Build Your SaaS

What's new with the Transistor team?

• Justin has a Halloween candy hangover.
• Desktops vs laptops for dev work.
• Transitioning from your personal equipment and software to stuff the business pays for.
• Where are we in our Shape-Up cycles?
• Our new marketing website is suffering because it's "un-shaped work."
• The benefits of working with a partner.
• "I'm realizing how single-threaded human beings are."
• What does Jon think of Tailwind CSS?
• At what stage of a customer's business lifecycle should you get them as a customer?
• How many customers did we get because Basecamp switched to us?
• "Make software that will be worth using for ten years."
• New features - how should we communicate those to customers?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• New: Postmark. Postmark delivers your transactional email to customers on time, every time. You'll love their lightning-fast email delivery and developer-friendly features. Check out their new podcast: postmarkapp.com/podcast
• Clubhouse. Guess who's back? Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together. It's designed for developers, but product folks, marketing, support folks love using it. Now it's free for teams up to 10 people. clubhouse.io/build.

Show notes:

• Zoom H4N
• Leaked images from the 16" Macbook Pro
• New Transistor marketing site (unreleased)
• Current Transistor marketing site
• Why you need a co-founder
• Multiple computing threads
• Bootstrapped Web: product brain vs marketing brain
• Tailwind CSS
• Basecamp switched to us (episode)
• Rework podcast: some marketing things they're going to try
• Feature announcement newsletter
• How WebSub for podcasts works

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• New: Eric Lima
• James Sowers with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett 
• 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
• Postmark – use coupon code BUILDYOURSAAS to get a free month of sending
• Clubhouse
• GetRewardful.com

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

This is a heavy one! Let us know at @buildyoursaas if you listen to the whole thing.

• On a micro-scale many folks believe "how much MRR is enough?" is a silly question, because, in our current global economic model, your business has to keep growing (or it will eventually die). (CHURN will kill you)
• But on a macro-scale, our economic system relies on perpetually increasing:
  • resource extraction
  • population growth
  • energy usage
  • (Not sustainable)
• As founders, it's hard enough to wrestle with the "normal" issues, much less wrestle with existential questions. But this is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night...
• "To succeed is to destroy ourselves. To fail is to destroy ourselves. That is the bind we have created." – George Monbiot (Guardian article)
• A remember Paul Hawken having a brighter take when I read "The Ecology of Commerce" years ago while I was taking my undergrad. I should read it again.
• “Social theorists often take just one of these moments and view it as the “silver bullet” that causes all change. We have technological determinists (Tom Friedman), environmental determinists (Jared Diamond), daily life determinists (Paul Hawken), labor process determinists (the autonomistas), class struggle determinists (most Marxist political parties), institutionalists, and so on and so forth.”
• Budgeting over time:
  • Early: we spent as little as we could
  • When we went full-time (April and July): still be lean, but investing in more tools
  • Now: realizing (maybe) its better for us to invest in tools, infrastructure, equipment? Also: better to pay ourselves more?
• Profit first:
  • We started with: 50% salaries, 15% saved for taxes, 5% profit, the rest expenses
  • Maybe we need to move to: 60% - 70% salaries?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• Tweet thread
• Guardian article
• Why is economic growth important?
• Interview with Patagonia’s founder
• Rich Roll interview with Pat Brown
• Paul Hawken's book: the Ecology of Commerce

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• New: Eric Lima
• James Sowers with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

We shipped our new feature!

• American Express called Justin twice at 5am
• The new enhanced podcasts feed is live.
• Pete Marcano: “I’ll be honest, when I listened to the Build Your SaaS episode on this feature being launched, I didn’t really think much of it. Listening to this episode connected the dots. This is awesomely game changing.”
• Now we’re technically in a “cool down” cycle” - is this how this should feel?
• When should you push back on customers' feature requests?
• We're looking into SSO - what a rabbit hole!
• What happened to Spots.fm?
• How could we help indie podcasts?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• What is Single Sign-On?
• Basecamp "Shape Up"
• Zapier
• The Spots.fm episode
• Art of Product: Becoming a Multi-Product Company (with Amir Salihefendić)

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• James Sowers with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

Jon and Justin talk turkey:

• "I'm not used to all this attention. it’s weird. not bad, just…not used to it."
• "If you're doing anything interesting out in the world, you're gonna have people get mad about something at some point." – Rob Walling
• "There's a bit of imposter syndrome; like, do we deserve this?"
• It's more about the way you orient yourself than setting a specific destination.
• Bootstrapping podcasts: Art of Product, Bootstrapping SaaS, Slow & Steady, Bright & Early, Build your SaaS, Bootstrapping Web, Startups for the Rest of Us, Getting to Ramen, Bootstrapping Digest, Product Journey.
• How big is podcasting really?
• (29:11) – This new season of Gimlet's "Startup" podcast is fascinating: it reveals info about the podcast industry that we just didn't know before. 
• Halt and Catch Fire – is this show too weird?
• Podcasting has always grown slowly.
• What are some of the risks, or threats, to our business?
• How do podcasters build an audience?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• Canadian Thanksgiving
• Jason Fried's tweet: "Congrats to @mijustin and @jonbuda for making it to full-time status!"
• How to deal with haters
• People on the internet can be so mean
• Twitter's launch at SXSW
• Podcast: Chase Jarvis on the Rich Roll podcast
• Wikipedia: What is a party line?
• Art of Product
• Bootstrapping SaaS
• Slow & Steady
• Bright & Early
• Bootstrapped Web
• Startups for the Rest of Us
• Getting to Ramen
• Bootstrapping Digest
• Product Journey
• Full Stack Radio
• The Laravel Snippet
• New episode of Startup, Season 3
• TV: Halt and Catch Fire

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• James Sowers with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

Jon and Justin have a bunch of hot topics this week:

• Podcast advertising, user tracking, turning away customers?
• Basecamp switched their podcast (Rework) to us
• Why Marco Arment gave up on his #1 app
• $30k in MRR – how does this feel?
• Shape Up updates: “Small enough to wing it” 

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• The new Joker movie
• Brad Pitt's new movie: Ad Astra
• Jared Hess' movies
• Charlie Kammerer, president of Slate, on the Digiday podcast with Pierre Bienaimé
• DHH Tweet
• Marco Arment: "It just doesn't feel good"
• Justin's blog: How it feels to hit $30k
• Shape Up: Small enough to wing it

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• James Sowers with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

Sleep. We never get enough:

• Justin consistently wakes up between 2am-4am and can’t get back to sleep.
• Jon woke up at 4am. Often reports bad sleeps.
• Justin asked on Twitter and got tips:
  • Josh Pigford, Baremetrics, says: “CBD oil. Previously I was a very "active" sleeper...talking, getting up, etc. It'd also take me upwards of 30 minutes to get to sleep and I'd regularly wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep. Haven't had any of those issues since using CBD oil.”
  • Scott Bolinger:
    • no caffeine after 10am
    • no work after dinner
    • non-fiction books only at bedtime
    • dark lighting in house hours before bed
    • same schedule every night
    • don’t use alcohol to fall asleep (it’s a sedative, not a sleep inducer)
    • weed blocks REM sleep 
    • I know you’re not drinking, but alcohol and marijuana affect REM sleep.
  • Steven Kovar: "A-Z gratitude" routine. Name something you're grateful for that starts with the letter A. Move on to B. Etc. Never gotten past K.”
  • Wailin Wong, Basecamp: “One small thing that's really helped me is getting a sleep mask (Alaska Bear brand). Temperature of room and limiting blue light exposure.”
  • Resource: Matt Walker, Why We Sleep
    • Regularity: go to bed at the same time, and wake up at the same time.
    • Light: in the last hour before bed, switch off half the lights, no screens
    • Keep it cool: your brain needs to drop its temperature by 2-3 degrees to sleep. The cold pads might work. Warm bath before sleep helps too.
    • Siesta in the afternoon

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• New: Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• Justin's sleep tweet
• Book: Why we sleep
• Justin's sleep blog post

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• James Sowers with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

Jon and Justin discuss a variety of things. Warning: Justin says the f-word twice.

