversion to partnering up, seeing a success story like the one Mike has is very important to me.  Through it all, he has been able to distill what he has learned in such a way that it makes sense when he explains it.

We touch on Mike’s history as a consultant and founder, discuss some examples of success that doesn’t look like you expect it to, and even share a brutally honest moment with Mike as he recounts watching his business crater when the economy got rough.  This last moment is particularly interesting; it’s rare for a founder to be so honest about the ugly side of running a business.

Comments & feedback are welcome via Twitter or e-mail.

Episode 1: From Freelancer to Bootstrapped Product Launch w/Rob Walling

Hi there! To help Chasing Product grow, please take a moment to visit iTunes and give the show a 5-star rating. Thanks!

I’m so grateful to announce that the first episode of Chasing Product is now live.

In this episode, Rob Walling shares what he’s learned while making the transition from freelancing to launching bootstrapped products. We spend a bit of time talking about the mental game of a bootstrapper, then move on to marketing for engineers.

Bootstrapped Product Talking Points

  • Rob’s take on how long it took for him to “own” his bootstrapper-ship,
  • finding people to support & understand your endeavors,
  • coming to understand marketing from an engineering background,
  • why your freelancer marketing skills probably aren’t good enough even if you have some,

and more, including the story of how Rob acquired (not built!) HitTail (a must for any aspiring bootstrapper who considers buying a bootstrapped product instead of building one) and what’s going on with his latest bootstrapped product, GetDrip.

We finish off with concrete, can-do action items for your own bootstrapped product launch. Would you like to walk away from this podcast with nuts-and-bolts actions you can take to move yourself closer to being able to validate or launch a bootstrapped product? Then hold on all the way through to the end, you’ll definitely learn something.

Proper show notes will be up later.

  • Cogeian.com – my consulting firm
  • SmallSpec.com – my bootstrapped product. Painless functional specs in minutes, guaranteed.
  • SoftwareByRob.com – Rob Walling’s bootstrapped product blog
  • StartupsForTheRestOfUs.com – Rob Walling’s bootstrapped product podcast
  • GetDrip.com – Rob Walling’s current bootstrapped product. Use email to convert more visitors to customers.
  • HitTail.com – Rob Walling’s other current bootstrapped product. Guaranteed to increase your organic search traffic.

Getting this first episode out the door has been a lot of work, and I’m thankful to every guest who agreed to come on & record a show. Look forward to more great guests with more wisdom about releasing a bootstrapped product in the coming weeks.