Build Your SaaS

Jon and Justin share their SaaS journey:

• "There's so many great feature ideas, but we can't do them all."
• Jon's wondering about the constant feature request/release cycle
• “You’re doing a good job if you’re enjoying the journey” - Jason Cohen (on Art of Product)
• Tweet: “Any other SaaS companies seeing that revenue generally drops in the summer? I thought it was just me.”
• Nathan Barry: “The summer is historically really slow for us.”
• Justin is wondering: are enterprise customers worth it? (Des Traynor from Intercom says: "yes")

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell. If you’re earning recurring revenue from Stripe, you need this tool. It will show you all of your business metrics: MRR, LTV, churn. Sign up for free: profitwell.com 
• ActiveCampaign! Get the world's most advanced marketing & sales automation platform. Use the code activecampaign.com/buildyoursaas and get two months free + 2 free One-on-Ones!

Show notes:

• Art of Product, Jason Cohen – audio link
• Josh Anderton's tweet
• Justin's talk from Laracon is live

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.
• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Ben from narrowr.com
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com
• ProfitWell
• ActiveCampaign
• ProfitWell.com
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Jon and Justin are tracking a bunch of stuff this week:

• We're moving from WordPress to Statamic CMS
• "I had no idea how to set up PHP on my laptop."
• We want to treat our marketing site the same way we work on our product
• We're trying to optimize our PageSpeed (our current mobile score is 63, we want to get over 90)
• "And then you came in a like a magician and lazyloaded the JavaScript"
• "Collaborative software work is egalitarian. It doesn’t matter who did what, as long as the team is collectively accomplishing something greater than any one person could have done alone." – Jonas Downey
• Why the pull request is a great social technology.
• Revenue update: August has been our slowest month (for growth) thus far. Is this a seasonal slow down?
• Our churn numbers (compared to other SaaS)

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell. If you’re earning recurring revenue from Stripe, you need this tool. It will show you all of your business metrics: MRR, LTV, churn. Sign up for free: profitwell.com 
• ActiveCampaign! Get the world's most advanced marketing & sales automation platform. Use the code activecampaign.com/buildyoursaas and get two months free + 2 free One-on-Ones!

Show notes:

• Statamic CMS
• Jack McDade
• Justin's 2.5 hour PageSpeed adventure
• Tailwind CSS
• Jonas Downey: "Nobody really owns product work"

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Ben from narrowr.com
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com
• ProfitWell
• ActiveCampaign
• ProfitWell.com
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Justin and Jon have started the process of implementing Shape Up.

• Lots of folks feel like it’d be hard to implement in their team
  • "This would be hard at my agency."
  • “What about feature requests? Is the idea that you also don't write those down?”
  • “Hmm no backlogs? Maybe I am not understanding some backstory/context? Where do they put ideas, comments, quick bits that they might look at later on”
• Some backlash against the “cult of Basecamp”
• But the majority of folks were really interested in Jason’s approach.
• See how our first "shaping" experiment went.

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell. Patrick and Hiten have a new podcast!
• New sponsor: ActiveCampaign! Get the world's most advanced marketing & sales automation platform. Use the code activecampaign.com/buildyoursaas and get two months free + 2 free One-on-Ones!

Show notes:

• Read Basecamp's new book Shape Up.
• Last week’s episode Jason Fried
• Screensharing in Messages

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Pradyumna Shembekar
• Ben from narrowr.com
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com
• ProfitWell
• ActiveCampaign
• ProfitWell.com
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Justin and Jon are joined by Jason Fried to talk about:

• The philosophy behind their new book Shape Up.
• Does Basecamp's approach to 6-week cycles differ for smaller teams?
• "Long projects destroy morale. When things don't ship, you get frustrated." – Jason Fried
• Why projects ship late (it's human nature).
• Why work is like a hill.
• How they make product decisions at Basecamp.
• How do you know what you should work on next?
• Why they don't believe in backlogs.
• "That feeling of 'there's nothing to do, but there's everything to do' shouldn't be happening." – Jason Fried
• "You need a system at some point. When you have two people, you can hack your way to anything. But as soon as you grow, you'll need a system." – Jason Fried
• "What we have is not a perfect system. And even if it was, we don't execute these things perfectly." – Jason Fried

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell's podcast Protect the Hustle has a new season! 
• New sponsor: ActiveCampaign! Get the world's most advanced marketing & sales automation platform. Use the code activecampaign.com/buildyoursaas and get two months free + 2 free One-on-Ones!