• 80s trampolines
• Jon's new microphone: mic + pop filter = $65 USD
• Transistor's history:
  • 💻 March 2017: first-line of code
  • ✍️ Feb 2018: signed partnership docs 
  • ✉️ March 2018: invited first paying (beta) customers
  • 🎉 Aug 2018: official launch
  • 👨‍💻 April 2019: I go full-time [kind of] ($10k MRR)
  • 👨‍💻 July 2019: Jon goes full-time ($19k MRR)
• Bootstrapping loneliness. What do you do when you're independent and you're not working for a big company?
• The risk of "relational churn." People you know will move away, and gradually you'll lose friendships over time.
• We're starting the 3rd week of our 6-week dev cycle (inspired by Basecamp's "Shape Up"). Justin already wants to ship it. 😜
• How we're managing new ideas / bug requests without a backlog

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• New: Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• Jon's new microphone: Samson Q2U
• Brian Rhea's tweets about remote loneliness
• NPR article: "Talk to a stranger"

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

Jon and Justin discuss:

• Good mics for podcasters. Justin recommends the Samson Q2U and the ATR2100. Make sure you get a pop filter!
• Starting our 6-week cycle (based on Basecamp's Shape Up)
• Working through unknowns for software projects: "Where do we start?"
• What's it been like being a transparent startup? Is it still a good idea?
• "It feels less and less comfortable, and I don't know why." – Jon
• "All people see is the revenue numbers; they don't understand what's happening underneath those numbers." – Justin
• "Wait a second. Bootstrapped startups are different: the goal isn't to change the way people behave, it's to recognize where people are already in motion."
• How long should you work on an idea before you quit?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• New: Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• Basecamp's Shape Up
• Mics: Samson Q2U or ATR2100
• Baremetrics Open Startups
• ConvertKit's AWS bill
• Demo of Glow.fm (monetize your podcast)
• "We don't sell saddles here" by Slacks' Stewart Butterfield
• Justin's response: "We sell saddles here"
• Moraware blog post by Ted Pitts
• Jon Yongfook's twitter thread
• Dark mode podcast player

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.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

This week Jon and Justin answer a few questions:

• From Jason Zook: "How much MRR is enough for Transistor?"
• From Yaz: "What do you think of this new Supercast thing that helps podcasters start a paid podcast?"
• How many people are really asking for this?
• Looking for evidence:
  • "I just bought X."
  • "I just started doing X."
  • "I just switched from X to Y."
  • "My friend uses X, so I tried it."
  • "Using X, but want something like Y."
  • "X is better than anything else I've tried."
  • "It seems like everyone in my Slack is using X."

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• New: Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• Jason Zook
• Moraware blog post 
• ActiveCampaign blog
• Supercast
• Supercast on Product Hunt
• “Howard Stern is getting ripped off
• pod.fan
• glow.fm
• patreon.com
• The Mom Test
• Seth Godin podcast episode: Meta
• Podcasting in China: myth and reality

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:

• Matt, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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

Hear what's new from Jon and Justin on their bootstrapping journey:

• Nothing like throwing yourself down a mountain when you're tired
• We're seeing a big increase in support tickets here at the end of August
• Justin has a theory: more support tickets is leading indicator for an increase in revenue
• "When people have 'summer brain' they don't want to think about work."
• Jon's learned some things about how enterprise sales really work
• Listener Sarah McMullin gave us some great advice on enterprise sales as well
• Jon tells us about doing the Ironman in Traverse City and how much time he spent in the penalty box
• How does Slack and Tuple do enterprise billing?
• We're going to try to use the "Shape Up" philosophy for making business decisions too.
• Justin's thinking about how Transistor can clarify its positioning: “Who is this for?” “What challenge are they facing?” “How does your product help overcome the challenge?”
• April Dunford on positioning: the market categories we choose make it easier to market the product. "People make decisions based on what they already know."
• Dark mode player coming soon!
• "Unix came about because Bell Labs hired smart people and gave them the freedom to amuse themselves, trusting that their projects would be useful more often than not." – Unix at 50

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• 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!
• New: Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• Traverse City Ironman
• Thanks to Sarah McMullin for her enterprise sales advice
• Capiche – transparency in enterprise sales
• Shape Up (Basecamp)
• How to build your storybrand (book by Donald Miller)
• Badass! (book by Kathy Sierra)
• April Dunford on positioning (Live in the Feast podcast)
• Unix at 50 (Ars Technica)

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:

• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• 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
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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