Build Your SaaS

Tyler Tringas recently announced Earnest Capital; a new way for bootstrappers to raise money for their startups. 

Should Jon and Justin consider this type of funding for Transistor?

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Earnest Capital
• Tyler Tringas' introductory blog post
• YouTube Livestream
• Indie.vc
• Tiny Seed Fund

Thanks to our Patreon supporters:

• Mike Walker
• Brad from Canada
• Darby Frey
• Kevin Markham
• Adam Duvander
• Dave Giunta

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

How much does it cost to run a SaaS in 2018? We take a look at our bootstrap expenses.

Every business accrues monthly expenses. The danger? Business owners can get in the habit of spending money, believing that "you gotta spend money to make money."

Transistor's expenses

• Start up:
  • Logo and branding: $2,500 
  • Stripe Atlas: $500
  • Legal: $366.45  
• Monthly expenses:
  • Editing: $320 / month
  • AWS: $300 / month
  • Media: $60 / month
• Yearly expenses:
  • Domain: $100 / year
  • Incorporation: $200 / year
  • Accounting: $2k / year

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Patio11's reply to Justin's tweet: "It is far, far, far easier to create something that will increase the revenue of your business by $200 a month than it is to squeeze $200 out of the expenses."
• Our branding designer is Dylan Wells.
• Thang Pham

Thanks to our Patreon supporters:

• Brad from Canada
• Darby Frey
• Kevin Markham
• Adam Duvander
• Dave Giunta

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

If you used computers in the 80s and 90s you're going to love this episode.

• Apple IIe in the school computer lab
• The original Macintosh
• "I wanted an Amiga so bad!"
• The BBS scene: Wildcat, Roboboard/FX, being a SySop
• Compuserve and AOL
• Tandy 1000, 386, 486, building your own Pentium
• Fave games: Commander Keen, King’s Quest, Wolfenstein, Doom, Duke Nukem, Raptor, Apogee Games
• Our first websites: high school swim team website, snowboarding website (with a guestbook)
• Our first computer businesses

It's a fun one. ;)

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• PC Magazine: the forgotten world of BBS door games 
• Jon’s first computer: Compuadd
• Justin posted this on a usenet group in 1994: Absolute Future BBS!
• Justin’s first web company: Mediahead Productions
• Jon’s first web company: Creatively Aware
• Jon’s TV recommendation: Halt and Catch Fire (NY Times review)

Thanks to our Patreon supporters:

• Darby Frey
• Kevin Markham
• Adam Duvander
• Dave Giunta

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

Here we are at episode 30! Just found this old 2012 interview with the founder of MailChimp, before they became a $4.2 billion company. This quotes is awesome:

More recently, MailChimp was in Forbes:

Even more interesting for us:

This was the part that surprised me: MailChimp was a side-project for 6 years (earning just a few thousand to start).

Especially interesting in light of this DHH quote I shared in a previous episode:

Bootstrappers need to be more patient! (And maybe keep their day job)

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• MailChimp in Forbes Magazine
• Bill Irwin’s tweet
• An interview with Ben Chestnut
• We can still do a lot to slow climate change. 
• DHH: why is We Work promoting burnout?
• ProfitWell Engage
• Good News Podcast

Thanks to our Patreon supporters:

• Darby Frey – LeadHonestly.com 
• Kevin Markham
• Adam Duvander
• Dave Giunta

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

After one failed attempt, we're back with a new episode. Sorry it's late!

Responses from last week's episode: "What should our one main metric be for our SaaS?"

• Adam: “Don’t focus on MRR. That’s a cop out. Focus on increasing downloads.”
• Daniel: “Justin should get out and sell like crazy.”
• Colin and others said: “Re-examine your pricing.”

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Justin starts his own Patreon: "I want to keep writing and podcasting honestly no matter what."
• MxPx's Kickstarter
• CaddyServer – “Caddy is the HTTP/2 web server with automatic HTTPS.”
• Please review us on iTunes – it helps other folks find the show!