Show notes:

• Jon's launch announcement tweet (from 2018).
• Read Basecamp's new book Shape Up.
• Jason Fried commented on this Linkedin post.
• Hill charts.
• Listen to Rework Podcast's "Shape Up Roundtable."
• Derek Sivers' new article: My old clothes don't fit

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Ben from narrowr.com
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com
• ProfitWell
• ActiveCampaign
• ProfitWell.com
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Big week. Justin was in New York and Jon found an office!

• Justin lost his voice.
• Jon doesn't work from home or coffee shops anymore.
• Jon found an office: "It’s inexpensive, but quiet, with nice people in a nice area. Inexpensive enough to where I won’t feel bad if I do want to work elsewhere once in a while."
• Justin's Spotify visit (very interesting).
• Laracon conference on Times Square (Justin was the MC and gave a talk)
• Met with a few customers:
  • Jess & Jmac – The BaseCode Podcast
  • Conor – The All Things Auth Podcast
  • Cherie – Water & Music
• Justin also met with his friend Nathan who now works at Happy Cog and went out with a mutual friend (Mike) who introduced him to someone who works for Amazon, and another fellow who does BizDev & Strategy for Sony Music Global.
• Jon: “This all would have exhausted me!” ;)

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell's podcast Protect the Hustle has a new season! 
• Redash! To help you better understand what you can do with Redash, they produced a few video guides. These guides use SaaS metrics as the demo data, so it should feel close to home. Check them out here.

Show notes:

• Laracon US
• Justin posted a few photos here.
• Micro optimizations (from the book Atomic Habits)
• Iron Maiden at Barclay's Center
• Vue.js

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Kevin Markham
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• ProfitWell.com
• Redash.io
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Justin and Jon are starting to feel that stress.

• We start with an unscripted bit.
• Our backlog and todo list are still stressing us out.
• We want to improve the app, but we get stuck fixing bugs.
• Justin is going to be at Laracon, NYC.
• Should we fly less?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell gives you free subscription metrics for your SaaS. Just plug in your billing system (Stripe, Zuora, Braintree, Chargebee, Recurly are all supported) and get free access to your MRR, churn, cohorts. Sign up for free at profitwell.com.
• Redash is is a BI tool for people who love SQL. Connect your database, query, visualize and share your data in minutes. Mention "Build your SaaS podcast" and get 50% off your first 3 months! Sign up at redash.io

Show notes:

• Brian Casel’s tweet: “Build a SaaS product”
• NYT: Flying is bad for the planet
• Tweet: Mel Gregg on Spark CBC
• 1% for the planet
• Basecamp's new online book: Shape Up
• Ben Orenstein's tweet: "My new consulting engagement: you pay me $10,000 and I delete your project’s backlog while explaining that nothing of value has been lost."

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Colin Gray
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Kevin Markham
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• ProfitWell.com
• Redash.io
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Justin and Jon dive into the growing backlog of features, bugs and tasks, and talk about how they might better manage it as a two-person team. A big new milestone is reached!

• Jon had a bit of anxiety over the growing backlog in Clubhouse
• New ideas were being thrown into an unscheduled list, but weren't yet actionable.
• Some ideas can be left alone for awhile and revisited to see if they're still worthwhile.
• Ben Orenstein wants to delete your entire backlog.
• 6 week cycles like Basecamp does might help out - but what does that mean for a tiny team?
• We hit $20K in MRR in under a year!

