Episode 25: Build Something Small, Build Something Now w/Justin Jackson

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mijustin-start-small
Justin Jackson joins the show today. From hacking on a Vic 20 to releasing multiple products and podcasts, Justin has done a lot! More importantly, he’s figured out a lot about how to make small products work.

In this episode, we talk about Justin’s experience with audience selection, message amplification, getting traction with small products, and more.

Bootstrapped Product Talking Points

  • why you should build something small, NOW
  • why you should hang out with your audience every day
  • how to look for patterns to tailor products around
  • how to start with info-products without jumping the gun

 Show Notes:
Marketing for Developers – A guide to marketing your software, apps, and digital products
Product People Club – Daily stand-ups and community for solopreneurs
Amplification – Creating great content isn’t enough; to get it seen by thousands, you need amplification.
Product Hunt Handbook – Learn how to effectively launch your own product on Product Hunt.
Build & Launch – Build and launch your own product
Product People Podcast – A podcast focused on great products and the people who make them
Justin Jackson on Twitter

James Altucher (remember the 1% rule!)
Getting Real, 37signals
Jason Fried
Designer news
Designer subreddit

Episode 7: Commit to Launching Product w/Ian Landsman

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What are you prepared to do?  That’s the question Ian Landsman poses in Episode 7 as we talk about launching product.  Ian takes us from his start in retail all the way through learning to code and eventually launching product of his own.

Bootstrapped Product Talking Points

  • trial and error in the service of selecting a product,
  • pros, cons and opportunities of launching Saas apps vs on-premise apps,
  • why podcasting in 2013 is like blogging in 2004,
  • the role of youth & confidence vs age & wisdom when launching product,
  • the importance of community

We also talk a bit about the red ocean/blue ocean strategy, which was also addressed in Episode 6.  Ian is a big proponent of the “red ocean” strategy, and he tell us why.  He also addresses how the world of launching product has changed in the past 10 years; more tools, communities, and information are available to aspiring bootstrappers now than ever before.  We also take a detour into Curmudgeon-ville and talk about what it’s like to launch as an older-than-college-age entrepreneur.

We finish the show with three actionable bullet points for launching product.  As a 10-year veteran of running a successful bootstrapped business, Ian has been there and done that.  Stick around for the entire episode to see what three things are so important to launching product, Ian thinks you should do them right now.

 

UserScape – Ian’s company
HelpSpot – Ian’s 1st product; Help Desk Software for Email/Web Customer Service
Snappy – Ian’s latest product; Customer Service, Simplified
Bootstrapped.fm – Andrey’s bootstrapped product podcast

Joel on Software Forums – where an entire generation of bootstrappers got their start
Office Depot
EngineHosting
ZenDesk
Laravel – the elegant PHP framework for web artisans
Red Ocean strategy vs Blue Ocean strategy
SmallSpec – painless functional specifications; join the launch list

Episode 3: Mobile App Marketing and Double-Bootstrapping w/Andrey Butov

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After two episodes of bootstrapped product founders with Saas apps, I went mobile! Episode 3 features a talk with Andrey Butov, the founder of Antair Software & creator of more than 2 dozen BlackBerry, Android and iOS apps. Plus we take part of the conversation all the way back to the old-school Joel on Software forums.

Bootstrapped Product Talking Points

  • the product strategy that is even worse than “build it and they will come”
  • why Andrey had to bootstrap the same company twice
  • the trade-offs of a huge early growth curve vs taking your time to grow
  • why selling to small business is the same as selling to consumers
  • why Andrey’s latest product is a Saas app instead of a mobile app (although it does address mobile app marketing)

We also talk about our shared hatred of the term “lifestyle business”.

Andrey has survived and thrived in an often brutal mobile app marketing environment.  Mobile app developers have little control of the customer relationship, and sometimes no way to contact customers directly.  Andrey shares what he has learned over the years, what he has realized about mobile app marketing and what he’d do differently now. We also talk a bit about how his latest product, Uberdeck, just might change the entire face of mobile app marketing.  That’s an exciting prospect for a bootstrapper.

As always, we finish the show with some action items for aspiring founders.  This is a tricky question to ask, and runs the risk of encouraging generic responses.  Andrey gives a reply that is clearly informed by his years of experience as a bootstrapper. Don’t miss it!

Uberdeck – Andrey’s newest product; Send marketing campaigns and important notices directly to your mobile apps to serve as mobile app marketing.
Antair Software – Andrey’s long-running software company
Bootstrapped.fm – Andrey’s bootstrapped product podcast
So You Want to Be a Wall Street Programmer – Andrey’s book

Joel On Software forums – where an entire generation of bootstrapped product founders got their inspirations
Perfect Table Plan – founded by Andy Brice, back in the Joel On Software days
Collectorz

Andrey & I talked a bit longer than expected, but his story is so interesting I didn’t want to edit too much out.