Thanks to our Patreon supporters:

• Kevin Markham
• Adam Duvander
• Dave Giunta

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

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Startups for the Rest of Us – EP260 “The one metric that matters”
• Nathan Barry – Solving the cash problems from self-funding rapid growth
• Nathan Barry – From losing money to a 51% profit margin in 5 months
• CaddyServer – “Caddy is the HTTP/2 web server with automatic HTTPS.”
• Please review us in iTunes – it helps other folks find the show!

Thanks to our Patreon supporters:

• Kevin Markham
• Adam Duvander
• Dave Giunta

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

Jon and Justin are back from Portland and the XOXO festival.

In the last few weeks we've had a chance to interact with many of our customers in-person:

• Nate Smoyer – "I’ve been using the podcast as a prospecting tool. Signed one dreams client two weeks ago. Interviewed with one yesterday. Got invited to lead a panel and live podcast for an industry event."
• Kyle Marshall – Kyle's creating multiple shows for MediaLab in Calgary.
• Matt Cassinelli and Alex Cox have a new podcast called Supercomputer.
• Jaime Macías has a great show called Open Tabs.

How big is the podcast market?

• How many podcasts are there? Over 550,000 shows on iTunes and over 18.5 million episodes.
• 64% of the US population is familiar with the term “podcasting” – up from 60% in 2017 (Infinite Dial 18)
• 44% (124 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast – up from 40% in 2017 (Infinite Dial 18)
• 26% (73 million) listen to podcasts at least every month – up from 24% in 2017 (Infinite Dial 18)
• 17% (48 million) listen to podcasts weekly – up from 15% in 2017

We recorded this episode live

• Watch on Twitch
• Watch on YouTube
• Watch on Periscope

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Thanks to Kevin Markham for being our first Patreon supporter! Also thanks to Adam Duvander and Dan Weaver.
• Back from XOXO 2018
• Justin's bootstrapping articles
• Twitter poll: What are most podcasts doing wrong?
• Seth Godin's podcast Akimbo
• "Branded podcasts are ads people actually want to listen to" - Fast Company
• Please review us in iTunes – it helps other folks find the show!

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

What does "bootstrapping" mean really?

We recorded this episode live

• Watch on Twitch
• Watch on YouTube
• Watch on Periscope

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Thanks Tyler Tringas!
• Article: Bootstrapper's Paradox (on Indie Hackers)
• Getting Real by 37signals
• Tool: Forecast your MRR revenue
• Natalie Nagele's tweet
• Joel Gascoigne's tweet
• Watch our live Twitch recording (or watch on YouTube)
• Please review us in iTunes – it helps other folks find the show!

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

Nick Quah shared this in his recent newsletter, commenting about podcasts:

Nick thinks podcasters have two options:

1. Build something that does the same thing for the same audience, but do it better. If this is the case, he says, “you better bring it.”
2. Or, “identify and pursue a pocket of pent-up demand that has yet to be unleashed.”

Note: apologies about Justin's audio in this episode! We'll fix that for next time.

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Why many products struggle, and only a few succeed
• Clubhouse.io – Jon's new project management software for Cards Against Humanity.
• Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday
• Alitu – edit your podcast in the browser
• Podcast Royale – Adam Clark's podcast production company
• Auphonic – automated audio post-production
• ProfitWell – SaaS metrics
• Stripe's built-in SaaS metrics
• Watch our live Twitch recording (or watch on YouTube)
• Please review us in iTunes – it helps other folks find the show!

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

SaaS conversation rate cheatsheet:

Credit card upfront:

• Visitor to trial: 0.75% - 1%
• Trial to paid: 40% - 60%

No credit card upfront:

• Visitor to trial: 5%+
• Trial to paid: 8% - 20%

Transistor's conversion rates since launch:

• Total traffic since launch: 40,162 unique pageviews, 11,614 visitors
• Total new trials since launch: 32 (out of 49 active trials total)
• Conversion %(visitor to trial): 0.3% (should be 0.75% - 1%)
• Conversion %(trial to paid): 8.9% - 16.7% (should be 40% - 60%)
  • July was 17.9%
  • June was 29.6%
  • May was 48.7%

What do you think?

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

Show notes:

• Baremetrics
• Chartmogul
• ProfitWell
• Stripe Billing - “go to Stripe, and then billing menu”
• Marco's tweet - donation support for podcasts in Overcast
• Please review us in iTunes – it helps other folks find the show!

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