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell gives you free subscription metrics for your SaaS. Just plug in your billing system (Stripe, Zuora, Braintree, Chargebee, Recurly are all supported) and get free access to your MRR, churn, cohorts. Sign up for free at profitwell.com.
• Redash is is a BI tool for people who love SQL. Connect your database, query, visualize and share your data in minutes. Mention "Build your SaaS podcast" and get 50% off your first 3 months! Sign up at redash.io

Show notes:

• Basecamp's new online book: Shape Up
• Ben Orenstein's tweet: "My new consulting engagement: you pay me $10,000 and I delete your project’s backlog while explaining that nothing of value has been lost."

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Colin Gray
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Kevin Markham
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• ProfitWell.com
• Redash.io
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Now, Justin and Jon share are both focused full-time on Transistor. This week they discuss: 

• Emotionally processing what it's like leaving a full-time job.
• What was it like working at the Cards Against Humanity office? What's it like now?
• Contextual zones: “I noticed that when I entered the library, I was already thinking about reading and writing.” - Kunal Shandilya.
• Why you need local and online community.
• What happens if one of us goes hiking in the woods, and there's an accident?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell gives you free subscription metrics for your SaaS. Just plug in your billing system (Stripe, Zuora, Braintree, Chargebee, Recurly are all supported) and get free access to your MRR, churn, cohorts. Sign up for free at profitwell.com.
• Redash is is a BI tool for people who love SQL. Connect your database, query, visualize and share your data in minutes. Mention "Build your SaaS podcast" and get 50% off your first 3 months! Sign up at redash.io

Show notes:

• Article: How creating'context zones' could turn you into a productivity powerhouse
• Article: Things I’ve quit doing at my desk
• Tweet: How Manuel Frigerio pulls his ProfitWell data into Google sheets
• Dribble founder article

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Colin Gray
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Kevin Markham
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• ProfitWell.com
• Redash.io
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Jon had some personal news for Justin this week. This week they discuss:

• What does this mean for the product?
• What does this mean for us as a team?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell gives you free subscription metrics for your SaaS. Just plug in your billing system (Stripe, Zuora, Braintree, Chargebee, Recurly are all supported) and get free access to your MRR, churn, cohorts. Sign up for free at profitwell.com.
• Redash is is a BI tool for people who love SQL. Connect your database, query, visualize and share your data in minutes. Mention "Build your SaaS podcast" and get 50% off your first 3 months! Sign up at redash.io

Show notes:

• Dribbble article
• Andreas Schwabe - broadcast tips
• Salt & Straw Portland
• "Change careers like Tarzan" by Derek Sivers

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Colin Gray
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Kevin Markham
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• ProfitWell.com
• Redash.io
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

Jon is away, so Justin is tackling these questions:

• "When you were early on and desperate, were you tempted to take investor money?"
• "How do you position yourself in a crowded market? What's your marketing plan look like?"
• "How do you prioritize feature development? Are new features coming from customer feedback, intuition, or some combination of both?"
• "Are you planning on experimenting with paid acquisition channels?"
• "How can I get a job at Transistor.fm?"

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ProfitWell gives you free subscription metrics for your SaaS. Just plug in your billing system (Stripe, Zuora, Braintree, Chargebee, Recurly are all supported) and get free access to your MRR, churn, cohorts. Sign up for free at profitwell.com.
• Redash is is a BI tool for people who love SQL. Connect your database, query, visualize and share your data in minutes. Mention "Build your SaaS podcast" and get 50% off your first 3 months! Sign up at redash.io

Show notes:

• Got back from Podsummit in Calgary. Thanks Ernest!
• Live video from the podcast.
• Old episode: The opposite of bored money
• Forecast your MRR growth
• justinjackson.ca/bootstrap
• Justin's tweet asking for questions.

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Colin Gray
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea
• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Kevin Markham
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• ProfitWell.com
• Redash.io
• GetRewardful.com

🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.
📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!